Let me "AX" you a question.

I hate that one.

IG

Let me "AX" you a question.

Exactly! That pisses me off too!!

I studied Linguistics a lot. It was a big part of the "Language Acquisition" part of my "Teaching Second Languages and Cultures" education in college.

Lots of academics have studied Ebonics as a dialect. Compared to "Prescriptive English" (what we learn in grammar books,) Ebonics is very consistent in applying and following grammar rules. In a sense, it is more "logical" in structure than what some of us would consider to be "proper English."

That said: It would be pretty tough to get a job answering phones, or working with vast sections of the public if a person uses that dialect.

I think language and thinking are closely related. I'm not sure which is the chicken and which is the egg, though. Big ideas require big words. Clarity requires precision.

On a lighter note:

Link Warning: swear words, politially incorrect, popups, etc., but very funny....

Sup ...DharmaGrl...
Gotta give you props on your pimpin read.....
much love to ya...

Interesting story...good job

Yo, yo, yo,

Theys just need a little shizzle in they fazizzle!

Mad props, Grl!

"You know, I'm no language purist. I use as much slang and incorrect grammar as anyone else. I just believe in calling things as they are...

..and to me, Ebonics is slang."

Wild applause...standing ovation.... I'm not a language purist either, but I at least expect to be able to understand what people are saying, and have them understand me. I find myself correcting my 14 yr old daughter a LOT these days...to me, that sort of language just makes you sound less educated, and as an educator, I expect all of my children to be proud of their education and their language, and to make proper use of it.

I expect all of my children to be proud of their education and their language, and to make proper use of it.

My daughter got sent to speech therapy in second grade because she lisped. After 6 months, the lisp was gone and she was speaking really quite well. I listen to some of the slang terminology she uses now, and I want to send her back to speech therapy again!

As a sidenote:
I was watching 'Cops' last night, and some kid got busted for posession after he had engaged the officers in a foot chase. He kept saying "What I did, man? What I did man?" (pronounced "whut I deed, mayun") over and over and over.....

...arrrrgghhhhh!

I believe it is bastardization not language. It just makes me cringe. Slang is one thing but stuff like "ax you a question" and "what I did" just irk me to no end. I'm not expecting perfect English, just the basics. One pet peeve of mine though is "irregardless".........ugh! It just seems like laziness to me. Most other countries teach at least a couple of languages. We can't even handle one language here! We recently had a visitor from Italy who apologized for his English since he never spoke it before and he ended up speaking better English than most Americans I know. Same was true for when we went to Germany. It is just plain embarrassing!

I also hate how corporations use intentionally misspelled words so they can copyright them.

Well think of it this way. stupidity sells. When you have someone loud and making a scene or just acting plain ignorant people flock to see it because its funny to them. This is why the media goes and finds the dumbest, thuggish, non talking person on the block. its sort of like comic relief.

Some of it also can be just what people expect. Ive heard some people attempt to call ebonics on college professors and the like who have never ever set foot in a ghetto anywhere (all the time they said it correctly, and the person doing the blame was in the wrong) If you go in expecting someone to act or sound a certain way your mind is going to go over every single detail to find it, even if it has to imagine it.

good article.

There's a really interesting book by Jack Womack called Random Acts of Senseless Violence that shows a girl's change in vocabulary mirrored by the onset of societal degeneration. You might want to check it out.