“A Tale of Two Tongues”

The poem A Tale of Two Tongues, written by Earl McKenzie, entails Miss Ida who
exclusively uses English for religion and Creole for day to gay interaction with people. In this
essay, the differences in language in stanza one and two will be discussed, the attitudes to the
different languages will be analyzed, and how overall this poem could be improved by a
television will also be discussed.

Firstly, different languages are used in stanza one and two. Firstly, Standard English is
prevalent in the first stanza. Certain vocabulary is used that is distinct to Standard English, for
example, “respectability” and “commandments”. The language used is formal due to the absence
of slangs. Secondly, Creole is prevalent through the use of calques. This is seen in line 15, “hard-
ears pickney to listen”. In addition, reduplication is portrayed through