THE STUDY OF GREETINGS: OR HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE EBONICS
The new A-B-C’s: a few pointers to consider in learning to speak and write Ebonics well.
a) The word “ain’t” didn’t use to be okay under regular English rules of grammar. However, “ain’t” should become “okay” under Ebonics. Did I say okay? It becomes better than okay! It becomes the first word in the new Ebonic dictionary! It also appears on every page of this Ebonics Dictionary so all Ebonic-speakers can treasure it every day. Here’s a sample sentence using “ain’t” from the new Ebonics dictionary I’m working on:
“You ain’t got to finish readin’ nuthin’ if you don’t want to, not even this damn sentence! Your teacher ain’t your Mama!”
b) After official recognition is forthcoming during an official “Ain’t Is Beautiful” ceremony, the word “ain’t” will rapidly acquire wider use and become even greater in its literary power in the future than in its past. It will become like the blank tile in Scrabble wherein the player who draws it can play it as any letter or word he or she desires.
“Ain’t”, in the language of Ebonics, becomes the King of the Hill, King of all Nouns and Verbs and all other parts of speech combined. “Ain’t” becomes super-cool to be sure! All hail “Ain’t”!!
c) All words with “th” in them are eliminated or replaced by the new version which uses a “d” instead of “th”– here are some practical reading examples: “the, that, them” and “those toes”, now becomes:
- “de (or duh), dat, dem” and “dose toes” or further elaborated—
- “which toes, dese toes or dem toes?” one can say to clarify one’s meaning, to be answered by “does toes” (those toes) not “dese toes” (these toes) in case of confusion.
This is a slightly harder linguistic variation to master than “ain’t” by itself. Pronouncing a word as though it begins with the letter “d” instead of “th” will take time for ev’ry-buddy to learn but dat will come wid practice. Dat ain’t even all dat hard, do tell!
d) Incidentally, although I personally think it would be easier to teach Black Children how to say and spell the word “the” with an initial “th” sound rather than create a whole new language to authenticate a word like “dat” instead of “that”, there is a kernel of historical truth to be weighed.
Most African languages apparently lack the “th” sound! (who knew?)
On the other hand, even assuming this is true, just how hard is it for any student to learn to say “the”? And is this word–“the”–going to be part of Ebonics or will it be forbidden and only the version “de” or “duh” allowed to take its place? Would saying “the” become a mistake and cause the teacher to lower your grade? Will Ebonics forbid students who use “the” from speaking it?
There are, after all, millions of Black people who have already learned to say “the” with absolutely no problem at all. This “speech impairment” tends to be found mostly among young and lazy kids of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Young and lazy white students frequently make all the same grammatical errors as Black kids. These common mistakes are now being dignified with the title of a new dialect (Black Ebonics) even though it includes the same errors made by white kids.
Think about it: all kinds of people routinely use “ain’t”. This fact may produce a situation where teachers should shrug their shoulders and grin-and-bear-it as they recognize it is almost impossible to stamp out the word entirely. That’s not quite the same as being hit over the head with an epiphany that children are speaking a new language.
Kids make errors by the dozens. Each error is not grounds for claiming the invention of a new dialect is underway. Alongside “ain’t”, many kids use a healthy dose of the double negative, such as: “I ain’t done nothing wrong!”
Laziness tends to be the mother of ignorance (and vice versa) no matter what age or color. If Ebonics is called a new dialect reflecting this street-wise way of speaking, will it become a new dialect for white kids who speak the same way too?
MORE MISTAKES OR FEWER?
Another common mistake kids make in speaking and writing English is this one: they insert a redundant pronoun after a name: “Tommy he ain’t coming to school today”. You see, once you have one name or pronoun you have enough to go right on to complete the thought: “Tommy ain’t coming to school today” is all that is needed. In other words, the subject of the sentence, “Tommy”, don’t need to be “he” again, you see? (The “don’t” should be “doesn”t” but let’s not quibble. I anticipate the future.)
Any primary grade teacher will meet many students right across the whole rainbow of skin hues who frequently make these relatively simple errors. Show kids a better way and most catch on very quickly. Unfortunately, there are usually a few who show little desire to correct their mistakes.
Variations in personal traits certainly matter to some degree but they are not the only factors.
Home environment, poverty, educational level of parents, first or second language, and neighborhood culture tend to be key factors in determining how kids speak when they come to school; social context strongly influences with what degree of ease or difficulty students can learn to improve their speech. Overcoming mistakes that students don’t realize they are making, is part of the process involved in the daily classroom. Learning anew, and not necessarily the birth of a new dialect, plays the pivotal role here.
