How does Harper Lee use language to enhance characterization in To Kill a Mockingbird?
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Without the immigration of foreign-language speakers and new arrivals from Europe in the South, the English that many of the Southerners spoke in the 1930s retained traces of archaic forms whose usage was not as frowned upon as in the North where the evolution of English was more in place. One example is the use of the archaic, and now substandard word ain't as well as the dropping of the g with words ending in -ing. While Atticus Finch has been formally educated, he does not disapprove of his daughter's using the word ain't because in Maycomb it is merely colloquial and not considered substandard as in other areas. Thus, Scout and Jem are allowed to use this word by Atticus because he wants them to fit in with the other children, whereas in other parts of the United States, parents would insist that the children not use such "bad English."
Fitting in with one's social group is extremely important with both blacks and whites. This is why Calpurnia speaks standard English around the...
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