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The training of the man of words in talking sweet1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Roger D. Abrahams
Roger D. Abrahams
Affiliation:
Departments of English and Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin
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Abstract

Discussions of Negro non-standard English (or Black English) emphasizes the most socially stigmatizing features. It is clear, however, that within anglophonic black communities a diglossia situation occurs in which the high form is a speaking variety close to oratorical standard English. This paper explores how this high variety is learned in one Afro-American peasant community in the West Indies as an illustration of the social and ritual importance of certain codes. (diglossia, Creole languages, the formal teaching of speech varieties, oratory.)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , April 1972 , pp. 15 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

REFERENCES

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