Ebonics. Dialect. Slang. What is Black Speech? Establishing Academic Equity for America's Most Stigmatized English

Friday, December 6, 2:00 PM-3:15 PMWSCC-CC, Skagit 4Dr. Rabiah KhalilRoland Park Country School (MD)

Collectively Gauge of Familiarity with Black Speech

Your school has African American students

You have heard Black Speech in the classrooms at your school

You have heard Black Speech in the social spaces at your school

You are not sure what Black Speech is

You use Black speech patterns in your daily life

Trevor Noah Critiques Black Speech and Black Culture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I2MbnRLKRkfrom 16:21 to 18:18

How do you Define and Conceptualize Black Speech?

1. Please turn to your colleague and take turns briefly defining Black Speech/African American Vernacular English as you understand it.

2. Then please access the QR code to access the link to a 3-minute survey—of which we will share the results.

3. If you are not able to download a QR code reader on your phone, paper copies are available.

And the Survey Says….

https://forms.office.com/Pages/DesignPage.aspx#Analysis=true&FormId=jI-E1GLHY0CahgL23-cS_wdDwQIWe0dLgKDpBP1j0HRURFJOSVlDOU9PR05DVzdXSTI4SzFERU83TS4u

Baseline data, results of 19 Freshman who have never discussed Black Speech:https://forms.office.com/Pages/DesignPage.aspx#FormId=jI-E1GLHY0CahgL23-cS_wdDwQIWe0dLgKDpBP1j0HRUM1BZU1U3MlJKU1lLVzJKSUJBVTI3MTVXVi4u

Linguistics is the Scientific Study of Language

A linguist investigates:

Physical production and perception of speech sounds (phonetics)

phone -smallest significant unit of sound

IPA Chart with accompanying soundshttp://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/flash.html

One-to-one sound symbol correspondence (naming sounds)

Rules governing the organization of sounds (Phonology)

(tl v. cl example)

The linguist investigates(continued): Word formation (morphology)

A morpheme is the smallest significant unit of meaning

Ex: cats

What is the morphological difference between farmer and corner

Word order in an utterance, phrase, or sentence (syntax)

Acquisition and retention of language

The linguist investigates(continued): The meaning of words individually and those words contextualized in a phrase or

sentence (semantics)

Example: She is so fast!

She: pronoun indicating femininity (also the apparent subject of the sentence)

Is: refers to a state of being

So: modifier

Fast: adverb

Social uses of language (pragmatics)

Example: She is so fast!

Dialects, Creoles, Language Variation and Language Death

https://www.ethnologue.com/browse/names

One Design Feature of Language: Cultural transmission

Foundational ideas Language is arbitrary

Categorization of a “standard” form of language is also arbitrary

All languages are equal

All speakers of all languages are equal

The role of the linguist is not prescriptive

Oral language and sign language are available to (almost) everyone and therefore are most indicative of human communication

Resource: The Language Files, Ohio State University Press

(chapter 1 sample in PDF)

Consider the following political cartoonHow does it make you feel? What does it mean?

Is it funny? Would you like to see who designed the picture? https://tightroperecords.com/catalog/cardsstickers-nigger-ebonics-stickers-p-1457.html

How does a Society Determine the Standard Form of a Language?

Beowulf (Old English version) → → Translation

Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,

þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,

hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,

monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,

egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð

feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,

weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,

oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra

ofer hronrade hyran scolde,

gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-_GwoO4xI

LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings

of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,

we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!

Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,

from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,

awing the earls. Since erst he lay

friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:

for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,

till before him the folk, both far and near,

who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,

gave him gifts: a good king he!

Middle English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X2oDRWnqwo from 1:35 to 2:35

Shakespeare’s English RODERIGO

Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly

That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse

As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.

IAGO

'Sblood, but you will not hear me:

If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me.

Where Did Black Vernacular Come From?Why Does it Carry Stigma?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPGx1icFdLQ&feature=relatedFrom 2:02 to end

PBS: Do You Speak American?resource for classroom use

https://www.pbs.org/speak/education/

Resource for the Classroom

Includes reasons for stigmatizationFeatures of GrammarOakland School Board Controversy(a peek inside the book)

Rickford, J., & Rickford, R. J. (2000). Spoken soul: The story of black english. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Resource for the Classroom

John Baugh is one of the most well-known African Americans on the topic of the origin of Black speech and the effects of the Linguistic discrimination on the Black consciousness.

Baugh, J. (1999). Out of the mouths of slaves: African american language and educational malpractice. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

What is the General Perception on African American Vernacular English

https://languageandlife.org/documentaries/talking-black-in-america/Talking Black in America -- Education

Cartoons following the Oakland School Board Proposal

Consider the following political cartoonHow does it make you feel? What does it mean?

http://alexraffi.blogspot.com/2009/10/ebonics-cartoon-fiasco.html

Black Identity Integral, Inspirational, and Appropriated

How High the Moon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GUmxnYheK0 from 1:15 to 2:10And https://www.pbs.org/speak/education/ Talking Black in America-- SKILLS