In Bad Ideas about Writing, an essay called “African American Language is not good English,” by Jennifer M. Cunningham, disputes the false perception of the African American language seen as English. The term “African American Language” has had multiple terms such as Ebonics, African American English, Black English, and many more. The bad idea is the African American language is not good English, but the better idea Cunningham and Mike Vuolo who has an article called “Is Black English A Dialect or A Language?” present it as its own language. To begin we must analyze the facts of how it is its own language.
Cunningham explains that “African American language combines English vocabulary (the words used) with an African grammar (the way the words are ordered and conjugated) and phonology (the way the words are pronounced)” (Cunningham, 88). The article “Is Black English A Dialect or A Language?” by Mike Vuolo also presents a similar statement that the African American language has a unique and different pattern from standard English. Both authors agree on the fact that the African American language cannot be considered bad English because it is not linguistically speaking English. An example Cunningham shows of the differences between the two are some of the linguistic principles of the language changes a pronounced th sound with a /d/ producing dis, dat, dese, and dose creating the words in standard English, this, that, these, and those (Cunningham, 90). Cunningham followed up her example by stating that the reasoning behind this was that the th sound is difficult to pronounce for those where English is not their first language.
A question then arises how does this correlate to African Americans born in the country, and English is their first language? Why is the African American language so commonly and widely used? Mike Vuolo states from Walter Wolfram that “the number one attribute of “acting white” was “speaking white,” talking white” (Vuolo,1). “Talking white” in this context is using standard English, which causes an identify factor to play a role. The correlation that Wolfram makes is that when African Americans are learning standard English, it becomes a social decision because standard English is associated with “talking white”, and one naturally wouldn’t want to disenfranchise themselves to their community. An example in “African American Language is not good English,” shows two phrases with the same meaning but different sentence structures. “I aint got no time” (African American Language) is equivalent to “I don’t have any time” in standard English. Leading back to Cunningham’s statements on the th sound being difficult to pronounce for those whose English is not their first language could be a social decision for African Americans not because they can’t pronounce the sound, but they choose to pronounce otherwise for social acceptance.
In the article “Is Black English A Dialect or A Language?” Vuolo states that the school board acknowledged that African American kids came to school speaking a language other than standard English. Vuolo agreed with the school board’s proposal which was to use those kids’ language in the classroom to “transition” them to standard English. Cunningham had a similar solution because she stated in her essay “When we focus on the ways that African American Language and Standard American English are different, communicators are able to better understand, acquire, and switch between both, and society is more capable of recognizing the validity of the language and its users” (Cunningham, 91). Both solutions are connected with the better idea that the African American language is not English because then it would be verifying or acknowledging the language as its own and its users.
Having the school board have to make a proposal is related to a term Vuolo used called Principle of Linguistic Subordination which means “If a people are socially subordinated then their language will almost always be as well” (Vuolo,1). There were those who disapproved of the school board proposal such as Mario Cuomo and Joseph Liberman. Both agreed that “it is a lowering of the bar” as Cuomo says and It wouldn’t properly educate a person which shows that they too practice this principle because even the political parties felt that the language was a lesser form of English.
Cunningham and Vuolo both come to the same conclusion the language has its own sets of rules and principles to be considered a separate language to English. By recognizing African American language as its own language, even if it is a social decision, it could be incorporated in the education system as a reference educators can use to transition students who use the African American language into standard English. As Cunningham thoroughly explains “In the writing classroom, teachers can help students navigate Standard American English expectations while not suggesting a linguistic hierarchy. By speaking about language choices in terms of difference rather than deficiency and in relation to academic and non-academic conventions, we can value both (or any) languages” (Cunningham, 91).
Works Cited
Cunningham, M, Jennifer. “AFRICAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE IS NOT GOOD ENGLISH” In Bad Ideas About Writing. Edited by Edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe,88-92. Web. https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf
Vulo, Mike. “Is Black English a Dialect or a Language?” 27 February 2012. http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2012/02/lexicon_valley_is_black_english_a_dialect_or_a_language_.html