9
The real trouble with Black
English
which is despised:It is his expertence.
It- iS not the Black child,s language
thentell -" -n?l;;;;
.,tr
isn'ta language,
lu_", Baldwin,
ntact"enltsh
US African American population
The 1990 census reported that the
and 1990'for a count of 29'930'524'
srew about 10 percentu"t*"""'fS8O
total population' A portion of these
or about 72 percerfof tne country's
sometimescalled
itt"- tanguage*:l.tt
almost30 million persont tp""[
foi somepart of the time.l Various
African American Vernacular English,
and 90
o? AAVE tpeut"rs between 80
authors have put tt'" nu-U"t
ough
gh1e83
B-au
)' alth
u'tiJn
poput
q**".r3"1.1n11
r
""t
f
.i,n"
;#;;;
that AAVE is the
is baiedon the supposition
it seemsthat thls estrmate
working"'1:.T9
;ecifically of the
of inner-cttyt"t;";i;'
lanquase
calisthe 80-90percentfisrre a guestt'
il.";:;
in"ti.ia (forthcoming)
lastimportantworkon comparail,61e.,l"toi"g to Rickford1i6io';ttre
*us donein Detroitil the1?91
tiveuseof AAVE in u ur"tt tJ-rnunity
to usesocioeconomtc
tnuittt"t" *u'io*" reason
;:il;il;l"o""t"o
likely to use this language'
factors in the estlmatlon of *ho it more
h-ow.many A-frican Americans are
It is hard to say with u"y u"utun""
itself
of AAVE becausethe term AAVE
native speaker. o, '"gutui-'u*rs
suprashortly see in detail' There are
is inexactly defined, as we will
features of AAVE' but there is
resional phonological "Jg;;;;;;""i
of anv spoken
as is to be_.expected
alJo social and regional;"?;;i;;,
ls
Americans living in the rural south
lansuase.The languagecl;l{;-i.c-an
wholivealong-
Americans
;i??;i; d;;,n",".r ir," iatino andEuropean spoken in urban centers
than the AAVE
side them, but it is also different
and DeBerry(1995)provide
in the southlcrrto.-euilu-iisJi' Mttgut youth integrated into urban
Ameiican
insight into the way that African
grammatical' lexical' and phonoHip Hop culture must "f"ot" u*o"g
I o e i c a l v a r i a b l e s w h i c h r d e n t i f y t h e m a s a l i gspoken
n e d w i t language
heitherth
ewestof
which
a funct;nal
ii'ir'r'rtr.,,
AAVE
coast.
east
the
social meaning into discourse'
on'structured uutiutio" to layer
;;;il;
The real trouble with Black English 17'7
Closestudyofithasshownthesystematiceffectsoflanguage-internal
and language-externalconstraints (Baugh 1983' Rickford and Rickford
lees).
and
Smithermanpoints out that just as important as the phonological
grammaticalcomponentsof AAVE are the cultural and stylistic ones' and
Jhe provides examplesof how these elementswork together:
Think of black speech as having two dimensions:language and style'
Though we will siparate the two for purposesof analysis,they are often
in disoverlipping. This ls an important point, frequently overlooked'Africa
"u.sion. oislack English . . . Reverend JesseJacksonpreach:
would if Africa could. America could if America would' But Africa
Reverend Jesseis using the lancain't and America ain't." Now here "ain't"
and when he pronounced
guageof Black Dialect when he says
"cain't." But the total expression,using black rhythmic speech'
iurri u.
is the more powerful becausethe Reb haspluggedinto the style of Black
what
Dialect. The statement thus depends for full communication on
"songified"
pattern and on an Afroblack poet Eugene Redmond calls
American cultural belief set.
(1977:3)2
workingGiven this perspective,it is hard to claim that only poor or
class African Americans are speakers of AAVE' Upper-middle-class
such
blacks may seldom or never use grammaticalfeatures of AAVE' but
to
persons aie often heard marking their languagein a variety of ways
may
signal solidarity with the greater African American community' This
m"eanthe use of AAVE intonation, tag questions,and addresssystems'
or, more subtly, rhetorical features and discoursestrategies'These strat"gi". ur" whai Smitherman calls the African American Verbal Tiadition
(iVD, ana include signification, personalization, tonal semantics' and
sermonictone ( 1995
).3
Smitherman provides an insightful analysis of the African American
community's differing responses to Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas
during the congressionalconfirmation hearingson Thomas'sappointment
in
io ,t J sup...! court. Smitherman's study found cultural differences
while
discourse' style: Hill's rhetorical devices were distinctly white'
Thomas
capitalized on and ruthlessly exploited the African American Verbal
tradition for all it was worth. He seized the rhetorical advantage'
.*ylttg Black opinion by use of the touchstonesof the Oral Tiadition
and' so"ciolinguisiicallyconstructing an image of himself as culturally
Black and at one with the Folk.
e99s:238_239)
very
This analysisof culturally specificrhetorical stylesmakesone thing
of
clear: even when no grammatical,phonological,or lexical features
178 Consentmanufactured
AAVE are used,a person can,in effect,still be speakingAAVE by means
of AVT rhetorical devices.Thus, while the core grammatical features of
AAVE may be heard most consistentlyin poorer black communitieswhere
there are strong social and communication networks, AAVE phonology
(particularlyintonation)and black rhetoricalstyle are heard,on occasion,
from prominent and successfulAfrican Americans in public forums. These
may be individualswho grew up in AAVE-speakingcommunitiesbut who
are bidialectal, or others who grew up with a different variety of English
altogether,and still chose to try to acquire AAVE and use it on occasion
(with differing degrees of success,as seen in Baugh 1992). African
Americans who never draw at all on any grammatical or stylistic features
of AAVE certainly do exist, although their number would be very hard
to estimate. According to Smitherman, Anita Hill is one such African
American, at least within the context of her testimony before the Senate
confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas.
For our purposes,it is enough to note that AAVE is a spoken language
available in some degree to most if not all African Americans, and that
there are grammatical and stylistic features of this language which are
constantover space.Thesegrammaticalstructuressometimesshow strong
contrast to parallel structuresin other US Englishes,but they are consistent and logical within themselves.AAVE has been the focus of formal
study for more than thirty years, and linguists have attained a good
- but not complete - understandingof its workings.
Nevertheless,in spite of many years of empirical study which establish
AAVE as a normally functioning spoken human language,its very existence is often doubted and denied, by African and European Americans
alike. The real trouble with Black English is not the verbal aspectsystem
which distinguishesit from other varietiesof US English, or the rhetorical
strategieswhich draw such a vivid contrast, it is simply this: AAVE is
tangible and irrefutable evidence that there is a distinct, healthy, functioning African American culture which is not white, and which does not
want to be white. This is a state of affairs which is unacceptableto many.
JamesBaldwin, who wrote and spoke so eloquently of the issuesat the
"the value
heart of the racial divide in this country,put it quite simply:
[of] a black man is proven by one thing only - his devotion to white
people" (1988:5).
Thesestatementswill make many people unhappy and others mad. Our
common culture tells us constantlythat to fulfill our democratic ideals we
must be one nation, indivisible. In the 1960swe put an official end to
racial segregationin schooling,housing,public places,and the workplace.
What does it mean then to say that there is an African American culture
distinct enough from other American cultures to have its own variety of
English, a variety that persistsin the face of overt stigmatization?As we
look at the way people talk about AAVE below, we will see that the
problem is a complex one. EuropeanAmerican reaction to AAVE runs
The real trouble with Black English 179
the gamutfrom indifferenceto denialand denigrationto angerand resentment.aFor African Americans, the subject of AAVE seemsto be particularly difficult becauseit forces individuals to choose between languages
and cultures.For some, AAVE is not a vehicle of solidarity, but the focus
of a painful debateon what it meansto be black.
NON-BLACK AITITUDES
TOWARD AAVE
Pejorative attitudes toward AAVE by non-blacks are easy enough to
document,and the socially constructedcomplaintsabout it are very similar
to the complaints about other stigmatized social and regional varieties.
These complaints tend to fall into two categories:targeted lexical items
or grammatical features which cause immediate reaction, and general
issuesof languagepurity and authority.
European and African Americans have very different concernsabout
AAVE: whites seem to be most comfortable voicing overt criticism about
phonological matters and sometimesabout grammar, but black concerns
focus almost exclusivelyon grammatical issues,as will be seen below.s
One of the most salient points of phonological variation which is
strongly stigmatized from outside the black community might be called
the great ask-aks controversy.
