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Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others?
Edwin L. Battistella
Abstract
Are pronunciations such as cawfee and chawklit bad English? Is slang improper? Is it incorrect to mix English and Spanish, as in Yo quiero Taco Bell? Can you write “Who do you trust?” rather than “Whom do you trust?” This book looks at traditional notions of bad language and argues that they are often based in sterile conventionality. Examining grammar and style, cursing, slang, political correctness, regional dialects, ethnic dialects, foreign accents, and language mixing, this book discusses the strong feelings evoked by language variation, from objections to pronunciation, to complaints abo ... More
Keywords: pronunciation, grammar, cursing, slang, political correctness, regional dialects, ethnic dialects, foreign accents, language mixing, bilingual education
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2005 | Print ISBN-13: 9780195172485 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2007 | DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172485.001.0001 |
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