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Re: Ebonics
On Sat, 21 Dec 1996, Mark Rosen wrote:
> No. Speaking in Ebonics is the same as speaking with an accent. You can't
> control their expression; you learned to speak with a Southern accent as a
> child, while other people learned to speak with an Ebonic accent (?). By
> condoning speaking in a Southern accent, you condone speaking in Ebonics.
Whatever rational basis your arguments may have had were eradicated by the
ludicrous logical conclusion drawn above.
> I can't understand thick Southern accents. No matter how smart you are,
> I'm not going to hire you because I can't understand you. How do you feel?
Oh so sad. Let me make this clear, an accent is far different from
grammatically incorrect speech. I can speak with grammatic perfection and a
drawl so heavy it'll make your eyeballs hurt.
(Of course, being from New Orleans, my normal accent is more like brooklyn
than Nashville -- four years in Mississippi changed all that)
> Replace the word Ebonics with "Southern accent" and "black English" with
> "Southern twang" and you'll see how hypocritical you are. Also, why do you
> make an exception for foriegn accents? They're just as difficult to
> understand.
And can still be spoken with proper grammar. I make an exception for
foreign accents because we are dealing a completely separate language.
Speakers of ebonics are certainly not bilingual in this sense (and neither
am I). I don't see hypocrisy at all. I do see an apologist, pampering,
paternal point of view, however. And we southern folk jes' don't abide that
sorta thang.
> Language is completely different from intellect. You can't control whether
> you were taught, Ebonics, a Southern accent, or "normal" English.
I wasn't "taught" a Southern accent. I absorbed it in daily conversation.
I certainly wasn't taught a Southern dialect. I was taught the English
language.
I'll say it again...the notion that Ebonics exists as a separate language
-- not derived as slang from standard English -- is absurd.
me
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