The argument usually goes like this: Blacks were uprooted from west Africa, and dumped in the West. As a result they lost most of their native linguistical skills. Enslaved Blacks are somewhat unique in this respect, in that most other people who moved to other parts of the world kept their languages and cultures. So wouldn't the world be a much fairer place if Ebonics was classified as the Western Black Langauge and a respectable dictionary produced, not to disimilar to the Oxford dictionary. Because really, if we are being objective, Western Black people dont have a language, and everyone else seems to have one. Another major benefit of classifying Ebonics as a languauge is it would be treated like French, Spanish, Italian..etc. And you could ban the speaking of ebonics in class, so the Kids learnt how to speak standard English. Currently you can speak ebonics in class, and never bother speaking standard English. Problem here is that if you go to a job interview speaking ebonics, you wont get the job.
Making Ebonics a language, is like making 'hillbilly speak' a language why stop there? lets classify some more languages, that are variations of English hell, lets do em all Ebonics was a futile attempt at giving black people in America, something to call their own, language wise 'officially.'
Not really, Hillibilies are not a race of people who were removed from another continent. Whats so wrong with giving Black Americans their own language?
Im looking at the bigger picture, and would prefer if Black Americans took Math and Science more seriously in school (we're doing oh such a great job with leading the way in that). Sorry... however, if learning Ebonics makes it easier for them to learn English, and therefore excel in the other fields, so be it
Ebonics is not 'black people's language'. Its a form of improper English that has been commonly used within the black community.
Petty I dont think Black kids should speak Ebonics full time. Its a bad for career prospects. If you classify it as a another language you can at least force the kids to speak Standard English in class, and speak Ebonics when they are not in class. Just like you wouldnt have been allowed to speak french during your English class at high school, you should also not be allowed to speak Ebonics in your English class. This would ensure the kid has a good grasp of standard English. Right now, if a teacher said stop speaking Ebonics, they may well be accused of racism.
It may well not be 'black peoples langauage', but a hell of a lot of Black people use it. Duck, the PC brigade are out again.
I got a PC....a personal computer. and why must you toss around labels like 'PC Brigade' during an argument. Must you label people, to make your own ground seem more formidable and righteous?
Its not a case of labeling people. Everyone knows Ebonics is black English slang. So anyone who says anything to the contrary is being PC. Thats all.
But French and Italian are not bad for career prospects so why would you lump them together as if they were all on the same playing field? Its absurd, to say the least.
