The city of Oakland, here in California, recognized "ebonics" as an official language.
In other words, instead of English teachers TEACHING english, they rolled over and actually started speaking the street talk of their students instead.
As I recall, that lasted about one political millisecond, before the city leaders "smartened up".
2007-01-20 00:23:29 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
Yes - it is 'grammar' - typo. My mistake.
2007-01-20 00:34:04 · update #1
I member dat.
Dat sheet don' las' no time.
2007-01-20 00:26:29 · answer #1 · answered by Cheyuk 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually, African-American Vernacular English (also known as "ebonics") is a legitimate dialect of English, in the same way that British English, Australian English, Canadian English, Irish English and a whole host of dialects are. The reason it's not recognized as a legitimate dialect is because it's spoken by black people, a group that's consistently discriminated in our society. In other words, it's not the dialect itself but its association with black people that makes it think it's not valid.
I can actually give you a long spiel on examples of how AAVE is just as good as or superior to Standard American English in some ways. It's a shame that the recognition of another dialect in California didn't last.
Here's a Wikipedia article that details some of the grammatical features of AAVE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAVE
Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to learn more about it.
2007-01-20 15:58:18 · answer #2 · answered by drshorty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, but nobody suggested recognizing ebonics as an "official" language. The idea was to make use of it, when necessary, when teaching standard English. It might not have been such a good idea, but it is sad that public misperceptions and overreactions (like yours) trumped scientific evaluation of the policy.
2007-01-20 10:45:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
What makes people consider a vocabulary to be a separate language is fickle. Czech and Slovak are almost mutually intelligible, and Chinese is not one language but eight.
Recognizing "ebonics" was a mistake, but recognizing pidgin and creole languages isn't.
.
2007-01-20 08:59:17 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I remember the short lived policy which simply put was:
I be, you be, we be.
2007-01-20 09:23:09 · answer #5 · answered by steve b 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you truly were on a spelling theme, then you'd know that it's spelled 'grammar'
2007-01-20 08:32:46 · answer #6 · answered by Paul H 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yeah, i remember that, umm, ok, anything else you want me to remember while we are strolling down memory lane
2007-01-20 08:28:12 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
remember SNES?
2007-01-20 08:31:35 · answer #8 · answered by Foolmoron 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