The verb ask is commonly defined as meaning to call for information,
request a desired thing, or inquire. There are two pronunciations heard
commonly in the US: [rcsk] and [aks]. In rapid speech,a third pronunciais often heard, derived from [esk]. Tt'e Oxford Englkh
tion [aaaaast]
Dictionary establishesthis variation between [aesk]and [aks] as very old,
a result of the Old English metathesis asc-, acs-.6From this followed
Middle English variation with many possible forms: ox, ax, ex, ask, esk,
ash,esh,.?ss,ess.Finally,ax (aks) survivedto almost 1600as the regular
literary form, when ask becamethe literarypreference.Most peopleknow
nothing of the history of this form, and believe the aks variant to be an
innovation of the AAVE community. In fact, it is found in Appalachian
speech,in some urban dialectsin the New York metropolitanarea, and
outside the US in some regional varieties of British English.
Non-AAVE speakersare eagerand willing to point out this usage,which
is characterizedas the most horrendous of errors:
last year, I told the
On the last day that I met with my adopt-a-class
studentsthat they will have to learn to read,write, do math, and speak
English properly if they are going to get a first-ratejob and be a slrccess.
I told them there was one word that will mark them as uneducated.
. .. A young girl raisedher hand and said,"The word is ax." ... I asked
her if she could pronouncethe word properly.Shesaid,"Yes,it is ask."
. . . I felt terrific. By simply raising that one word on an earlier occasion,
I had focusedtheir attention on somethinqthat I think is important,
180 Consentmanufactured
at Martin Luther
and I am sure you do as well. ' ' ' You were present
ceremony was
King, Jr. Ftigh School last week when the opening
Law and Justice'A
coniucted re"gardingthe High SchoolInstitute for
The content of her
young girl in"the classwas a"skedto read her essay'
"ask"
the word
lrruy"niu, excellent' but at one point she pronounced
the misprour "u*." I believe that everyonein the room recognizing
her essay
of
nunciationwas distressedand, regrettably'the substance
was [thus made] lcss imPortant'
York City' to the Chancellorof
leOwarOt. Koch, Mayor of New
Education, Harper's Magazine' March 7989:21-22)
that blackstend
I guesswhat I'd like to say is that what makesme feel
A-S-K'
,o-i" igno.utt, is that they fail to see that the.word is spelled
an entlrely
not A-1. And when they say aksed,it gives the sentence
back'
different meaning. And ihat is what I feel holds blacks
(female call-in viewer, Oprah Winfrey Show 1987)
how to say
My husbandcame here from Germany and he learned
a-s-k,so whY can't You?
(overheard)
that its use
All of these criticismsof the stigmatized aksvariant assume
lack of education'
is the result of ignorance or stupidity following. from
willfully to such
whf "tr", this rJasoning goes,would someone hold on
simple acceptance
an ugly, contemptuous usage?More disturbing is the
the content of
of a lingte variatle as a suiiable basis for judging not only
the meJsage,but also the character and intelligence of the messenger'
which he otherFormer NJw York Mayor Koch dismissesa presentation
sociolinguistic
wise finds well done and convincing on the bask of a single
without
valiant; Harper's prints his letter to the Chancellor of Education
comment.
wrong because
The authority cited here is the written language:aks is
given the.largewe write csk. Tiris kind of criticism is particularly illogical,
in English' The
scale lack of correspondencebetween sound and symbol
call-in viewer, citing the authority of the written language'Rrovi!9-d-excel;
MUSE' and
lent proof of this. She spoke what is commonly considered
English' she
like others who speak unstigmatizedvarieties of American
different
did not aspirate the ft in what; she pronounced spelled fspeltl,
and sentence[se?ans].
[difarntl
'
troublesorne,
Uniniormed criticisms based on the written languageare
condemnationsof
but they are overshadowedby other more. general
and values'
AAVE which extend to criticismsof African American culture
newspapercolumSuch criticisms are often openly made' in particular by
nists,as in a sPortscolumn:
and other
Ungrammaticalstreet talk by black professionalathletes'
has come to be
btaits in public professionssuch as the music industry'
,-..S--
The real trouble with Black English 181
:
accepted.Indeed, "Moses,you is a baaad damn shootin' individual"
comesa lot closerto proper Englishusagethan many public sentences
utteredby black athletes.. . . But there'sa problem here.Black athletes
- and black musiciansand TV performers, etc., - are role models for
young black children.We in the media havebegunto passon the street
languageof black "superstars"verbatim .. . and what this is doing is
passingthe messageto a whole new generationof black children that
it's OK to talk that way; more than OK, it's terrific to talk that way
... the situationis compoundedby leadingblack charactersin several
network television shows, who use street grammar to advance the
feeling that they are young and cool.
The dilemma is that it doesn't make much difference for the black
professionalathletes,etc.,who talk this way - they'rewealthymen who
are going to live well off their bodily skills no matter if they can talk
at all, much lesscorrectly. . . if a black child emulatesone of the dumbtalking black athleteshe seesbeing interviewedon TV, he is not going
to be thought of as a superstar.He is going to be thought of as a stupid
kid, and later, as a stupid adult. ... They probably aren't talking that
way becausethey think it's right; they're talking that way becauseit's
a signal that they reject the white, middle-classworld that they have
startedto live in the midst of.
(Bob Greene'sSportsColumn, ChicagoTribune,December3, 1979)
While censureof AAVE is not hard to find, it is not often that suchcriticismsand the underlyingassumptionsare so openly and unapologetically
voiced.
Greene identifies two professionswhich he associateswith successful
African Americans:sportsand entertainment.What thesepeoplehave in
common,in his estimation,is the fact that they speak AAVE, that they
are in the public eye, and that they have the power to lead the black
youth of America astray.His point, and it is factually true, is that with
the exception of these two groups, very few African Americans who
achievemainstreameconomic and social successare able to do it without
the necessityof linguisticand, to some degree,cultural assimilation.
What seemsto bother Greeneso much is the fact that the gatekeeping
mechanismis not perfect: it does not extend to all African Americans.
Some have successfully
evadedthe languageof what he freely identifies
as that of the white middle class.It is irritating to him that thesepeople
have managed to become successfulwithout good language,but there is
somethingeven more upsetting.As a sportsjournalist, he tinds himself
compelledto passon the languagehe hearsfrom athletes,thus becoming
complicit in letting the secret out to black children: not all African
Americansgive in linguistically,and yet they still get to the top.
Greenemakesa seriesof factuallyincorrectassumptions.
Black children
learn AAVE not from television actors and sports figures (as Greene
I82
Consentmanufactured
variety of US
but in their homes, as their first and native
surmises),
'N4o.e
models-that
i-portantly, Greene assumesthat the only role
Engfi.n.
and entertainment indiAfrican American children have are these sports
will not soundblack' For him'
viduals,and further, that a good role model
His messageis clearly stated:
the two are mutually exclu'siue'
100 or so best slamIf you're a black child' and you're not one of the
go ahead and emulate
dunkers or wide receiversin the world, you can
you'll wind
you hear your heroestalk' But the chancesare that
i;;rt
out towelsin the men's*utntooll,o..,
,f "t inl hippestdudepassing
are of course very
The stereotypesthat underlie Greene's assumptions
are more subtle and
disturbing, Lut tftere are other issueshere which
more damaging.
perhaps
'-ft
unfoundedpromise
it It a good exampleof both explicit threat-and
children who don't
in one statJment. Tht threat is reai enough: black
what he claims is demoniearn white English will have limited choices;
implied promise' is not
strably true. Bu1 the inverse of this situation' the
given automatic
;;, black children who learn MUSE will not be
;;;iiy
white middle-classworld'
accessto the rewards and possibilitiesof the
this promise when
G.".n" actuallytouchesupon the fallacy underlying
wear
(later in his column) that successfulblacks who
ft. ".l".*f"ag.s
taken for service perunitorrn. (airline pilots, army officers) are often
sonnel in Public Places.
in this paterNon-black discomfort with AAVE is often externalized
of forums, including
nalistic voice. It can be seen to work in a variety
points of access
nonular fiction. The novel is one of the most interesting
use
id.ologv, in that the wav that charactersin novels
i#;;;;;i;;;uug"
excerpt
can he.revealing'7The following
"Famity
i"ttg""g" ""4 illk"about t"iguugt
Blessingsprovides a typical social
from a romance novel tittJa
a MUSE speaker and
construction of an idealized relationship between
police officer' has taken
an AAVE speaker.Here the hero, a young white
straight:
on the job of setting an African American child
"Yo."
