Students embarking on their journeys through what one might call “studenting” have come across many different rules and regulations that govern the art of writing. Throughout the years, many of these laws seem to become more malleable, while others seem to stand true, or to be completely wrong.
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In the book Bad Ideas About Writing, author Jennifer M. Cunningham takes the time to address one of the ideas behind writing that is known by many, but proven to be incorrect. The title of her essay, and the topic that she covers, is the idea that “African American Language is Not Good English.”
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Simply put, Cunningham works to prove the inaccuracy of the bad idea through explaining how the language isn’t even a part of English itself. She has studied the African American language from a linguistic perspective and has come to the conclusion that it is its own form of communication, separated from the English language. With the help of Lisa Green and John Rickford, Cunningham and her colleagues present what they think a better idea might be: African American Language is not English. All three cooperate in proving that this idea is better, because the other is completely invalid.
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In Cunningham’s chapter of “Bad Ideas About Writing,” she explicates her perspective of the African American language in many ways. One of the most notable, is when she speaks about the linguistic aspect of AAL. She states, “Understood from a linguistics perspective, African American Language combines an 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). Cunningham further explains that, “In that way, African American Language is not good or bad English because it is not, linguistically speaking, English” (Cunningham 88). In other words, because of the fact that it is essentially a remodel of English that is functional on its own, it cannot be categorized as good or bad English. It simply is not English at all. Therefore, it shouldn’t be treated as such. With Cunningham offering this point of view on such a unique subject, she took her ideas and backed them up substantially.
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One of the most important avenues for the development of her ideas comes from Lisa J. Green’s book, African American English: A Linguistic Introduction. Green uses her writing to explain her personal views on the subject of African American English, or AAE, and Cunningham takes advantage of her similar opinions. While studying Green’s book, one will notice how she holds the same vision that African American English should be approached from an angle that is unlike that of the English language.
For instance, in her book, Green states,“The entries in this lexicon are also English words that occur in other varieties of American English, but they have different meanings and may be used in different linguistic environments” (Green 13). What she’s identifying is the reason that most people will judge AAE from an English perspective, rather than its own unique perspective. The African American language has similar words to the English language, and so those who don’t understand the linguistic environment in which those words are being used may mistake them for the wrong message. Therefore, to eliminate the confusion of meanings, the two languages should be treated as individual.
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Just as Jennifer M. Cunningham developed her ideas from those of Lisa J. Green, Green generated her own ideas from those of another author. John R. Rickford, author of chapter one of Making The Connection, uses his writing to look at the African American Language, and make conclusions based on the results that the language provides single-handedly in the education system. When speaking about the use of Ebonics in developing better success for African American students, he explains that “Methods of teaching reading and writing that take the language diversity of African American students into account have shown greater promise than those that do not” (Adger 15). In saying this, he is acknowledging the idea that the African American language plays a substantial role in the success of African American individuals. It offers something that the English language cannot offer itself.
All in all, his conclusion not only supports Green’s idea of how AAL can it function on its own, but it also explains how it functions cooperatively alongside the English language, rather than stuck inside of its boundaries.
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In conclusion, all three authors have come together to generate a new idea, formed from an existing bad idea about writing. Jennifer M. Cunningham, Lisa J. Green, and John R. Rickford present the better idea that African American Language is not English, rather than “bad English.” In the light of this, it’s clear that the culmination of ideas between authors tends to become a force to be reckoned with. What other common ideas can potentially be proven wrong by the likes of writers across the globe? Can student writers have the same collaborative impact?
Works Cited
Cunningham, Jennifer M. “African American Language is Not Good English.” Bad Ideas About Writing, edited by Cheryl E Ball and Drew M Loewe, West Virginia University Libraries, 2017, pp. 88–92.
“Lexicons and Meaning.” African American English: a Linguistic Introduction, by Lisa J. Green, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009, pp. 12–31.
Rickford, John R. “Language Diversity and Academic Achievement.” MAKING THE CONNECTION, edited by Carolyn Adger et al., ERIC Publications, 1999, pp. 1–30.