Steve
Mostly Harmless
For those who are from other countries, Ebonics is a label used to describe the way that some people speak English. While some Southern Caucasians speak in much the same way, the term typically refers to an African American speaker.
I was struck by a comment made on the topic. In a nutshell, there seemed to be some seriously racist undertones in the comment (unintentional, I believe). And this is something that I've seen before, in that ebonics tends to be a term used itself as a racial slur.
So, questions for you guys. What do you think ebonics is? Do you think ebonics should be recognized as a dialect of American English? What about other colloquial/regional/social economic languages, such as Cajun English or Appalachian English?
Do you think ebonics is racist? For/by whom? In other words, do you think it's racist for white people to criticize ebonics? Do you think it's racist for black people to speak using ebonics? Neither? Both?
I was struck by a comment made on the topic. In a nutshell, there seemed to be some seriously racist undertones in the comment (unintentional, I believe). And this is something that I've seen before, in that ebonics tends to be a term used itself as a racial slur.
So, questions for you guys. What do you think ebonics is? Do you think ebonics should be recognized as a dialect of American English? What about other colloquial/regional/social economic languages, such as Cajun English or Appalachian English?
Do you think ebonics is racist? For/by whom? In other words, do you think it's racist for white people to criticize ebonics? Do you think it's racist for black people to speak using ebonics? Neither? Both?