QUESTIONS TO ASK, ANSWERS TO PONDER
e) Will Ebonics still use English words and phrases but adopt alternate spellings?
f) Will Ebonics have synonyms?
g) Will Ebonics allow foreign words borrowed from other languages– like “the” from the English language–into the new dialect? “Duh, dat’s a good un to dink over, ain’t it?!”
h) The word “cool” will replace a wide range of adjectives from “okay” to “great”, from “neat” to “nice”, and from “fabulous” to “fantastic.” “Cool” replaces them all! These older words are discarded, eliminated, and incinerated into oblivion. Such words will become obsolete and marked as “antiquated” in future dictionaries. Likewise, all other unnecessary adjectives and synonyms for “cool” will be erased and declared never to have existed.
With One Possible Exception:
Unless, of course, a parallel evolution of bi-lingualism is preferred: perhaps teachers and parents will one day agree that Ebonics and English should both be taught as two distinct languages within the same school.
i) Part of the long-term problem here–from an “Old School” analytical perspective–is one of kids and teenagers failing to learn to express themselves precisely and fully. Every generation knows that one-word answers become a bad habit and are simply not thoughtful enough if relied on constantly. “Cool” is not a full-bodied answer. How many times do kids answer the parent’s question “What happened in school today?” with “Nothing” or “nuddin’” and “How was school?” with “okay” and nothing more?
Luckily, under Ebonics, “cool”, “okay”, and “nuddin’” will be promoted to a new and higher status, almost divine-like in nature. These words will be properly sanctified and constitute more and more of the child’s acceptable working vocabulary (as is already true to a fair extent!)
j) If one used “hip” today it would draw a laugh. It’s been replaced by “bad”, “cool”, “fresh”, “awesome”, “radical”, and the most eloquent of all when it comes ripping off the lips of a teenager: “whatever”. Yet all these phrases are merely one-word terms that do not express feeling or thought.
Whether the adjective is “hip”, “neat”, “good”, “great”, or “cool”, the problem here centers on the lack of precise expression and not with the term itself.
“Cool” no doubt one day will pass on and become as old-fashioned as “hip” is now, although “cool” does show surprising lasting power: it seems to regenerate itself far better than most short-lived street jive and appears capable of outlasting more than one or two generations (quite remarkable!)
k) For those in the funky know, “fresh” gave way to “fly” which in turn gave way to other new cool words among the hipsters; rapid changes in “street jive” is a hallmark of its creativity. Phony commercialized “street jive” can also originate on Madison Avenue as well as the street; only time and usage reveals which is which.
l) Sometimes such language is original, beautiful, and even poetic, yet considering the very short life-span of most of these terms the question arises: can a new dialect be built upon words that themselves are transitory and will exist for so brief a period of time?
Among young people such terms can take on instant meaning; the standard call-and-responses in various greetings create a distinctive generational sense of identity. Their special words help them bond one to another. Such one-poke words reflect a joined sharing of values—even when the actual phrase conveys very little in the way of meaning and feeling to adults standing nearby.
m) For parents, teachers, and other concerned citizens, the issue is not as the young people suppose. They think all adults are offended by the slang of such popular terms among school-age kids. Some are but not all. In the first place, many poorly educated adults frequently use such language themselves. More to the point, however, are adults who are hoping to open students’ eyes to something better, to the magic and mystery of life, to the opportunities to make something grand of their lives—and to understand that successful learning in school can be part of finding that new path of adventure, challenge, and accomplishment.
Sure, there may be a kernel of truth to that point of view—that some adults are offended by kids’ common slang and even more by common vulgarity. The real issue, however, does not derive from disputing whether a kid or adult knows the latest “cool” word. That’s the simplistic way to interpret what’s going on and which issues are truly the most contentious or purposeful.
The true challenge for many grown-ups and teachers is learning how to inspire children and teenagers to express themselves fully so as to develop their own thoughts and emotions, their own potential to the maximum—by learning how communicate ever better with their peers and elders.
n) In that sense alone, the questionable attempt to create a dialect based partly on grammatical errors, local street jive, slang, and one-word replies, does a grave disservice to the more fundamental task before us: helping young people to grow up to be intelligent, responsible adults who are able to express themselves—their opinions, ideas, emotions–fully and well.
If Ebonics justifies including “street talk” as part of a new dialect, without exhibiting a commitment to create a truly inspiring educational experience for all young people, then it is a dialect destined to be stillborn. And that ain’t no jive!