"What you talkin' like a black boy for?"
"What yoa talkin' like a black boy for?"
"I be black."
"You might be, but no sense talking like a dumb one if you ever
want to get anywhere in this world ' ' '"
in schoolcan't
... "I could turn you in for dat, you know Teachers
got
our culture
We
even make us changehow we talk' lt's the rules'
to Preserve."
preservingthe-wrong
'll'm not your teacher,and if you ask me' yo.u.'re
like a dummyl I told you'
sideof youi culture '.. iitt"n to you, talking
The real trouble with Black English 183
if you want to get out somedayand make somethingof yourself and
have a truck like this and a job where you can wear decentclothesand
peoplewill respectyou, you start by talking like a smart person,which
you are. I could hack that oreo talk if it was real, but the first time I
picked you up for doing the five-finger discount over at the SA station,
you talked like every other kid in your neighborhood...."
"I'm twelve years
old. You not supposedto talk to me like dat."
"Tell you what - I'll
make you a deal. I'll talk to you nicer if you'll
talk to me nicer. And the first thing you do is stop using that F word.
And the secondthing you do is start pronouncingwords the way your
first-grade teacher taught you to. The word is that, not rlat.,'
(Spencer1995:102-103)
Like Greene'ssports column, the hero in this novel has both threats
and promisesfor the African American child. The kind of authority cited
is different: Greene draws on his own mastery of middle-classwritten
English, as exemplified in his professionas a writer, whereasthis fictional
character has nothing more to underscore his pronouncements about
languagethan his own observationsand the trappings of his own success.
This is what you can have, he says,if you start sounding like me. If you
do not, you do so out of stubbornessarul stupidity, and there is no hope
for you.
-Occasionallythere is a public outpouringof pure emotion,without any
of the common-sense
arguments,complexrationalizations,
or threatsand
promiseswhich are such an integral part of more organized institutionalized subordinationtactics.Such outpouringsare useful,becausethey get
right to the heart of the matter.
I am sitting here just burning ... the ones that want to speakor care
to speak that way, they want to be different. I believe they put themselvesthat way to be separate.
(European American call-in viewer, Oprah Winfrey Show I9g7)
For those who cannot overlook the fact that AAVE exists, it seemsto
symbolizeblack resistanceto a cultural mainstreamingprocesswhich is
seenas the logical and reasonablecost of equality - and following from
- in other realms.Alternately,AAVE evokesa kind of panic,
that, success
a realizationthat desegregation
has not done its job. The reasoningseems
to be that the logical conclusionto a successfulcivil rights move-mentis
the end of racism not becausewe have come to accept difference, but
becausewe have eliminateddifference.There will be no need for a distinct
African American (or Mexican, or Vietnamese)culture (or language),
becausethosepeoplewill have full accessto, and control of. the suoerior
EuropeanAmericanone.
When a black woman tells a reporter about the solidifyingfunction of
AAVE in her community,his responsefirst acknowledgesthat language
184 Consentmanufactured
of the lSnguageas-one.'with
as viable,but then he relectsher construction
as a willful act of political
a positive function and recaststhe language
reslstance:
within our
survivalmechanism
(elncr woMAN) So we gottahaveour
lr lets us know that we all in
communitY.And our iunguug" is it.
this thing together.
English sPoken badlY (neeonren) Black English is not Standard
Black English is revenge'
(CBS EveningNews.December5' 1985)
act of doinghurt
T\e Oxford EnglishDictionarydefinesrevengei-t-.T"
or injury suffered;satisfaction
or harm to anotherln return for wrong
seenasfirstand
ty ."puy."n, ot inlorl"s'"mu! 11ve isrot
ilil
black community' Instead it is a
foremost a positive feature of a vibrant
wilfullactofrebellion:0"'ttuttiu"'hurtful'andprimitiveinitsmotivations'
an objectiv-epicture and definition of
The reporter attempts to t*'i'u't
views' seeing it as an
AAVE. but then falls back on more traditional
excluded and resentful outsider'
linguistson occasion'The
This kind of ,"u,o"'ng i'-'""" "t'"n from
becoming more
.r;;i;-.;;t.rgence-di;ergence-iu"t'"t controv€rsv (i:-{}vE might be underaway from MUSE?)
or less distinct? closer o'
commuwith the idea that the African American
uneasiness
;;";;;t;t
which
nutu'utty evolving culture of its own
u tt"ur,rty' thrivil;,"example
;;;;
Harris's
oi this is found.in Labov and
resistsmainstreaming.an
pnifuaifphia' which established(on the basis of
study of language,r"" i,'
the city ^is-"separatinginto two
vocalic and verbal systemchanges)that
ulack" (tla6:20)' But that study
distinctspeechcommunrties:wh-it"'und
set of suggestions:
,ftts empirical linding to make a curious
r."it'p*
closer.to the systemsused'by
it should be possibleto bring children
and their friendship
their personalitie's
other dialectswithout tl;;fig
deep-seated
evervth;;;-; ri1y9'i'-n -.1"1' lhl' kind or the early
youth are in contact in
changecan happen n *ttit" and black
whole'with
*il trt"nu" openfor the group-toshiftasa
Tfi;i
;ff
rs
;;;;;.
F;-
mutual.influence' If the contact
the convergencetnat rs the result of
integration in the schools'the two
a friendly one, and we achievetrue
sociatty lignificant symbols' g:1T:
groups may actually ;;;;g;
of the white communlty'
children will begrn to use the.-localvernacular
we can expect that the
But even without ,u.f u ,rrorough integration,
inO the present trend towards
children will learn ti"t" ""tft Jtn"t'
separationmay be reversed'
(21)
children only had enough tlt:11].1
Here we have the idea that if black
wouldbe more than happy to gtve
,orro., *i,ft the white communitythey
wouldbetheresult
;;;;i';;;;
Lnguug";t'"iJ', iil"t thelossor AAVE'
The real trouble with Black English 185
and ..thoroughintegration."sThe possibilitythat speakersof
of successful
the white vernacularmight be influencedby AAVE languageor adopt it
is not considered.Housing segregationon the basis of race, an evil' is
equatedwith the persistenceand spreadof AAVE' Non-black attitudestoward AAVE are complex,becauseAAVE taps
into the most difficult and contentious issuesaround race. AAVE makes
us uncomfortable becauseit is persistent,and becauseit will not go away'
no matter what we do to denigrateit and the peoplewho speakit' Even
when we acknowledgeits existence,our offical policies around this (and
other) stigmatizedvarieties of languageare policies of patronageand
The irony is that AAVE is the distinct
toleranceiather than acceptance.
languageof a cultural community we don't want to acknowledgeas
,"p-u.ui"; at the same time, the only way we know how to deal with our
discomfort about AAVE is to set it apart.
AFRICAN AMERICAN ATTITUDES TOWARD AAVE
within the African American community,discussionsaround AAVE seem
toembodysomeofthemostdifficultandpainfulissuesofidentityand
solidarity.
To begin with, it must be stated that it is hard to nnd any African
Americai, regardlessof profession'politics, or personal belief, who would
deny the praitical necessityof bidialectalismand selectiveassimilationto
l,rusg norms. The fact that black children with aspirationsoutside their
own communities must learn a language of wider communication
(Smitherman 1995) is acknowledged as a fact of life. Opinions on this
range from sober utilitarianismand resignationto righteousanger:e
Pragmatic reality forces the burden of adjustment on groups who are
outJide positioni of influence and power. It does little good to claim
that stre;t speechis a valid dialect _ which it is when the social cost
of linguisticand other differencescan be so high'
(John Baugh,linguist)
our position is quite clear. We believe that for people to excel they
musf acquire and use to their advantagethe language of power and
thelanguageoffinance.StandardAmericanEnglishisthat.Iadmitit
is not iair, but I did not create those rules' We only assistpeople in
working their waY uP through them.
therapist)
(Dr. BernadetteAnderson,accent-reduction
The worst of all possiblethings that could happen would be to lose
that language.There are certain things I cannot say without recourse
to my language.It's terrible to think that a child with five different
presenttensescomesto school to be faced with those books that are
iess than his own language.And then to be told things about his
in
186 Consentmanufactured
permanently damaging'
language,which is him, that are sometimes
know the StandardEnglish'
. . . This is a really "ruet tattoutof racism'I
I w a n t t o u s e i t t o h e l p r e s t o r e t h e o t h e r l a n g u a g e , t h e l i n g uwinner)
afranca.
