ANTH 217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: African American Vernacular English, Geoffrey Chaucer, Preposition And Postposition
Document Summary
Not just any old language: in every language that is spoken, the standard english tends to be the one that the upper class speak, language varieties aren"t necessarily better or worse. It"s a myth: no one actually speaks full standard english. Rules for what counts as socially acceptable and unacceptable language use. About the proper composition/pronunciation of sentences in written language. Use whom not who as the object of a verb or preposition. More general and basic than prescriptive rules: what we actually do. All sentences of a language are formed in accordance with them, not just the subset of sentences that count as correct or socially acceptable. Generalization about the way that human language is actually used, rather than how it ought to be used. Articles precede to the nouns they belong to: the student sat in the chair. Relative clauses follow the noun that they modify.