Read the excerpt from "mother tongue." lately, ive been giving more thought to the kind of english my mother speaks. like others, i have described it to people as broken or fractured english. but i wince when i say that. it has always bothered me that i can think of no other way to describe it other than broken, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. what best supports the inference that tan believes nonstandard english is no less valid than standard english? tan spends a lot of time thinking about her mothers fractured english. tan has trouble thinking of descriptive words when she is writing. tans american education makes it difficult for her to understand her mother. tan winces when she describes her mothers english as broken.