The Black English more Black (African) or English - Essay Example

Is Black English more Black (African) or English Introduction For a very long time, the African American English (AAE) is language that has come to be appreciated in the literary and dialectology studies as black dialect, Negro English (the non standard one) and Black English. It is estimated that dating all the way from the late 80s, the terminology has often been used in the most ambiguous manner, sometimes being referred to in different aspects as Ebonics. Black English denotes the kind of English language that is often spoken by a majority of the African-Americans that reside in the US. There are other instances, where the language, in reference to Gullah and Ebonics is the language that is widely used by the African Americans that live in the coastal areas that border Georgia and South Carolina, especially on the particular offshore Sea Islands in the United States (McWhorter 23). Ebonics, which is also widely used in this kind of language, simply refers to “black speech” (which is a blend of words that involve “sounds” and “black”). This paper examines the use of Black English among most of the black Americans in an attempt to determine whether it can be classified as Standard English or simply Black English. The English language The English language is one of the most commonly used internationally. Many of the countries that do not have English as their native language have had many schools that teach people about the use of this language on the local and international front. This language has a great history that many people have never followed to understand its development to its present day where many forms have developed (Smitherman 45). As people move and interact with others from different places on the globe, language becomes a key factor that aids in their interaction. In this process, new languages are bound to come up in a bid to create uniform systems of communication and underrating The English language history is said to have begun after arrival of the three tribes from Germany that invaded the land of Britain around the 5th Century (Smitherman, 53). These tribes were; Saxons, Jutes and Angles, they are believed to have crossed North Sea from the present day Denmark and other places in Northern Germany (McWhorter 43). During this time, the people that were living in Britain used to speak using a Celtic language. The coming of these tribes pushed Celtic speakers to the far North and western regions, making them move as far as what is now Ireland, Wales and Scotland (McWhorter 47). The Angles are believed to have come from “Englaland” with “Englisc” being their common language. These are the words that later led to the formation of words like “England” and “English.” Following interactions of people with global population flows, the English language has been modified differently leading to development of languages like Black English, which is largely associated with Africans that live in the United States (Smitherman 53). So far, a huge debate has ensued on whether to term the Black English being used in the United States as Standard English to be adopted internationally, or it’s simply to be left as Black English. Black English Most linguists often describe the kind of distinctive speech by the African Americans as the African American English (AAE) or simply Black English. Alternatively, when they do not want to create the impression that the language is not part of Standard English used by the African Americans they often describe it as the African American Vernacular English (McWhorter 51). In theory, the scholars that often want to used the Ebonics as the African American language often want to highlight the real African roots relating to the American speech as well as its particular associations with other languages widely spoken in the larger Black Diaspora like Nigeria or Jamaica. In actual practice, Ebonics and AAVE often describe similar sets of forms of speech. It is important to acknowledge the fact that Ebonics, as noted above, simply refers to “black speech.” The term first came into limelight in 1973 by a certain group comprising of various black scholars that showed a dislike to many of the negative connotations that were being attributed to other terminologies like “Nonstandard Negro English,” which had been devised in the 60s, a time when the initial modern large-scale studies in linguistics of the African American speech-communities started (McWhorter 71). However, in all this time, the terminology “Ebonics” never seemed to catch the attention of linguistics; in fact, it was less common in the general public. Later, Ebonics started getting acceptance as a standard African-American language that had been accepted as a form of communication by the African Americans not only in the United States but also in the large Diaspora as noted above. During much of the 20th Century, scholars on the use the African American English (AAE) were filled with many questions and thought of how it has come to be highly influenced by African languages (Smitherman 65). Many of them wondered whether this kind of English would fit to be classified as a special English dialect. This would be an actual archaic survival for the English of the colonial times, famously spoken by the indentured servants that worked in the plantations in the south eastern parts of North America. Can Black English be classified as Standard English? Following the need to understand about how to classify Black English as purely a Standard English that can be used worldwide, decreolization can be described as the particular structure that makes up modern Ebonics. In this regard, decreolization simply refers to the process in which a certain vernacular language tends to lose its “creole” or basilectal features (Smitherman 95). This is often done following the influence from the language that it inherited many of its vocabularies. The consensus that has been arrived by many of the linguistic scholars is that Black English is not to be classified as any form of Standard English. Instead, it is a special dialect for the African Americans, which differs considerably with other kinds of dialects that are primarily based in the statistical frequency of the higher non-standard features (McWhorter 78). Most of the slangs and the shortening of words on the Black English make it appear almost similar to Gullah of the English creoles of the Caribbean. This feature has made linguistics to tent to imagine the Black English has some creole origins. Conclusion In conclusion, it is important to appreciate that Black English has grown to the level of getting international recognition, being a subject of discussion among various international linguists. The language that started as simply an odd language, being famous with servants in the south eastern plantations of the United States, has become popular among artists not only in the United States, but also in the Caribbean and the larger Diaspora like Jamaica and Nigeria among others. In this regard, it is prudent enough to understand that Black English is not actually a Standard English dialect; but, it is a special dialect that rose from the African Americans that borrowed most of its vocabulary from the Standard English of the United states. Therefore, attempts to classify it as a Standard English should not be advanced because a lot has been lost in the development of most vocabularies used in this kind of language. It is only the people that speak Black English that have a firm understanding of the different vocabularies used, which are sometimes non-standard when compared to the original standard US English. In this case, Black English should just be accepted as a special dialect among the African Americans and not as any special form Standard English to be accepted across borders. . Works Cited McWhorter, John H. The Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of "pure" Standard English. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Pub., 2000. Print. Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Print. Read More