Today ‘Standard’ vs. ‘Nonstandard’ dialects African American English The ‘Ebonics’ controversy

Summary Daniels: “Everyone speaks a dialect.” “Speakers of all languages employ a range of styles and a set of subdialects or jargons.” “[Dialects] are intimately related to the … individuals who use them.”

Factors that affect dialect Geography Social status/class Occupation Age Ethnicity Gender 

Language variation Factors that affect dialect differences Nature of dialect differences Attitudes about different dialects Uses of different dialects Daniels “Value judgments about different dialects are matters of taste”

Standard vs. Non-standard Typically used by political leaders, upper classes, in the media; taught in schools Considered the dominant or ‘prestige’ dialect ≠ ‘correct’, ‘proper’, ‘better’ ‘Non-standard’ (Vernacular) any dialect not perceived as ‘standard’ ≠ ‘substandard’, ‘incorrect’, ‘improper’

Standard vs. Non-standard Some standard dialects of English Received Pronunciation (RP) (in UK) characterized by phonological features Standard American English (SAE) characterized by grammatical (morphological & syntactic) features (Ch. 14 William Labov) http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/labov/# http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/standardamerican/presidential/# RP is an accent, rather than a dialect. It is considered to be prestigious and is used by Britain’s upper class (it is also referred to as the ‘Queen’s English’), by the BBC, and is usually the accent taught to non-native speakers learning British English.

Overt vs. Covert prestige Attached to some dialect by the community that defines how people should speak to gain status in that community Covert prestige: Exists among nonstandard speakers and defines how people should speak to be considered members of that particular group

Hypercorrection Speakers overcorrect for ‘incorrect’ speech in wrong place, often to imitate standard dialect Phonological: e.g., r-insertion ‘Cuba(r)’, ‘idea(r)’ Lexical: ‘It is beyond my apprehension.’ ‘You misunderestimate me.’ – George W. Bush Grammatical: ‘Let’s keep this between you and I’ ‘Whom is calling?’

Language and ethnicity African American English (AAE) African American Vernacular English (AAVE) African American Language Black English Black Vernacular English Ebonics Inner City English

Language and ethnicity African American English (AAE) A continuum of language varieties that is spoken primarily by and among African-Americans But… Not all African-Americans speak AAE Not only African-Americans speak AAE It is probably more accurate to distinguish not between whites and blacks (or African-Americans), but between 3 groups: whites and blacks who are/are not U.S. slave descendants of African origin and whose families have/have not been in the U.S. for generations (Baugh 2006). Many African-Americans cannot trace their history to blacks who were once enslaved in American plantation.

Misconceptions about AAE It is ‘black slang’ It is a product of ‘lazy’ speech It is an inferior, simple form of English It is grammatically incorrect, illogical and has no rules These beliefs are based on social attitudes rather than linguistic facts.

AAE 1965: William Labov made first grammatical study of AAE, showing it to be regular, rule-governed

AAE Phonology Deletion of /r/, /l/ mo(re), gua(r)d, a(ll), he(l)p, Pa(r)is Simplification of consonant clusters han(d), las(t), chil(d)

Rule-governed Delete /r/, /l/ less often if … followed by vowel in next word (four o’clock, all or nothin’) Delete final consonant less often if … it carries meaning (e.g., plural: I got cats.) it differs in voicing from preceding consonant (e.g., pant, belt, false, part)

AAE Syntax Has structures common to many other languages/dialects (just not SAE)

AAE Multiple negation AAE: “He don’ know nothin’.” Russian: Oн ничего не знает. (He nothing not know) Spanish: Él no sabe nada. Middle English: “He never yet no villainy not said In all his life to no kind of creature.” (Chaucer, 1400)

AAE Deletion of ‘to be’ AAE: He __ my brother. Russian: Oн мой брать.

AAE Habitual ‘be’ ‘be’ is required when referring to habitual, repeated action The coffee be cold (every day). The coffee cold (right now). They be slow (all the time). They slow (today).