('toni Morrison' author' poet' Nobel Prize
Brother and Sister'
Languageis political.That's why you and T"'.TI
self into the weird' lying'
that's why we sposedto choke our natural
habits that the schools
barbarous,unreal, white speechand writing
words' the powerful don't
lay down like holy law' Because,in other
are the powerpf'"V'1ft"V ..un to keep that power' and lh9::^-*ho
the very
i"rJ O"" and me) better shape up mimic/ape/suck-in
destroy you you and our
i*"g" tf the poweriul, or the powerfuf will
children.
(June Jordan, poet, writer, political activist)
indicate that while anger
Studiesand interviews with African Americans
based on personal
is rarely openly voiced' argumentsfor bidialectalism
experienceare quite common:
work and maintain
I have some assoclatesthat find it very difficult -to
adequately
a"cent job, becauseof the iact that they cannot
".V tiJ"f
speak, so to speak, the normal language'
5' 1985)
(man on the street,CBS"Evining News' December
have to learn to survive in
But my opinion alwayshas been that you
t h e r e a l w o r l d , a n d i f y o u s p e a k b l a c k E n g l i s h t h e r e ' sjob
now
a y yyou
ou're
that.
*"y you're going to get a
no
There's
survive.
;;irrg;.
goittg to make an income that's
iruff"y *un,' There's no way that yot''r"
going to make You live right'
and McMahon
(female universrty siafl interviewed for Speicher
1992:399)
are made regularly' and
Clear and logical argumentsfor bidialectalism
be surprising'To-make'
still this issuedoes not fay its head' But this cannot
home langu.agek viable an-d
two statement", t ortno*l"ige that my
will never be accepted
iia t acknowledgettitt mv h9^me.l:nc::g.:
iiqr"",,
Walker' who in her novels
is to set up an unresolvuli" "onnict'to Alice
issues to illustrate the
about African Americans often uses language
"It seemsour
succinctly:
"lnotionut cost of assimilation,has put it more "'
' ' And in our incorfate to be incorrect," she said in a iglZ interview'
dayto.day pressureto give
rectnesswe stand,,1o'nrien rlz:: 207)'.1\e
non AAVE speakerscannot
up ift" ttotn" languageis somethingthat most
into a cultural
and it is 1.," ii''"t noielists provide insight
il"git",
pheiomenon which is otherwise inaccessible'
say US not so-hot ' ' '
Darlene tryin to teach me how to talk' She
But she say I
think you aumu' wt'at I care? I ast' I'm happy'
;;pi;
I say something
trapiier talkin like she talk' ' ' ' Every time
iJ'*ot"
The real trouble with Black English 1g7
,1
j
j
{
1
the way I say it, she correct me until I say it some other way. pretty
soonit feel like I can't think. My mind run up on a thought,git confuse,
run back and sort of lay down. . . . Look like to me oniy a fool would
want you to talk in a way that feel peculiarto your mind.
(Walker 1983)
"I done my
homework.you alreadyseenit,', Shoni said.
"I did
my homework.you alreadysaw it," LaKeeshasaid.
"That too,"
Shoni said.Both sisterslaughed...Why you all the time
be trying to get me to talk white?"
"It's not
white; it's correct.,,She didn't feel as sure as Esther and
Mrs. clark were when they said it. sometimesshe was a rittre afraid
that she was talking white, that she could lose herself in the land where
enunciation was crisp and all verbs agreed.And at home, especiallyon
weekends,it was hard to hold on to that languageof successand power.
. . . "When you go to work, you have to know the right way to speak,,,
she added,looking in Shoni'seyesas if she was sure of what she was
saying,even though she wasn't.
(Campbell 1995:270)
Pressureto assimilateto MUSE norms originatesfrom outside and from
inside the African American community. In both of these excerptg black
women are being encouragedby other black women to acquire ihe white
language,a language,they are told, which will bring them not only success
and.power, but happiness(But she sayI feel mori happier talkin like she
talk). To acceptthis proposition in the face of direct personarevidenceto
the contrary, is the challenge that these characters,like other AAVE
speakers.musl somehowmeet.
Evidence of real resistanceto linguistic assimilationis hard to find. The
most cited exampleis surely JamesBaldwin'smoving editorial ..If Black
E^
islt a language,then tell me, what is?.. (New york Times, July
ig]rsfr
2.9,1,979)The writings of June Jordan call clearly for the recognitionof
the validity of AAVE, as in her essayon language,empowerment, and
subordination, "Nobody mean more to me thin you and the .future rife
of willie Jordan" (1985).Another rare instanceis found in the hiehlv
autobiographicalaccount of the Simpson murder trial bv the Afrlcan
American prosecutor,ChristopherDarden:
[It] isn't to say all black people sound alike; of coursenot. But who
can deny that we have our own dialect and our own accent?... It
seemedto me that by the time I got to college,we were given a choice.
We could learn to speak more mainstream, to sound more white. or
we could be proud of our heritage and acknowledqethat culture
extendsto languageas well as paintingsand books.I was proficientin
English.I could read it and write it expertly,and I knew the rules for
speakingit. And so I felt no need to changethe way I spoke,to ignore
|.
t
188 Consentmanufactured
that formed my diction' my speech
the heritage and the background
patterns,and the phrasesI used.
e996:11)
of AAVE are lessvisible' and are
validation
public
seek
to
efforts
Most
journalist
An African American
met with a great a"ur oi''"titiunce'
such a group organizedin Madison'
respondsin an opinion piece to
Wisconstn:
the
some blacks.are trying to push
In Madison' Wisc., for example'
report rn the Wisconsin State
value of BEV according to a recent
teachersand the
way professio-nals'
tt't
"iungt
to
want
They
Journal.
o[ the gnetto'
governmentview the lazvverbiage
is merely different' not a
The group argues t;;t black" English
disabilitY'
to promote BEV or
dysfunctional
is
it
I
think
that'
I disagreewith
not so
exists
it wittr an acronym'And.thedysfunction
"u"riffii-ut"
African-American
u, *itlrr trt"ir ill-equipped
muchamongthe studerits
"leaders" and educators'
(Hamblin 1995)
W e w i l l s e e i n t h e e x a m p l e s b e l o w t h a t p e o p lAfrican
e - r a t i oAmericans
nalizelinguistic
So-" tuccessful
subordinationin a numberit-*uy''
gnderson''above)acknowledge
(for example,JohnBaugnaJ s""n;otttt
but are resignedto the fact that
the schismbetweenp,o-,,", and threats, it' Otherschooseto deny the
about
"There ts
there is nothingpractical';;-;;
the languageat all:
t"cog"i'"
torefusrnf
"tont"pt
by
issuecompletely
of Black Englishis a myth'
no suchthing as nru"t engiiJ rt'"
the correctrulesof grammar"
E"gii;;";;"latinj
speaking
basically
It is
ShoYl:9J):
i*^r.-t"Ji"'".frntttt'' oprahWinfrev
and
AAvE is not accepted'
we haveseenin Partriiiliit fJtl that
of
viable languageby the majority
may never be accepted,ut u 'oliurfv
that
(t acknowtedge
llilE*ft;;""*i''
rr'y1 t* "itt'" twostatements
thatmyhome
".''oo') ""i "a"i""' and-I acknowledg'e
myhomelanguage
or
t314,^11^mustbe challenged
"";;;;;;;i"9t
o'
never
wilt
lansuase
Extreme examples of this are
amended if the conflict is io te resolved'
evenin Print:
available,
weweresurrounded
Although
1' f."I :Tl,tl^:-11T:":T:gi:ill
spoKclr artu rrLYuv'r!'r-"
;;'il;;vpt""rY::L:l.1iil'-'^'.'i[?'*Xff
;:il:'ffi
language
::
hear it for what it was the
t;i;
learl
soon
I
and
my siblings
.rLght
ri
^, , r -,-_L
that weniright
went
I"'cli.c.,"1'*r'.rh:,randrrqoc
Ti,i'J'.T:iltJffi il ;ili*I
:hat
knife fights to settle a grudge
;;;;t,h
d;urdav-"night
(Hamblin 1995)
it often used' is to
T9 it.
