A Discussion of Ebonics

The blog that I found which was a group of teachers discussing when Black English should be used opposed to when it should not be used. Some of the teachers thought that the use of Black English was really to add into the class room and that it needs to be done. Others discussed that they have no idea when Black English should be appropriated. The way that they discussed this was similar to how a few of the readers that we read for class and discussed.
Nakamura wrote a book about the challenges that Blacks are facing on the web. She discusses how even on the web it is really hard to completely hide your race. Even though my reading was not on how to talk on the web that is a problem for students and one place that they can use Black English. Nakamura talks about how on the internet people can be their “fluid selves”. On this topic she makes a very interesting point in the following quote. “These kinds of racial identity plays stand as a critique of the notion of the digital citizen as an ideal cogito whose subjectivity is liberated by cyberspace. On the contrary, only too often does one person’s ‘liberation’ constitute another’s recontainment with the realm of racialized discourse.” (PG 398, A Reader for Writers) This quote goes along with what the teachers were saying because the teachers know that they need to know when the right and wrong time is to let Ebonics be used in their class, and this is explaining when it is right to use Ebonics on the internet. The teachers all agreed that there is a right and a wrong time and place to use Black English and I believe that in this quote that is what Nakamura is trying to get across.
The blog posting that the teachers wrote that I chose to analysis in my DW2a is a lot of discussion of Black English and not a lot of talk about the appropriation of it. The teachers agree with all of the readers that we have read thus far in the fact that they believe that Black English should be used. The question that just keeps being brought up is when is it appropriate to use Black English. In the first reading we read by Adam Banks he talks about the popular Black Site BlackPlanet.com. In his essay he talks about how in sites like Black Planet Black English is not only allowed it is expected. This is the norm on this site and he explains this. While talking about the name of the website on page 99 of a “Reader for Writer’s” he says “the name announces that it is not any other hybrid, fluid space online. But rather a separate space; a space where all are welcome to cist or become members, but distinctively Black space nonetheless.” This shows that Blacks can have their own sites where their language can be used and is very welcome. I think that the way that Banks talks about the use of Ebonics and how they have their own site really adds to what the teachers have to say about using Ebonics and in what situations they should use Ebonics.

Analysis of Blog talkin'

While doing this assignment I found it very hard to find pieces of writing in actual Black English. However I did find articles and blogs on how and when Black English should be used. I did find a very interesting blog that was posted by someone that was either a teacher or is an education major in college. The blog is done by Christine and there are seven posts by other people responding to what she has to say. They are all discussing a reading that they read about when it is appropriate to use proper English opposed to Black English. The reading aroused many questions that they all had. The big question is when is it appropriate to use Black English opposed to “proper” English in a classroom setting.
All of the teachers thought that it is a good idea to somehow incorporate both Black and Proper English into the class room. However the big question was really how should they properly do this? One idea was to make all of the formal writing and discussions in Proper English while having some of the more informal class discussion in class in Black English. They all agreed that it is valuable for the students to know to code-switch and how to speak in both situations. As one of the posts by John Settlage says “… students to know when to switch avoids the danger of making "proper" English seem better than their everyday ways of talking.” He believes that it is best for students to know both.
One of the questions is how to teach the students to use both Black and Proper English and when it is appropriate. Teaching then how to use it really isn’t that bad. The challenge really comes from when using which is appropriate. Britt posts “I really like the idea of talking to them about when it is appropriate to use their native english, but also give them a chance to use proper english.” One of the ways discussed to use their native English and Proper English is to have them use their native English in classroom discussions but during formal writing and formal presentations to use Proper English.
They believe that if you can be successful in teaching both forms of English it will make the students more rounded. They will be more able to function well once they get out into the work force. Jess Baker posts “Hopefully by helping students to become fluent in both types of English they will be better able to succeed in the working world once they enter it.” The ability to be successful at switching will make the students able to control their switching at work and also make them be able to connect to more people.

“Black English” Weblog posting. Science Blog. 7 Oct. 2008. 15 Feb. 2009.

The Influence of Accents.

“As a matter of fact, when you talk about pronunciation, there is no national standard even among white speakers, since the difference regional dialects of the country all have their own individual standards.”
- Smitherman, Geneva. “It Bees that Way Sometimes: Present-Day Sounds in Black English.”

I think out of all of the readings that I have read thus far this passage is the one that I relate to the best. This passage is talking about how no matter where you go in the country they are going to have an accent that is very specific to that area. The accent that they use is because of the way that they pronounce their words. For that area it is completely normal that they sound the way that they do and that is what is expected of them. This applies not only to whites but also to blacks. No matter where you go in the country they have these accents. For example the south has the very distinct southern drawl, while the Midwest has the Midwestern accent. Then there are also the ever popular New Jersey, California, Western and Eastern accents. Each of them are very specific to their area but are also very noticeable. In all of these accents the people talk with the same words and most of the phrases are the same. The difference is the way that they pronounce their words. In this quote Smitherman is just explaining this and is showing that the difference is not just between black and white English but that through out all of white English there are many differences in the way that they pronounce their words.
I relate to this passage because for me it is not that my home and school language are really not all that much different, it is just that I pronounce them different and with an accent. I have the Yooper accent and when I use it I pronounce my words very differently, then if I were to have just the straight up Midwest accent. I have also had friends from all over the country and these friends pronounce their words differently. They also are only pronouncing their words the way that they were taught when they were growing up. When I was little my neighbor’s grandson and I were childhood sweethearts and he was from Oklahoma and he had a very thick southern accent. One day he told my mom “Some day I am going to marry your daughter!” When he told her this it was with his accent and sounded very different then it would have if a boy from my school had told my mom this because he had a Yooper accent. The language would have been the same for both of them but the way that they pronounced it was very different. All English is the same it is just that there are different accents through out all of the country making them all sound differently.