Essay, Research Paper
The Rights & Wrongs Of Black English
What is Black English? Is it a dialect or is it a lazy form of speaking Standard English? The fact is that no matter what we think of Black English, it is spoken by millions of African American children. Until just recently there were no studies done on Black English. Black English was just considered an improper and a lazy form of Standard English spoken by only Black people. Due to the lack of knowledge about the history of the dialect, many children have and still are suffering the consequences of the stereotypes of the dialect. The primary consequence of this lack of knowledge is that most African American children do poorly in school because schools refuse to acknowledge that most Black children s first language at home is Black English, also known as Ebonics. If American schools can take the time to teach foreign children the grammar and pronunciation of Standard English, why can t schools take the time to teach American Black children the differences between Black English and Standard? Providing these children with information of how Black English came about, teaching them that black English is not improper, and most important, teaching them to have pride of their African heritage will boost their self-esteem.
In the essay The History of the Voice, Edward Kamau Brathwaite explains that when African slaves were brought over to the Caribbean, they were not allowed to speak in their native languages. The English, the French, and the Dutch only allowed their language to be spoken in public. This caused what Brathwaite call a submergence of this imported language (6-8). This submergence of langue is what became Black English. Black English is a mixture of English, French, Dutch, and African dialects. A similar submergcian of languages happened in America. Slaves had to submerge their African languages because they needed a common form of communication with each other and their masters. Children need to be given historical information of their language, so that they will understand the reason for the differences in the pronunciation and grammar between Black English and Standard English. African Americans are no longer slaves, and they should not be forced to eliminate Black English as their first language, instead they should be taught Standard English as a second language.
Along with teaching the children the history, children need to be taught that the way they speak is not improper; it is just different than Standard English. Many of these children are teased about the way they speak. Dorothy Z. Seymour points out this in her the essay Black Children, Black Speech, by saying, Teachers sometimes make the situation worse with their attitudes towards Black English (152). The attitudes towards Black English are that these children speak bad English; this means they have lazy pronunciation, and poor grammar. (Seymour 152) Almost anyone knows that telling a child that they are wrong or that there is something wrong with the way they talk, walk, or eat is cause for lower self-esteem. The thing is that these children will carry these negative remarks to their teenage years and most may even carry it to their adult years. Instead of making life difficult for these children, teachers should try to educate themselves about what Black English is. If teachers educate themselves, they would discover that there are differences between improper Standard English and Black dialect. Seymour explains that unlike improper English, Black English, like any other dialect, has constructed set of speech patterns, sounds, structure and vocabulary. (152) Teachers would also learn that unlike improper English, Black English is clear as pointed out by June Jordan in her the essay Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And the Future Life of Willie Jordan (130). Black English is thought of unclear because the dialect uses a minimal number of words per idea (Jordan 130). Perhaps if teachers would study these differences between Black and Standard English, they would be capable of dealing with the specific problems that Black English speaking children are faced with when they learn to read and write Standard English. This capability would help the children because they would no longer be told that the way they speak is bad or improper, but they will be told the differences between Black English and Standard English. Learning these differences gives the child a distinction between the two forms of English, which will make the children believe in their intelligence bring up their self-esteem and willingness to learn Standard English.
Last, but most important, Black children need to be given a sense of pride of their African heritage. These children need know that they should not have to omit Black English from their lives because it is an import part of their heritage June Jordan states that Black English is like an endangered species and that we should expect it be extinguished taking with it the pride and self-identity of the African heritage. (123) The extinction of Black English would be like going back to the slavery days when Africans were forced to omit any African pride from their lives. By allowing the extinction of Black English, these children might as well have been adopted. Like adopted children, they will feel like they are missing a piece of their past and grow up searching to for the missing pieces. They will try to find where they came from, why they have difficulty with the language, and what their self-identity is. On the other hand, if America instead of omitting Black English would acknowledge it as dialect, Black children would feel that America accepts Black heritage and its history. This acceptance would no longer make the children feel rejected by society and would increase their motivation of learn the skills to become productive individuals.
It is time to leave the slavery days to what they are: the past. It is time to allow African Americans the right to be proud of their heritage, by giving them the knowledge and understanding they require to adapt what is their second language Standard English. Children must be taught with compassion and understanding, not by humiliation, which makes them ashamed of their culture.
Works Cited
Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. The History of the Voice. London: New Beacon, 1984.
Jordan, June. Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And the Future Life of Willie
Jordan. On Call: Political Essays. Boston: Southend Press, 1985. 123-139.
Seymour, Dorothy. Black Children, Black Speech. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark, eds. Language Awareness Essay for College Writers. 7th ed. New
York: St. Martin s, 1997. 151-158.