Bidialectalism Many African-Americans code-switch between AAE and SAE since AAE often is subject to much prejudicial stigma and ignorance (Watch clip, Ch. 23 “Linguistic Profiling”)

Linguistic Profiling John Baugh (Stanford U) Discrimination or prejudice based on the sound of someone’s voice/dialect http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/Ae1ff.mov http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/che1ff.mov http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/se1ff.mov

Oakland, CA Ebonics controversy

Background 1996: Blacks make up 53% of student population in Oakland schools, but… …80% of the suspensions …64% of the students held back each year …71% of students classified as having special needs (for ‘language deficiency’) Average grade was a D+

Precedent 1979: M.L. King, Jr. Elem. School v. Ann Arbor School Board (Ch. 25) Verdict: teachers failed “to take into account [the children's] home community dialect…” Court ordered Board to… …help teachers identify “Black English” …use knowledge of Black English in teaching students how to read SAE

Dec. 18, 1996: Oakland School Board passes Ebonics resolution Goals of resolution: to recognize Ebonics as ‘home language’ of many black children to help teachers understand Ebonics so as to change attitudes about it to help teachers use Ebonics as means of teaching black students to read, write

Media reaction: AAE as ‘illegitimate’ Mary McGrory (Boston Globe): Oakland Board is “legitimizing gibberish.” Gary Wills (Chicago Sun-Times): “Ebonics is just bad English” U.S. Educ. Sec. Richard Riley called AAE a “mere dialect” NY Times: referred to AAE as “black slang”

Media reaction: AAE as ‘joke’ Daily News, editorial: “Ebonics is a cruel joke…At best, Ebonics is street slang.” CA Gov. Pete Wilson called Ebonics a “ridiculous theory.” A Newsweek black columnist criticized the School Board for its “stale, silly rhetoric.” Time called the resolution “goofy.”

Media reaction: AAE as ‘disease’ The Economist: “The Ebonics Virus” Frank Rich ("The Ebonic Plague," NY Times): "There isn't a public personage of stature in the land, white or black, left or right, Democrat or Republican, who doesn't say that the Oakland, CA, school board was wrong.”

African-American reaction Jesse Jackson: “In Oakland some madness has erupted over making slang talk a second language. You don't have to go to school to learn to talk garbage.” Maya Angelou called resolution “very threatening” and was “incensed” by it Patricia Smith (Boston Globe): “What they're saying in Oakland is that those kids are too dumb to learn the way we did, and that's insulting.” Eldridge Cleaver (Black Panther official), compared official acknowledgement of AAE with condoning cannibalism

Support The Linguistics Society of America voted unanimously to support the Oakland resolution.

Discussion What are some reasons for such negative reaction? From the media? From African Americans? Misconceptions about AAE Implies African-Am. can’t learn SAE Stems from misinterpretation of wording of resolution

Wording of Oakland resolution ‘genetically based’ ‘primary language’ / ‘not a dialect’ ‘instruction in’ ‘bilingual’

The Genetic Issue: “African Language Systems [Ebonics] are genetically based.” Popular Interpretation: Blacks (of any nation) are biologically predisposed to speak Ebonics. Linguistic Understanding: "Genetic" refers to linguistic origins (or ‘genesis’), not biological predisposition.

The Separate Language Issue: “[Ebonics] is not a dialect of English.” Popular Interpretation: Ebonics is a separate language. Linguistic Understanding: Assumes the popular (and inaccurate) conception of ‘dialect’ as inferior/substandard form of a language. Also, suggests it is comprised of components from different (African) languages besides English.

The Teaching Issue: “…a program featuring African Language Systems principles in instructing African-American children both in their primary language and in English.” Popular Interpretation: Teachers will teach students how to speak Ebonics. Linguistic Understanding: Ebonics will be used selectively as aid in teaching SAE.

Use of Ebonics in the classroom http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/standardamerican/

Empirical studies “Correction” of nonstandard in school does not lead to increased standard use Use of nonstandard in teaching speeds, improves learning of standard in reading/writing African-Am. college students instructed on diffs. btw. AAE and SAE improved SAE writing skills

The Bilingual Issue: "the English language acquisition of African-American students is as fundamental as is application of bilingual education principles for others whose primary languages are other than English." Popular Interpretation: Speakers of Ebonics should qualify for federally funded bilingual education programs. Linguistic Understanding: Ebonics speakers should have access to programs that help them learn SAE.