In her presentation on I.A. Richrds, Audrey explained the concept of Basic English. Richards and C.K. Ogden belived that communication and meaning could be simplified if the English language were restricted to 850 words. (If anyone is interested a list can be found at http://ogden.basic-english.org/words.html. Ogden's word list may be slightly different from Richards', but I am going to run with it!) To say that the list is basic in an understatement. On a side note, I find amusing that the concept is called Basic English, but the words 'basic' and 'English' are not on list. We would have to refer to it as 'The Simple Language Of Persons to the West' and hope that no one from another Eastern European, South American, or North American country takes offense and that New Zeland and Australia don't mind being ignored alltogether.
Whether this list is the one intended by Richards or not, the idea of only working with 850 words is limiting. I suppose there is creativity that can be found in the arragement of words, but I would still not want to read something so limited. Even with these limitations, I wondered how Basic Enlgish could be used in the teaching of grammar. Patrick Hartwell writes that "writers need to develop skills at two levels...the [second] broadly metalinguistic rather than linguistic, involves active manipulation of language with conscious attention to surface form" (579). In other words, a grasp of grammar and how to manipulate sentence structure is an important tool for a successful writer. One of the many tasks of the writing teacher, then, must be to help develop this ability. It may be possible to begin this process by using Basic English as a kind of dry run. We could teach students about the rules of grammar within a set of simple, easily understood words in order to achieve clarity as well as demonstrate language's ability to produce endless meanings with a finite number of words. Basic English could also be used with ESL students. Again, it may be easier for these students to learn English grammar using a more restricted English vocabulary. The idea of using Basic English with basic writers or ESL students does, of course, restrict the students' use of language at the outset. The question arises then, would we be doing more harm than good? In "Inventing the University," David Bartholome argues that students must find an entrance into academic discourse by bluffing: "To speak with authority they have to speak not only in another's voice but through another's code...they have to do it before they know what they are doing, before they have a project to participate in and before...they have anything to say" (622). Student's must, in other words, perform the linguistic equivalent of playing in your mother's high-heeled shoes. They must try on and experiment with the voice and authority of academia. Would, then, the use of Basic English restrict their ability to experiment? Or, is it more important to teach them the ability to use language before allowing them exposure to more complicated forms?
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I think it is limiting. In Spanish class my teacher told us to experiment with our words. She will tell us when we are wrong and don't make sense, but that's how we learn when to say what where. I think she was right. Even in English the same concept can be implemented. We can't all have the vocabulary of a ten year old our wholem lives. In middle school as well as high school my teachers encouraged us to expand our vocabulary, find a different way to say I am mad, show not tell. These all require words! And I'm assuming way more than the basics!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jennifer, for finding this list. I am grateful that "yes" is on the list, and think "sex" is an amusing inclusion. I like your notion of experimenting with language. I think limiting our word count would severely limit our ability to play and try on. There is an interesting connection between my two-year-old's experimentation with language and my experimentation in the academic theoretical discourse. Quite possibly, it is the same brain action that helps him eventually revise the word "nevella" into "vanilla," that helps us learn our way in academia. Yet, I suspect it is a more uncomfortable process for us as we learn by speaking through "another's code."
ReplyDeleteI agree 850 words are very limiting. There is a great benefit in being able to use more than 850 words, it definitely allows for experimenting with language, but as Jennifer points out, limiting our vocabulary would allow us to experiment with language as well. This would be a great exercise for sentence structure. If we wanted to maintain creativity in our writing while only using 850 words, we would be forced to experiment with sentence structure. We would also have to arrange words creatively to be sure we maintained our voice and gave our writing power.
ReplyDeleteThose 850 words were SO interesting! Thank you for posting that link. I found myself staring at the list for over half an hour, amazed by the words that did and did not make the cut. It is fascinating how both this word choice and our word choices reflect our likes (sex and smoking made the cut!), dislikes (poor excluded giraffes and rhinoceroses!), culture (we don't really need the word "plow" today, do we?), politics (noticeable absence of titles of authority!), religion (again absence of terminology typically associated with religion), etc. It made me think about the awesome power that words wield. They can marginalize or include, tear down or build up.
ReplyDeleteI think the use of the more complected forms might be challenging for students, but a necessary challenge. One that would give them a good reason to learn the use of language. Limiting their vocabulary (even for ESL students) means restricting the environments they can communicate it. The greater the mental lexicon, the greater flexibility a student would have in understanding and adapting to different environments. In other words, limitation bad. Richards and Ogden can go back to the seventeenth century on that particular issue.
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