Pro and Con: For and Against Black English
Is there, or should there be, a language called Black English? I am utterly appalled by the very thought! To take all the linguistic goofs made by Black children and their parents and then raise these mistakes to the level of a language? That is simply ridiculous!
Yes, there are slight variations to be noted regarding vocal inflection and speech tempo among African-Americans but in order to lay claim to A NEW LANGUAGE, the Black community first has to demonstrate how the vocabulary and grammar of Black English is substantially different from regular English—and how they could ever hope to do this without relying on common grammatical errors to support this difference is beyond me.
There never was a “Black English” other than this combination of vocal inflections, a sprinkling of jive (creative slang), and grammatical errors repeated so often they became an acceptable way of speaking and writing: acceptable to family and friends, that is, if not to the schools and educated persons. Even today some of the most common expressions within this “new language” are grammatical errors at heart and not the reflection of a truly new language.
IT AIN’T GONNA WORK
Many ordinary people (both black and white) often use the word “ain’t” to mean “isn’t” or “aren’t”: thus, “He isn’t going” becomes “He ain’t going” and “They aren’t ready” becomes “They ain’t ready.” Had inattentive children (of whatever color) used the right verb in the first instance, the word “ain”t” would hardly have become a candidate for the vocabulary list of Black English.
Be that as it may, “ain’t” does remain part of regular English as well, although most dictionaries note its origin as founded in ungrammatical error. Sure, many people still use “ain”t” even though it has not been considered a proper word for years and years. Somehow its appeal survived all attempts to crush it.
The word is convenient and can be used with almost any pronoun, even though repetition of what is essentially a mistake is seldom the right way for a term to gain legitimacy. It does happen on rare occasion, however, as noted here. Yet even if we reach the point of saying “okay” to all words or phrases that are considered incorrect grammatically, is that enough of a basis to lay claim to witnessing the birth of a new language?
In the expression, “I am not going to do my schoolwork”, we can consider the alternatives to the verb phrase. There is no contraction available here other than “I + am” which can be written as “I’m” but changing the sentence to “I ain’t going to do my homework” hardly deserves to be called good English let alone a different language. The very spelling of the word “ain’t” is more a mangling of the existing English language than an example of something new being born.
One can argue that since “ain’t” is used in common speech it should be allowed to pass, yet how wise is it to take every incorrect grammatical error and simply say “let it pass” as acceptable? Is there not a danger of destroying the aesthetic beauty of the language we speak?
If we fail to recognize that children (and adults) routinely make many grammatical mistakes as they speak and write, then how do we distinguish between good language and mangled language in school and life? If we adopt the view that there is no longer a need to correct and guide students’ speech, then how on earth are teachers supposed to give language instruction so their students can learn to become more effective speakers and writers?
Nor is this to overlook the fact that English already allows for a great deal of freedom in its idioms, in its common speech, and in its slang. It is a richly endowed language always flowing fresh through the minds of its speakers who may constantly re-energize themselves through pointed articulation of their emotions and opinions.
If “cool” is allowed as a one word answer instead of expecting students to express themselves fully, we will lose more than we gain.
ONE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
I suggest that there is only one English language. It can be spoken in many ways but I have not yet seen the sense in calling a collection of grammatical confusions the basis for a new dialect.
African languages also have their vocabularies and rules of grammar; I am not saying anything intended to disparage any person or group. But if one were to violate the normal rules of usage when speaking an African language, the true native speakers certainly would note the discrepancies and not likely with any great sense of pleasure, either!
If Black Americans want to learn to speak an African language, that’s fine with me; it’s a free country. But I don’t like it when I see a lot of simple street expressions being passed off as the birth of a new language. “My brother he went home” may sound okay to some ears but anyone who has attended elementary school or above should realize that the pronoun “he” is not needed.
How so, you ask? “My brother” is the subject of the sentence and already is doing its part 100%. No other redundancy is needed. As brevity reflects the soul of a language, no extra pronoun should be inserted. Since even lazy students would agree that the fewer words needed to be written on a paper the better, I think they would vote in favor of keeping this English rule: “The pronoun takes the place of a noun and is not needed when the subject is already plainly stated.”
As regarding obscenity and vulgarity becoming more common among our young people, that has seemed obvious for a long time. Many children today routinely used obscene words that were either not known or not spoken aloud by previous generations at such tender ages. It is a dubious argument to claim the frequent use of “dirty words” is another way of showing there is a Black English different from regular English. These words do not compose the stock of a new vocabulary. They are already part of the English language; it is rather just a question of manners and upbringing as to when and where one should use such vulgar language, if at all.
There are plenty of students who use “off color” language and make risqué remarks, but these students typically have never reached a sufficient level of maturity to appreciate the difference between street slang and classroom English. Everyone should learn the differences between polite society and neighborhood jive, between formal English and street lingo.
“Bad words” already exist but it is a question of knowing when (and when not) to use them. One would not expect to hear obscenity in classrooms, churches, funerals, weddings, and other extraordinarily solemn or joyous occasions. That some school-age children (and adults) choose to pepper their sentences with the “F” word whenever they can is just a matter of personal taste or “bad taste” to be more precise. It is only an issue of decorum and not necessarily an issue of dialect or linguistic mutability.
Should people who swear the most, whether routinely or in anger, really be the ones to drive this discussion? Should we accept the view that foul-mouthed persons somehow deservedly constitute a tributary of this new river of words making up “Black English”?
Imagine if these bent terms and misshapen phrases became the law of the land! Imagine if “ain’t”, “My brother he…”, and other improper expressions are flipped to approved status! Imagine if foolish grammar blunders are validated by being called not error but the building blocks of a new language. Imagine the creation of a vocabulary based on the frequency with which such blunders are made! Imagine treating mistakes as a new way of speaking and writing, now come alive!
