Hooked on Ebonics?

Learning Ebonics may be a helpful skill, but English is the main language spoken within America and Bush is supposedly planning on making English the official language of America (technically, it isn't yet). I agree that knowledge of Ebonics could help teachers understand what students are saying, but to consider it as an actual dialect and have it as a possible requirement would be opening up a can of worms.

Yes, a lot of people do speak Ebonics, but a lot of people speak internet speak and Klingon as well, so by letting Ebonics become a dialect could open up a whole new problem of people inventing their own "dialects". Granted, I guess Klingon could count as a language, even though it's just some made-up language for Star Trek, but nonetheless there is already a huge split between African American and Caucasian culture and this could create and even bigger split. Would this really contribute to unity?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by knkwzrd

I don't want to get into the silly semantics argument going on, but I'd like to ask why anyone gives a fuck about how other people communicate? If you're not ready to learn how to jive-talk, don't bitch about people not knowing the Queen's English. Saying ebonics butchers English is like saying French butchered Latin. Language changes, boo hoo.

Main Answer: If we can't understand one another, then how will we communicate. Yes, many of the phrases and such are easy to understand, but language does change and if it changes to a degree that we can not understand one another, then how can we ever communicate effectively. Not understanding how people communicate and miscommunication is the reason why some conflicts and wars begin.
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I do understand the importance of change within the language, but the creation of Ebonics is different from the formation of French from Latin in the sense that French was altered slowly and for a more political viewpoint rather than changed within a few decades and used as more of a racial divide. French, Spanish, and Italian are Romance languages that branched from Latin due to new regions and politics, but Ebonics is different since it is more racial than political or regional. If people within a similar region (city, state, etc.) mainly spoke Ebonics, then I could understand teaching the language, but when you have schools that have the majority that speak standard American English and others that speak Ebonics, then it could become confusing and troubling when teachers have to repeat sentences in both American English and Ebonics.

People in the South have their own "dialects". People in the New England area do as well, but it is very doubtful to see many professors who are willing to say, "You need to have this assignment completed by the end of class. Or, in other words, git-r-done before I tan your hide and send y'all to the liberry so you won't get no recess." Also, I know some of the African American students at my university consider Ebonics to be as sacred as the "N" word, where they don't want white people to speak it and feel offended if they try.

I do understand the importance of change within a language, but they need to recognize the other "dialects" within the country as well and not single out Ebonics when teaching different dialects.

There's nowhere I can't reach.