Do You Speak American Language Analysis

Popular recording artist, Rihanna, recently dropped a new single titled “Work.” In the song, she incorporates many words from a dialect called Jamaican Patois, an example being her singing “you said me haffi work.” People rushed to Social Media to complain that the song was annoying because she was speaking gibberish, not knowing that “haffi” is an actual word in a different culture. In the article “Do You Speak American?” by Robert MacNeil a similar issue is brought forward to a broad audience of educated, middle-class people. The audience can be derived from a 2007 USA Today report that stated that 71% of readers attended some college with most of them being middle-class people. In that 71%, 43% obtained a Bachelor’s degree or more. MacNeil …show more content…
To defend a point about why African American language or Ebonics is not ruining the English language, MacNeil says, “to linguists, the fault lies not in a particular dialect, but in what attitudes others bring towards it.” MacNeil also notes that “in the linguistic community, black English is recognized as having its own internal consistencies and grammatical forms” (310). These quotes show the ineffectiveness of the rhetorical device to certain members of the audience as MacNeil doesn’t mention who the linguists are. Therefore, the audience doesn’t know if these linguists are trustworthy and will not be persuaded by them. Additionally, MacNeil’s article takes a biased stance on the issue, so he chooses linguists that only support this view. Some members of the audience will realize this bias and discredit MacNeil’s …show more content…
He mocks Simon as a “curmudgeon” and “the Prince of Prescriptivists” (307). A “curmudgeon” is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as someone who is easily angered and who often complains. If he points out that Simon complains a lot or is easily angered, it is easy to convince an audience why Simon’s view on dialects is wrong. It may not work on the intended audience, however, as most people do not know what a “curmudgeon” is, so some will not understand the point he is making. It can also be seen as ineffective as some will interpret it again as MacNeil purposely trying to discredit Simon because his own argument is weak, thus they will not be persuaded. It can also be seen as ineffective to the intended audience and even the out-group as many may not know who Simon is, so discrediting him does not strengthen MacNeil’s view. Nonetheless, it can be effective as he calls him a “Prince” showing that he acts like he’s better than common folk. This may encourage the middle-class to agree more with MacNeil, the common man, over Simon, the “Prince.” Using “curmudgeon” can also be effective, however, for those that do know what the word means and know who Simon is because they understand that Simon is being discredited and may be persuaded by