Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 11:38:08 -0800 (PST) From: Aaron Fox Subject: 8.55, Disc: Ebonics (fwd) Sender: owner-linganth@cc.rochester.edu To: linganthro list MIME-version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 20:39:36 -0500 From: linguist@linguistlist.org To: Multiple recipients of list LINGUIST Subject: 8.55, Disc: Ebonics LINGUIST List: Vol-8-55. Sun Jan 19 1997. ISSN: 1068-4875. Subject: 8.55, Disc: Ebonics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. T. Daniel Seely: Eastern Michigan U. Review Editor: Andrew Carnie Associate Editors: Ljuba Veselinova Ann Dizdar Assistant Editor: Sue Robinson Technical Editor: Ron Reck Software development: John H. Remmers Editor for this issue: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar =================================Directory 1) Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 16:10:41 -0600 From: Peter Daniels Subject: Re: 8.48, Disc: Ebonics 2) Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:04:28 -0500 From: Rich Rath Subject: Re: 8.48, Disc: Ebonics 3) Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 17:58:39 -0500 From: lexes@atl.mindspring.com Subject: Ebonics 4) Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:32:02 -0600 (CST) From: debaron@uiuc.edu (Dennis Baron) Subject: Ebonics -------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 16:10:41 -0600
From: Peter Daniels Subject: Re: 8.48, Disc: Ebonics

Listening to yet another talk-radio discussion of "Ebonics" the other night-- on which Conrad Worrill actually quoted with approval my three-word contribu- tion to the LSA resolution on the topic--I realized that one source of confu- sion between linguists and the general public has not been addressed in the rare cases when linguists have been asked to comment.

The journalists (and the public) want to know whether "Ebonics" is a "language" or a "dialect." As I said at the LSA meeting--to general disapproval--our use of "dialect" is different from the public's, since the public views "dialect" as a pejorative; indeed, I shouldn't have assented when Jerry Sadock suggested Geoff Pullum's speech as a "dialect" sensu popularo, because Dr. Pullum has what any American would call a "British accent"--by definition a Good Thing, hence not a dialect.

I believe we have to communicate the following: linguists *begin* with the assumption that "Ebonics" *is* (a) "language," because it's a coherent etc. etc. communication system that, obviously, works for its speakers. This assump- tion is orthogonal to the question of whether it's "a separate language," "a dialect of English," etc.--those are questions that aren't particularly inter- esting to the linguist; we simply recognize that it exists and investigate its structure and use.

So--if any of us ever gets onto a talk radio program, can we point out right up front that "Ebonics" is a language, and whether it's identical with, totally different from, or similar to some extent to Standard English has no bearing on its importance?

(C. Worrill is professor of African American studies at Northeastern Illinois University, and is a well-known public figure in Chicago education circles.)


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:04:28 -0500
From: Rich Rath
Subject: Re: 8.48, Disc: Ebonics


>1)
>Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1996 14:13:40 -0800 (PST) From: Johanna Rubba Subject: Ebonics

>I also detect some misinformation underpinning the Ebonics proposal. Did Toni Cook (Oakland school board pres.) really say that Ebonics is genetic?? Somehow part of the genetic heritage of the grandchildren of African slaves? With features typical of 'West African language'*? Any linguist should definitely scoff at this!

I read somewhere else (cannot remember where) that the genetic reference meant genetic as in the linguistic usage, i.e. genealogy, not (its back-formation?) genes.
:
:
>*I'm aware of the West African pidgin/creole hypothesis as the origin of AAVE, and don't mean to disparage that here; the notion that all West African languages might be uniform enough to contribute the same features to AAVE is what I would question.

The best argument for this (actually, their argument would be phrased differently) I have seen to date is Sutcliffe, David, (w/ John Figueroa), System in black language_. Clevedon ; Philadelphia : Multilingual Matters, Ltd., c1992.


Regards,
Rich Rath
Brandeis Universtiy
-------------------------------- Message 3 -------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 17:58:39 -0500
From: lexes@atl.mindspring.com
Subject: Ebonics

For those interested in the application of linguistics in public school classrooms - this morning's Atlanta Constitution published the following:

