In James Baldwin’s essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?” he elaborates on defining language and how key things like culture, history, and circumstances, all play parts in forming what language is. Language evolves over time in order for us to be able to communicate with one another. Differences in language come from where a person is from, who they may be, and their own experiences. Baldwin explains that when Blacks were brought to America they all were from different tribes and therefore spoke different languages. They were forced to find ways to communicate and under these conditions described as “by means of brutal necessity” (Baldwin line 66). Baldwin’s tone seemingly progresses into anger as he further …show more content…
He talks on the reasons why White American English wasn’t spoken by Blacks due to “the bulk of white people in America never had any interest in educating black people.” (Baldwin lines 85-86). Blacks were never given a choice on whether or not to adopt White American English. They were ultimately forced to learn and adapt on their own because to be taught by white wasn’t a trustworthy option. “A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience” (Baldwin lines 89-90). Baldwin explains his perspective on how whites never attempted to understand Black English. White people wouldn’t want to relate to Blacks, if a White man understands the language that means he relates and that the language resonates with him. Yet it is offensive to claim that Black English isn’t a language. It is a way of communication, it’s tied to culture, it has rules, and it’s risen from harsh circumstances. White America as adapted itself around Black English proving it to be a …show more content…
F or example what was taught to me growing up, the cultural influence of my surroundings, and molding how I identify myself today. I grew up learning how important it was to be presentable and being presentable included the way I dress, the way I carry myself, and most importantly the way I speak. Also throughout my life proper English or speaking properly was a stressed concept. “Aint” wasn’t ever a real word, and anytime I said anything incorrect I was corrected. It was never taught to me that it was a supposedly White or Black concept, it was just correct. Before reading Baldwin’s essay Black English to me was slang and improper words because that’s how media publically portrays majority of Blacks communicating. Being under the impression that the majority of Black people spoke improper English, and given where I was from I used to always hear the comment that I spoke White or too proper. But my environment and peers began to have a stronger influence on the way I talked, I began to pick up different slang and talk in a way that was considered to be normal because I am Black. All this happened despite my family’s corrections and despite having English classes every year in high school. Now I feel that despite the good intention of their corrections, my family and school perpetuated a false idea. The idea that white American English is the only “right” language and correct use
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? By James Baldwin explains to the reader what black English is and where black English comes from. Baldwin writes about how humans use language as a means of controlling the world around them. Baldwin explains that people may speak the same language in one area of the world, but then people who speak the same language elsewhere are no longer speaking the same language. Baldwin using French as an exampling, Baldwin compares french-speaking people from Quebec to people who live in Paris.
On the other hand, when individuals use language to unify meaning, which refers to the spontaneous act of meeting a common ground or understanding between two parties of different cultures, they tend to be aware of stereotypes but do not necessarily believe them. In this essay, I will critically analyze Allison Joseph’s poem " On Being Told I Don't Speak Like a Black Person", which illustrates her and her mother’s personal experiences with language as a Jamaican emigrant family living in the United States, to support the claim that language is the avenue to unifying meaning, which advances culture interaction, if stereotypes are inactive or disregarded. Allison Joseph’s “On Being Told I Don't Speak Like a Black Person" mainly illustrates the effects that stereotypes have on language and first impressions. One of the first issues of the poem that Joseph addresses, is the difference in reason between Jamaicans and Americans to learn each other’s language.
Baldwin is correct in his assumption due to the ability of language somehow becoming the way we define others. Language is used for the purpose of many things, such as a way to express power. Baldwin writes in his essay that “language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power”, and this we know is true due to the fact that we still learn about influential speeches that have changed our country. Speeches that we learn about in school include Martin Luther King Jr.
Language is used to convey a message as well as connect people to a particular culture or ethnicity he or she identifies with. People who share the same language share a bond and pass their history through language. In chapter one of The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom Joanne Kilgour Dowdy speak about growing up in Trinidad and her mother insisting on her speaking in the colonizer's language rather than her native Trinidadian language. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy felt as if her identity was being pushed to the side when she was forced to speak “Colonized English” when she was at school or around the social elite of her community, and felt ridiculed from her peers for speaking proper as if she was white or of the elite social class. Dowdy major concern was how to have the freedom to go back and forth from home, language to the public language without feeling judged from both sides of her
Language can either separate someone from this larger identity or connect him or her to it. This essay shows that black people in America have been systematically and institutionally marginalized by white society that their creation of separate and distinct language was a necessity, and this essay brings to light the struggles my community ---------- the black community --------- had faced in an effort to break through stereotypes and erroneous assumptions .I personally enjoyed how Baldwin incorporated historical examples into his essay, such as the Irish and the Germans, because it showed me that African Americans were not the only ones who felt marginalized by the way they use
In James Baldwin’s essay, “A Talk to Teachers”, he addresses the teachers around the world. He argues that the purpose of education is to equip students with the ability to look at the world for themselves. Clearly, Baldwin’s most significant rhetorical move to persuade the reader is his use of ethos, pathos, and repetition. Throughout Baldwin’s essay, he encourages changes in education for blacks, but he does so using ethos and pathos.
