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Discussion Questions
Chapter 7: The Verbal Code
1. How does your language affect the way you think?
2. When you hear people speak a dialect of English that is different from yours, how do you feel about
them?
3. Do you think your brand of English is better than others? Why or why not?
4. List five words that you and your friends use that few other people would recognize.
5. List five of your favorite phrases that you use repeatedly every day. How do these phrases define you?
6. What is your least favorite U.S. dialect? Why
ETHICS AND THE VERBAL CODE
Below are some situations for your students to consider that take into account concepts from Chapter
Seven.
1. In the United States, there is an English-only movement, also known as the Official English movement.
Members of this organization advocate that only the English language should be used in official
government operations and that English should be the official language in the United States. What do
you think? Should English be the official language of the Unites States? Or should people be allowed to
speak any language they wish? Some store owners across the country have signs in their store windows
that read: “Only English spoken here.” Does the linguistic variation we hear across the United States
erode our country’s identity?
2. There is a debate across the country as to whether Ebonics and/or Spanglish are valid languages.
Some argue that they are legitimate languages. Others argue that they are slang or jargon used by
groups too lazy to speak Standard English. What do you think?
3. Create a sentence that your students have never heard before, such as “I’m having Amelia Earhart
over for lunch today, we’re going to make tacos, and then she and I are going hand gliding over the
Pacific Ocean.” Note that this sentence has never been said before (until now) but everyone in the room
understood it. Explain the idea of generative grammar.
