1. Ebonics
Cross-Cultural Communications
Wenzao Ursuline College of
Languages
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/img/publication/covers/ebonics_250.jpg

2. Ebonics Emerges
• African-American Vernacular English
(AAVE) — sometimes known as Black
English or Ebonics — is used by many
African Americans, particularly those from
working-class or inner-city areas.
• Black English clearly differs from other
varieties of English in its vocabulary,
grammar and pronunciation, but simply
attaching it to one population group
oversimplifies a complex situation.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/words/sezwho/socialsetting/

3. Ebonics: The True Language of
Black Folks
• formally defined in 1975 when Williams
published an edited volume, Ebonics: The True
Language of Black Folks. In it, he classified
Ebonics as the
• …linguistic and paralinguistic features which on
a concentric continuum represent the
communicative competence of the West African,
Caribbean, and United States slave descendant
of African origin. (Williams, 1975)
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/AAVE/ebonics/

4. Discrimination
• But even after slavery was abolished in the U.S.,
a recurrent combination of racial segregation and
inferior educational opportunities prevented many
African Americans from adopting speech patterns
associated with Americans of European ancestry.
• As a result, generations of white citizens
maligned or mocked speakers of AAVE, casting
doubt on their intelligence and making their
distinctive speaking patterns the object of racist
ridicule.

5. McLean, Va.: What about "Ebonics" -- do you think it's
detrimental to a large part of our society?
• Robert MacNeil: Ebonics is another word for what
linguists call the African American Vernacular
English, a dialect of English. The controversy over
Ebonics arose when the Oakland, Calif. school
system claimed that it was a different language
and therefore qualified for federal funds to finance
the teaching of ESL, English as a Second
Language. The furor that arose greatly confused
the issue, which remains important in American
schools, and an obstacle to children from the inner
cities who have more trouble learning to read and
a higher dropout rate than other American
children.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4207-2005Jan12.html

6. Robert MacNeil:
• In our TV series and book we explore an experiment in
Los Angeles schools to teach 5th graders the difference
between their home speech and mainstream American
English. Steve Harvey, a popular radio host in LA and an
African American, says that to get on in this country "you
need to be bilingual." Unfortunately many teachers, black
and white, so look down on "street talk" that it prejudices
them against the children, whom they sometimes treat
as uneducable. The LA experiment is an effort to treat
the black dialect more sympathetically and without racist
putdowns to bring the children along into standard
English.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4207-2005Jan12.html

7. Effects on Education
• Many educational policies and services
are determined based on a child’s native
language. Students who speak languages
other than English may be eligible for
special programs to help advance their
English fluency.

8. "Ebonics"
http://www.blifaloo.com/humor/ebonicssmprog.jpg

9. "Ebonics"
• "African American Vernacular English"
• or "Vernacular Black English."

10. Controversy
• A wave of controversy followed the Oakland,
Calif., school board decision on Dec. 18 to use
Ebonics, a dialect primarily used by African
Americans across the country, as a method of
teaching standard English. The debate continued
at the University.
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1997/jan/01-17-97/news/ff.html

11. Linguistic Features
• Ebonics is recognized as a social dialect
by the American Speech, Language and
Hearing Association. Its earmarks include
the unconjugated use of verb "to be" - "He
be hollering at us"

12. Linguistic Features
• and dropping consonants at the end of
words. Ebonics is also marked by double
negatives, as in, "Didn't nobody see
nothing."

13. Where does it stem from?
• "I believe Ebonics stems from slavery,
when my ancestors secretly learned
English because they were not allowed to
read or write. Such oppression impaired
them from standard English," Moore said.
"But today, we see the great-great-
grandchildren of those enslaved, who not
only eloquently speak standard English,
but are prominent citizens of our country.
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1997/jan/01-17-97/news/ff.html

14. language and discrimination
• "One such person was Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr."
• "When I think of Dr. King, I envision a man with
not only an open mind, but an open heart - one
who wanted the best for the world at whole," she
said. "I believe Dr. King would agree to trying
anything in hopes of reaching equality."
• Lippi-Green is writing a book about language and
discrimination that may come with it, "English
with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and
Discrimination in the United States."

