Abstract
Virtually every aspect of African American English (AAE) is surrounded by disagreement, discord, dissent and debate. In many ways, AAE is the most powerful example of the process of linguistic delegitimation imaginable, and this is the case in large part because of the extent to which the social, educational and linguistic issues involved all reflect and overlap the deep racial divides in US society. In this chapter, the case of AAE will be examined in considerable detail.
This is a traditional African American saying that is used to describe a person who insists on maintaining particular beliefs regardless of evidence to the contrary (see Smitherman, 1977, p. 246).
Italicized words were in the original resolution of December 18, 1996, but deleted in the amended version of January 17, 1997. Wording that was added at that time to replace or supplement the original wording is in bold, in brackets. Source: Rickford and Rickford (2000, pp. 166–168).
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Notes
- 1.
Although AAE is not a single variety of language but rather a collection of varieties, it would actually be more accurate for us to discuss it in the plural—as the ‘varieties of AAE’. The same, of course, is true of all languages, though, and so for purposes of ease of reading, I have decided to write as if AAE constitutes a single, monolithic language variety, with the understanding that this is not actually the case. I have followed the same convention in talking about other languages, such as SAE, standard Spanish, Spanglish, Yiddish, and so on, in the remainder of this book.
- 2.
In fact, in some contexts it is AAE that takes on the role of the high status language variety, and SAE becomes the ‘marked’ variety (see Fordham, 2008).
- 3.
- 4.
The ‘ain” form is the result of the contraction of ‘ain’t’, a form that is common in many varieties of English.
- 5.
Technically, this is not entirely correct. Russian does have a copula—‘есть’—but it is used only to indicate emphasis, and in such sentences as ‘У меня есть новая машина’ (literally, ‘To me there is a new car’, i.e., ‘I have a new car’).
- 6.
Aspect is a grammatical category that is used to distinguish how an action, event or state of being, as indicated by a verb, is related to the passage of time. The relative importance of aspect versus tense varies from language to language (some languages lack aspect altogether, while others lack tense) (see Aksu-Koç, 2003; Comrie, 1976; Dahl, 1985; Evans, 2004; Filip, 1999; Klein, 1994; Ramchard, 1997; Smith, 1991). Although SAE does utilize aspect, the aspectual system in AAE is far more complex than that found in SAE (see Green, 2002, 2004, 2011).
- 7.
In fact, all Chomsky had done was to quote Max Weinreich’s comment that “What differentiates a dialect and a language is who has the army and navy”—a point with which virtually every competent linguist in the world would agree, and which I quoted earlier in this book. There is nothing remotely Marxist or neo-Marxist about this claim.
- 8.
One often overlooked, but nevertheless quite positive, outcome of the debate surrounding the King decision was that the public outcry led to a remarkably unified response from professional linguists interested in AAE—who had previously suffered from considerable discord about a number of linguistic controversies about AAE (see Labov, 1982).
- 9.
The account of the intention of the original “Resolution” provided here is my own reconstruction of what the members of the Task Force seemed to want to convey and propose. The actual language of the “Resolution” did, however, allow for—and perhaps even encourage—misreadings that made the intentions of the Oakland Board of Education far more extreme and radical than they probably were.
- 10.
The question of whether a program addressing issues related to AAE-speaking students would be eligible for federal bilingual education actually appears to have already been decided, since as early as 1981 the US Department of Education determined that AAE is a form of English and thus not eligible for federal bilingual education funds.
- 11.
The brochure produced by the LSA, What is Ebonics (African American English)?, was written by John Rickford and can be downloaded from https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english.
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Appendix A
Appendix A
Resolution of the Board of Education Adopting the Report and Recommendations of the African-American Task Force: A Policy Statement, and Directing the Superintendent of Schools to Devise a Program to Improve the English Language Acquisition and Application Skills of African American Students. (No. 9697-0063)
Whereas, numerous validated scholarly studies demonstrate that African-American students as a part of their culture and history as African people possess and utilize a language described in various scholarly approaches as “Ebonics” (literally “Black sounds”) or “Pan-African Communication Behaviors” or “African Language Systems”; and
Whereas, these studies have also demonstrated that African Language Systems are genetically based [have origins in West and Niger-Congo languages] and not a dialect of English [are not merely dialects of English]; and
Whereas, these studies demonstrate that such West and Niger-Congo African languages have been officially recognized and addressed in the mainstream public educational community as worthy of study, understanding or [and] application of their principles, laws and structures for the benefit of African-American students both in terms of positive appreciation of the language and these students’ acquisition and mastery of English language skills; and
Whereas, such recognition by scholars has given rise over the past fifteen years to legislation passed by the State of California recognizing the unique language stature of descendants of slaves, with such legislation being prejudicially and unconstitutionally vetoed repeatedly by various California state governors; and
Whereas, judicial cases in states other than California have recognized the unique language stature of African-American pupils, and such recognition by courts has resulted in court-mandated educational programs which have substantially benefited African-American children in the interest of vindicating their equal protection of the law rights under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; and
Whereas, the Federal Bilingual Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1402 et. seq.) mandates that local educational agencies “build their capacities to establish, implement and sustain programs of instruction for children and youth of limited English proficiency”; and
Whereas, the interests of the Oakland Unified School District in providing equal educational opportunities for all of its students dictate limited English proficient educational programs recognizing the English language acquisition and improvement skills of African-American students are as fundamental as is application of bilingual education [or second language learner] principles for others whose primary languages are other than English [Primary languages are the language patterns children bring to school]; and
Whereas, the standardized tests and grade scores of African-American students in reading and language arts skills measuring their application of English skills are substantially below state and national norms and that such deficiencies will be remedied by application of a program features African Language Systems principles in instructing African-American children both in their primary language and in English [to move students from the language patterns they bring to school toEnglishproficiency]; and
Whereas, standardized tests and grade scores will be remedied by application of a program that teachers and aides [instructional assistants], who are certified in the methodology of featuring African Language Systems principles in instructing African-American children both in their primary language and in English [used to transition students from the language patterns they bring to school toEnglish]. The certified teachers of these students will be provided incentives including, but not limited to salary differentials;
Now, therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education officially recognizes the existence and the cultural and historical bases of West and Niger-Congo African Language Systems, and each language as the predominantly primary language of [many] African-American students; and
Be it further resolved that the Superintendent in conjunction with her staff shall immediately devise and implement the best possible academic program for imparting instruction to African-American students in their primary language for the combined purposes of maintaining the legitimacy and richness of such language [facilitating the acquisition and mastery ofEnglishlanguage skills, while respecting and embracing the legitimacy and richness of the language patterns] whether it is [they are] known as “Ebonics,” “African Language Systems,” “Pan African Communication Behaviors” or other description, and to facilitate their acquisition and mastery of English language skills; and
Be it further resolved that the Board of Education hereby commits to earmark District general and special funding as is reasonably necessary and appropriate to enable the Superintendent and her staff to accomplish the foregoing; and
Be it further resolved that the Superintendent and her staff shall utilize the input of the entire Oakland educational community as well as state and federal scholarly and educational input in devising such a program; and
Be it further resolved that periodic reports on the progress of the creation and implementation of such an education program shall be made to the Board of Education at least once per month commencing at the Board meeting of December 18, 1996.
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Reagan, T. (2019). African American English, Race and Language: ‘You don’t believe fat meat is greasy’. In: Linguistic Legitimacy and Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10967-7_3
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