I planned to write about authentic dialogue, but instead, I’m mourning the loss of auxiliary verbs.
“What y’all doin’?”
“We just talkin’.”
As a writer, I understand it adds realism to the story. As a human, it disturbs me that this type of dialogue is authentic. While I’m mourning auxiliary verbs, I should also mourn the loss of “G” from present participles and the acceptance of “y’all”. It’s difficult to grieve so many losses at once.
France has the Académie Française to protect French and monitor changes. Although they have no enforcement power, I’ve always admired their goal. There is no such organization for English. If the language disintegrates, it disintegrates.
Language is imperfect to begin with, even when used correctly. With the loss of grammar, we lose what little precision remained. Has the point of speaking become blathering on and on without comprehension taken into consideration? Does it no longer matter if the message is understood?
It’s not an issue of formal and informal speech anymore. I’ve always questioned languages with formal pronouns for “you”—a way to address people with respect until they permit you not to—it seems antiquated for people living past the Middle Ages. English lost formality long ago, but there was a custom of speaking correctly in work situations, at least.
What disturbs me the most about this loss of correct speech is not that it has disappeared from formal situations, but that in general, people don’t know how to speak correctly so they’ve given up on trying. “All that matters is that people are communicating,” is the last argument I heard, adding that those of us who object are snobs. It’s not snobbery. I feel that the ability to communicate effectively is lost when language structure and grammar fall apart. Sure, change my mind.
When my mother was alive, she often referred to a book she read years ago, “The Dumbing Down of America”, because she saw it happening. Language simplification was a part of it. I never read the book because as a teacher, I had a front-row seat to the event. The author was too narrow in his scope, however. It’s not just the United States.
I meant to write about dialogue authenticity. There was a tangent to take. Languages are alive and they change. I was hoping for evolution instead of devolution. Perhaps I should have written, “I hoping for evolution instead of devolution.” Rest in peace, auxiliary verbs.