Baldwin’s solution for black people is for them to create their own identity and take a stab at achievement regardless of the social requirements or constraints set before them. For, “You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger". I was fascinated by the comparison of “Letter to My Son” by Ta-Nahisi Coates to that of Baldwin’s. Although they both bring forward the same topics and issues faced by the black community, however they both do not view the problem in the same way, as far as proposing a solution is concerned. For example, Baldwin proposed a solution in which he urges the black community through his nephew to recognize the shameful acts of injustice in America, and express acceptance with love towards the whites even though they may not do the same in
Baldwin stated that “Language is determined by the person that is speaking it.” The audience is anyone that doesn’t consider “Black English” a language, people that don’t use
It was once believed that the languages that the Africans spoke varied drastically from region to region but in reality they were “local variations of a deeper-lying structural similarity” (Herkovits 79). This similarity allowed communicating in the New World to be easier than if the languages were all completely linguistically independent, “whether Negro speech employs English or French or Spanish or Portuguese vocabulary, the identical constructions found over all the New World can only be regarded as a reflection of the underlying similarities in grammar and idiom, which, in turn, are common to the West African Sudanese tongues” (80). Language then became an important part of African American culture, whether it be a “secret” language used to help slaves escape, or to tell stories and folklore to children to encourage and motivate them, or express African proverbs from generation to generation. There has been many times when other races seem not to understand what African Americans are saying because of the slang terms we create that then become popular terms, most recently has been the phrases “on fleek” and “twerking”, to name a few examples. Being proficient in verbal arts was prized in Africa and now a value has been placed on verbal expression in today’s culture through riddles and through preaching and teaching (Williams
In discussing Black English, John McWhorter talks about the theories of the origin of the language. McWhorter talks about how people have made claims that Black English is related and comes from African languages. He also tells how their research on this subject is unreliable and “sketchy.” These people making these claims are outside of linguistics, meaning they practice things such as education and speech pathology. People like Dr. Smith, a teacher at a medical college, suggested that Black English is a mixture of African languages with English, where these African languages have altered English into a new language.
In the essay “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin, he expresses feelings of hate and despair towards his father. His father died when James was 19 years old from tuberculosis; it just so happens that his funeral was on the day of the Harlem Riot of 1943. Baldwin explains that his father isn’t fond of white people due to the racist past. He recalls a time when a white teacher brought him to a theater and that caused nothing but upset with his father, even though it was a kind act. Many events happened to Baldwin as a result of segregation, including a time where a waitress refused to serve him due to his skin color and Baldwin threw a pitcher of water at her.
Baldwin uses an advanced vocabulary throughout the essay, but only uses slang terms when referring to African Americans. By using phrases like “But if I was a "nigger" in your eyes”, he shows the audience what the words culturally imply such as stupidity and ignorance. Since this is
In A Letter to My Nephew, James Baldwin, the now deceased critically acclaimed writer, pens a message to his nephew, also named James. This letter is meant to serve as a caution to him of the harsh realities of being black in the United States. With Baldwin 's rare usage of his nephew 's name in the writing, the letter does not only serve as a letter to his relative, but as a message to black youth that is still needed today. Baldwin wrote this letter at a time where his nephew was going through adolescence, a period where one leaves childhood and inches closer and closer to becoming an adult.
In today’s society African Americans are treated with inadequate instruction in the classroom. This can be due to school systems not acknowledging the first language of African Americans in the classroom. This language can be referred to as African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), Black Vernacular, Black Vernacular English (BVE), or as I will refer to this language for the majority of my research: Ebonics. I will be discussing the effects of Ebonics on African Americans; and with three key questions I will address the issue, and discuss solutions which will allow African Americans to receive the most beneficial form of education. Therefore, the fundamental questions are: Are African Americans English language learners (ELLs), and should
“If Black English Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me What Is” In the essay “If Black Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me What Is” (The New York Times, 1979) written by James Baldwin, the author asserts that the African American community has altered the English language into a new language during the last five centuries to accommodate the black experience in American history despite the white’s attempt to submerge it. To begin the essay he makes his argument clear by referencing the alterations the French made to their native language to describe how people will eventually “...evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances…”; furthermore he continues to analyze how the caucasian people of America have only accepted the black language when it came out of a white mouth; he ends the essay by reinforcing his position, elaborating on the racism black’s have faced when they were denied the right to an education unless it was for the white benefit. His liberal purpose is to bring light to the subtle racism that African Americans experience even after the Civil Rights movement and to acknowledge the cultural influence they have in America. His writing appears very personal and intimate like he’s voluntarily opening up to his audience by letting them know of his own struggles as an African American, targeting mostly minorities and people who feel oppressed by white America.