Another strategyrn resolvingthe conflict'definition'
Thus for Rachel
il its
challengenot the exrsten""';ffi;G'
'fhe
real trouble with Black English 189
an essayf,orNewsweekentitled
Jones,an African American woman writing
X' Martin Luther
'wtu,;, wrong with Black English" (1990),Ml":lAndrew Young'
To-niMor.i.orl Alice Walker, JamesBaldwin'
"talk
K;;;;;,
black or not black; they
talk
don't
iordan
Barbara
and
i""ini"af"V,
; *;;;"clusion
follows from her (not completely true) observation
.t**
AAVE grammar or idiom
iiu, non" of these people employ or employed
that most of these African
ir ,tt"i.-p"Urc addiesses.noi lott"t' the fact
phonology' and rhetorical
Americans depend on AAVE inionation'
foi solidarity with the black
features to mark therr spoken language
of AAVE becomes
is irrelevant. in this way' the dehnition
""--"tf,V
of the languagein as far
verv narrow: it encompassesonly the grammar
;';;;;il
;J
.o.pr'orogicairule-saredisiinctfrom MUSE'
Americans combine
Many public statementsa"boutAAVE by African
ionflict inherent to the suboru uu.i"ty'of approachesto neutralize the
is a great deal of complex
oi""ii"t p.o."i*. Most of the time there
in these statements'
rationalization, as well as a great deal of emotion'
the well-establishedstrategies
And each of them relies to sJme extent on
written languagenorms'
;;gt"g" subordination process:appeal to
i;;"
and disinformation'
mystification of grammar, assumptionof authority'
that tells them
What black children need is an end to this malarkeY
vocabularies,ignore
thev can fail to learn grammar, fail to develop
ienorance - and dismiss it
svniax and embrace the mumbo-jumbo of
"black
Pride'"
in the name of
(Rowan1979:36)
that AAVE speakersmust
Here Rowan, a journalist,has statedhis belief
they do not. acquire any to start
Lt iuugftt grarn.u, because,aPparently'
languagefunctions
ih"y huu" insufficieni iexicons' and that their
;ilfi;;
and lean primarily on
without syntax. These statementsare misinformed,
would have native speakers
ifr", p"t, "f the mystification processwhich
of a ianguagehand over authoritY'
got-to be a Northwestern
I'm a Northwesternstudentpresently'and I
of the way I can speak'
studentbecauseof my grammat u"d bttuutt
in.the times of slavery'back
Black English may havJhad its placetrack
i n t t , " t i r r r ' " . w h e n w e h a d n o w a y o f e d u c a t i n g - o u r s e l v e s "way
'nowwe
I think.by speaking-the
do hauea way of educatingou""iu"t' and
You are
,p"ate.] 'p"u'k', yo" are downgrading society'
i-"AnVg
We have a different
,uying ,t ut you don-'t want io educate yourself'
way to educate ourselvestodaY'
1987)
(femate audience member' Oprah Winfrey Show
young woman's statement'She
There is an interestingequation in this
at a prestigious university
,"ff. ,n" audience tftai stte was able to study
that is' becauseshe
of the variety of English which she speaks;
because
concludethat any MUSE
A""r t", speak AAVE. F oi thit we might
190 Consentmanufactured
on that basis alone' which
speaker can gain admrttanceto Northwestern
to a university on the. basis of
ii an obvious error. People are admitted
in school
th::
grades,test scores,and *';vL;;lc
part -from a commandof the
great :1':c:j:irformance
and on standardizedtestsioito*, in
MUSE speakers'
a skill *iltq"it"O lqually well by,all
writtenlanguage,
written
spokenlanguage
-to
The audiencemembernu'-tiou"a frlm
assumpthe
and she then moveson to
without consideration'
language
will negatelanguagedifferences'which
if "ffJ;;:
ll# ffi ;;;;;;i';,
"downgrad[eslsociety.''It ts
in.tu"rn
*tti"ft
languagJ,
poo,
equal
must
American woman in the
worth noting that another young African Northwestern
studentthat
an AAVE tp"urtl'' p"i"ti *t to this
audience,
but
written and spokenlanguages'
Letween
difference
material
a
is
there
her statementis ignored'
T h e a s s o c i a t i o n o f A A V E w i t h s l a v e r y i s nexact
o t a norigins
uncom
onone,and
ofmAAVE
The
it is perhapsthe mostaiftJt on" to address'
a r e u n c l e a r , a n d t h e s o u r c e o f g r e a t d edevelopment
b a t e a m o nof
g l the
i n glanguage
uists'llThatthe
in the
c"rucial
*u'
Olu'po'a
American
African
from this historical fact that
follow
lot
aJs
it
Uut
undeniable,
is
has no good purpose'Later in the
the languageis now dystu-n"ctioltor
that the languagedevelopedas a
out
Smithe;;;;i;it
taping,
Winfrey
""-tti.r" or iofiitarity in a time of oppression'. one in ideologicalterms:
The next quotation" u f"tti"tf"iiy interesting
In the flrst place'I do not under-i
I do not approveof Black English'
itt*t the objectiveof educationis to
standit; ln tt " '""oni!t"*'
- thougtrwe ought to take advanlead out. I think that into". ,""i"ry
that really make AmericansAmerican
tageof the cultural dft;";;
either the basisor
- we ousht to eliminal-tio'" altt"tt"""t which are
in our society'
resultoidivisiveness
US e-Uuttldo.r.to the United Nations'
(Donald ruf"fr""ty, i*"i
9e-100)
1e83:
- r' isioliitit'
+o'ut citedin Starks
in the way it is similar to the criticisms
McHenry's statementts interesting
been"ableto document an African
of non-blacks:it is the t;i;;;i-h;te
as a -reasonto reject AAVE'
American citing communlation difficulties
about the-lanpuasegenerallyadmit
Even thoserno., u.ntt"nitl ntgutiut
on tttit ittu" ul all' McHenry
that it is comprehensibl"'';1ff;;i-t;utr'
in the debate around bilingualism
also draws in u,g"-""ti'o"ft*-t'"utA
it
rtt"t" include questions about what
and the English otly ;t;;;;;i'
the
and the often-voiced fear that
means to be an Ameri'c"ari';i;t'
to assimilateto supra-regional
l.t"*f
nation_state.unno, .u*iJ"'*ifffrf
public
in 1.966the superintendentof
norms. This is not a ** tt-pi"itt;
record with his-prediction'd :t-lt'"i:
instruction of Californra ;;;i;; "Corrett
English-just has to be taught to
breakdown of communicatio"t
bit
*uniu t"pru"y of the Tower of Babel
the next generation t"i;;;
91)'
"t"tta fS8a" (cited in Drake 1977a:
zngturr 17'
The real trouble with BlacK
achieve the
belief that the only way to
common
the
restates
McHenry
to this end we must
become;";;;;;";;"
to
is
:.':'
ild
society
ideal
which'are d-ivisive'The conflict
eliminate not all diftere"t"l"iui-filote
t "rrq^tf.fffi.ttJrT.T3:tt:3
o'p"t'pi"'iri'"i'etttfquestton'wn
thewants
between
a
But thereis
;;t. quiteciearlv'
;;;;;;;i
batic humanrightswhich are
'ttcltl
"tA
fttg:""g"
the connectionbetween
rule'
from the ivra-nnvor majoritv
H,":d;;i;w
conflictin the African
gt*ii"t*"tr
til;;'il
th"t
doubt
no
is
There
eave Thosewho are bidialectal
Americancommunitv""tt;;;;;;fiJ
u" ttlt blackswho are not comfortju'tify
th;;';;Ji"""-t
to
feel the need
about'theirlanguage'andprotecare;;;^;;;;""
AAVE
speaking
able
community'The greater
black
the
;t
t;;;
as
tive of their status
".""p, the inevitabilityof linguistic."..r;i;;;r"".,o
African American
tut there is also evidenceot
i";;il';;iiings'
MUSE
to
assimilation
well:
.f blackswho assimilatetoo
tt"it*
Black'reactionsto Black users
common
are
skepticism
Suspicionand
"iiwcr,r,"^^:{i{:,tliJ;rr:::*if
ffi'#J,'"?J"iH:',':"#
pushit ,,ringuistic
r.can
:,J.4ffiT,,?:'iixl'";;i.'"e"i"r,*a:'
ilr;il;;1",::glifl:::;:t"#:i;#:"',1'.$",1,'"",T'"J."
knows
Jackson
resseil:J,ffI"illTiid",;;t;ar
amblvarence'
LutherKingl so doesLouis
rvf""n
"tJ
i
f''rui"oirn
aU
to
in its
aboutthis;
ir r-wc in its grammarbut AVT
"".i
oruror]"#
r*,.
