agree with your thinking here and...). Chapter 4 introduces the study of language, communication and linguistics.
Revised, Originally posted 2/24/08 2:40pm
It discusses the basic categories and definitions used to study language, and the many ways in which linguistic, cultural, and social variables are interrelated. It also presents how language uses reflect differences among groups. Language is amazing and it can be used to debilitate and malign. Yes, socio-linguistics, as it could be called, can be both adaptive and maladaptive.
You will love checking out the enculturation process of a 1 year old in the following video who has learned a significant sign language vocabulary:
Since BEV or Black English Vernacular is a topic in the chapter, here's segment from "Why Ebonics is No Joke," which aired on ABC Radio National's Lingua Franca October 17, 1998:
The Economist picked it up and printed a brief story headed 'The Ebonics Virus', a tasteless reference to the then recent outbreak of the horrible Ebola fever in Zaire. The subliminal link there is clear enough: nasty things out of Africa!...In the 4:10 section we also analyzed the uses of language in the video The Leech and the Earthworm about how an indigeneous people tell a story about colonialization and exploitation by the white man. Check it out! You'll notice the use of storytelling, visual, oral, musical and other kinds of language in this TITLE sequence from the documentary.I don't know how you measure poverty in a language. But on the bit about grammatical mistakes... There is a difference between making grammatical blunders in Standard English and speaking correctly in a different variety of the language, one that has a slightly different grammar. And that's the case here. African-American Vernacular English has a regular, systematic grammar of its own.
People who don't know [Black English vernacular] talk about how the word 'be' is used in the wrong places. They think black Americans say, 'He be laughin'.' When they should say 'He is laughing', and that's treated as one of the many amusing pieces of evidence that they don't speak English correctly. It's not true. The African-American Vernacular English usage they're referring to is in fact a device for expressing what's called 'habitual aspect'. 'He be laughin' is grammatical in African-American Vernacular English but it doesn't mean 'He is laughing', it means 'He habitually laughs.' If you want to say 'He is laughing' right now, in this language, you say 'He laughin'.'
You might also get something from this splicing of routines by comedians Richard Pryor and George Carlin. You may have to Google each to get a better grasp of their style of comedy. Carlin does "black" comedy--meaning it's intellectual as well as vernacularly (is that a word) straight and to the point. This clip supports the argument that signs, like the word "nigger", are inherently devoid of any natural meaning.
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25 comments:
I think that ebonics is a natural progression for alot of people. You can take almost any language, say French and notice that even though the language originated in one place, as it spread it took on different pronunciation of words, punctuation etc. For example French language in France v's French language in Belgium v's French language in Luxemburg, Switzerland etc. All variations of the same language yet no-one's complaining about them. Some languages progressed from dialects to completely different languages for example Portugese and Spanish were once the same language. It is a natural characteristic of human culture, especially a displaced or oppressed culture, to regroup and continue to evolve in its own direction. Irish were oppressed by the English for almost a thousand years: religion, music, dance, sport and the Irish language all outlawed with severe punishments for those who disobeyed, and still there is a very distinct Irish culture that is still growing and evolving in its own way.
Anne-Marie
I totally agree with the author of “Why Ebonics is no joke”. I have been faced with it so many times people correcting the way I speak when pronouncing a lot of words. I have to tell them that the country I am from we speak Standard English it’s just that I have a Jamaican accent. I don’t speak American English. It was derived from the English they speak in Great Britain because both of the countries were once colonies of England. It is just that Americans changed it to fit them what suites them for example ‘color’ is spelt ‘colour’ and ‘neighbors’ is spelt ‘neighbours’. I hear people speak all the time and it amazes me. I have learned to understand that black people speak different from white people and Dominicans speak different from Puerto Ricans. In Jamaica everyone is Jamaican .I have never seen such culture differences even if people or I should say students go to the same school they speak different. And people who are from New York criticize the way people in the south speak. I have listened to Caucasians speaking all the time saying ‘yous’ and ‘sawr’ that is ‘saw’ with a r and also ‘idear’ idea with a r. No one seems to have a problem with that but as soon as African Americans say something that doesn’t fit or that they think is not SE there is a big problem. I didn’t know that’s how African Americans speak so a lot of times I misunderstand what they are saying when they use ‘be’ in their sentences. I thought it was a slang but now I know differently.
