THE EBONIC SPEAKER ... OR WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? EBONICS OR BLACK ENGLISH

Blog based on Wanda's Social & Business Protocol and Etiquette Seminars

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The Ebonic Speaker ...

Or What Do We Have Here?

Ebonics ... or Black English 

Wanda Dorn
Chief Facilitator

Since entering Modeling School in Chicago at sixteen, nothing has impacted my self-esteem more than attending an Ebonics  lecture by my surrogate sister Brenda Ray at San Jose State.  The class changed the way I looked at myself as a Black person, and the "Black language".  What I write here is mostly taken from the chapter in my book on Ebonics  published in 1991, now out of print.

I was a guest speak at a National Black Speech and Language Association convention before Ebonics became popular, and was impressed by their study of the Black language. I later spoke with Black teachers in Oakland  where Ebonics media coverage began, and interviewed experts on my cable television shows, as well as with students in my classes.

This is how the experts define Ebonics 

Ebony = Black   &  Phonics = Sound

As the experts took up the debate of Black English, they began by referring to it as the "Black sound", "ebony phonics", "Black phonics", or "the Black phonetical speech pattern", etc.   The term "Ebonics", became a natural evolution -- that's how Ebonics was born.

Now, before you say, as I have often hear, "I don't speak Ebonics".  As the experts define Ebonics, the Black sound is not that one doesn't speak English correctly, because most of us do, it is more the level in which you speak.  Compare a newscaster with a less educated person, both speak with the ebony sound, but one may use incorrect English. 

The experts I spoke with define Ebonics as our "first language" making us basically bi-lingual ...  something I  take pride in.  Doctors, lawyers, and professionals  who speak grammatically correct King's English with  the highest levels of education have the ebony-phonics sound.  Black newscaster, if you are not looking at the television set, you immediately recognize the "sound" and the "intonations" put on words. They speak two languages, a public language (if you will), and enjoy their "get down bro/sis" Ebonics first language in social circles.  It's comfortable to speak in our first language and as most professionals do, use a universal language in public.  

Another defining characteristic of the Ebonic speaker, I have observed, they leave off the "th", the "ed", the final "d", and the final "t" on words like "Hyde park" would be "hi park".  They call that "slang", but when the immigrants from other countries do not speak perfect English, its exotic ... they get the movie roles today.

A society determines the perceptions and attitudes of the language spoken within that society.  The claim has been that cultural deprivation and low class status is the basis for the Ebonic speaker's linguistic and cognitive deficiencies; that the language is sub-standard.  Some believe Ebonic speakers must learn "correct" and/or "acceptable" language, or "standard English", or "White people's English"; a terrible stigma often shared by Black people as well.  

We are ashamed of our language which makes us regard ourselves as "inferior" speakers.  Often, Black children, and even some adults won't talk in  public, especially to a White person, afraid they would speak incorrectly, which put our children at a disadvantage.

Roger D. Abrahams, author of Talking Black, says a person's image of themselves is intimately bound up with the ways in which one talks.  To criticize a way of speaking or to designate it in any way, is to attack the image a person has of themselves.  That is exactly what is perpetrated on the Ebonic speaker, and what I referred to in my opening comment.

Some experts expressed that Black English or the Black "accent"  is influenced by the geographical areas slaves and their descendants were located, and the way in which the Africans were taught to speak English, and by whom in pre slavery trading days, supporting  the argument that Black language is indeed a separate language here in America.  

African traders spoke a pidgin English, a trade language or an assimilation of English along with several West African languages.  The Black English and the West African languages have strong similarities in areas as syntax, semantics, phonology, ideophonics, and other nonverbal systems, which further supports the theory that Ebonics is a language in itself.

African

In the Oakland schools, the teachers were trying to get extra school funding so that their students could get extra help in English because as we know, as one speaks, is the way one writes.  Also, the old "English 101" classes are no longer offered in college or they are being filled by "English as a Second Language" (ESL) learners.  Blacks who need special attention, especially those who live in institutionalized segregated communities are not allowed in those classes.  They have conveniently been redefined, I believe, as English Language Development/Proficiency(ELD/ELP).

Bob Ross of Prince George's NAACP says current test scores show African-American students in Prince George’s County Public Schools are performing poorly when it comes to the fundamentals of English reading and writing. He says he believes it’s not just African-American students who have yet to master the English language, but all students in the school system.  He wants money to be spent countywide on the problem.  This is what the Oakland teachers were asking for way back then.  Perhaps now that is is labeled "all students" who have difficulty in English, the money the Oakland teachers wanted will be forthcoming.

Among Blacks, there are two schools of thought:  one, that we should not allow anyone to dictate to us how to talk and no changes should be made.  The other side believes bi-lingual is best.  We can speak our first language socially and professionally...  "when in Rome" - speak the way Romans do? 

Which side do you fall on?