>The Atlanta Constitution, January 9, 1997, p.B1
>A diffferent approach to teaching language by Doug Cumming
>STAFF WRITER
>When the DeKalb County fifth-graders answered a question with a double negative - 'not no more' - the teacher asked, 'Would you code-switch for me?'
>The student responded: 'Not any more.'
>While the Oakland, Calif., schools have drawn fire by declaring Ebonics, or 'black Englsh,' a separate language worthy of classroom use, DeKalb County has been quietly targeting the same dilemma for the last 10 years without raising a debate over whether such dialect is right or wrong.
>DeKalb's approach is to teach children to switch from their 'home speech' to 'school speech' at appropriate time and places, such as the classroom. 'Home speech' is respected, but not racially defined or encouraged as an appropriate speech in the classroom.
>In a fifth-grade class at Cary Reynolds Elementary School this week, teacher Jeff Carter told the 20 students there are many types of home speech, but only one type of 'school speech. /sic/ 'Why?' Carter asked.
>Because when you talk, everybody can understand,' said Emani Morris. DeKalb's 'Bidialectal Communication,' which is taught to every fifth- and sixth-grade student in eight selected schools rather than singling out students, teaches that the dialect they might use at home is valuable and 'effective' in that setting, but not for school, for work - or for American democracy.
>We call it bidialectal because we're trying to espouse the notion that you may need more than one way of speaking,' said program director Kelli Harris-Wright, who designed the program when then-Superintendent Robert R. Freeman asked for a way to address the growing problems of students speaking non-standard English.
>Last year, about 600 students took the course, supported by $500,000 a year from federal Title 1 funds for low-income areas. Harris-Wright said she knows of no other program like DeKalb's. State and federal officials said they also did not know whether similar programs exist. But they said such programs would be eligi ble for Title 1 money, not bilingual education aid, as Oakland sought.
>When the program began, DeKal b was especially sensitive to the gap between so-called 'black' and 'standard' English because of the dramatic increase in black enrollment during those years of a massive desegregation court case, Harris-Wright said.
>Today, DeKalb officials de-emphasize race, pointing out that Cary Reynolds and two other schools have more internationa than black students.
>Cary Reynold's principal, Dorothy Blackwell, insisted that it is 'absolutely wrong' to discuss the bidialectal program in light of race. 'We shouldn't join the Oakland tirade,' she said.
>DeKalb's approach is also distinct from Oakland's proposal in not using dialect to teach other subjects, such as standard English. Instead, it uses standard English to teach students to become aware of how and when to switch to standard speech.
>The program has won a 'center of excellence' designation from the National Council for Teachers of English. Last year, students who had taken the course had improved verbal test scores at every school. At Cary Reynolds, their scores rose 5.2 percentage points.
>The sutdents, by analyzing video-tapes, are taught to contrast the organization, enunciation, grammar, body English and intonation of dialect and of standard English. The two types of speech are not presented as right or wrong, but 'effective' or 'non-effective,' depending on who is being addressed, where you are and what you are talking about.

Clifford L. Lutton, Jr., Ph.D.
Learning Experiences
Atlanta, Georgia
lexes@atl.mindspring.com
-------------------------------- Message 4 -------------------------------

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:32:02 -0600 (CST) From: debaron@uiuc.edu (Dennis Baron)
Subject: Ebonics

At the risk of reduplicating, here is my revised op-ed essay, which will appear in some form close to this in the Chronicle for Higher Education (which will no doubt supply its own title).

Hooked on Ebonics

by Dennis Baron

The word of the year so far is "ebonics." Although it's been around since the 1970s, few people had heard of it before last Dec. 18, when the Oakland, Cal., School Board unanimously passed a resolution declaring ebonics to be the "genetically-based" language of its African American students, not a dialect of English. In the full text of its resolution, printed in the San Francisco Chronicle (Jan. 2, 1997, p. A18), the school board called ebonics a separate language derived from African linguistic roots, with heavy borrowings from English vocabulary. The board declared its intention to instruct "African American students in their primary language [ebonics] for the combined purposes of maintaining the legitimacy and richness of such language . . . and to facilitate their acquisition and mastery of English language skills." Claiming that "African-American people and their children are from home environments in which a language other than English is dominant," the board indicated that it would also seek bilingual education funding from the federal government for the teaching of standard English. After a great deal of negative publicity, Oakland backed away from some aspects of its original resolution. Oakland now plans to follow a less controversial path, educating teachers about the language of their students, and teaching students how to translate from ebonics to standard English.
I strongly agree with Oakland's efforts to recognize and value the language that students bring with them to school. But I do not think that the method chosen, teaching them English as if it were a foreign language, is likely to move students from ebonics to a more mainstream variety of English. Nor do I think that acquiring standard English will guarantee success, either in school or in the world of work.

The linguist Max Weinreich once said that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy. The schoolchildren of Oakland, who are predominantly African American, do not have the kind of power that brings their speech linguistic prestige. The school board tried to do something to change the negative image of black language by calling it ebonics and asking teachers to learn something about the speech of their students.
But the American public reacted to the school board's declaration of linguistic independence as if to an act of secession. Black leaders and intellectuals condemned the board's decision. They denounced black speech as slangy, non-standard, and unworthy of the classroom; they condemned as racist the separatism that would result from any recognition of black English. They warned that ebonics would give schoolchildren a misplaced sense of pride and that students' continued use of black English would exclude students from higher education and the corporate boardrooms of the nation.
The U.S. Department of Education immediately reaffirmed the position it took during the Reagan administration that black English was a dialect of English, not a distinct language eligible for bilingual-education funds. And a delegate to the Virginia House introduced a bill to prohibit Virginia schools from teaching ebonics.
Stung by the negative reaction, the Oakland school board backed away from its initial claims, assuring the public that it never intended to teach students anything but standard English. But it was clear from televised clips of Oakland schoolrooms and from statements by Oakland educators that the schools already were using exercises in which their students translated from "ebonics" to "standard English."
After the initial round of criticism, some observers sought to explore the positive side of the Oakland move. Perhaps approaching black English as a foreign language might help students become fluent in standard English when other methods have failed. And educators nationwide began affirming the need to learn more about the language of at-risk students. Even its harshest critics aligned themselves with Oakland once they were assured that the schools would not burden their students with a second-class dialect.
At the least, the Oakland school board's action has focused public debate on a number of important linguistic questions:

