ity. People relocate more frequently today than ever before, and the result is an
unprecedented blending of various dialects, especially in the South, which has
seen tremendous population growth owing to an influx of Northerners looking
for jobs, lower taxes, and warm weather.
Another factor may be the overall shift of Black English toward Standard
English, through the ongoing process of decreolization.^2 This shift is surprising
because in many respects segregation—or, more accurately, self-segrega-
tion—today is stronger than at any time since the early 1960s. Blacks and whites
alike generally call bussing a failure; educators as well as parents are reassessing
the educational benefits to minority children of integrated classrooms; and
self-segregated schools, usually with an Afrocentric curriculum, are being hailed
by many African Americans as the best answer to the persistent achievement
problems black children experience in integrated schools (see Orfield, 2004).
These factors should result in more separation between Standard English and
Black English. However, they are mitigated by the fact that, at the same time, af-
firmative action has been successful in increasing the educational and economic
opportunities among African Americans to such a degree that Black English
speakers have more contact with standard speakers than in the past.
In addition, Herrnstein and Murray (1994) reported that the black middle class
has been growing steadily for about 25 years, providing a compelling incentive to
shift toward Standard English as families move into middle- and upper-middle-
class communities. Likewise, Robert Harris (1999) noted that in 1998:
the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington,
D.C.-based think tank devoted to black economic and political participation
in American society, reported that for the first time in its surveys of black opin-
ion, more African Americans than whites responded favorably when asked
whether they were better off financially than in the previous year. This un-
precedented optimism among African Americans reflects the growth of a
strong black middle class, the lowest poverty rate since measurements
were started in 1959, and unemployment below 10 percent. These are
heady but fragile times for the newly emergent black middle class. (p. 1)The motivation to use Standard English would be strong among children of
the growing black middle class, who must match their dialect to that of their so-
cioeconomic peers if they hope to become insiders. Although the white middle
class has been shrinking during this same period, there are no incentives to
adopt a nonstandard dialect—to shift downward—among adults, although
there is for their children. Peer pressure will motivate them to embrace a non-
standard dialect.
DIALECTS 231
(^2) Some evidence of recreolization dos exist. For example, young Black English speakers who want to
emphasize an action will add a second participle to a verb to producewalked-ed, talked-ed,andstopped-ed.