What is the English language trap?

Answer 1

The "language trap" is a politically-loaded term. The term comes from the title of an academic paper, The Language Trap, by John Honey, published in the journal English in Education, Volume 18, Number 3, pp. 62-64 (September, 1984).

In the original paper, Honey presents his argument that English dialects, as opposed to Standard English, are both socially and cognitively deficient forms of the language and that the inferences drawn by listeners, that speakers of dialect are, to varying degrees, culturally, educationally and intellectually deprived, are justified. His criticism was directed toward the "bidialectical" approaches to the teaching of writing at the time.

Since then, the term has been exploited by factions on the left and right corners of the political space. The left uses it to criticize the social conditions that lead to such inferences among readers and listeners, calling the teaching of Standard English "linguistic Imperialism". The right uses it to criticize educational practices that deemphasize Standard English, leaving dialect speakers--in fact, not just in perception--educationally deprived and economically disadvantaged.