Using varieties of English to build credibility with a community

Whether you are American Indian or trace your ancestry to Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, or elsewhere, your heritage lives on in the diversity of the English language.

See how one Hawaiian writer uses a local variety of English to paint a picture of young teens hearing a “chicken skin” story from their grandmother.

“—So, rather dan being rid of da shark, da people were stuck with many little ones, for dere mistake.”

Then Grandma Wong wen’ pause, for dramatic effect, I guess, and she wen’ add, “Dis is one of dose times. Dis is da time of da mano.” She wen’ look at my kid brother ’Analu and said, “Da time of da sharks.”

Those words ended another of Grandma’s chicken skin stories. The stories she told us had been passed on to her by her grandmother, who had heard them from her grandmother. Always skipping a generation.

—RODNEY MORALES, “When the Shark Bites”

Notice how the narrator of the story uses both standard and nonstandard varieties of English—presenting information necessary to the story line mostly in standard English and using a local, ethnic variety to represent spoken language.

In a similar vein, Zora Neale Hurston’s work often effectively mixes African American vernacular with standard English.

My grandmother worried about my forward ways a great deal. She had known slavery and to her my brazenness was unthinkable.

“Git down offa dat gate-post! You li’l sow, you! Git down! Setting up dere looking dem white folks right in de face! They’s gowine to lynch you, yet. And don’t stand in dat doorway gazing out at ’em neither. Youse too brazen to live long.”

Nevertheless, I kept right on gazing at them, and “going a piece of the way” whenever I could make it.

—ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Dust Tracks on a Road

In each of these examples, one important reason for the shift from standard English is to demonstrate that the writer is a member of the community whose language he or she is representing and thus to build credibility with others in the community.

Take care, however, in using the language of communities other than your own. When used inappropriately, such language can have an opposite effect, perhaps destroying credibility and alienating your audience.

For Multilingual Writers: Choosing appropriate words