Другие работы по теме:
Learning foreign languages in Russian schools
Автор: Разное Learning foreign languages in Russian schools There’re many schools in Russia which curriculum has English. And it’s justified. There is no program, rusified or non-rusified, which is free from English words, no programming language, except JARRS, which has no functions or operators, came from English, but there are so many books, devices’ user instructions that have no word which is not an English word.
Why do we learn English language?
Why do we learn the English language? It is necessary to learn foreign languages. That’s why pupils have got such subject as a foreign language at school. Everybody knows his own language, but it is useful to know foreign languages.
Langston Hughes And His Significance As A
Black American And As A Poet. Essay, Research Paper Langston Hughes was famous for his poetry, which helped to fuel the civil rights movement. His poetry also earned him fame but he still seemed to remain financially disabled. He didn’t get much recognition for his poetry until after he died.
Black Civil Rights Essay Research Paper More
Black Civil Rights Essay, Research Paper More than a hundred years ago the Europeans brought slaves to North America. The blacks found themselves in the midst of prejudice whites with no way out.
Freedom Bound Essay Research Paper In his
Freedom Bound Essay, Research Paper In his book, Freedom Bound, Robert Weisbrot argues that the civil rights movement is interwoven with American political reform of the time, and furthermore, that “the black quest for justice and the national crusade for a ‘Great Society’ are best understood in relation to each other” (Weisbrot xiv).
Civil Rights 2 Essay Research Paper Coming
Civil Rights 2 Essay, Research Paper Coming of Age in Mississippi Anne Moody s Coming of Age in Mississippi, talked extensively about the civil rights movement that she had participated in. The civil rights movement dealt with numerous issues that many people had not agreed with. Coming of Age in Mississippi gave the reader a first hand look at the efforts many people had done to gain equal rights.
The Theme For English B Essay Research
Paper In the poem “Theme for English B,” by Langston Hughes, he talks about the African American struggle for equality. The poem starts off with a professor giving his students a paper to write about whatever subject they want. The instructor says to th students, “let that paper come out of you then, it will be true.” In the paper, Hughes explains everything that comes from his heart, just like his professor wanted him too.
Right To Attorney Essay Research Paper Winston
Right To Attorney Essay, Research Paper Winston Churchill once said that the true measure of a civilized society is how it treats people accused of crimes. Although the Bill of Rights included a number of protections for people accused of crime, many of these guarantees went unenforced in state courts, which were held to be outside the reach of the federal Bill of Rights.
Theme For English B Essay Research Paper
In the poem “Theme for English B”, by Langston Hughes, Hughes talks about the African American struggle for equality. This is a common subject for Hughes. In many of his poems he speaks about blacks and the injustices that they face. Another common subject for Hughes is the town, Harlem, which is also mentioned in “Theme for English B.”The poem starts off with an instructor giving his students a paper to write, the instructor says to the student, “let that page come out of you-Then, it will be true.” The poem is continued as the paper that Hughes is writing.
Ebonics Essay Research Paper Ebonics or Black
Ebonics Essay, Research Paper Ebonics, or Black English, was recently a controversial topic in the United States, when the Oakland School District school board attempted to classify ebonics as a completely different language from Standard American English (SAE). There was further controversy when the school board stated that ebonics was genetic.
Magna Carta Essay Research Paper Magna CartaThe
Magna Carta Essay, Research Paper Magna Carta The Magna Carta, or the Great Chapter was the first step toward constitutional liberty for English-speaking people everywhere in the world. The Magna Carta was signed in 1215. King John and his nobles had no clue that they were laying the foundations for this new kid of government.
Prop 63 Essay Research Paper The Official
Prop. 63 Essay, Research Paper The Official English Language Proposition 63 will make English the Official Language of the United States and I am against The official English
Ebonics Essay Research Paper One of the
Ebonics Essay, Research Paper One of the conflicting issues among African Americans and Caucasians is the issue of ebonics. It s not just an issue facing one race or the other it effects both races
Black Civil Rights Essay Research Paper The
Black Civil Rights Essay, Research Paper The quest for equality by black Americans played a central role in the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s. Stemming from an effort dating back to the Civil War and Reconstruction, the black movement had gained more momentum by the mid-twentieth century. African Americans continued to press forward for more equality through peaceful demonstrations and protests.
Ebonics 2 Essay Research Paper EbonicsThe other
Ebonics 2 Essay, Research Paper Ebonics The other day I was talking on the subject of Ebonics. I feel Ebonics should be a language. I mean black adolescents that are seen as stupid and non-educated mostly use it. The talk compelled me to do some extensive studying on the subject.
