A voice for everyone

Frank L. Cioffi

To my mind, the most interesting part of Frank L. Cioffi's book One Day in the Life of the English Language comes at the very end when he reflects on why proper language usage, which is what his book is about, is important.

"Language matters because its careful use makes society work more smoothly," he writes. This is one of those things that seem so obvious that we rarely give it much thought. Of course language makes society work more smoothly. To get along and to get things done, we need to communicate effectively with each other. That's what language is all about.

One of the many negatives about four years of an open U.S. border is that the majority of those flooding across that border do not speak English. This poses difficulties not just for assimilation but also for education, employment, law enforcement, medical care, shopping and even driving down streets and highways.

Yet even among those who speak the same language, misunderstandings and conflict can occur when one or more parties does not understand the meaning of words or cannot communicate clearly.

Cioffi goes even further when he says, "Giving everyone a voice is the start —no, more: a prerequisite — for a better, even a moral, culture." And so he moves from a smoothly operating culture to one that is better and finally to one that is more moral — all because of better language usage.

He is talking not just about speech, which has obvious importance. But now, perhaps more than ever before, it is important for people to be literate. So much communication is now done through texts, emails and other platforms that require reading and writing.

In a smooth running, better operating and more moral society, everyone has a voice, but that requires everyone knowing how to use that society's primary language.