HELP!

[conuly]

I have this project due tomorrow. I had been planning to do a tape of people speaking and come up with results (it's for sociolinguistics) but the tape is impossible to hear for most of it. So I'm doing the OTHER project, which I had originally decided not to do because I didn't have enough people. Basically, I'm going to get a few results and extrapolate from them, instead of doing what I was supposed to do which is give the survey to two groups of 10 people each, which are alike in all respects except one. PLEASE help!

[Poll #360503]

Edit: Unless this affected your answers, don't worry about it. Just a clarification: AAVE is *not* supposed to be taken to mean slang. I lost the explanation we were supposed to give, which is just as well as I really thought that explanation was biased towards AAVE anyway. I mean, so am I, but that didn't seem fair. Anyway, AAVE is supposed to be considered as a dialect such as RP english or Brooklyn english, not as slang.

Non-americans, unless you know a lot about the subject (or think you can guess based on your knowledge of nonprestigious dialects where you are), don't answer. I'm locking this so that I can't be called out for rushing the assignment.

Comments

[zarriq.livejournal.com]

I thought this bit was a little vague and wish to explain myself: In the long term, continued use of non-standard English will penalize speakers socially and economically.

People who use some non-standard dialect in, say, a formal setting would be penalized. However, I see absolutely nothing wrong with using non-standard English among friends and family.

[conuly]

Yeah, I know. The whole thing had a lot of vagaries, and we weren't supposed to clarify questions for people.