Re: Our main responsibility?
Maybe you have additionally heard of E-Prime which avoids using To BE: don't say the house is beautiful but say the house looks beautiful to me I mean only to me perhaps not to you. In stead of black and white statements make more subjective satements This means from now on passive is not possible. See below:
E-Prime - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Human life is a collocation. Partnerships are formed and finding the wrong partner is hell. This means human life is more habitual than factual.
My answer to your question: our responsibility is to produce language users who
1. can communicate in different social situations using different registers.
2. can enjoy reading and writing literature
3. can broaden their horizons through interacting with other cultures.
4. can use language to meet their needs whether they are professional or personal
Re: Our main responsibility?
<1. can communicate in different social situations using different registers. >
You talk about registers, but what about different dialects?
Re: Our main responsibility?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
burro
<1. can communicate in different social situations using different registers. >
You talk about registers, but what about different dialects?
I think this is a complex issue. The needs have to be addressed individually. In a way you are right only standard language is taught and dialects are neglected. People even forget that a standard language like Queeen's/King's English was originally nothing but a dialect of the south. Dialects are usually promoted to standard language for a variety of reasons.
1. People who speak a dialect are more dominant and powerful either militarily or politically.
2. Literature and the Bible play a role if they are written or translated in a dialect
3. A dialect which has been promoted to standard language has to gain neutrality ie all people in the country accept it. In Norway for example there are two dialects that have become standard language Bokmål (literally "book language") and Nynorsk Norwegian language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. BBC has already started accepting people from other dialects as newsreaders.