Farrakhan.
rhetorical style'
(Smitherman 1995:238)
more often in
- of mainstream-t^Tnuu*"
rejection
vocal
finds
Rickford
Redwood City'
"u'" of a teenager Trom
'i-ii"
as
blacks,
the line
adolescent
an offence it is to cross
;;;;;tt*t
inolcates
you talkin'
California, wtro
"over at t i t"ntJit
they - first time thev catch
lineuistically:
likethat'thev'll
aulfarkine
of how
white,thev'llneverlet itttiJilio1ius1
provideslxamples
atso
rre
6i'
ttgsi
(Rickfo
gol"
neverlet it
# ;;; ffiJ :l :*-Tffi;;i:;;I"i#il11
can
adorescents
angry
your'.1'
ttreOreos- th:Yb" trvin to correct
wtt-en
N". t Oian'tt
:C"i'^*"v fromme!Did I askyouto correctme it;i"N;i
(ibid')'
Nuh-uh!"'
''6r, -o""ution,
^ ---^-:^^n. rr4vp oone
gone on record with their
African Americans have
Th-oseexperiencesare seldom
'-[ut"tt'
own experienc"t ut uualur"tiuibenign:
"Droper" and "oreo"
of
butt'
the
' and being
- andverbally
Hearing the laughter ' '
tt
jokeshurt t"' e"'ni t'itiiittO"*tEt ammunition
l:-1,,*u'ninat
Io ttop the frequent
little
in"a
ii"i
sens?
ttre
in
that
impotent
was necessaryto lit in' whether
what
lunchtime attacks' Jo I did
.L
192 Consentmanulacturecl
or signifying'Ultimately I somehowlearned
meant cursingexcessively
the way that
to be polylingualand to becomesensitivelinguisticallyin
animalsare able to sensethe dangerof bad weather'
weapon to
The need to defend myself led me to use languageas a
"*hit.n..t"
of my spokenEnglishand to launch
deflectjokes about the
languageservedas a mask
Simultaneously
harshverbalcounter-attacks.
to hide the hurt I often felt in the process.Though over time my ability
peers'
to "talk that talk" - slang- gainedme a new respectfrom my
So I
I didn't want to go throulh life using slangto prove I am Black'
"I yam ivhat I yirn," and to take pride in myself' I am my
decided
on
speakingt"il bnt this doesn't mean that I'm turning my back
have to
titact p-eople.There are variousshadesof Blackness;I don't
Black' I
talk like Paul LaurenceDunbar's dialect poemsto prove I'm
person
don't appreciateanyone'strying to take away the range of
I can be.
(Aponte 1989)
from
It seemsthat African Americans who speak MUSE are not immune
to those
a different kind of trouble: Aponte's experiencesand reactions
of
Smitherman's
experiencesare perhaps the best possible illustration
push-pull, and hii story seemsto be a common one' Blacks who speak
are subject to ongoing pressureto.assimilate to MUSE
irr-u'.ify'eaVE
fact, they are
1o... in a number of setiingsoutside their communities;in
AAVE
threatenedwith exclusionif they do not' Blackswho do not speak
may be treated with scepticismand distrust' Languageideology becomes
a dtuble-edged sword for those who are monodialectal threats originate
from inside and oursidethe home languagecommunity'
personsof
At this point it is necessaryto consider that there are many
Caribbean
African discent resident ln ihe US who immigrate from the
language.
and from Africa, and who come to this country speakinganother
a
compli*iinin tn" indiginous African American community there is
negative,
catedset of reaitions to theseimmigrantswhich can be overtly
s 199-4
i" ;;y. which are not alwaysvisible io outsiders'E{widCl Danticat
consclousness
nouei,Breath, Eyes,Memory, brought these issuesinto the
makes clear
of the public. Hir story of ihe Haitian experiencein the US
African
how important a role languageplays in the negotiationsbetween
Americans and immigrants of African descent'
My mother saidit wasimportantthat I learn Englishquickly'Otherwise
theAmericanstudentswouldmakefunofmeor'evenworse'beat
worked
me. A lot of other mothers from the nursing home where she
getting into fights in school
had told her that their children were
"HBO"
- Haitian B:dV
becausethey were accusedof having
99::
AIDS
Many of the American kids even accusedHaitians of having
H's got
because they had heard on television that only the four
Haitians'
AIDS - heroin addicts, hemophiliacs'homosexualsand
The real trouble with Black English 193
want to go to school'
I wanted to tell my mother that I didn't
FranklY,I was afraid'
(Hinojosa on National PublicRadio'^'
r::::#"::
:;',0f ;;X;
of other Haitian immiHer experience(as well as documentedexperiences
who come
that there is a hierarchv among immigrants
;;;;;;iil;;"s
are very low in
into the African Amencan community, and the Haitians
How AAVE fits into the complex issue of acquisition
;;p;G;tderand other Caribbean and
of English for natlve speaKersof Haitian Creole
but which
is somethingwhich hasnot yet been explored'
;f#;i""gt"ges
as a social on"
tJbe'studied both ai a linguistic issue and
d"r"ru",
--ii
- -.
at the way promrdepth
in
look
to
context,
this
in
useful,
*o"fO be
inherent to the choice
nent African Amencans deal with the conflict
set of statementsby
languages.Here I consider two examples:a
;;;;;
"standard and
show on
Oprah Winfrey during a 1987 taping of a -t-a{.
'Black' English," and an episode.relaiedby Shelby Steelein his 1991book
Content of Our Characters''"
The
to remember that during
I; ih; caseLf Oprah Winfrey, it is important
g.Y".t:t'u facilitator to the
this taping she is acting as a hott to her invited
participant with opinions of
uuai"ri"" ?ir.nssion, and simultaneouslyas a
are perhapsnot
The introductionsshe reads from cue cards
;;;;;t.
may sometimesbe made in
"rii*fy ft* own formulations; her statements
But in general' it is clear that she is willing
"-.piti,
'gi"" .t fostering discussion'
she claims the
tt* opinio*non the questions it hand: on occasion
i.
commentsare peppered
floor when audiencemembei' want to speak'Her
I don't understand.She
with formulations such as I know, to me, I think'
you must know' don't you
itro u."t constructionsl\ke if you tlon't know'
forth'
in those instanceswhere she puts her own opinions
know,
"
one' At first
stance on AAVE is a complex and conflicted
-li'-igftt
Winfi"y',
standardizaseem that she stands fiimly on the side of
gf*"",
African
other
with
seen
iior, "na Hnluistic assimilation' As has been
AAVE (which she
Americans,she does not directty deny the existence.of
she is uncomcalls "so-called" Black English' perhapsbecause
"on.*"*fy
itself), but she challenges
fortable with the term rather than the language
seenabove'
AAVE usingmany of the strategies
realm of the secondary:
She first attempts to relegate-AAVE to the
'Are we talking about corre"ctEnglish or are we talking about dialect?"
by defining for
(3);13when audience members p.Jt"tt -thit, she regroups
StandardEnglish' a differthem the differencebetweenBlack English and
encewhichturnsouttorestexclusivelyonsubject_verbagreement:
your subjec-t'
-me' verbs agree with
To me standard English is having your
I mean' is that what your defiThat's what standard English is io
nition of standardEnglish is?
(3)
lg4 Consentmanufactured
speak
b""uu'-"-''l:t chooseto
ashamed
are
you
that
mean
Does it
agreewith your subject?Does
""tut
h;";
t"
v""t
correctly,you choose
(5)
it ut -"u" you're ashamed?
of Black English
n*"
to
seems
Winfrey
phonology
-1i.t|:tlton
Like RachelJones,
agreementand'excludes
g'"'#"iil"r
on
only
which focuses
Luther King Jr" Whitnev
JJ'i;;;fi";"Martin
devices'
and rhetorical
n:',
BJ;;' ; ;" ik',"
ng.MarvMccleod
You
:r-:i['J :" :l'i'-:$t'J
jll] **"'""'*f
:lm:'*i $[ xti'"'"'T
;,'i;i*j*.1
the most lormal
to a style approoriatefor
withAAVErhetorglllirse
tt'on*'i'#*'"it:-ryUtt
Jackson
regardless
thatJesse
eeVe grammaticalstrategiesstatement
"t"'
*orn"tt*l'
und
ical devices,
famous
doesnotilil'il;;tittil-|.i1t9"'t (12) but fails to discuss
audience'
or his
to racism"
;i.;;;;;.
