African American Language: So Good It's Bad

[Rachel]

Rachel, Catie, and I worked on the first section in the packet. Here's our summary!

The African American Language began as a way for those enslaved together to bond as one community. Containing patterns of grammar, common speaking styles and a common language, the African American Language allows this community to survive and thrive in a predominantly white society. Although U.S. English speakers have attempted to eradicate the African American Language, the AAL has persisted throughout generations as a proud language. In today’s world, the AAL serves as a way in which disparate socio-educational classes can connect and bond. This article also comments on the influence a community has on a child; as a child grows, he adapts to the customs, style of language and human characteristics present in his community.

[Catie]

Rachel and I shared our discussion question in class and we got a lot of great responses from the class. The discussion in class seemed to end off with the question, how can delegitimizing Black English affect the people who speak it if the language is not a part of their culture? Our stance on this question is that, the language is an attached to their culture as well as an integral part of the communities which these African Americans live in. The language was established by the ancestors of many of the Black English speakers in today's society. The language was passed down from generation to generation. The language is deeply engrained in the culture of African Americans. Maybe it is not important in the culture of Americans or Africans, but it is highly important in the culture of African Americans. I would relate it to Yiddish for Jews. Hebrew is the proper language but Yiddish was the slang version. While it wasn't accepted as the proper way to speak and write, no one tried to abolish it. No one said it was a disgrace to Hebrew. Why is Black English any different? Black English is an important part of the African American culture. It helped the slaves bond as a community and it continues to help African Americans bond as a community. Since slavery, so much has been taken away from African Americans. The least we could do is let them keep this.

[Rachel]

Here’s a quote from our passage:
“Language is a tie that binds. It provides solidarity with your community and gives you a sense of personal identity. AAL served to bind the enslaved together, melding diverse African ethnic groups into one community. Ancient elements of African speech were transformed into a new language forged in the crucible of enslavement, U.S. style apartheid, and the Black struggle to survive and thrive in the face of dominating and oppressive Whiteness” (3).

This quote ties into the summary that Rachel posted. Blacks first came to America chained to each other, but from different tribes and locations. They could not speak each others’ language, which presumably is what their owners wanted, because it provided a measure of protection against rebellion. When they arrived in the New World, their slave masters prohibited them from speaking any language other than English, but refused to teach them to read and write. As a result, slaves developed a pidgin language – a combination of the limited English they were able to pick up and elements of their native African speech, which allowed them to remember their African roots. They used this pidgin language to express their feelings of love and hope for the future, and to pass down their stories to their children. They also used it as a method of survival. Slaves needed a common language to warn each other of impending danger; out of this brutal necessity came a new language. In the years following the end of slavery, Blacks continued to be culturally isolated, despite being free, and were provided with few opportunities to learn to speak Standard (White) English. As a result, the language of their slave ancestors was passed down from generation to generation, creating a “tie that binds” the Black community, and providing Blacks with a unique identity and sense of their history.