The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89383 Message #1686115
Posted By: Azizi
05-Mar-06 - 10:23 PM
Thread Name: BS: Etymology, Semantics
Subject: RE: BS: Etymology, Semantics
An "standard" aspect of African American Vernacular English is the double negative: {for example, I ain't got nothin to do."
See this excerpt from an online article on the use of double negatives:
"In Standard English using a double-negative violates the rules of syntax. In Black English Vernacular, however, double-negatives are frequently employed. Below are two responses to the question "did you break the glass?" Can you pick out the double-negative?
I didn't do it.
I didn't do nothing.
Many observers over the years have wrongly thought that Black English Vernacular resulted from a poor command of English. That is, that it was riddled with mistakes. This prejudice led to a court case in 1979, when a school system in Ann Arbor Michigan refused to recognize Black English Vernacular as a bona fide language, and refused to use it as a foundation from which to teach Black elementary students Standard English.
Based on the testimony from sociolinguist William Labov, the court ruled that Black English Vernacular comprises a linguistic system with its own phonology, semantics and rules of grammar. By simply looking at Black English Vernacular as a series of mistakes, teachers failed to understand its logic and structures, and this proved to be a barrier to teaching students Standard English. The court did not rule that children had to be taught in Black English Vernacular, but that teachers had to develop a strategy for teaching Standard English to students who enter school speaking Black English Vernacular (Ferraro 1995:124-125)"
-snip-
Source: Black English Vernacular
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BTW, "Ebonics" is coined from the a clip of the word "Ebony" and the and added to the word "phonics."
Since it's essential that people in the USA know how to speak and write [standard] English, I'm not a supporter of the use of Black English in public school's curriculum. I believe that there is a time and place for speaking Black English. And-imo-that time is not during formal classroom sessions. However, teachers should recognize that some students regularly use this language, and need to learn standard English grammar and vocabulary. To constantly correct a child's oral and written language may eventually result in that child learning mainstream English, but may also foster in that child a distaste for formal learning.
And we shouldn't want that since "a mind is a terrible thing to waste".