Elena Pearson

Mrs. Bowman

AP Language, Block 6

1 October, 2014

Standard American English Essay

Although social scientists have estimated that there are about 24 dialects in the U.S, it’s

impossible to count how many there are because each city, town, and group can have their own

special dialects. With all these different ways of speaking of course there can be trouble

understanding others with different dialects, but should Standard American English be required

instruction in school in order to make everyone’s speech the same? Standard American English

should not be the required instruction because there is history and character behind dialects. If

this is taken away, what will make each part of America unique?

The english language came from the Indo-European family and has changed drastically

throughout the years, moving from the Old english period, the Middle english period, and the

Modern English period. A huge part of what helped move english forward was Shakespeare. He

created over 2,000 words, on of them being eyeball, a word that is used everyday as a normality.

If Standard American English is taught in schools and essentially gets rid of dialects and accents,

the english language will not be able to move forward and grown because there will be no risks,

chances, or changes when it comes to language.

Language also changes depending on the audience of the speaker. Amy Tan best

demonstrates this in her piece “Mother Tongue”. She describes how throughout her daily life she

began to notice that she would change her way of speech around different people. When

surrounded by close family and friends, she would talk using “a different sort of english that

relates to family talk”, a more relaxed and less grammatically correct way of speaking. When

addressing people in more intellectual environments, she would find herself speaking with

advanced and scholarly english, the type of english her Chinese mother had a hard time

understanding. English speech really depends on what a person heard growing up. So even if

Standard American English is taught in schools as the standard, people will still use their ‘mother

tongue’. After all, who gets to decide what “real and understandable english” is?

The different ways people speak says a lot about their character and culture. It is quite

easy to identify accents from the East coast but it becomes gradually harder moving to the west

coast. Much like the pride that citizens have for being known as an American, people have

similar pride for their home state. Having been identified as a Californian just through my

speech alone, I know the feeling of pride for representing my home state by just speech alone. If

Standard American English becomes the standard way of speaking for American schools, the

dialects and accents that make up a part of who someone is will disappear and a large part of

American culture will disappear.

People will always be able to come up with reasons that Standard American English is

the way to go, but it is important to keep the dialects and accents that are found in American

today. If the parts of speech that distinguish people from one another disappear, many cultures

will disappear with the language they were built on. Standard American English should not

become the mandatory instruction in schools. After all, if it’s impossible to count every dialect

present in the U.S., how would it be possible to get rid of all of them?