Re: describing the minority as literate is a circular argument?

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Quoting Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>:

> 
> IMO, there is a difference between not knowing proper grammar and
> making a deliberate decision to use improper grammar for effect.  

No argument that there is a difference, but I'm not sure how it's relevant here.

To start with whether poor grammar is used deliberately or for effect doesn't
change the claim that grammar isn't directly connected to effective communication.

More importantly, if you look at writing by the marginally literate, or at
transcriptions of the speech of the uneducated, you can find as many memorable
passages as you can in the writing or speech of the literate and educated. I
read a lot of biography, and I've been very struck by this observation in
reading accounts written by British sailors and the poor in the 19th Century. I
also remember reading an excerpt from the journal of Blackbeard the pirate which
doesn't even use proper sentences, yet is still extremely vivid.

-- 
Bruce Byfield 

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