Hippler 1

Lisamarie Hippler

English 105

Barbara Gill Mayberry

21 October 2008

A False Language

“Language reveals the private identity and connects one with, or divorces one from the

larger public, or communal identity”. “It is the most vivid and crucial key to identify”. These

words from James Baldwin are powerful statements about the importance of language in

society, but in the United States were there is a standard English language, do we see this? It is

evident to one growing up in the United States during the 21st century that you are surrounded

by many different cultures with their rituals, and their languages. It is common for people in

everyday life people to express their culture’s traditions and their heritage proudly in the way

they dress or speak. Ebonics is one such cultural “language” in use in the United States. When

discussing the topic of language, controversy is not usually a word associated with the subject,

but not so, when it comes to Ebonics. In particular, some ask, is Ebonics really a language?

When the Oakland School Board adopted the resolution on Ebonics to teach African-American

students with the use of Ebonics, it recognized Ebonics as a separate language, the children that

speak Ebonics as bilingual, with Ebonics being their primary language, and that these children

were in a way different from the Euro-American speaking population, Although Ebonics may

be in wide use in the Oakland school population, many believe that Ebonics is a “false

language”, using it in schools is controversial, political, and it may cause more harm than good

when used in teaching.

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Since many Americans use Ebonics, some feel that it should be classified as being its

own language. One might argue that Ebonics is slang but “Ebonics is not slang. Slang refers

just to a small set of new and usually short-lived words in the vocabulary of a dialect or

language”( Rickford 723). Others have shared this opinion, and the notion that Ebonics is not

slang, has led to many studies on the subject and whether people of different ethnicities who are

not surrounded by this vernacular in their every day life will be able to understand this

vernacular. For example, John Rickford conducted an experiment where he asked 25 whites

and 25 African-Americans if they understood a sentence in Ebonics. He found that 23 African-

Americans understood the sentence and only 8 whites correctly understood the sentence

presented to them (Rickford 725). This being said, one can see that not all are capable of

understanding Ebonics similar to how it would be in the comprehension of any foreign

language. It can be said that by teaching in a language that children are familiar to, it should

increase their understanding on the subject and increase their learning abilities, however, it can

also be said that “ Although Ebonics may prove valuable in teaching under performing black

children Standard English, implementing Ebonics programs probably shouldn’t be confused

with bilingualism” (Troutt 721). A language must follow particular grammatical rules, which

Ebonics is lacking causing one to think that it is not a language but a dialect people speak and

should not be promoted and accepted in the use of school programs among children and youths.

Ebonics is “the informal speech of many African-Americans” that live within the United

States. It “simplifies consonant clusters at the ends of words and doesn’t use linking verbs like

“is” and “are””(Rickford 723, 727). Most do not know whether it is a separate language from

English or a subset dialect many call “lazy English,” “bastardized English.” “poor grammar,”

and “ fractured slang”(Rickford 723). Although Ebonics has its own format and tenses should it
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be considered a separate language from English? This vernacular did not spring up over night,

but arose over time. When African slaves were first brought to the United States they did not

speak or understand the English language. Their native tongue came from the Niger-Congo.

When slaves started to understand and learn English they incorporated many distinctive

features from their African roots. “ As West African slaves acquired English, they restructured it

according to the patterns of Niger-Congo languages”(Rickford 727). Although this speech

pattern is used mainly by African-Americans, not every person of this race speaks Ebonics.

“Some Ebonics features are shared with other vernacular varieties of English, especially

Southern white dialects, many of which have been influenced by the heavy concentration of

African-Americans in the south”(Rickford 726). Ebonics is not spoken by only one ethnicity, it

is also used by many southerners that tend to be from a lower working class, not your typical

blue collar middle class citizens. Because Ebonics is popular among the lower classes in the

south, when a person speaks Ebonics people often think that person is ignorant and has a low

education level.

Over the years teachers in the Oakland school district noticed that their African-

American students who spoke Ebonics at home and were struggling with learning standard

English in a timely manner. Due to such a wide and common use of Ebonics in the local area,

the Oakland school board purposed that Ebonics was the “primary language” of [their] African-

American students”(Rickford 723). In December of 1996 the Oakland unified school district of

education passed a resolution stating that it was acceptable to teach African-American children

Standard English through the use of Ebonics. The teachers’ felt that is was vital to attend to the

learning abilities of their student in the hopes that these Ebonics programs would help children

learn the state required material. Since it was found that Ebonics was the primary language of
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students, “the Federal Bilingual Education Act mandated that local educational agencies “build

their capacities to establish, implement, and sustain programs of instruction for children and

youth of limited English proficiency”(Ebonics resolution). Because of this law all Oakland

schools began to use programs designed to use Ebonics in the classroom to help students

further their education on Standard English.

Even though many people speak Ebonics, viewing it as a second language is difficult. If

one speaks Ebonics they are most likely still able to understand a person speaking Standard

English and vise versa. The accuracy of a person who speaks standard English to completely

understand a person speaking Ebonics does not occur as often, but can still be done, therefore

Ebonics should not be considered a language, but a dialect developed among a society to

express their individuality. For example both Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects derived from

the Chinese and are not considered separate languages (Rickford 725). “Most linguists agree

that Ebonics is more of a dialect of English than a separate language, because it shares many

words and other features with other informal varieties of American English” (Rickford 725).

Since English and Ebonics are not separate languages there is no need to teach lessons

surrounded by Ebonics in elementary schools.

By allowing teachers to teach by means of Ebonics it assures children that there is nothing

wrong with the way they speak when “ the problem is that its public acceptance might throw

into question claims of ownership to intelligence and belonging” (Troutt 718). Not only is

teaching with Ebonics promoting its use among African American students it is also promoting

the use of an improper vernacular among the other children who did not previously speak

Ebonics. Although this may have been acceptable in previous years, today people want to be

taken seriously and professionally, and with promoting the use of Ebonics, “speakers who
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cannot shift to Standard English are less likely to do well in school and on the job front”

(Rickford 729). While teachers feel that they are helping students with their education of

Standard English they are promoting the use of Ebonics and instead creating more harm for the

children’s education in the long run. Treating Ebonics and a second language in school

programs cause teachers to lower their standards of grading and the material each student

should understand and be able to use in and outside of the classroom. If teachers lower their

grading standards when children move on to higher levels of educational classes they are

expected to know and be able to use certain material. When the children are unable to perform

the tasks of most students it causes the student to be further behind than the others and may

affect their learning because they are struggling more than others and become frustrated which

would cause their grades to suffer severely.

Ebonics, in my opinion, and that of many others, is a “false language”. Using it as a

teaching tool may look like a beneficial thing to do, but it the long run, it does more harm that

good. In today’s world of globalization, more and more people outside of the United States are

turning to English as a standard language for business, and communication and are learning to

use it correctly and effectively. In our own country, we should be the most effective in teaching

and using it as our own standard language.

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Works Cited

“Full Text of ‘Ebonics’ Resolution Adopted By Oakland Board.” Edcucational

Cyberplayground. 19 Jan 1997. 12 Oct 2008 <http://www.edu

yberpg.com/Linguistics/ebresolution.hml>.

Rickford, John. “Suite for Ebony and Phonics.” Everything’s an Argument.3Ed.

Stephanie Carpenter. Bedford/ St. Martin’s, MA: Boston, 2004. 723-729.

Troutt, David D. “Defining Who We Are in Society.” Everything’s an Argument.3Ed.

Stephanie Carpenter. Bedford/ St. Martin’s, MA: Boston, 2004. 718-722.