This is a discussion I've wanted to have within peer groups for a while.
Being of Caribbean heritage, I'm used to hearing "English" in two forms. American and Caribbean Patois. When I was a child, my parents spoke to me in patois during cultural activities, whenever they were trying to drive home important life lessons, around other Caribbean people, most normal conversation between us really. American English was something used for business or casual discussion with non Caribbean neighbors.
Growing up in a predominantly Hispanic environment, I always noticed that parents communicated using English vs. Spanish at specific times and moments much like my parents when communicating in certain ways.
My current partner speaks 5 languages. When interacting, she casually switches between languages to express certain feelings and emotions. She also like to point out how framing certain arguments can potentially work better in another language because of its operation rules.
What really got me interested in this is that I've found it harder to express myself in recent times using English. I seem unable to formulate a point although we have such a large vocabulary. It's like none of the vocabulary really means anything because the connotations, context, rules of the language, may guide the reader in an entirely different conclusion or take an unintended path because of how the words are arranged and used.
Yet, if I express that same idea to a peer using casual ebonics or something of the sort, they seem to understand the point being made easier. So, I'm not sure if this more people not really understanding the language or the language being inadequate for that purpose in of itself.