Is ebonics a separate language, or is it a dialect of English? We can say that two people use the same language-or dialects of that language-if they can understand each other's speech. If they can't communicate, they are speaking separate languages. But linguists define languages politically and culturally, as well as by degree of comprehension. Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible, yet both are Chinese. They are held together by an army and a navy and share a common writing system as well as a common cultural definition of what it means to be Chinese. Serbian and Croatian are mutually intelligible, though they use different alphabets, but because of their two separate armies what once was Serbo-Croatian is now considered by Serbs and Croats to be two separate languages.

Most linguists, myself included, think of black English, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a dialect of English. It may exhibit some features derived from African languages, but it is readily recognizable and understandable as English. Afrocentrists may see a political and cultural advantage in calling AAVE ebonics and treating it as an independent language, but even Oakland has backed away from this separatist position.

In any case, the linguistic differences that do exist in the United States are symptoms of separateness, not its causes. Language barriers are erected at social borders as well as national frontiers. When social mobility for speakers of a language is low, dialects abound; when mobility is high, linguistic as well as other distinctions tend to disappear. It seems to me that if Oakland is prepared to characterize its students as strangers in a strange land, in need of learning English as a second language, it is doing so out of a fear that Americans really are drifting farther apart.

Are ebonics and other dialects of English simply incorrect, sloppy speech?
American schools, particularly in the northern United States, have treated AAVE as a form of language requiring remediation by speech pathologists or special-education teachers. But linguists have known for some time that non-standard dialects, such as AAVE and Hawaiian Creole, to name another example, are consistent, legitimate varieties of language, with rules, conventions, and exceptions, just like standard English. These dialects do not carry the prestige of standard English, but they influence and enrich the standard language, keeping it vibrant and constantly evolving. Examples from black English abound: in an article on ebonics, the New York Times cited Richard Nixon's use of "right on!" "Rip-off," "chill out," and "dis" are other popular borrowings. Hawaiian gives us "aloha," and Hawaiian Creole expressions permeate travel brochures as well as the English of the islands.

Furthermore, we know that all speakers of a language are able to adapt it to fit changing social circumstances. Given sufficient exposure to new situations, all language users can switch between prestige and non-prestige forms, between formal and informal ones, between intimate and polite ones, without explicit instruction or conscious translation. Americans, no matter what dialect they speak, are exposed to standard English through television. As a result, AAVE is not all that different from standard English. It seems then that it takes more than dialectal differences to account for the lack of success in school.
Are foreign-language teaching techniques useful in teaching English-speaking students standard English?

Although educators using translation techniques have claimed success in raising the scores of ebonics speakers on standardized tests, others find these claims unproved. Moreover, it seems alienating and misdirected to teach English as a second language to students who already speak English as their first language, if you believe as I do that ebonics is just a dialect of English.

When the Oakland school board explained that it was simply having students translate from ebonics to standard English, rather than teaching students both ebonics and standard English, many critics began to relax, for that strategy looked like something they could live with. But second-language educators do not rely on translation alone. Instead they offer a rich combination of immersion and explicit teaching: students not only study vocabulary and grammar, they converse, role play, read newspapers and magazines, watch television and movies, and most important, interact with fluent users of the language in authentic communication situations. Similarly, students who speak nonstandard varieties of English will become fluent in the more mainstream forms of English only if they can first break down social barriers and participate as equals in authentic, mainstream social contexts.
Even with such varied methods, foreign language instruction in our schools does not typically create fluent speakers. Everyone who has taught or taken a foreign language in school knows the difficulty of getting students to learn a language well in a classroom situation. Simply translating from one language to another is never enough to achieve fluency. It would be a mistake, too, to think that Oakland's plan for translating from black to standard English will solve the reading and writing problems of the students in its schools. Do we really want to condemn students to speaking English as well as the typical American high-schooler speaks French or Spanish?

Don't students need standard English to be successful in school and in the workplace?
Perhaps. But it is also true that discrimination-on account of their language-against people who speak non-standard English usually masks other, more sinister forms of prejudice. Women and members of every ethnic and racial minority have found that mastering the mainstream varieties of English-say, legal language, business English, or technical jargon-by itself will not guarantee them equal treatment. Even if your language is irreproachable, if teachers, employers, or landlords want to discriminate against you, they will find another way to do so.

Standard English may be necessary, but it is seldom sufficient, for school and workplace success. And if our sports heroes, media celebrities, and public figures are anything to judge by, success is often achieved without standard English. In addition, few of the success stories of first-generation immigrants to this country involve the learning of impeccable standard English.

Is ebonics only "a black thing"?