Non-Native English Speakers: Which English is more important?

[Tupac Shakur]

Ebonics is the variant of language used by black americans who were not paying attention during childhood development english when pronunciation and annunciation were being taught in grade school classes like 2, 3, 4, and 5.

[Tupac Shakur]

Now go get someone to explain that, you ****ing racist idiot...

[Al B. Sure!]

I thought this would be fun to breakdown all the English language mistakes in this dumbass quote. Bringing the red marker out like a teacher!

Ebonics is the variant of language used by black americans who were not paying attention during childhood development english when pronunciation and annunciation enunciation were being (unnecessary auxiliary verb) taught in grade school classes like 2, 3, 4, and 5 (Ending sentence after 'classes' or 'grade school' would have been sufficient but if special emphasis on the grades is preferred, please note that the numbers refer to the grades, not the classes, and that the use of ordinal numbers is preferred). As a result, (COMMA!) these regulars of the "ebonics" slang language have made attempts to have these wrong-sounding words become a part of the English language. (Proper punctuation, please! It is very basic!) Fortunately, (COMMA!) there has been a higher percentage of historic English-speaking people defend defeating (I assume this was the intention from the context) this nonsense at the voting polls. (Do you have a problem with periods and an insistence on unwieldy sentences?) but There will likely be a day when Americans (You capitalize "American", you commie pinko! have lowered the standards, (COMMA!) as they have since the late 60's, (COMMA!) to allow this or possibly spanish slang to overtake the american english that was has been taught and used with regularity in classrooms.

Okay this thing is too long so I'm stopping. I question how anyone can ever criticize others for their knowledge of the English language while seemingly having a pitiful grasp on the language themselves.

[giblets]

it's the internet

[giblets]

The word Ebonics was originally coined in 1973 by African-American social psychologist, Robert Williams, to acknowledge the linguistic consequence of the slave trade and the distinct manner in which descendants of these slaves speak today and have spoken for centuries.

RACIST!

[Al B. Sure!]

RACIST!

Have you taken any African-American Studies courses yet in your college coursework?

You'll soon find out how much such people hold back the Black community with their patronizing of stupidity.

[Al B. Sure!]

By the way, Robert L. Williams is a psychologist. He's not a linguist.

Naming something "Ebonics" to him was about empowering aspects of Black culture (certain slang) and differentiating it from the English spoken by whites... they robbed us of our language when they brought us to America so we created a new language... the phonics of Black people... Ebonics... that sort of thing which was popular among Black intelligentsia in the 1970's.

[giblets]

Have you taken any African-American Studies courses yet in your college coursework?

No.

You'll soon find out how much such people hold back the Black community with their patronizing of stupidity.

I have no idea what "patronizing of stupidity" is supposed to mean.

[Al B. Sure!]

From Wikipedia. I'm bolding relevant parts, but I fear it will not make any sense to you without the proper context of at least some familiarity with Black people, history, or culture:

The word Ebonics was originally coined in 1973 by African-American social psychologist, Robert Williams, to acknowledge the linguistic consequence of the slave trade and the distinct manner in which descendants of these slaves speak today and have spoken for centuries. In regards to his term, Williams states:

We need to define what we speak. We need to give a clear definition to our language. …We know that ebony means black and that phonics refers to speech sounds or the science of sounds. Thus, we are really talking about the science of black speech sounds or language. (Williams, 1997a)

For Williams, Ebonics was a title for the language of African Americans that ceased to carry the same negative connotation of other terms such as "Nonstandard Negro English".[2] For Williams' background as a writer on issues related to IQ, see Baugh (2000:16). Baugh (2000) also flatly states (p, 18) that "Williams is not a linguist". At a 1973 conference in St. Louis, Missouri on "Cognitive and Language Development of the Black Child", Williams, Ernie Smith, and other language scholars and researchers discussed this term.[3][4] In 1975, the term appeared in Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks, a book edited and co-written by Williams:

A two-year-old term created by a group of black scholars, Ebonics may be defined as "the linguistic and paralinguistic features which on a concentric continuum represent the communicative competence of the West African, Caribbean, and United States slave descendant of African origin. It includes the various idioms, patois, argots, idiolects, and social dialects of black people" especially those who have adapted to colonial circumstances. Ebonics derives its form from ebony (black) and phonics (sound, the study of sound) and refers to the study of the language of black people in all its cultural uniqueness.[5]

Other writers have since emphasized how the term represents a view of the language of Black people as African rather than European.[6] The term was not obviously popular even among those who agreed with the reason for coining it. Even within Williams's Ebonics book, the term "Black English" is far more commonly used than the term Ebonics.[7]

John Baugh has stated[8] that the term Ebonics is used in four ways by its Afrocentric proponents. It may:

1. be "an international construct, including the linguistic consequences of the African slave trade";[9]
2. refer to the languages of the African diaspora as a whole;[10]

or it may refer to what is normally regarded as a variety of English: either

3. it "is the equivalent of black English and is considered to be a dialect of English" (and thus merely an alternative term for AAVE), or
4. it "is the antonym of black English and is considered to be a language other than English" (and thus a rejection of the notion of "African American Vernacular English" but nevertheless a term for what others term AAVE, viewed as an independent language and not a mere ethnolect).[11

One of the issues underling the Ebonics debate is the question of social identity. Ebonics may symbolize group identity. John U. Ogbu writes in his 1999 article:

Involuntary minorities like Black Americans developed their English dialects after being deprived of their original languages. Others who retain their original languages reinterpret the frames of reference after they have been forced into involuntary minority status. Indeed, the creation of oppositional dialect or language frame of reference is a part of the overall effort of these minorities to solve the status problems caused by forced incorporation into U.S. society. One necessary step in coping with the status problems is to create mutually acceptable criteria for determining who is a bona fide member of the group. The creation of a language/dialect frame of reference or the correct way for members to talk serves this purpose. The frame of reference becomes an important symbol of their collective identity.[17]

In other words, the word Ebonics carries political undertones that have been described as "racially affirmative", as it is a way for African Americans to assert the validity of their language which is in no way inferior or less complex than Standard American English[16] . Moreover, Ebonics often serves as a marker of identity, one that differentiates the community, upbringing, and culture of a person and its use either allows or forbids a person access into a social group or setting.

[Al B. Sure!]

I have no idea what "patronizing of stupidity" is supposed to mean.

Black people who have PhD's in African-American Studies and stupid liberal white people think they're doing some sort of great service or correction of historical injustice by legitimizing and glorifying deleterious aspects of Black culture.

[Felch]

I have no idea what "patronizing of stupidity" is supposed to mean.

Wait, I had something for this.

[Al B. Sure!]

Wait, I had something for this.

[Docfeelgood]

I hope you know I have never met anyone that speaks like that.

Bull****!! then you must be a closet Amish.

[Docfeelgood]

It's how ignorant, bigoted white people think Black people talk.

what ****ing planet do you live on?

[Docfeelgood]

It's how ignorant, bigoted white people think Black people talk.

They just be acting