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December 04, 2005
Response to Christina's Question
Christina's question was "what would Americans have sounded like without Black English?"
I believe there would have been less of a conversion of language. In class we talked about the fact that it takes longer for syntax of a language to change. I believe Black English shortened this time because of the fast introduction of the language and its use in everyday culture. Lexicon would also be different because Black English uses a lot of shortened words or new words that shorten previous words. An example of this is "yo" which is shorter than "hello" and is considered more improper. (Maybe improper words are considered improper because of their backgrounds...hmm.) So, without Black English, we would probably still have more "old english" words or even longer words than what we use today. Moving on, I also believe there is a connection between gestures and a language. White English centuries ago would be a lot more formal and wouldn't include much touching. In today's culture we touch each other's arms and are more expressive to the listener. Without Black English I am sure there would be more of a physical distance between the listener and speaker. Also, I am sure there would be more arms at the side then gesturing hands during conversation.
Posted by lcisyeich at December 4, 2005 01:45 PM