I totally agree with the author of “Why Ebonics is no joke”. I have been faced with it so many times people correcting the way I speak when pronouncing a lot of words. I have to tell them that the country I am from we speak Standard English it’s just that I have a Jamaican accent. I don’t speak American English. It was derived from the English they speak in Great Britain because both of the countries were once colonies of England. It is just that Americans changed it to fit them what suites them for example ‘color’ is spelt ‘colour’ and ‘neighbors’ is spelt ‘neighbours’. I hear people speak all the time and it amazes me. I have learned to understand that black people speak different from white people and Dominicans speak different from Puerto Ricans. In Jamaica everyone is Jamaican .I have never seen such culture differences even if people or I should say students go to the same school they speak different. And people who are from New York criticize the way people in the south speak. I have listened to Caucasians speaking all the time saying ‘yous’ and ‘sawr’ that is ‘saw’ with a r and also ‘idear’ idea with a r. No one seems to have a problem with that but as soon as African Americans say something that doesn’t fit or that they think is not SE there is a big problem. I didn’t know that’s how African Americans speak so a lot of times I misunderstand what they are saying when they use ‘be’ in their sentences. I thought it was a slang but now I know differently.
While reading chapter 4 of Kottack’s Language and Communication it was interesting to see the differences in speech by people from different areas of the world as well as different areas of the country observing the different dialects that we use. I personally found it most interesting to see how the apes Lucy and Washoe were taught sign language and were able to do it with such intelligence and how they were able to use productivity and share what they learned to their offspring by using cultural transmission. It was mind boggling to see that an animal had similar capabilities as humans.
Watching the video of enculturation of the one year old by using sign language was remarkable, I couldn’t believe a one-year old was able to learn all that sign language. It was so cute but at the same time while I was observing the child I noticed that not all the signs that the child made were as accurate as the mother made it seem. I know that a one-year old has a limited ability to perform with his/her fingers, so therefore I give credit to the mother for being able to teach so much to her baby. I also came to figure that not all babies have the capability to perform at the level as the baby we saw therefore we cant form a judgment by observing one child, we would need to experiment it on a group of children.
~Nuzzy~
4:10
XZ24C
@ Nuzzy: I agree with you when saying first that the baby is so cute and second that it is the mother’s ability that the baby learned those signs. I wanted to add something though: for an ordinary baby this would be the same as the game “peekaboo” which for them is related to the act of covering and uncovering the eyes or the hand moving when saying ‘bye bye’. Therefore it is not about the baby’s capacity to perform with fingers, it is about his mental capability to make a connection between the sign and the concept it represents. I do not think there is a need for a further observation to it.
On the other hand, after reading chapter four and watching the videos posted I came up to the conclusion that language is a large system of different elements as words, sounds, signs or symbols. They all serve as mean of communication among existing beings. The Animals’ way of communicating is a language or the baby’s signs which he learned even before speaking, is a language. Therefore as long as the action, sound or figure, represents something it is language. From the figure posted we realize that the process of communicating through language has two parts: codifying and de-codifying. On the video “the leech and the earthworm” we realized that music, color, figure, written or spoken words all were de-codified in our minds same way for the each of us. They were different kinds of language.
First I wanted to say how interesting “The Leech and the Earthworm” video was; I felt like it was somewhat hypnotizing with all the different kinds of language it was using- the native tongue of the people, the colors, the sounds and the music. I especially found the voices enticing; there was something about the way that the video was organized that explained colonization of African Americans in a unique way. There was a lot of meaning in just that 2 minute introduction of the video. I even showed it to a friend of mine outside of class because of how much I liked it and I can honestly say that she too really enjoyed it. I realized that I liked it a lot more than having to just read about it because it explains the story by using language in different ways.
The baby is very adorable and I think it is great how the mother was able to teach her one year old signs and words. I guess it depends for a child when they start speaking and how much they speak. I assume it also depends on how much time parents, siblings and other guardians have to teach the child language. I know that some kids don’t start talking until much later. But this baby knew what she wanted, like when she asked for water. She not only showed a sign, but also said the word. She is able to make connections as she is learning language.
Ebonics is a perfect example of cultural relativism. A group of people, in this case African Americans, developed their own cultural language. For someone to say its incorrect for an African American, or anyone for that matter, to use ebonics is saying that thier culture is is better. Standard American English may be the widely accepted standard for English in some parts of the country, however, some areas use Ebonics. In my neighborhood in the South Bronx we use Ebonics; if I were to greet a friend with a "Good day. How are you," they would look at me as if I were crazy. If I were to say to the same person "Whats good," the conversation would be far more smooth. It is no more right to say Ebonics is improper English then it is to say Broken English (used in formerly colonized British colonies) is improper English.