15. Ebonics is detrimental to the
development of students
• "As an African American, I am quite
disturbed over the recent Ebonics issue. I
feel that incorporating Ebonics into the
classroom environment will further
deteriorate an already battered English
language," Austin said. "More importantly,
using 'Ebonics' in schools promotes and
perpetuates the widening gap between
Caucasians, African Americans and other
minority groups."
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1997/jan/01-17-97/news/ff.html

16. Nuances of terminology
• The phrase "Ebonics" was developed in
1973 and is known to have roots in West
Africa.
• The word is a combination of "ebony" and
"phonics," and refers to the dialect spoken
primarily by some African Americans.

17. Disgrace
• "Our slave ancestors had no choice but to
speak a broken, tattered form of English,
as they were not given the education to
speak properly," Austin said. "If we as a
people continue to speak as if we lack
education we are both disgracing the
memory of our ancestors' struggles to
make the world better for us, and we are
disgracing ourselves."

18. AAVE
• Lippi-Green said she prefers to call it
African American Vernacular English.
• "AAVE is a functioning, productional form
of English. The misfortune is that people
refuse to listen," she said. "People need to
be more open-minded."

19. Reaction
• University NAACP President Loren
McGhee said Ebonics is a step in the
wrong direction.
• "Insinuating that black students do not
have the intellectual capacity to learn
'Standard English' is not only politically
incorrect, but racist in itself," she said.

20. Reaction
• Jackson is not the only black person who
has voiced his opinion. Poet Maya
Angelou and talk-show host Oprah
Winfrey both disagree with the idea of
Ebonics. However, it does have
supporters, including Pulitzer Prize-
winning author and Princeton University
Prof. Toni Morrison.

21. • "African Americans as a group have been
systematically excluded in this society for
generation. It has been a constant
struggle for all of us to succeed in this
country, to improve our lives in
comparison to the lives of our ancestors,"
Austin said. "I feel as if promoting Ebonics
- a gross and degrading deviation of
standard English - will only push our
progress as a people back a few hundred
years."

22. • Lippi-Green said Ebonics causes such a hot
debate because it raises an important question,
which needs to be addressed.
• "Why are people threatened of an idea that
AAVE speakers refuse to be in the
mainstream?" she said.
• She said white people know they are not
supposed to discriminate, but cannot understand
why a community still wants to remain different.
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1997/jan/01-17-97/news/ff.html

23. • Fairfax, Va.: I heard what you said
yesterday on NPR re: Black English and
agree completely. I wish we'd stop
maligning it and study it seriously as a
dialect the way we do other regional or
ethnic dialects. I think it's a subtle form of
racism. We did the same thing with jazz,
thinking it primitive, and now know it is one
of the most sophisticated music forms out
there.

24. • Robert MacNeil: Right on!
I would like to thank you all, y'all, youns,
yinz for your interesting questions and I
will leave you with what is fast becoming
the universal American form of address,
so thanks you guys.

25. A Prayer???
• English:
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen
http://members.aol.com/midevlman/ebonics.htm

26. Ebonics:
•
Yo, Big Daddy upstairs
You be chillin
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this here hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack, Blood
Sos I be doin' it to dem dat diss me
don't be pushing me into no jive
and keep dem Crips away
'Cause you always be da Man
Aaa-men

27. A Prayer???
• English:
Our Father, who art in
heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in
heaven
Give us this day our
daily bread
And forgive us our
trespasses
As we forgive those who
trespass against us
And lead us not into
temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the
Kingdom, the power and
the glory, forever and
ever.
Amen
http://members.aol.com/midevlman/ebonics.htm
•
Yo, Big Daddy upstairs
You be chillin
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this here hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack,
Blood
Sos I be doin' it to dem dat
diss me
don't be pushing me into no
jive
and keep dem Crips away
'Cause you always be da Man
Aaa-men

28. http://www.domenicfamily.net/kevin/ebonics.html

29. Ebonics Translator
http://www.billism.com/eng_to_ebon_trans.html

30. Ebonics Lesson & Samples
(Warning: some obscene language)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw5cN6neql8

31. Famous Well-educated African-
Americans

32. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KKLkmIrDk

33. A Prayer???
• English:
Our Father, who art in
heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in
heaven
Give us this day our
daily bread
And forgive us our
trespasses
As we forgive those who
trespass against us
And lead us not into
temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the
Kingdom, the power and
the glory, forever and
ever.
Amen
http://members.aol.com/midevlman/ebonics.htm
•
Yo, Big Daddy upstairs
You be chillin
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this here hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack,
Blood
Sos I be doin' it to dem dat
diss me
don't be pushing me into no
jive
and keep dem Crips away
'Cause you always be da Man
Aaa-men