The History of English
by Andrea Kuchlewska

A play in which the history of English collides with American history. How did the standard American dialect become the standard? Why did the London dialect of Middle English, and not the dialect spoken in Nottingham, become the strain which later developed into Modern English? Was it better than the others? What is a dialect? Why is any of this crucial to our national dialogue?

Over a decade after the Oakland Unified School District’s decision to use African American English as a tool in teaching standard American English in the classroom, we still haven’t had a fruitful national dialogue about dialect differences. Then and now, most people who speak publicly about language issues, including educators, policy makers, and columnists, remain uninformed about the nature of language and the social issues surrounding it. In 1997 the mainstream press dropped the story of the “Oakland Ebonics controversy” as quickly as it picked it up, but left the country hanging in an unfinished conversation characterized by misconceptions and prejudices. The History of English picks up this dialogue in 2010 and asks: How far have we come? Why do we use language to separate us not only from each other, but also from ourselves? What will we do moving forward?