Baldwin's Explanation Of Black Language

If Beale Street Could Talk, by James Baldwin, is a story about a man who has been falsely accused of a crime, simply because he does as doesn’t conform to the white society’s expectations of him. As Hans F. Hanson says, “It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.” By putting Fonny, one of the story’s main protagonists, in the position where he has to defy the expected standards of society, Baldwin is able to achieve his purpose of creating an honest but brutal story that displays his character’s courage to not accept life’s circumstances and “join the crowd,” and instead carve his own path for his life, which results in many troubles that Fonny is forced to endure as he gives everything he has

James Baldwin was a prominent African American writer, social critic, and racial justice advocate in the 1960’s and 70’s. In his 1963 Talk to Teachers he aimed to persuade an audience of teachers that education must exist to challenge systems and structures of power and that when it does not, it only serves to reinforce them and amplify their injustice. He specifically focuses on racial hierarchies and white supremacy in the United States. He achieves his persuasive purpose through the strategic use of first, second, and third person pronouns and the use of evocative language, and emphasizes the actionability of his message with anaphora.

With a background affected tremendously by the dark history of African Americans, language has become a significant problem to what the term Black English really means to different people. In If Black Language Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is, James Baldwin attempts to analyze what a language really means and how Black English evolved to fulfill an important role for Americans. Black English sounds proper to blacks, but to whites it may not be a proper use of language. Throughout this essay, Baldwin uses a specific tone and relates to his audience by opening his mind to both emotion and logic while still upholding his credibility. Baldwin tries to persuade the audience to respect the language of Black English using his personal experience. The history of different languages mentioned in the essay is used to help convince the audience of thinking about the term language from a new perspective. Whites and Blacks both may speak the same language, but that does not mean that they understand each other because the language can be spoken in different matters. As Baldwin states, “The white man could not possibly understand, and that, indeed, he cannot understand, until today”. A white man or black man had to be careful about the words they used in front of each other because some words would be considered offensive for one another. Baldwin uses African American language and culture to reveal the impact that the English language Americans use has created.

Speech is often associate with race because some individuals believe that if the person does not sound “educated” enough the person comes from a lower class and was brought up in the so called “ghettos” and this association is often made towards someone that forms part of a minority group. The author illustrates that race is tight up with speech

In James Baldwin's “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” and George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” it is evident that both of these authors have their own interpretations, and understanding of language as a political instrument. In spite of their differences they also have a few similarities. For Baldwin language was a powerful tool giving blacks a voice, allowing them to express their uniqueness and empowering them, whereas for Orwell believed that language controlled thinking and writing. Both of these authors had different perspectives towards the topic of language but the same desires when it came to expressing their perspectives. They both believed that the powerful could use language, to control the powerlessness.

Baldwin determines that violence and racial separatism are not acceptable solutions for achieving “power”. Baldwin believes that black people will only be able to achieve lasting influence in America if they love and accept white people. In contrast, writing 52 years after Baldwin, Coats tells his own son to “struggle” but not

In the civilized society that everyone lives in today, all languages and culture should be equal. That is the main idea in both Gloria Anzaldua’s essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, as well as James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”. The authors in both these texts support their argument in various ways, and in doing so, manages to effectively persuade their audience. The ways that each author approaches their argument is different in their appeals, evidence, and styles. Similarities also exist between the texts of the two authors. The rhetorical strategies that Anzaldua uses makes her argument much stronger than Baldwin’s argument.

Racism is a topic that has existed for many years. But where does it come from? Who do we blame? Should we blame television, music, politics or even our own families? All of the above play a role in racism. We aren't born hating each other. As we grow up we are taught to hate each other. Things such as how our family members talk, treat and deal with other races affect us tremendously. This is where the problem begins. Then our hatred grows as we are influenced by the things we see on TV and the things being said about others in the music that we listen to. As we read the papers we read about politicians bad mouthing other races. How about where we live, go to school or even work? Yes, another set of

Print. In his essay, James Baldwin expresses his concerns about the validity of black English. He protested that African-Americans should identify themselves using their own language. He uses the French language spoken from different regions of the world to prove the point that their experiences define these groups, reflecting on their language.

Ethnicity is one factor that influences how one speaks a certain language. People may perceive the language of Caucasians, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, or people of Latin or Hispanic descent to be different in various ways. Different ethnic groups may have a form of communication that only members of that ethnic group may comprehend. For instance, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known as Black English or Ebonics, is different from Standard English. In class, a group discussed how AAVE is criticized for being a hindrance in comparison to “normal English.” AAVE differentiates from Standard English through vocabulary, grammar, and sounds. For example, the word “be” is often used in Standard English, but can be used differently in AAVE (Sidnell, n.d.). Thus, a person that speaks Standard English could say “I told him to be quiet because he doesn’t know what he’s

One important contribution I reflect on is the power and significance of language. Language can be defined as the methods of communication, either spoken or written. This is how the cultural interaction comes into play. In James Baldwin “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” he implies that different

Last Wednesday, in class, we listened to the song by Yasiin Bey - Hip Hop. One of our classmates expressed his lack of understanding to a particular verse in the song where Bey raps "used to speak the kings En-g-lish/ But caught a rash on my lips/ So now my chat just like dis" Immediately, I raised my hand to explain what I understood the verse to mean. When I read and heard the lyrics of the song a scholar who came to mind was Geneva Smitherman and her concept of Black English. I remember that she critiqued the many white scholars misguided attitudes they had in regards to those who spoke black english and how they believed it to being inferior to old or standard English. But in reality there is no deficiency in speaking different variations

In the article “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”, James Baldwin showcases the power dynamics of language as it relates to AAVE and the African American identity. This piece was written in 1979, which would’ve been in the Black Power movements in the U.S. ;thus making it…Baldwin’s primary point in the article is that the use aspects of language among marginalized people function as a point of commonality that emphasizes one’s identity ,stating that “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate”. In addition to the argument that the diminishing of these ways of communication in hopes of acceptance is detrimental,

This monopoly over language is termed by Spender as “language trap”, wherein women should not speak or write, they should rather motivate men to do so, in this case, language becomes men’s possession by which they strengthen their supremacy and sovereignty. This, in effect, turns us back to the case of the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in terms of linguistic discrimination; this English dialect is considered to be linguistically inferior due to some of its features-copula absence, absence of verb to be, double negation, and deletion of the final consonants in words-, therefore it is excluded and marginalized. So both the AAVE and women’s language are discriminated against, and they share the same experience of proscription and relegation.

alike have made their fair share of jokes on this word comprised of “ebony” and “phonics”, which is used when referring to the speech of African American English speakers (Pullum, 321). While some would say that this variety of speech is nothing more than incorrect English, others would argue that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is in fact a language on its own, complete with rules, complexities, and patterns (Pullum, 321). The opposing sides on this issue have sparked controversial debates and even hateful outbursts, all of which have very little to do with the actual spoken words, and more to do with the people who are doing the talking, as we discussed in class lecture (McGuire). Racial and social class prejudices seem to be behind much public opinion on the issue. Whether you argue for AAVE being a language separate from English, or simply a dialect, speakers of AAVE are dealing with a linguistic barrier that affects various parts of their educational, social, and personal lives.