Often the boundary between a language and a dialect is fuzzy, therefore for this blog post I will provide my own definitions of what I believe to be a language and a dialect. The basis of my definitions will concern linguistic distance, in that how similar are languages and dialects are to one another.
A language for me is a form of communication that is used by the majority population in a particular country and is used in formal domains such as government and education. In linguistic distance terms, languages have clear differences in grammar, lexicon and syntax therefore most languages are not mutually intelligible.
A dialect is also a form of communication that is used by communities in a region of a country. It shares similar grammatical constructions and words to the language it is based on. This makes it mutually intelligible to speakers of other dialects that are based on the same language.
With regards to Ebonics, it is a term that refers to the speech spoken by African-Americans, now known as ‘Black English’ or ‘AAVE.’
A magazine article demonstrates that some people believe that Ebonics is a form of slang as words such as ‘Bae’ and ‘On fleek,’ originate in the speech community which could suggest it is of low-standard (Silva, 2017). Some from the Ebonics Debate in 1997 agree that it is not a language. The Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, states that using bilingual funds for Ebonics is not permitted due to it not being a language and goes even further to describe it as a non-standard form of English!
However, this article establishes that Ebonics is in fact a language. As Ebonics was first created for slaves to communicate, the combination of these languages eventually evolved into a fully-fledged language. Ebonics has different grammatical constructions and pronunciations to what is known as the standard.
From the Debate, many witnesses do recognise that African-Americans speak with different language structures yet do not go as far as labelling Ebonics as a completely different language. Witnesses such as a Talk Show Host calls Ebonics an ‘idiom’ or ‘slang’ whilst a Superintendent for Public Schools in Oakland, where the debate originated, indicates that they do not see Ebonics as a separate language but are in fact aware that different systems to Standard English exist.
For me, Ebonics is a widely spoken dialect. Yes, many different constructions and slang words come from this dialect but if I use any of these features, am I speaking a different language without knowing? In my opinion, I am speaking a dialect originating from African-American culture as my friends and family can all understand me who have not heard of Ebonics. This is because it shares most of its features with English. This dialect can be picked up by other speech communities due to its popularity in the music industry and media. However, I strongly disagree with the description of Ebonics being a ‘non-standard’ form; just because it has different features to what most people see as the ‘standard’ form does not make Ebonics any less of a dialect than ‘standard’ dialects such as RP.
Primary Material: Silva, T. 2017. What’s the Difference Between Slang and AAVE?. Study Breaks. <https://studybreaks.com/2017/04/04/aave/> [Accessed 5 Oct. 2017].
Other sources:
Ebonics Debate 1997: a debate in the USA concerning the status of Ebonics and if it is a language or a dialect.
Featured image from: https://www.aroundmyflorida.com/fr/10-choses-qui-metonnent-toujours-autant-apres-4-ans-dexpatriation/
Attitudes to Language in the English-Speaking World 