Ann, thank you for your post. You've actually helped lay the groundwork for a tangential discussion on language and culture in my next thread, which will discuss what determines whether a communication system is, in fact, a language. (I just finished writing the first draft of the post this morning. I'll probably post it by the end of the weekend.)
Julie, you make a good point about multiple standards for English. And you are giving me an opportunity to relate an anecdote I had wished to mention, but which had not fit nicely into my earlier post...Many years ago, I shared an office. When my officemate was not in the room, I would play music without using headphones. One day, he came in and heard a bit of my recording...It was of a Scotsman singing some Child Ballads. The songs were a capella and were in Scots. They were perfectly intelligible to me, and I had assumed they would be to other Americans, as well. Apparently, I was mistaken. My officemate listened to a few bars and then asked me whether the song was in Hebrew. Not only did he not understand what was being sung, he couldn't even identify the language. (As an aside, I personally think of Scots as a dialect of English. I am neutral with regards to Britain's politics, so I am only using linguistic similarities as the basis of my opinion.)
I'll bet your friend likes Tigger.
Code-switching is a topic near and dear to my heart. My dissertation actually involved a phenomenon closely tied to code-switching; specifically, the use of individual American Sign Language signs by hearing individuals who were communicating primarily in spoken English. On occasion, the individuals did truly code-switch -- they would stop speaking, make a sign, and then resume speaking. Most of the time, however, the signs occurred simultaneously with speech. The signs were used both to emphasize and elaborate on what was said.
Joy,
Lynn
