Oh, So Articulate
- 25 Jan 08, 9:15 PM
You're just so articulate. So well-spoken.
I roll my eyes and make the 'v's gesture (OK, I never said I was cool), but, fortunately, the person on the other end of the phone can't see what I am doing. I get this a lot though. Articulate. Well-spoken. Nice accent.
As a black nondisabled person, these words all too frequently expressed a white person's surprise that I could string together a sentence that "rose above the usual street English -- you know, that ugly nonsensical Ebonics -- of African Americans." Barack Obama is getting a lot of the same comments. As a black Brit living in the US, my accent was a double whammy. In the hierarchy of accents here, British English, for some incomprehensible reason, occupies a special place -- it is somehow more "pure" than American English. This is linguistic rot, of course, but my accent used to get me a measure of respect that is denied speakers of other dialects .... at least, that is, until they saw me. As one person put it after meeting me, "You're more of a dusky English rose."
Now that I use a wheelchair, these comments have taken on a different hew. The tone seems meaner and the point of reference is not just the way I pronounce my vowels. Now, I feel that both the intellectual content of what I say, the complexity of the way I speak, and even the fact that I *can* speak are measurements of my value as a citizen.
This disgusts me.
Since when has human worth depended on ability to communicate? Why does respect depend on ability to speak? Language is a rich, beautiful, flexible and complicated thing. But we abuse it. We abuse it when we make statements that suggest language separated us from animals. We abuse it when we assume that the sign languages are not languages. We abuse it when we assume that verbalism and oralism are the only significant means of communication.
We diminish ourselves as human beings when we assume that certain people do not have the capacity to communicate. We diminish ourselves as human beings when we assume that certain people do not have rich and complex inner lives and minds. We diminish ourselves as human beings if we reward only those who communicate according to typical patterns.
• Visit your "oh-so-articulate, but not necessarily well-spoken"
Comments
I can really understand how annoying/frustrating this can be. I'm deaf. And once in a while, some hearing person feels compelled to tell me, "You talk well." Meaning, basically, that they're amazed that my speech is clear enough that they can understand it. Okay, granted, not all deaf people speak as well as I do. But that still doesn't mean that I feel any particular pride at speaking well. I HATE this so-called "compliment" because it so often comes across as patronizing (even if I don't think that's how the other person "meant" it to come across). And as you say, it seems to reflect some twisted attitudes that "good speech" somehow equates to "good person" (even if they aren't consciously thinking that way), or to "a person with value, or a person worthy of consideration as a human being" (ditto). I always hesitate to tell them off (I always feel too much of a loss for words when this happens anyway) but I also never want to say "thank you" even though I think that's the response they're looking for because if I say "thank you" then I feel like that makes me subtly complicit in perpetuating a way of thinking that I just don't agree with.
please tell our leaders to stop using the poor for their selfish leadership ambitions,the blood spilt is in their hands,and somehow God will require of it from their hands,they shouldnt ignore even the cry of a child,or they are cursed
please tell Kibaki,Raila and Ruto(the one who seems to be an evil force in the rift valley against Kikuyus)that we are human beings like them,and we feel pain just like them,they should stop the killings cos they started them
am njoroge from nairobi
The link above goes to just published NYT article on articulate and race in the current political scene.
I'm more uptodate than I thought.
WCD
Thank you for your extremely sensitive and extremely true blog entry.
I constantly use my crearive writing to try to convince the mainstream that silence is a language in itself. My three close friends have and continue to prove this to me over and over again by coimmunicating through reactions and expressions. So from them and myself, thank you for understanding and recognising that very special language, silence.