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December 02, 2005
If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
Baldwin explains that the argument of whether Black English is considered a language or not “has nothing to do with the language itself but with the role of language” (Baldwin 1). Language defines a person and allows a person to be recognized. Each person’s language evolves overtime as a response not only to societal changes, but also to necessity. For example, sometimes, a person must tweak his or her language in order to converse with another dialect.
Black English is maintained and studied because many people do not want it to die out, just like the Basque and Welsh’s determination to keep their language alive and spoken. Even though these languages are being preserved, it is an interesting concept that some of these languages were forbidden to be spoken, and if spoken there would be harsh consequences. In this way, the language that someone speaks is a representation of their identity. A language or dialect can be pinpointed to certain regions, and each region or country has a rich history. This background and history is immediately linked to the person that speaks the language.
Baldwin writes, “a language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey” (2). Black English, in particular, developed because of the Black church. Blacks from many different places in the world were pushed together on slave boats to come to America. In order to speak to each other, they had to merge languages and create a language that was not only unique to their society, but also could be used as a means to communicate with each other. Baldwin even remembers standing next to a white man and being told to speak fast in order to confuse the white man. So, essentially, Black English was used as a means to converse without the whites knowing about which they were speaking.
Finally, Baldwin cannot understand why Black English would not be considered a language. This language has its roots in history. Baldwin believes that the truth of the matter is that no white person ever felt responsible to actually teach the blacks a language, and when they were taught proper English, their teachers despised them. After all, a child that is taught English by teachers that despise him will not learn anything. He/she will revert back to their native tongue, so in a sense, Black English is the only way in which these people could communicate.
In the end, the inability for whites to teach blacks English has brought about many of the social struggles that blacks have even today. If they are in a society that still does not accept them, even for their language, how are they able to function? Without support from our own country, hope is lost. This may be the cause of so many blacks in the streets. They don’t know how to deal with a society that seems to have given up on them. It is incredibly sad to think about.
Questions:
1)In one of Baldwin’s paragraphs, he, in particular was forced to speak a language so fast that the whites could not hear or understand him. If the whites did stop to think about what the blacks said, they would be revealing a certain identity about themselves, that they actually took the time to listen and understand “black talk”. Baldwin writes, “This understanding would reveal to him too much about himself, and smash that mirror before which he has been frozen for so long” (Baldwin 2) What does this imply?
2)What would Americans have sounded like if there had been no Black English?
3)What does this quote actually mean: We, the blacks, are in trouble, certainly, but we are not doomed, and we are not inarticulate because we are not compelled to defend a morality that we know to be a lie” (Baldwin 2)?
4)Are so many non-whites truly in jail because “both the child and his elder have concluded that they have nothing whatever to learn from the people of a country that has managed to learn so little” (Baldwin 3)?
5)[In connection with the previous question]: What exactly has this country learned so little about? Just equality or a myriad of aspects of life in general?
-Christina
Posted by lcisgancarz at December 2, 2005 10:05 PM