Let the Copula Be

In Sonya Lanehart’s essay, “Let the Copula Be,” Lanehart discusses that she previously believe the “good” and “bad” use of English. She grew up learning from her family, her school, and her teacher. She wanted to be a speech pathologist. She attended the University of Texas. She took couple of a classes and she realized that there are no such things as “good” and “bad” English. English was based on the historical use of Language.
As Sonja L. Lanehart attended the University of Texas, she took “History of English Language” and “American English” to pursue her dream of helping people speak better English. As she took these classes, she noticed that there are varieties of English all over the world today. She also read a book called, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. “Darlene trying to teach me how to talk. She say US not so hot. A dead country give- away. You say US where most folks say WE, she say, and peoples think you dumb. Colored peoples think you a hick and white folks be amuse. What I care? I ast. I’mhappy. But she say I feel more happier talking like she talk. . . . Every time I say something the way I say it, she correct me until I say it some other way. Pretty soon it feel like I can’t think. . . . Look like to me only a fool would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind.”
The more she learned, the more she believed that English can vary as long as we can understand each other. She previously corrected other people on their English especially her family. Now that she had learned about the History of English, she doesn’t want to correct others anymore. Others kept asking her for help and she noticed that they didn’t believe in themselves. She said, “I embarked on a new journey to find and reclaim my homeland. I have gone from one end of the continuum to the other, and I know it has been a change for the better. My family still expects me to correct them. I struggle with that because they believe in me more than themselves.”
I really enjoyed Lanehart’s personal experience with English. I don’t believe there is a “good” or “bad” use of English. People learned from where they came from, from their family, from their culture, from their school. In my deaf culture, deaf people don’t always write perfect English. My mom raised me to learn how to speak and how to write. I learned how to sign Exact English. Signing Exact English taught me how to write in proper word order. Most people in the deaf culture sign American Sign Language. The difference between signing Exact English and American Sign Language is that Exact English is signing every single word and American Sign Language is conceptual. For example, Exact English, I would sign, “I am going to the store.” American Sign Language would sign, “Store, I go.” But what matters the most is understanding each other. Learning how to communicate in English with each other is the most important thing.