Tapping Potential: English and Language Arts for the Black Learner

ISBN: 9780814150108

定价: 54.00

内容简介

Black English Dialect
and the Classroom Teacher
Clara Franklin Alexander
Medgar Evers College??? Brooklyn??? New York
This article offers some practical suggestions for the classroom teac
teaching students who speak a black dialect. In order that the re~
know the context in which these classroom activities are propose
general discussion of black American dialect will precede them.
What is dialect7 Johnson (1977) maintains it is \"a variety of a I;
ticular language that differs from other varieties in terms of its h
con??? intonation??? patterns??? stress??? grammar??? and phonology.\"
All English-speaking persons speak some dialect of the langua
Indeed??? Smitherman (1977) contends that \"pure\" English is an \".
stract.\" Some dialects??? how ever??? command more respect than othe
For example??? many Americans are favorably impressed by a pers
who speaks the British dialect of the educated and \"upper\" class
while many Americans feel just the opposite about a person w
speaks a black dialect.
History of Black Dialect
How did black English evolve? Simply??? it evolved the same way th
other dialects of English did--as a result of the culture??? the envir0J
ment??? the needs of the group??? and contact with other languages. Tk
historical account below summarizes viewpoints of many linguist
though some points are subject to debate.
In the seventeenth century??? the Portuguese??? French??? and Dutc
roved the coasts of Africa. As a result??? black Portuguese??? French??? an
Dutch dialects were spoken by Africans who were in contact wit]
these Europeans. Black English began in the same way. The ancestor:
of most of the black people in the Western hemisphere came from thl
west coast of Africa??? where there were hundreds of languages ~???itt
similar phonology and syntax. As the tendency in second languag~