Ebonics has evolved to include not only African Americans, but many minorities. It's even evolved to different areas. I know from staying in California for several months, East Coast Ebonics and West Coast Ebonics are two completely different dialects of English. What is proper Ebonics in New York is not proper Ebonnics in Los Angeles. Proper English is matter of perspective.
I think there is no disagreement regarding the importance and benefits of the ability to speak good Standard English. I am a international student, and my experience in learning English as a second language tells me that fluent English will take me to higher places. Even better is to be able to speak without a foreign accent, since Standard English is the mainstream way a communication here. I think it is a reasonable approach for the School Board to propose a policy that incorporates Ebonics into the classroom if it would help students learn better and maximize their success. Ebonics should be viewed as another language on an equal level. It should be treated with respect just like any other language.
-JouMan Huang
The way that BEV is used, is very similar to the way that it is used in many other languages. For example, I speak three languages (English, Spanish and Italian) and sometimes I tend to joke with my family and friends and say that I speak six languages—English, broken English, Spanish, broken Spanish, etc. I am able to switch the “type” of language I speak, depending on the situation I am in, and the people that are surrounding me. What I find though, is that those from the emic point of view have a greater standing, since they can understand the version that they speak, and the version that the “outsiders” speak. In contrast, those from the etic point of view find it more difficult to understand the other “version” of the language.
I also find that people find one version more comfortable than the other. For example, around the professional setting, you tend to freeze up and maintain your poise, while trying to make sure that the language you use is “correct.” During the home setting, you relax and adapt the “broken” version. Is this because the “broken” version reminds you of family and memories, and the ability to joke in a relaxed atmosphere? Could it be then, that one version of a language is associated with negativity, and is thus less preferred? Even though the “broken” version is said to be the “uneducated” version, it is the one used at home.
@iraturdiu1
After reading your comment underneath my post, I came to realize that you are absolutely right and it is almost as if the baby is playing peek a boo. It is facinating to see that the baby has the capacity to perform the way he did but again I believe that it isnt as clear as the mother makes it seem. But I believe that there should be further studies about this because I personally would like to in the near future be able to communicate with my baby :)
chapter 4 in kottack seemed very interesting to me. its interesting to learn how people from different cultures all have a different wy of pronouncing words. it may seem hard for another to actually understand while speaking to someone of a different culture and accent, however if that same person speaks to lets say his family they have no trouble understanding them eventhough the pronounciation of the words are incorrect.
it was interesting to know that monkeys and ape actually speak sign language and it is possible for one to understand. I loved the video with the baby speaking in sign language. i believe young age is the best age to learn multiple languages and forms. for many it maybe be natural and they think there way f speaking is the best just like one may may have trouble understanding someone with a acent they can also have trouble understanding you. i dont think there a right way for speaking because growing up in different place through out the world its impossible fr every one to speak the same way.
After I read the chapter, I found a different prospective from the way I used to see language. Before I read this chapter, I just thought that language is the way people use symbols for communicating and representing things. In fact, as Noam Chomsky said that the human’s languages have a common structural basis. This is the reason why human have the ability to study more than one language and do the translation. This is a very interesting point to me. For example, in comparing, Chinese’s structure of organizing a sentence is as much as the same as English. When we say “I want to leave”, Chinese has the exactly the same structure as English. The only difference here is we use another symbol to represent it.
In addition, about the video, it is really interesting. This is my first time seeing a baby who is using sign language to communicate. I was so surprise about how her mother did that. This also reminds me about the chapter that is telling how apes are learning the sign language from human being. I think these are showing human’s ability to accept different symbols (language) to represent different things. Language helps us to understand and explain the objects. We can use both sign language and verbal language in a way we like. From the movie, I found that human being’s first tool to communicate may be the sign language. Because the baby even doesn’t know how to say the word but she knows how to use gesture to represent the object. That is really interesting.
Language is something so precious and unique to us human beings that sometimes we take it for granted. On the regular basis, we don’t even take a minute to analyze this incredible talent that God has given us. We utilize it and don’t even think about how the people that are not able to speak feel. One thing that I strongly believe is that although the mutes and the speakers may encounter similar events, their experiences differ as if it was that they lived in different worlds. This may be due to the fact that since they are missing this incredible privilege, their way of seeing and interpreting the world is unique to them.
