Dec 10, 2008
Grammar, slang, and baby mamas
Pondering the phrase “baby mama,” McWhorter argues against “[t]he conventional wisdom…that standard varieties have ‘grammar’ while vernacular varieties have merely ‘slang’.”
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© 2012 Abuyo. All rights reserved.
That article is probably going to be in the “Top 10″ list of things that I read today.
Thanks for sharing.
I had NO idea that there was a grammar to Ebonics. I confess that I really just thought it was a modern laziness. I can sincerely say that I know think of this “slang” language in an entirely different way. Thank you for sharing this with us today.
AAVE (African American Vernacular English) has always been a source of contention with many people who view language choice laden with some type of inherent value, ie there are good languages and bad languages.
William Labov, the grandfather of modern-day sociolinguistics and a Professor at Penn, has done much research on the “validity” of AAVE as a language variety in its own right. In short, Labov demonstrates that AAVE has its own phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics – all necessary components of any bona fide language.
But, because he’s a really smart man (and a socilinguist, not a linguist!), he also talks about the importance of people’s attitudes towards a language and why we feel the way we do about certain languages, and thus, certain language speakers.
From a sociolinguistic perspective, we should all ask ourselves: when we hear someone speaking a “lesser”variety of English (Ebonics, Hispanic English, etc.) is it really the language we have issue with?
Perhaps it is our own attitude towards the speakers of the language, rather than our attitude toward the language itself that we express when we have such strong negative reactions to a particular language variety…
My question is usually, how ought I to react?
For the Chrisitans all speech ought to build, so what does it mean to build up someone who speaks this dialect?
Seems like anyone using his or her ears would probably have know this usage, so Interesting confirmation in the article, but “instantiation?” Yeah, I see it in the dictionary, but THAT’s the new word usage I take away.
AAVE qualifies as a dialect, yet not a separate language. Has one language ever developed without isolation from the language of origin?
Good question Ben.
I think that as teachers, we have an obligation to provide our students with the best opportunity to achieve academically.
At the same time, it’s also imperative that we don’t give students the idea that their home language or dialect) is worthless or substandard.
So we present it as a choice , and we help students to learn which variety to use in what situation.
yay, language log.
it so amuaing how mcwhorter uses excellent standard english to describe ebonics … a dialect that i, not a linguist, would consider substandard!
lol!
i also take issue with ebonics being considered flatly “african american.” sure, it’s african american in origin, but it certainly isn’t used across the board by african americans. i, for example, had a hard time (and sometimes still do) when hearing ebonics as a little kid. because i wasn’t taught to speak that way, there were times i simply DIDN’T know what folks were saying. for example, a kid had to ask me “how old you is?” several times before i (assisted by another) knew what he was talking about! lol!
* amusing
oh how i wish i could edit my comment because of sentence-structure issues i see already!
Abraham, you and McWhorter are–slightly–making me reassess my views on “correct” grammar and speech.
There’s still such a thing as standards, as well as one thing being more right than another, but, truly thoughtful people recognize context matters as well.
Also, read this from McWhorter:
Beware the Witches of Grammar
http://www.nysun.com/opinion/beware-the-witches-of-grammar/68417/
Is it really grammar – or just ingrained wrong usage?