Black English Language Summary

Talking Black In America addresses how advanced, unique, and culturally important African American English is (Hutcheson and Cullinan, 2017).

I`m just an average 17-year-old girl named Violet Rivers walking home from hanging out with some friends on a Friday night but I had this strange feeling that I was being followed, I started to walk faster but then I heard a noise from behind the bushes. As the curious girl I am I decided to see what the noise was when I looked behind the bushes there was nothing there but all of a sudden everything went black.When I woke up the back of my head was killing me and I was in a dim room lit by a couple of candles with a weird smell and I was in a hospital bed with a small dresser next to it. I got out of the bed feeling a little dizzy, slowly walking to the door, when I opened it the hallway was so dark and cold so I grabbed a candle then cautiously moved at a slow pace down the hall feeling scared. There was a royal blue, old looking door that stood out from the rest of the old wooden doors, on the right side of the hallway towards the end, it was hard to open but I pushed as much as I could, then it swung open with the sound of squeaking hinges. There was a twirling staircase that leads far down, I followed curiously to see what was at the bottom. When I got

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.

We are affected in many ways based on race and social status. It is how we over come these challenges, that makes us who we are. The question is what is wrong with black? I read an essay by Langston Hughes in which he breaks down the use of the word black. This essay provides the idea of how the word black creates a negative impression of African Americans. I found this essay rather interesting and biased in some cases, but it is an essay I feel everyone should read. In this essay he uses explains what the word black really means and the negative connotation that is sometimes attached to it. He stated how(709-710)”white folks have done used that word to mean something bad so often until now when the N.A.A.C.P. asks for civil rights for

Baldwin describes the whites as believing the blacks are inferior to them and that the white presumptions of black people have defined the place of blacks in society for many years. He states that “[his nephew was] born into a

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.

It is impossible for anyone to survive a horrible event in their life without a relationship to have to keep them alive. The connection and emotional bond between the person suffering and the other is sometimes all they need to survive. On the other hand, not having anyone to believe in can make death appear easier than life allowing the person to give up instead of fighting for survival. In The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Aminata Diallo survives her course through slavery by remembering her family and the friends that she makes. Aminata is taught by her mother, Sira to deliver babies in the villages of her homeland. This skill proves to be very valuable to Aminata as it helps her deliver her friends babies and create a source of

“The Book of Negroes is a master piece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach, convincing in its narrative art and detail, necessary for imagining the real beyond the traces left by history.” I completely agree with The Globe and Mail’s interpretation of this story. One could almost see the desolate conditions of the slave boats and feel the pain of every person brought into slavery. Lawrence Hill created a compelling story that depicts the hard ships, emotional turmoil and bravery when he wrote The Book of Negroes.

In the convention movement Black intellectals used American political theory to their advantage. Since not being able to get together for politcal gathering, they need the conventopns to move forward any kind of political agenda for blacks. Since blacks had no part in it, it was important to show how unfair the current political system was towards blacks. Blacks used a quote from Locke stating, "government is morally obliged to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property" showing that blacks should have the same rights.

Baldwin continues on and says that blacks were being oppressed everywhere. “…Negro girls who set upon a white girl in the subway because…she was stepping on their toes. Indeed she was, all over the nation” (73). Not only does this portray the ever growing tension felt among African Americans in a certain area, it expresses the tension felt across the nation. African Americans everywhere were still continuously looked down upon, causing agitation, which was the current social condition blacks and whites faced.

The African American Vernacular language (AAVL) refers to all variations of language use in the African American communities which include differences in gender, social and economic class, education and religion to name a few. AAVL is spoken mostly by the Africans that were brought to America during the slavery era. The United States refers this language, either in part or as a whole, to a language distinct from the American culture. This language is rooted in the historical experience if the African American people. The dialect is rooted in Africa. Much research in the 1960’s and 70’s has been given to this dialect because of the controversy of whether this particular language is a poor quality of the English language or in its own cultural category.

Hi Farhat, I guess that there are majority part of African Americans can both speak General American English and AAVE and switch them fluently. It is similar to the situation as we speak our national language and vernacular. You know, some time people will forget to switch vernacular to a common language that both speaker and listener can understand. So probably next time you can tell your friend that you are not familiar with AAVE and to see if he can switch to General American

“Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers” (Chavez). Language a puzzle piece of a person’s culture. In history Americans used the demise of others to receive their glory. People like the African slaves and Native Americans suffered at the hand of the Americans. Focusing mostly on the African slaves, Americans cut their culture away from them by forbidding their language in their new “home” and forced their language onto them. Though the Americans believed that they had the upper hand by cutting off the African culture, the Africans exceeded their power by founding their own american culture, through African American Vernacular English.

For my project, I have many options that I am considering. Narrowing down will be difficult because each has its own important information that I believe should be shared. One idea that I came up with is to compare African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to American Standard English. For example, the origins, grammar rules, words, articulation, and etc. Not only will I compare them, but I will argue the legitimacy of AAVE with research. I’m not advocating for AAVE to overtake American Standard English, but I am supporting that AAVE should be looked at as an official language like Spanish and French and be treated as such. No one should feel like they are talking wrong nor should their language determine ones intelligences level, but in schools

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety previously known as Black English Vernacular or Vernacular Black English by sociolinguists, and commonly called Ebonics outside the academic community. However, some characteristics of AAVE are seemingly unique in its structure. It also includes a number of standard and nonstandard English varieties are spoken by the US and the Caribbean people. AAVE has been the core of many public debates and also the analysis of this variety has encouraged and sustained debates amongst sociolinguists.  Some speakers may use some special aspects of pronunciation and vocabulary. Nevertheless, the grammatical features are not connected with the variety. Several sociolinguists would reserve the term AAVE for varieties which are marked by the existence of specific distinctive grammatical features and some of them are discussed below. The history of AAVE and what language varieties it is related to are also a matter of argument. Some scholars confirm that AAVE developed out a connection between speakers of West African languages and speakers of vernacular English varieties. According to such an opinion, West Africans learnt English on plantations in the southern Coastal States from very few native speakers. Some say that this led to the development of a rudimentary pidgin, a very simple language which has been extended through a process of colorization later.