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REPLY TO THREAD
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Subject
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Serious question about African-American English language use:
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Original Message
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I am going to remove any racist or unintelligent comments.
I am curious though, and I have asked multiple African-Americans this same question:
Why do so many African-Americans use improper English so often?
For example, "I be at my cousin house" has two common misuses, which is heard often- "I be" should be "I am" and also the lack of the possessive at the end of "cousin" should be "cousin's."
In fact the dropping of the "s" is quite common, I feel, at least in the African-American English I hear in the northeast United States. "She is crazy" is often stated as "She crazy."
Is this because popular hip-hop music encourages this type of improper English? Do the Black Americans (and some white and Hispanic Americans speak this way also) even know they are speaking poorly?
This is my ultimate question on this subject:
Does the speaker speak this improper English because he believes it to be proper language? That is, he does not know it is incorrect, because this is the manner of speech he has heard his entire life and has learned the language this way?
or,
Does the speaker know that it is not "proper" English, but speaks this way in order to have a "Ghetto Edge" or perhaps out of spite/hatred toward whites, who are perceived to be wealthy, educated, and snobbish?
This is a serious question, worth serious debate.
I am certain there are individuals who fall into both categories. However, if the first instance is true, then it actually is not improper English, but rather, has become a dialect of English.
My belief is that the first scenario has begun to develop as a result of widespread instances mentioned in the second scenario.
One thing is for certain: This subject is not being addressed by high profile African-Americans. I absolutely believe if Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would decry the terrible state of education in America, especially with regard to poor, disaffected African -Americans and especially the youth.
I am not racist, but it is worth noting that a knee-jerk reaction to posing this question and framing it in an intelligent manner focusing on linguistics and sociology, is to vilify the questioner as racist.
Indeed, the most racist are those who appear to be benevolent anti-racists, such as the politicians who ensure the poorest of Americans remain dependent upon government assistance, with a severely limited education, little to no opportunity or incentive for upward mobility, engrossed in violence and glorification of ghetto-glamour, gang membership, drug use and drug trade, promiscuity, single mothers, and lack of responsibility.
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