As I was watching the video, I was so amazed at how the baby in the video was able to understand and use sign language. I think the mother has really done a great job at teaching her baby all the different signs that represent the things she mentioned. The video made me think of how incredible language can be and at the same time how unfortunate it is for those that are not capable of speaking.
Caroline Camilo
The video of the one year old was so adorable. I find it so intriguing to see how humans learn new things, for example how to communicate. Just by looking at how the mother interacts with her son and her he responds you can tell it took much practice and learning. Learning how to communicate is not an easy task; just like learning how to drive it takes practice.
Chapter four talks a lot about languages and how people are generalized from the way they speak to the language they speak and also to their physical emotions. While watching the video of the baby, it reminded me of the reading in the beginning of chapter four, when it mentions how the monkeys and apes were taught how to communicate by sign language and how they easily learned it.
Communicating is an important thing because it is one of the ways to express how you feel about certain stuff. It is also important because it can help you tell others if you’re hungry or sad or you want something just like the baby was telling his mother he wanted water.
Caroline Camilo
The video of the one year old was so adorable. I find it so intriguing to see how humans learn new things, for example how to communicate. Just by looking at how the mother interacts with her son and her he responds you can tell it took much practice and learning. Learning how to communicate is not an easy task; just like learning how to drive it takes practice.
Chapter four talks a lot about languages and how people are generalized from the way they speak to the language they speak and also to their physical emotions. While watching the video of the baby, it reminded me of the reading in the beginning of chapter four, when it mentions how the monkeys and apes were taught how to communicate by sign language and how they easily learned it.
Communicating is an important thing because it is one of the ways to express how you feel about certain stuff. It is also important because it can help you tell others if you’re hungry or sad or you want something just like the baby was telling his mother he wanted water.
Jeffrey Lam
ANT1001 TV24A
This chapter on language really makes you think about if anything really means something. The communication diagram makes you think about someone who may not be able “decode” the word tree. The word would become useless and meaningless to someone who cannot decode it. Edlin’s earlier comment about broken English reminds me of how English is spoken in my home. My parents know some English, but they may pronounce the words wrong but in their mind the pronunciation is correct. When they say the word like, the e is not silent to them so the e is actually pronounced. If I were to say like without the e, they would not understand me. This is also can be the case of why many people who follow SE can be quite confused when it comes to BEV. This may be the reason why they think certain words are used wrong leading them to be wrong or bad sentences which can also lead people to frown upon this type of speaking. As Kottak mentioned on the bottom of page 74, SE is not superior to BEV but SE is the dialect which is preferred. Nuzzy said in an earlier comment that all the signs made by the baby were not accurate, but it is still amazing how a 1 year is able to learn all of that sign language and even mouth some of the words.
As far I read chapter 4, I was fascinated to see how language has a primordial role in our life. Language is the essence of our culture. It allows us to understand each other. The chapter has come out with a lot of key terms and interesting words. The concept of Black English Vernacular shows us how the combination of African and American cultures gave birth to a special type of English with is own rules. We also learned for example that we can classify language based on gender speech contrast. The way men use language is really different of the one adopted by o a women.
Let talk about the baby! She is really pretty and seems really excited to know all those words. It is amazing to see that despite the fact that she is still a baby she is able to describe what people mean by “baby”, “sleep” or even “finish”. I think that learn a language does not necessarily need a long period of time or certain age. It most depends on how your body and mind are receptive to a new thing. Some people have been living for 10 years in the U.S but cannot express themselves without any mistakes. so, language is a really complex thing and change with our culture too!
I loved the video with the baby. She is adorable. Its simply amazing to see how a baby can learn a language so young. I agree that the best way to learn a different language is when you’re younger. In fact, to me the more languages you speak the more of a well- rounded person you are because you know how to communicate with people outside of your society. By learning a different language you can learn the cultures of other people.
In my opinion Chapter 4 is very interesting. I never thought that language could be so confusing and that people build so many misconceptions on language. Language can be a form of discrimination. For example with BEV, people that do not know the correct forms of using BEV, so they assume and classify it as incorrect.
I agree with Jeffrey about how our parents pronounce a word and think it’s correct in their minds but we understand them because we know what they’re trying to say. They mispronounce it but not on purpose but because they learned how to speak a different language first and every language has its own set of rules, so possible they confuse the pronunciation with the pronunciation of there native language. It’s disappointing to see how when people mispronounce something others make them feel like idiots. Sometimes I think that’s why it takes an adult more time to learn a new language because they’re afraid of making a mistake or looking “stupid” in front of others. Unlike the baby in the video, the baby is unaware of what others think so she just says what she thinks it right and learns the language easily. Though language is a complex thing, without it we would not be able to communicate.
