I talked to my parents about the way that they spoke when they were growing up. My dad lived on Staten Island all his life, and my mom is from Queens. My dad said that he has met people who “talked funny” – meaning they had strong ‘New York’ accents. My mom lived in Queens with my Grandmother who is originally from Slovenia and has a very strong accent. From birth, my mom slightly gained a part of that accent but she said it quickly faded out as she knew more words. In her childhood, my grandmother would often mix English words with German words and that helped my mom learn a little bit of that language; she says that in some aspects, the two languages are too different on the surface.

They often say that my “accent” is different from theirs because of the way I talk – as well as other people my age talk. I think they notice a difference because of the slang I use from time to time and the certain way I talk. The way that slang words are used is very interesting; I don’t quite remember, but my mom got out some old letters she used to write to her friends and certain slang was recognizable but seemed to have slightly different meanings. 

Lastly, I asked them if any spelling of words had changed over the years, and they said they hadn’t noticed anything.

One word originating somewhere else and borrowed by English is “illusion.” The word was borrowed from the French in the 14th century, which itself was derived from the Latin; it has many meanings but the most common is “deceptive appearance.” Similarly, this is close to our English definition of something the senses are likely to perceive incorrectly. When looking at the word “illusion” (English vs. French) the spelling on the IPA chart changes while the spelling of the actual word does not. In English, the IPA version of the word is / iˈluʒən / while the French version is / illyzjõ /. Despite both words being spelled the same, the pronunciation is clearly different. The English pronunciation is “(ill-ou-shun)” while the French pronunciation is “(ill-lou-ze-un).” From centuries of education and literature, it is interesting to see how far one word has traveled.

When I was in elementary school, it seemed that I did a lot wrong. The way I spoke, wrote my letters, and wrote sentences were deemed ‘incorrect’ by many teachers at that time. What I find funny looking back on it is that I tried to correct myself – and I would, but I would always go back to the way I originally spoke. My writing improved over time with different teachers assigning work that challenged the way I wrote, but my language is still just the way I talk. When I speak I sometimes stutter, have a hard time finding the words I wanna say, and pause for a moment before speaking. I also very rarely shift the way I speak depending on who I am speaking to. For the most part, I will speak to a friend the same way I may speak to a manager or teacher – not in a bad way or anything, but in a way that is comforting and casual. Using certain words in sentences may spark a foul look amongst people; for example when people say “ain’t” or use “was” instead of “were.” I.e. “You was there with me and we ain’t got no more.” This sentence is perfectly understandable. If a sentence or phrase is understandable, then why must it be deemed incorrect? The question lies in whether the vocabulary follows the correct grammar laws or if it’s ‘incorrect’ – at least that’s what my teachers told me. Finally, prescriptivism gives power to the speaker and allows them to function the vocabulary to their likeness. I confide in prescriptivism because I’m able to get my point across without worrying about what grammar laws I may break.