John Rickford is a professor of linguistics at Stanford University, where he studies the relationship between language and social structure.
In this talk, he delves into vernacular English to show how differences in language can lead to distrust and disregard between communities. Rickford concludes by offering solutions to help bridge linguistic gaps across cultures.
He is the author of several books on language and culture, including "African American, Creole and Other Vernacular Englishes: A Bibliographic Resource."
Rickford’s talk, "Justice for Jeantel (and Trayvon): Fighting Dialect Prejudice in Courtrooms and Beyond,” was recorded on February 17, 2017 at UMass Amherst. Special thanks to the Linguistics Department and UMass Amherst Information Technology.
Note: This talk contains occasional use of the n-word.