The Little Black Boy Essay Research Paper
The Little Black Boy The theme of guardianship, being the act of guarding, protecting, and taking care of another person, is very prominent in William Blake s The Little Black Boy . Three distinct instances of guardianship can be seen in Blake s poem. These guardianship roles begin with the little boy s mother, followed by God, and ultimately ending with the unsuspecting little black boy himself.
John Locke And Thomas Hobbes Two Views
Of The Social Contract Essay, Research Paper John Locke and Thomas Hobbes were two English thinkers who contributed their ideas to the Enlightenment. There are a few similarities between these two. They were both English thinkers, and they both lived in the 1600s. Locke and Hobbes both lived through the upheavals in England early in the 17th century.
The Bill Of Rights Essay Research Paper
The Bill of Rights Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the US constitution are called the Bill of Rights because they provide basic legal protection for individual rights. The
What Is Human Rights Abuse Essay Research
Paper What are Human Rights Abuses? Human Rights Abuses are occurrences where there are violations on an individual’s right to act in a way to make moral decisions. Tis includes violations against an individual’s political rights,worker rights, and freedom of religion,speech, press,peaceful assembly and association.
Transforming America With The Civil Rights Movement
Essay, Research Paper Transforming America with the Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement transformed American society in to a color conscience society and started the anti-free speech political correct movement that we are seeing today. The civil rights movement gave African Americans the right to be treated as regular citizens but it was the urban riots of the mid-1960s and the voiced black rage that changed the tone of the civil rights movement.
Black Empowerment In America Essay Research Paper
These two articles on the past and future of black empowerment in America. My topic is something of a fairly new nature and these two articles really touch on the essence of the point of my would be research paper. The first touches on the past of black empowerment and further extended my knowledge of significant events such as the civil rights movements and in particular the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Black Power Essay Research Paper BLACK POWER
Black Power Essay, Research Paper BLACK POWER The book “Black Power” was one of the most clearest manifestations of the movement s change of direction in the late 1960 s. Black Power was a change set out by one man to give rights back to black people and to put an end to prejudice and imperialism. One of the goals set out by Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton, the authors of Black Power was to make black people stronger and overcome the subjection of a white society.
The Need For An Official Language Essay
, Research Paper The Need for an Official Language Language is the most important media in human communication. It makes it much easier to exchange ideas. Imagine if everyone in this society spoke his own
EBONICS Essay Research Paper FOR AGES AFRICAN
EBONICS Essay, Research Paper FOR AGES AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE BEE MANIPULATING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, WHICH APPEARS TO BE ACCEPTED BOTH THROUGH LITERATURE AND VERBAL SPEAKING. IN THE 21ST CENTURY THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IS FACED WITH A TASK OF REFORMING A LANGUAGE SUPPOSIDLY CALL “BLACK ENGLISH” OR “EBONY PHONICS,” DEPICTING WHAT IS WIDELY KNOWN AS EBONICS.
The Black Civil Rights Movement Essay Research
Paper The Black Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s and 60’s was a political, legal and social struggle of the black americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. The black struggle for Civil Rights was very hard. No group in America has or has had more difficulty assimmilating into the American Culture.
Summary And Responce To
“Black English” Essay, Research Paper Summary and Response Word Count 366 Summary In the essay titled, ?If Black English Isn?t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is??
Perspective Of Black English Essay Research Paper
Black English Conclusions To the majority of the people we gave this survey to, a lot of them said it sounded like jibberish, but that at certain points it was understandable. They explained that the speaker talks fast, but for the most part are able to catch on to what they are saying. They didn t think that Ebonics should be accepted in today s society to the point that our leaders would be using it when making a speech to the nation.
The English Language Essay Research Paper This
The English Language Essay, Research Paper This House affirms that the British Empire was a great success whose effects are still beneficial to the world. The world distribution of English users is divided into three categories : English as a native language; for example, UK, USA, Australia, English as a second language; for example, India, Singapore, Ghana, Philippines, and English as a foreign language; for example, France, Japan, Thailand.There are 72 countries with Englishs as an official language and 9 countries with English as a first language:Australia, Great- Britain, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourgh, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the USA.
Black Power Essay Research Paper Black PowerWhat
Black Power Essay, Research Paper Black Power What did the phrase “black power” mean to African Americans who participated in the civil rights struggle? Booker T. Washington felt that black power meant financial power. During the movement that would soon be a landmark in our country’s history, the black community lacked black owned businesses, black teachers, and black government representatives.
How To Improve Your English Essay Research
Paper How To Improve Your English English is now the international language .So it is very important to learn English well. We should study English in the correct way, so that we can make
What Is English Essay Research Paper English
What Is English? Essay, Research Paper English, well what is English? We all know that it is a language. But, what is the study of english? It is the study of literature in the english language. People attend english classes. This may be to learn the English Language or to learn about english literature or writing.