do you think Afrenglish is more respectful then Ebonics?

Question

Afrenglish is a word I just invented that means African American English. When African Americans speak amongst ourselves we in a very unique way express ourselves from an Afrocentric perspective. For instance, the use of the word *****. I have never heard any African American refer to any other African American as a ******. That word is from the English lexicon and has a negative connotations towards African American where as ***** is used as a term of endearment and/or fraternity. When African Americans speak amongst ourselves I have noticed that we speak in hieroglyphics. We do not need to expatiate but rather because of our close kinship we usually know what the other is saying without a full report, we just know. another example is when sistas call each other "girl". they are not calling each other children but rather friends. Ebonics makes it seem that our language is foreign and unacceptable when Afrenglish is another example of African creativity and evolution. what do you think?

Americans dont speak english as it spoken by the english! what racist hypocrites!!

I agree this language is not for white people. When I speak to white people I talk in a language they can understand. Usually slower and by explaining in great detail.

curious, are you an African American? then how can you tell me about my relationship with Africa? You do not know about the cultural ties that bind Africans in America with African people across the diaspora. Ebonics has a bad image and Afrenglish aims at changing that negative stereotype. I can tell you how to speak in pictures because that is something that you are not spiritually able to percieve.

it is not the opinion i find racist but the logic for the opinion and i do not find what you said racist at all. it is just your opinion.

Answer 1

you make an interesting case. I never liked the name ebonics anyway. I think the pidginization of languages happens because people still want to share and mantain a connection and unity among their people and it isn't necessary to have all the extras included ...it basically gets straight to the point, there are other cultures that do this in their language even in non pidginized tongues. but what you reference is similar to hawaiin pidgin, or Jamaican patois, or other creolized languages. I think it's just frustrating to people who can't speak it but then again it's not for them and if they want they can try to learn it.

Answer 2

I suppose. Personally, I have a problem with making another language though.

My first marriage was to a spanish woman. We were perfect together and we were truly in love. The mother in law hated me because my surname is more hispanic than theirs, but I don't speak spanish (fluently. I do, but the mother in law was such a ***** I wouldn't let her know that).
She made sure EVERYONE in the family only spoke spanish. I understood some, and prior to the mother in law incident I was doing quite a good job learning more from my wife, but this was ridiculous. We got a divorce, and I have developed (I'm not proud of it) a predjudice against hispanics, even though my own name is Rodriguez.

Now I have no problem with wanting a cultural language wether you call it Afrenglish, or Ebonics, or Toodelelay... My only problem is that it is essentially english still, but with a word base that is constantly changing. At one time I may have spoken passable umm... black american speak?? but every day it seems that the lingo is changing. During my time in the Navy I even knew guys from different parts of the U.S. who couldn't understand each other.

Now my new mother in law (who I love, and she's teaching me Romanian) who teaches high school is expected to get a certification in Ebonics every year, and the rules continue to change, and she looks really silly as a little, old, blonde haired Romanian speaking what is essentially a lingo and not a language at all.

My purpose with all this rambling is not to offend, I think it has more to do with the fact that I get upset when people actually try harder to obfuscate rather than inspire real understanding.

Oh, and by the way, I agree. Afrenglish sounds a hell of a lot better than Ebonics, but try looking back at history... "Black English" used to have really cool names like Patois and the like. For that matter, why not just take the African part out all together... I've been all through Europe, Asia, and Africa and even if I complain about America I'm still happiest with it and refuse to call myself a ______-American. Why don't more people feel that way? Especially the ones who have never even seen the "motherland".

Answer 3

Good try on making up a word but here are some facts you should take into consideration.
1) you are an American you have about as much in common with the Chinese as you do true Africans. the only thing you share might be skin color.
2) Ebonics or any other slang language is words made up or changed due to not knowing the correct pronunciation or use of the right word.
3)How do you speak in a picture language?

Answer 4

What we call 'ebonics' has evolved similarly to the way southern style, New England style, and the other various accents and dialects that we find in the USA. However, people who have just come from Africa do not speak in this way. They have learned English in the African country and it is another style, or the West Indies, like Jamaica, and that is another style. So I think Afrenglish would be confusing. Ebonics is a uniquely American way of speaking.

I also see, as a tutor, that if a person only communicates in this style, it does interfere with success in proper English,, so that, like many other Americans who are bi-cultural, they have to know the difference between formal English and conversational English, and to learn formal English.

Answer 5

Slang among groups of like minded people is commonplace. The term Ebonics does hold a negative connotation for me and I wouldn't use the N word under any circumstances as I am neither a sista nor a racist redneck so I personally feel it is wrong. Afrenglish is a suitable choice for a contraction of race and language though I wonder why we have to note a difference if only to avoid pointing out differences. Hard to straddle the fence here. Let me say however that your use of the English language is far more eloquent than 99.% of our fellow posters.

Answer 6

Speaking hieroglyphics? Sorry, meaningless in anyone's lexicon. "Full report.?" I'm sorry, did you mean "full rapport?" as in being in a state of empathy?

No need to coin a new phrase when the language has plenty of other terms in existance. I refer to words such as slang, jargon, idiom, kant, and others. Even standard English is not spoken in the US. This country has almost as many dialects as there are states and nations of origin.

Your Arenglish is, at best, disengenuous, since there is very little African influence. You offer up an alternative even more foreign than ebonics. Even Spanglish rings truer than your term.

Creativity? I think not. Evolution? A much more legitimate description of its use.

Please don't take my comments as criticism of you, just of your statements. I make note that your last comment asks what I think. It's a shame you had to tag someone else's comment as racist for offering their opinion.

Answer 7

I really hate the term Ebonics. I think only clueless White people use it. It sounds almost like an anthropological term referencing people who are more primitive. I find it derogatory especially since you don't have any comparable terms used for other dialects - say Caucasian kids from Appalachia who I'm sure would be considered by some as butchers of traditional and "proper" English. Your suggestion is certainly better but I wonder why we need a word for it at all.

Answer 8

i'm african american....i don't really see the point in putting a label on the type of language spoken, like "ebonics" or "afrenglish" i mean everyone has their own words (made up or not) that they like to use with their friends. white people who say "totally radical" don't give a name to that type of language. and we use each others words all the time anyway. white girls call their friends girls, black girs use "awesome", and what have you. i just think it's silly to start naming new languages. what's wrong with just speaking normal english? if it's so hard for people to do, take some english classes...otherwise just say whatever you wanna say, without being offensive and sounding ignorant and annoying and let's just leave it at that

Answer 9

I think that you are a very educated individual. I do not understand half of what I hear Blacks say to each other but that does not mean that they are uneducated themselves. We each speak the way we heard as a child. I had a lot of black friends when I was growing up in NC. I learned that they said words the way their parents did, so I have no ill thoughts about their speech or education. It is just how we were raised.

Answer 10

I think neither should be used, because it might start to get offensive, like the n word, eventually. African americans who use ebonics are not uneducated and probably dont live in the ghetto either-thats is a rascist stereotype. I say we use it because we can and that's all there really is to it.