Claumery C.
Especially in America, Ebonics is considered to be a language that's improper and only used by those who are not educated. But I personally don't agree. Ebonics is a different type of language just like any other type but some people especially "white" Americans don't recognize it as one because it was developed by African Americans and to some people what ever come form them is not "correct" or its not proper.
In the enculturation video of the 1 year old baby speaking with sign language, was very surprising for me but not in a “wow” type of factor. I knew that children were able to learn things like that at a very young age. The minds of children are like sponges they absorb everything that you give them. The learning process of children to me should begin as early as they can start crawling because there is so much that they are able to learn.
Xiang Wang
4:10 PM class
section:xz24c
As in every culture there are variances in the spoken language. The best examples are Asian countries. China is one of the largest countries of the world but there is so much culture difference among Chinese themselves. There are more than 64 different spoken language commonly used in different part of china.
I consider the Ebonics as a variance of English without being worse than the Standard English. One could see some grammatical variance between the two languages but it doesn’t mean that it is a mistake. An Ebonics speaker might believe that his way of speaking is actually the right way. I believe that a variance to a language add some attracts to the language itself.
People who actually criticize the language don’t even understand the language and its beauty. Because of actual boom in pop culture the Ebonics s language is being project to be the main stream American culture. Now a day people who live in cities have some part of the Ebonics language in them without even realizing it. Some time the Ebonics might even be easier than the standard language to transmit information because we are all kind of into the pop culture.
That is very interesting video. I could see how to young baby learn language. They connected language with signs. It is a human nature. Scientist said, it is better to start learn new language at young ages. The brain part is also different which controlled languages and talking between young age and old age person. Young age person’s brain easily connect situation with language and say immediately, and they remembered difference vocabularies in same part of brain. However this mechanism is weaker and weaker when we get ages.
I consider that Ebonics is important for linguistic diversity and origin. For example, Black English vernacular (BEV) shows African American immigration history. BEV refers African heritage and the conditions of servitude, oppression, and life in American. BEV linguistic background influenced how early African Americans learned English. In addition this languages grammatical difference shows diversity expression ways which Standard English can’t express. There is another example in Korea. Although Korea is small country, there are dialects each part. Some dialect shows word’s origin and some dialect has special expression ways which Standard Korean can’t expression such as, long sentences or words make short or suggest to one word or short sentences. Thus, we can learn linguistic diversity and study history from Ebonics and dialects. However, it is not good to use or abuse Ebonics or dialects publically because every person can’t understand special words. We shouldn’t look down the dialects and estimate it as laugh things. We should recognize linguistic diversity impotence.
After reading the article on BEV and reading the posts before mine, I realized that many people may view BEV as a separate language from Standard English, which is not the class in my opinion. I speak a couple different languages, Spanish and Arabic among them and I've come to see that there are different ways to speak any one language. Native Spanish speakers from say Colombia speak entirely differently from someone who learned Spanish from Puerto Rico. I had a boyfriend who was born in Puerto Rico and sometimes when he would speak Spanish it was very difficult for me to understand despite the fact that I've been speaking Spanish since I was very young. Does that mean that we're speaking two different languages?
I believe that it's the same with BEV. Essentially we are all speaking the same language, just worded or spoken a little differently. That's why I think it's insulting to see that many people regard BEV speakers to be uneducated, when in fact it was just the way they were taught or the way they interpret the English language.
I remember in class you asked what anthropology tries to distinguish - I answered that it's purpose was to distinguish true reality from false reality. There's alot in between the lines of words that goes unheard. Ebonics really isn't any joke because it is a form of communication just like any other. In 1,000 years the English language may seem like a joke, with rapid growing technology from the 21st century I wouldn't be suprised what would happen in the future.
I think that ebonics is a separate language. Yes, it deriviates from Standard English, but it became cultural wealth for African Americans, and even not only for them. A lot of rap music that people all over the world listen to is written in Ebonics.
Enlish is not my native language. Sometimes, I cold not understand certain words, but I always can distinguish American English from British English or Ebonics. One day, I picked up family from England and gave them a ride. During the conversation I asked them: "What city in England did you, guys, come from?" They replied: "How did you guess that we are from England?". My ironic answer shocked them: "By your accent". They did not give me tips...
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