Sun, 2 Nov 1997

With respect to "Ebonics [being] nothing more than poorly spoken English which has been standardized by a community...," this argument has already been placed by others, who have said that a "language is just a dialect with an army, in its proper perspective." It can just as well be argued that English (C) is poorly spoken German (A) or Dutch (B). Three examples where the common etymology is clearly evident:

A: antwort	B: antwoord	C: answer	A and B are pronounced as written, C is not
A: licht	B: licht	C: light	A and B are pronounced as written, C is not
A: genug	B: genoeg	C: enough	A and B are pronounced as written, C is not

With the foregoing in mind, it might reasonably then be said, exchanging "English" in your statement for "Ebonics": The promotion of English as anything other than this is dangerous because it has no significant positive value.

-BERT THOMPSON

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RESPONSE:

There is no denying that English is a Germanic language, meaning that many of its words have etymological origins dating from the invasions of Germanic tribes into Britain which spanned centuries. What distinguishes Ebonics from modern English, which bears both words with these etymological roots and also words with etymologies spanning numerous other nations, is that the development of Ebonics was inextricably tied to a system of slavery. The American slave system required the retardation of that segment of society's education. The fact that there developed a common set of errors in the way that English is used by the descendants of these slaves is nothing to be proud of or to foster and does not make Ebonics a language. Ebonics only serves to subject African Americans to ridicule by Euro-Americans and immigrants from other parts of the world who have successfully mastered standard American English so that they can function effectively in society.