I’d rather yell in pain after hitting my thumb with a hammer and call THAT the ringing of sacred church bells than listen to such rubbish.
The way some Black people pronounce English in creatively unique ways can be acknowledged without claiming such pronunciation rightly forms the foundation of a new language. Such a claim will not help unify our society for it tends to divide rather than unite. If a language is fractured, then so, too, will groups within our society become more splintered and self-centered.
Cultural and racial diversity, instead of being celebrated, will be seized upon by some as an excuse to further divide and conquer. As a “branching language” is affirmed, so follows the widening gulf among ethnic groups and their diverse cultural practices.
Separation and Segregation will find its way back in, riding in disguise on just such specious claims regarding this kind of English or that kind of English.
There is only one English language, in a historic and literary sense. If English has developed formal rules in speech and writing, there are reasons why English-speaking peoples follow these rules. It is no coincidence that English has expressed as much literary genius within it as any other language, nor is it mere happenstance the English-speaking peoples themselves have led the way to the inventive richness of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Technology. Rules in language parallel rules in life and both encourage moral adherence to thoughtful speech and action.
When a rule of a language is broken, that deviation from the norm will remain essentially that: a mistake. It is bad business to try and start a new language using broken rules for its foundation blocks since these curiously ungrammatical expressions can only be described as having originated as mistakes. It is bad form to think a new dialect of English is even needed, given the language’s boundless capacity to express every kind of thought imaginable!
I do not think the English language is to blame or is in much need of repair; rather, I think we have here a case of lazy students seeking to validate all the errors they ever made as “dialect” rather than them exhibiting the requisite maturity to first admit and then correct their errors. Should they be allowed to claim:
I didn’t say “He don’t know no better” as a perversion of proper English;
I was speaking a new language!
The worst students in school would serve as the brokers of the new tongue, mid-wives giving birth to a “dialect” founded on grammatical error, obscenity, street lingo, temper and bad manners.
Such students may try to enshrine all their errors as a dialect and see that as a virtuous act but the effort will not get far. They are only trying to create a language appropriate to their own sense of incompetence and inertia. “We are too lazy to learn to speak and write a language correctly so let’s bundle up all our mistakes and call them by a new name, a new dialect.”
How silly and ridiculous! If people don’t see a problem with that as a dangerous social phenomenon then I believe we are becoming blind to the most potent dangers lurking all around us.
The Right Wing is not dead when it loses an election in its bid to capture the White House for the benefit of the richest economic royalists in the country, so they can control the politics and economics of the nation to their own selfish advantage. This question of “Black English” feeds into the rhetoric of the far Right: Black Americans cannot be absorbed into America; they are too different; they even speak a different dialect!
Such efforts to legitimize a new dialect return the debate to “black and white”, to seeing everything in racial terms. This is a step backward, not a step forward.
Dr. King and his legacy will end up meaning nothing to us if we do not continue to place universal brotherhood on a higher plane than the selfish interests of this or that group, whether rightwing ideologues in politics or street-wise youth who claim their slang is the start of a new language.
Strange that Dr. King, speaking eloquently and relying carefully on well-chosen words, became the spokesmen for millions and the conscience of a nation! The English language is not limited in creative form or moral purpose, learned well and spoken well.
Does the Black community fear that the English language somehow may stymie their movement towards greater freedom and equality? Nonsense! This is a language born to accompany and inspire great movements for social justice.
Strange that the peaceful warrior, Dr. King, with words of wisdom conquered the hearts of tens of millions of people—even though in every school and society there will always be some students who believe that learning vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation correctly is just a waste of time. They’d rather be playing than studying, truth to tell. It’s understandable that some children feel that way, but the instinct for playfulness among children does not legitimize claims of dialect.
Many immigrants who come to America have trouble learning the English language at first, yet many of them continue to improve until they reach a high level of fluency. The notion that the English language is itself somehow racist or poisoned or incomprehensible is ridiculous. Languages are not at fault for the sins committed by their speakers, of whatever race or ethnic background. Do the acts of a criminal invalidate whichever language he happens to speak?
Granted, the injury done to the families of Black Americans over the years goes far deeper than this entire debate over the pros and cons of a dialect called Black English–and would not be healed even if this miscreant of a misbegotten “dialect” should thrive and prosper. The apology America owes her Black American citizens is as wide as a galaxy and will take a very long time before the apology is deemed proper and acceptable.
In the meantime, I hope teachers and educators everywhere will think twice before rushing to jump on the New Bandwagon: “we’re cool, we’re not homey-down with the racists, we’s all in favor of dis new here thing, whatchamacallit, Black English.” No we ain’t; I mean, no we aren’t!
For a teacher, that would be tantamount to committing professional suicide in which all the qualities of intellect and integrity we hold most dear are allowed to go for a ride on the Slide Into Oblivion. They might as well close Teaching as a profession and hang out a sign “Going out of Business” if teachers who teach children the proper way to speak and write must cave in to pressure to approve Black English as a new dialect.
I can’t help wondering what Dr. King would say if he were here and could address this matter? Would he support a pseudo-cultural movement like this–aimed at widening the gap–or would he hope that the English language still suffices to sustain the unifying role it has played in the past and hopefully will play again in the future?
“All men are created equal” is plain enough English to me. I see no reason to tinker with the sentiment or the linguistic structure which surrounds it. I consider “Black English” as an attack upon the English of the American Revolution and I hereby serve notice of my intention to defend English all the way–to the death if need be– come what may!
