Great article. As a child of Mexican immigrants who speak broken English, I learned to code switch quickly as a survival method. I do want to mention that the official term for what you are calling “white English” is really just the standardized American English. To call it white would actually not be accurate as many people use it as the standard. I don’t know if you remember but some time back in the late 90’s, teachers in Oakland really wanted to pass a measure that would help teach their students how to code switch from standard English to their particular vernacular. Studies show that children of homes with varying vernacular or dialect can master standard English better overall. Alas, people don’t understand that there is culture linked to vernaculars such as AAVE and the sooner children learn how to oscillate between the two (with no shame) the better opportunities they will have. Anyways, great article and thanks for posting.
The Subtle Act of the “Code Switch”
Joel Leon.
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