"excellence
is the U"''i'Ott""tnt
that
her equationbetweent":;;;;;;ii;;;"
of the
and the naiive language
cussionsthis language ::t"ts" :"1',::,*
.r;"i'^"ot t and dismayed when
'"";
t';:ll*jtt*$,i:i*:i[in."*",'i'in:l*j',',::1,:i.'.':;:
to-use
want
ffi ;;il ;{l!r:ili
they
"
i?l',n
i:li
J:ijL:'
"'il:
"]t
young African Amertcans ,'l'"^:;"::,:;
.,r.**ur. to assimilate'Here'
andrejectpressur'
il;ctional language
of many
i#-;
undemployer
o;'in"tt*otun
as;'il;;tJ"t
status
winfreY'sown
'll:
#',"i.'i;;l-:.-*:"1:;1ff
:,'l;n"'ruT-[:;:'::1J::'*fi
';un'ri*
*
on'l'::'"n" Letmeaskvou'
li:l'*'::T -ft
iltt::i:ii
believe
peopleor make black people
"ii'Uft"t
t"
want
you
would
(
why
for them?" l2)'
g"ing to'change'
it
A*"'ttu
the docucorporate
that
enve on-lhe basisof
-However'
;ti?:tf"';i
^'?t"t"o'-J"'
n"'
justifies
winfrev
when call-in viewersor
^t
"'
openly
mented hisrory of
busi"premisemoveon to
thi,
*"i
"g."J
*n"
are
audiencemembers
"il"gfuce' In four casesthere
-o"l"To"'irv't*i"rt*
'tt"
defense
to the
derideAAVE,
iuut" her to pauseand come
ihi"f
wtrites
from
comments
il;'."':'nr,1'nJ*[J]']*lT;:
#;ffi.there
orAAVE
orAAVE
i' "l': t:i:1,
below)'but
verv
A;;;,"";ple
statemenlwhichare at the
to
grammar
beyond
,ntJes
:;.;;il
into the realm of racism'
leastintolerant,""d ;':;f;:;;'t;"'
. ...,Ibelievetheyput themjust
burning
here
srtting
1sr cellen: r am
wav thev do with ' ' '
the
just
like
selvesthat *"v ;;?;;"';e'
Music Experience'you
white
the
#;;;;J
radio stations":"w"
I mean'thev areputtingthemtn"ltit'i'"o
t;;;'
tt
know Voice
in thesecatesorles'
selves-wttut
ao yo-ucall Barry Manilow''
(o)
wr*oiu",
The real trouble with Black Englkh
195
2No cnr-Len: . . . what makes me feel that blacks tend to be ignorant
is that they fail to see that the word is spelleda-s-k ... that gives
the word a different meaning . . .
WrNFnEv: Why does it give it a different meaningif you know that's
what they're saying?
(7-8)
MEMBER: . . . I just think that anybody,Polish,Black,
8TH AUDTENCE
English, Hispanic, should learn to speak the proper English. And I
believeif they can't speakthe proper English,they shouldgo back
to their own country ... [crosstalk]
Dn. SuIrHenlaaN: I would like to know what country do black people
go back to. [crosstalk]
WINnnev: What did you say,Dr. [Smitherman]?What did you say?
Dn. SNatrnenvaN: I said I would like to know what country do black
people go back to.
WINFREY: Okay, yes ma'am.
(8-9)
9TH AUDIENcEMEMBER: ... You could speakyour own language,you
could have your own way, but don't force someoneelse to have to
sufferand listento it.
WrNrnev: . . . Why is it causing you to suffer?
(9; original emPhasis)
Overall, Winfrey's stance is complicated by her own participation in the
corporate structures,whosegatekeepingmechanismsshe subscribesto and
openly propagates.For example,she assertsthat employers (of which she
is one) have the right to demandthat employeesrepresentemployersas
they wish to be represented (8-9), a right which she believes extends to
language.
When audience and panel members point out to her fallacies in
common-sensearguments,or present counter-arguments,winfrey has one
of three strategies:
I She appealsto the authority of thosepanel or audiencememberswho
support her position:
What about what Dr. Anderson mentionedearlier,though - it's about
representation.
(8)
PANELMEMBER,A RADIo ANNouNcER: In corporateAmerica,if you
want to put an extra burden,a yoke on your neck,then speakslang,
speak incorrect English and grammar, becauseyou're not going to
get the job.
WtNppsY: You're not. You are not.
(12)
196 Consentmanufactured
arguments:
common-sense
2 She respondsherselfwtth more
all you children
to be made h-"t"' il.9 for
needs
that
point
the
is
This
ttrat it's not important' that
who decidenot to do yt:';il;;;'and
;;;;;;;;;"*":dl:T}ll;,';j:,il1''J:
;:
y';l
i:ll?;
ii;
mavbe
that
vou
tt'em
io
ffi{l;;
ff:::'::,';";'""1
[T:TrJff";
:;;t.i.
It do-esn'tmean that it's accurate'
(11)
Or she cuts away comPletelY:
use black
is a fact' White America
This
MEMBER:
3np eupteNcE
Don't let
OuV'Be observanl'people'
dialect on "o'n*tttiui' tut'V
speakright'
ignoiunt and rirl you don't
tnat
you
ioulre
tetl
nobody
i"*"-1-l::
th"v ";;;;; iii"ctt"t*r 7 Evewitness
Be observant'
happentng'
what's
So
whashappenin'
vears ago with one woJ:
3
America?
WrNrneY: We'll be right back'
(e-10)
it peak when
underlying conflict reaches
the
with
discomfort
Winfrey's
ut an example of
io use he' andlet talglu'q"
audiencemembers attempt
interesttng
rewardswhich follow' It is
as a
the necessityof assimilation't"Jtttt
*tto hold up Winfrev's language
g"tttt
American
African
blacks
that the
herself' llke.so' rnany other
tnut"ivinirey
out
never
Point
model
to utt AAVE intonation when
clit""i"uJ
ft
public
the
in
*"'
prominent
rhetorical devices
ani"tna'i tttt ttfitt on AAVE
guests'
black
with
soeaking
rorher:
asit exists
uprheconflict
.o.."nt sums
andvou'retaught
to
"I oersonallv
don'tundersil'i"cl.*nffv*t; agree
::h::t
with the subject'how
verbs
"rT:l].;:"ff:ll,ii,u.
ths
Enetishand you're taugt't to ttauerr""* "ta"i"tod. that" (13)' Winfrey
who you ;"''i1;;
which
that suppresses
on" of g'u-tutical relations'
would like the issueto o"'" 'itpf"
would be free
erill.ovel,which
an
mareii.;;i;;;".
to
would allow her
*t*es' edu-cationshould neutralize
t""Ut'"ti"
implications'
of racial
i""L,"e"oi,i-.'111.yd|[{';:;ff
:;m*,Ti:;l'J:?::#,"b1
and
economic
to.achieve
*',*':i$:'::::l'Xll,1'J;
;*"an Americans
those
herselfhere'in educating
socialequality'sn"'""tt to '";;';";i"t "u'"0 droppineknowledgewithin
pto""r,
herself'
who comeafter as ^ p-, "i,i"
ile rras trauer"o this road
chil;tt;'
American
African
the
ot which raise hard questions:
after all. She has -"d";;;i;;"'o'*
chooseto speak
..Does it mean that you- u." u,r,u-ed becauseyou
*o]::tl^^ltL
with
t";;;
youchoose
correctly,
tJ;"'it
ug'""
voyr
is a connectton
wiif' euiaence that there
When she is confronteJ
against
choice' that negative reactions
fuiguug"
u"O
identity
between
:
The real trouble with Black English 19'7
AAVE have to do not with the message,but the messenger'her ability
to rationalize her choices and the reality of linguistic assimilationis
challenged.
Shelby Steeleprovides very different insight into the conflictswhich face
African Americans. Steele is one of a group of prominent scholarsand
writerswho form the core of an African Americanconservativethinktank,
who have been public in their criticismof the civil rights establishment'
Someof the centralideasof this body of work includethe suppositionthat
human nature is more important than race,and that national interestis
more important than ethnic affiliation. His The Contentof Our Character
in a limited way, the issue of
is intereiting here becausehe addresses,
language.His discussionillustratesthe way that rationalizationworks in
the languagesubordinationprocess.Steele'scurrent position on AAVE,
What he relates
althoughneverclearlystated,seemsto be assimilationist.
transition from
make
the
in his lssay is the logic which allows him to
acceptinghis own languageas viable and functional, to rejecting it'
Ai a teenager,Steelewas a speakerof AAVE in public situationswhich
includednon-AAVE speakers.The story he tells here is probably a fairly
typical experience for young blacks when they establish social contacts
outside the African American community.Here, an older white woman
continuallyand repeatedlycorrectsboth AAVE grammaticaland phonological features in his sPeech.
