https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGUg_w7FKqM - “The History Of American Slang”
Ebonics is a contraction of the two words Ebony and phonics, literally meaning “black language”. In the mid-1990’s a school in Oakland wanted to legitimize the home language of their black student population. The school would use Ebonics as an intermediate language to teach the black students “standard English”. However this caused many debates to pop up all over the country. The introduction of Ebonics started a national conversation over what a language is and how it differed from slang or dialects. It also started the conversation concerning dual language courses(ESL and bilingual classes). Would Ebonics be taught as a language or only used as an intermediary? Was it all a ploy to garner more government money towards the language department? These questions all boiled down to one important topic, was Ebonics a language?
How is Ebonics used in Pop Culture?
This video covers how American slang and Ebonics became a part of mainstream culture. Words used by black communities are appropriated by mainstream (primarily white American) culture and then employed as a joke in mainstream media by them. The reason why Ebonics in pop culture is so problematic is because it categorizes black people. The best friend who uses Ebonics is usually two-dimensional and classless. Whereas black characters who do not use Ebonics are categorized as classy and smart and are usually three-dimensional characters. Words like “lit”, “twerk”, “finna”, and “nigga” are used to make a character, usually white, seem ridiculous or “one of the homies”. Ebonics is used as a joke in pop culture and not acknowledged beyond it’s use to be able to speak like a “ghetto” person. Due to Ebonics’ immersion in pop culture sites like http://joel.net/EBONICS/translator and http://englishtoghetto.com/ which treat black culture as a joke, something that is funny.
As a group we tried to define what a language was, determining that it has to have a grammar system, cannot be understood without prior knowledge of the language, and is widely acknowledged. Given these parameters, Ebonics should be considered a dialect. It is simply a different type of English, similar to British English and Australian English. They aren’t considered languages, but just different variations of the same language.
Conclusions about Ebonics
Ebonics has been acknowledged by mainstream media but, generally, not in a positive light. There is still need for a serious conversation about its influence on society and black culture. What we need is for Ebonics to be recognized as a legitimate dialect and treated as such. Which means it has to be recognized as a form of speech that is not inferior than “standard English”, with great historical and cultural experience. From a historical perspective, this means contextualizing and explaining that Ebonics, as a form of speech, came from slaves who did not have access to a standard education. It should also be noted that while Ebonics is excluded from high culture or art, and often ridiculed, much of mainstream culture is derived from new vernacular trends in Ebonics and cultural trends from black Americans that speak it. With this kind of foundation there will be more fruitful discussions about language, race and power in America and also more positive and complex depictions of Ebonics in media.
What you should check out:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jamila_lyiscott_3_ways_to_speak_english - Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English
Contributed by Quintessa Velez
