In the Colloquy Doc for 1 December, this fantastic question was posted:

“This is about the previous chapter, but why is ‘legalese’ specifically considered the hardest form of English, and therefore only a person who knows it has 100% mastery of English? Couldn’t scientific jargon be considered harder, or ‘arcane’ dialects like Appalachian English? Why isn’t mastering all dialects of that language, not just a mainstream elitist one, the criteria for fluency?”

While most linguists wouldn’t consider 100% fluency at the ACTFL level of Distinguished (which is what ‘legalese’ or diplomatic-level linguistic production would represent), we do tend to focus on the Advanced level as where fluency is both comprehended and produced. The other part of the question, though, is an interesting one, and it’s what you’ll be discussing in the forum:

What does it mean to be ‘fully fluent’ in a language…or in a dialect? How do dialects fit into this equation? How do technical language aspects fit into this equation?

Instructions

• Post your initial post by Thursday of this week. Your response should be 100-150 words in length, and you should connect the elements in the question to our course in some way. You should also include your personal experiences, tying them into the course.
  • You won’t be able to see anyone else’s post before you write your own—and that’s on purpose. Use this time to reflect on your experiences. Remember that there are ‘no wrong answers’—so long as you use the information that we have learned thus far in the course to your work, then all is good!
• Between Friday and Sunday, please reply to at least two of your colleagues’ posts. Useful comments include engaging in dialogue, reflection, or suggestion. If you find that you agree with a given response and have nothing else to add, then I challenge you to reply to someone who has a different perspective than yours and explore the differences.
• Optional: If you have any helpful resources, feel free to share them in your posts/replies.

Evaluation

Your initial post is worth 6 points of extra credit, with the 2 colleague-reaction posts being worth 2 points each of extra credit–a total of 10 extra credit points. You can respond to more than 2 posts, but you will not receive further extra credit.