When I was fourteen the mother of a white teammateon the YMCA
swimming team would - in a nice but insistent way - correct my
grammarwhen I lapsedinto the black English I'd grown up speaking
in the neighborhood.She would require that my verbs and pronouns
"g" on my "ings,"and that I say "that" insteadof
agree,that I put the
"dat." She absolutelyabhorred double negatives,and her face would
screwup in pain at the sound of one. But her correctionsalso tapped
my racialvulnerability.I felt racial shameat this white woman'sfastidious concern with my language.It was as though she was saying that
the black part of me was not good enough,would not do, and this is
where my denial went to work.
(5g)
"the black
Steele'sinitial reaction is anger at the woman's rejection of
part of me [as] not good enough."This episodeseemsto have been his
discrimination.Thus he
first direct experiencewith language-focused
confronts the conflict between the experienceof being discriminated
against and his experienceswith AAVE as a viable and functional
language.As a l4-year-old,then, Steelewasnot yet convincedthat AAVE
was an inappropriateor bad language.Correspondingto his angertoward
the woman is a recognitionof the link betweenit and his race ("the black
part of me"). On this basis,his early conclusionis that the woman who
has correctedhim is racist.
198 Consentmanufactured
unusual'.]-Ie.clnfronts the woman
Now he does somethingperhaps
ti- out angrily to have a conversatlon
through her son, and she Lltt
language'
about'her motives in correcting his
the YMCA rec room' took me away
A few days later she marched into
down in a corner' lt was the late
from a Ping-Ponggu-", und sat me
their faces as though they were
fifties, when "",tuin *om"n paintedrt'
of this mask' my wonderment at
canvases' . . it was ttte dlstraction
ihat allowedme to keep my equilibrium',
never
she had grown'up poor' had
She lold me about rtitttif' tttut
be riore than a secretary' She
finished high school' una"i"oulO-n""er
I
saidshedidn't grveu
"looO-goaOumn"
aboutm-vrace'l:l'tlit
]1
my life away in a steel mill," I better
wanted to do more thun"ir*"it
to
continued to talk I was shocked
learn to speak correctl; ;; th"
her motive
ftuO-g""uin"fy hurt her and that
realize that -y "o-*"ii
no more than simple human kindf,"tn
i"J
engriJ
-y
correcting
in
she
have seen this more easily'But
ness.If she had been bl"tk' i;tg;i
specific responsepattern
and this fact alone tlt off u very
;;;;hir",
and
shame was-the trigger' denial
t;';;;;t
vulnerability
which
in
the
aittott"d view of the situation
recomposition tne '"acil'i' utti u
which I convertedkindnessinto harassresult. This was the ttq;;;;;;t
her ractsm'
ment and my racial shameinto
(59)
of
position has reversed on a number
First we must note that his original
levels:
After confro.ntatton
Prior to confrontation
her simple human kindness
her racism
his racism
his anger' resentment
acceptanceof wrongdoing
wrongdoing denied
rejectsAAVE'
a.tnJ*reoietn,+ve
denies a link between race and
draws a link between race and
language
language
particihow ideology.functions to keep
This is an interesting example of
place of iubordination or dominance
pants from becoming "*"i!^clittt"
Steele is recountrng
social tltl!t"l!thev themselves occupy in the
li]:t#,,;,;;r,"r,"-i"'",
-"ae awareof his positionas subordinated'
t:
to the dominant group''*"lt
l':
and choseto changet;;i;;;;;"
tells, or that he truly
he
that
story
,tt"
"'u"iri
sinceri
doubt that he is
he puts forth' But he usesa number
believesthe common-settt "tgt-""tt
consent-from his audience' and
maiiufacture
to
strategies
of coercive
to make
il-rh" way that _steele attempts
thev bear corrsideratronlil
a commonality of opinion- regarding
his readers uetieve ttrai if'"'" i'
do' that AAVE is an inadequate
language. He knows, "t iit"V- ttt"fy
language:
The real trouble with Black English 199
truth] more easily.But
If she had been black, I might have seen [the
specificresponsepattern
,fr" *u. white, and this fact a-loneset off a very
ih" ttigg"., denial and
in which vulnerability to a racial shame was
view of the situation the
recomposition the reactron, and a distorted
result.
(emphasisadded)
basic beliefs:
Steele assumesthat his readers will share some
way to use English;
a that there is a right and a wrong
establishedand knowledgeablepersons
a ;;; ili; "ppt.prlate for more
to direct young"t ones to that better language;
bevond race'
qu"riio.t, of right and wrong in languagemove
;;J;il
a function of his immature
He explainshis inability to see these facts as
accept personal responsibility
ui"*-oi itr" *orld and his unwillingnessto
see.n,this.moreeasily)' His youthful
ilf rni i"a been black, I might haie
language;
.er .etl"t Jn denial of the basic truth about
XAfi;;"k;!
his readers) knows
andreasonable self (the one who is like
iri, .",tr.
proposition (quesof the matter. Thus, by iinking the last logical
il;ih
to the first two (there is a
tions of right and *.ong tou" beyonl race)
to censure users of bad
good and a bad language,and it is uppropriat"
acceptanceof his language
language), he coerces a certain degree of
ideology.
mother of a friend as a kind
Steele relates this conversation with the
just about himseli
i. which he becomesaware of truths not
.f;;;;*y,
both Steele himself and
but about people in general' Thus we see how
formations are
this woman function as rmaginaryformations' Imaginary
(Steele)' his interlocutor (the readers)'
unaerstood as the way the sribjeci
who corrected him' and her
unJlrt" oUj".t of their discourie (the woman
but as symbols of larger
motivations) are representednot as individuals'
project
analvtical approach,'people perceive and
;;;;p; .;;ip"s. In this
their specificplacein the social
themselvesprimarily u,, "p""ntuiiveof
successfulAfrican American
structure.Thus,Steelerepresentshimself as a
take responsibility for his
who has moved beyond denial and racism to
life.
own
of the white
interesting, perhaps, is the imaginary formation
il;;
w o m a n w h o l e a d s h r m t o a c c e p t t h e n e c e s s i t y ' o f r e j e c t i n g hdoes
ishome
(and one he obviously
own-account
her
by
is
woman
ftti"
f"rg""g".
her: she has never
not"disiagreewith) someone with little to recommend
a great deal of economic
i"Li"J"rtlgrt school and will never achieve
no conventionallyacceptedor
.u.."r.; ,hJ euen looks clownish'She has
a history of
sources of authoritv or knowledge' beyond
;;;;;;;;
a MUSE speaker' she
p.lr3t"r Jifn*lty and sacrifice'but becauseshe is
if-she doesnot do so' he
feelsauthorizedto correct his languagebecause
"rn a steelmitt'" Shetells him thesethingsnot because
is doomedto a life
'-#ryryfiry;#i1go-g
"".'.T'
tr{Ft.;.'
***tU,-^,W
[ii1fJlfii5f.'
ffiilfi$.*ffff**
;$ll-#;ff'g#*nt'*u,1
ttlffi#*:*fi-li**iffi
rffi
xff***:srffin
addressed.
"1."
-^ ^{ .nntroversy between.
-' ;;;"""
American
fiff******'***rustt*
The real trouble with Black English 201
in spite of stigmatizationof the most direct and caustickind, and despite
repercussions
in the form of real disadvantage
and discrimination.Clearly,
AAVE speakers get something from their communities and from each
other that is missing in the world which is held up to them as superior
and better. But the conflict remains. "We're not wrong," says an exasperatedAAVE speakerin responseto criticism."I'm tired of living in a
country where we're always wrong" (Oprah Winftey Show 1987:7).
The real problem with black English is a generalunwillingnessto accept
the speakersof that languageand the socialchoicesthey have made as
viable and functional.Insteadwe relegatetheir experiencesand capabilities to sphereswhich are secondary and out of the public eye. We are
ashamedof them, and becausethey are part of us, we are ashamedof
ourselves.