Arrival: Starring Stanley Fish and Vershawn Ashanti Young

After reading Vershawn Ashanti Young’s “Should Writers Use They Own English?” I’ve come to the conclusion that if Stanley Fish and Vershawn Ashanti Young came into contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life, Fish definitely would not make it out alive.

Young writes a beautifully articulated antithesis to Stanley Fish’s “What Should Colleges Teach? Part 3,” where Fish argues there must be a standard dialect of English everyone must follow. He argues the claims by Fish are of ignorance, stubbornness, and self-interest, explains the difference between code switching and code meshing, and suggests a more diverse way of teaching language.

The values within Fish’s claims are deeply flawed. They are plagued with prejudice and elitism. Young argues against Fish, stating “He prolly unware that he be supportin language discrimination, cuz he appeal to its acceptable form–standard language ideology… the belief that there is one set of dominant language rules that stem from a single dominant discourse (like standard English) that all writers and speakers of English must conform to in order to communicate effectively.” Fish believes this must be further enforced in the education system and it applies to all people, regardless of racial or cultural background. However, Young points out that “Standard language ideology insist that minority people will never become an Ivy League English department chair or president of Harvard University if they dont perfect they mastery of standard English. At the same time the ideology instruct that white men will gain such positions, even with a questionable handle of standard grammar and rhetoric…” Fish expects others to conform to his way of speech and isn’t accepting of theirs. This mindset, much like Young noted, is far too akin to centuries ago where white imperialism and slavery thrived. Fish is so self-centered, he probably believes stars revolve around the earth like how he thinks everyone should speak his English. It’s ridiculous.

Code meshing is introduced by Young as a term to describe the blending of dialects and rhetorical styles of cultural groups in speech. On the other hand, code switching is unnatural and is the act of changing one’s speech on command. It’s time to focus more on code meshing, for it “is the new code switching; mulitdialectalism and pluralingualism in one speech act, in one paper,” ( Young ). This blending of dialects is seen in many famous writings that Young showcases. Code meshing is unique and adds style to one’s work. This method “allow writers and speakers to bridge multiple codes and modes of expression that Fish say disparate and unmixable,” ( Young ).

Language cannot be contained, for every dialect and form is beautiful and unique. The goal that Young wants to reach is to spread this perspective and eventually reduce prejudice. Young claims “we should be mo flexible, mo acceptin of language diversity, language expansion, and creative language usage from ourselves and from others both in formal and informal settings. Why? Cuz nobody can or gone really master all the rules of any language or dialect.” No more internalized oppression, prejudice, and discrimination. It’s time to be better accepting of everyone’s English.

So Fish, before you go upon to critique an alien’s dialect and try to convince them your English is superior, I would read what Young has to say.

P.S. If you haven’t already watched Arrival ( 2016 ), I greatly recommend it. It’s about a linguistics professor attempting to communicate and eventually learn the language of the aliens that come to earth.

Written by Justin Nguyen :D