Ernie Smith’s discussion of his experiences in “Ebonics: A Case History” highlights, as Dowdy did, the difficulties of the language barrier. That is, a language barrier between the “right” way to speak and the “wrong” way. Smith was hindered by his lack of Standard English in school seeing as he was placed in the special sections for most of his courses. Later in life, Smith set out for college. First, he received his Associates Degree, and, later, he received his Bachelor’s Degree. He, then, began his career in the media and, later, enrolled as a graduate student. Following this, he was indicted for using “vulgar, profane, and indecent” language (24). He finds once again that his language is the subject of controversy. The most interesting part of this essay to me was what he says schools officials called the language of him and his fellow black classmates. Smith says they were called things such as: “verbal cripple”, “linguistically handicapped”, and “linguistically deprived” (17). How can anyone believe that they have the right to say that about anyone? I love the questions raised in this inquiry. It seems that the victims of this type of oppression must take up the “public” tongue, in order to have their injustices heard. It doesn’t seem like it is much of a victory if the person must resort to speaking the “public” tongue. The interesting thing that came to my mind as I was reading this inquiry was: if the victims of language oppression resort to learning the “superior” language, then how do they voice their concerns for the future oppressed? What I mean is, how are they able to gain interests from the oppressors on this issue, when the oppressed person now speaks the “superior” language? Why would the oppressors care about the issue, if they succeeded in causing the person to speak the “superior” way?
"If the victims of language oppression resort to learning the “superior” language, then how do they voice their concerns for the future oppressed?"
Very powerful question. I think that the writings of Geneva Smitherman would give you some insight, at least as an example of a respected linguist who often (not always) writes in AAL. You might guess, however, that she didn't take this risk until she had already gained respect (and degrees) within her field, which of course she did using her master of LWC. It's a thorny issue, indeed.
...it's a good idea to write your posts in a word processing program (MS Word has a "blog post" template that is ideal) before posting. That will allow you to save your work and avoid the extraordinarily frustrating experience of hitting the wrong key just before publishing a post and losing at all (not that I'veever made such a rookie mistake, of course).
...if you're having trouble posting an inquiry or response, you can print out your paper and bring it to class in order to receive credit. I'll still ask you to post it to the blog once we fix the problem, but that way you'll still receive full credit.
Inquiry papers should each be a new post, and should be labled with the number as well as whatever title you like. For example: "Inquiry 1: life in two languages" or "Inquiry 1: Dowdy's 'Ovuh Dyuh'"
1) Summarize the argument or the thesis of the reading in 1-2 sentences.
2) Pose questions that the reading raised for you.
3) Speculate on the answers OR the context of the questions (why they matter, who they matter to, what's at stake, etc) OR delve deeper by asking more questions.
response guidelines
Your response papers should be in the "comment" section of the inquiry paper to which you are responding.
1) Read a classmate's inquiry paper that has not yet been responded to.
2) Summarize the argument or thesis of the assigned reading.
3) Address your classmate's question(s) using what you've learned from this and other readings. You may not feel confident in your answers; that's okay. Speculate, brainstorm, explore, pose other questions, relate it to your life experience, expand on the stakes of the questions, etc.
Ernie Smith’s discussion of his experiences in “Ebonics: A Case History” highlights, as Dowdy did, the difficulties of the language barrier. That is, a language barrier between the “right” way to speak and the “wrong” way. Smith was hindered by his lack of Standard English in school seeing as he was placed in the special sections for most of his courses. Later in life, Smith set out for college. First, he received his Associates Degree, and, later, he received his Bachelor’s Degree. He, then, began his career in the media and, later, enrolled as a graduate student. Following this, he was indicted for using “vulgar, profane, and indecent” language (24). He finds once again that his language is the subject of controversy. The most interesting part of this essay to me was what he says schools officials called the language of him and his fellow black classmates. Smith says they were called things such as: “verbal cripple”, “linguistically handicapped”, and “linguistically deprived” (17). How can anyone believe that they have the right to say that about anyone?
ReplyDeleteI love the questions raised in this inquiry. It seems that the victims of this type of oppression must take up the “public” tongue, in order to have their injustices heard. It doesn’t seem like it is much of a victory if the person must resort to speaking the “public” tongue. The interesting thing that came to my mind as I was reading this inquiry was: if the victims of language oppression resort to learning the “superior” language, then how do they voice their concerns for the future oppressed? What I mean is, how are they able to gain interests from the oppressors on this issue, when the oppressed person now speaks the “superior” language? Why would the oppressors care about the issue, if they succeeded in causing the person to speak the “superior” way?
"If the victims of language oppression resort to learning the “superior” language, then how do they voice their concerns for the future oppressed?"
ReplyDeleteVery powerful question. I think that the writings of Geneva Smitherman would give you some insight, at least as an example of a respected linguist who often (not always) writes in AAL. You might guess, however, that she didn't take this risk until she had already gained respect (and degrees) within her field, which of course she did using her master of LWC. It's a thorny issue, indeed.