Ebonics, otherwise known as 'British Black English' or 'African American Vernacular English' is a deviation of the standard English dialect and has come to be considered a language of its own rather than just a dialect.
Ebonics is commonly considered to have originated in England following the integration of the Windrush generation: workers arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean allies of Britain, brought over to aid UK labor shortages. Having to adjust to the English language so quickly, led the Windrush communities to develop their own usage of the english language and therefore Britsh Black English was born.
Where can we see ebonics used today?
In western media, ebonics has been commonplace in almost every form of Black derived creation for many years, for example music genres like Hip Hop, Jazz, R&B or Rap often used the smoother flowing tonality of ebonics to creating smoother sounding or more easily rhyming songs. Ebonics has also been ever present in film and television to represent black or migrant communities and as newer generations have been brought up consuming this media we have been able to observe the adoption of many ebonic originating techniques on a much wider scale. Suddenly we now have almost an entire generation using some form of typically 'black vernacular'.
Surely, integrating ebonics and typically 'black vernacular' as commonplace in the English language and making it accessible for other communities to use is a necessary part of equality and inclusion.
Where I won't argue that the normalisation of Ebonics inevitable, what I will say is that it is a matter of too little far too late. The problem stems from the idea that for generations, the black population of many countries has had to alter almost every facet of their appearance and demeanor to meet the standards we have set for them. Disregarding their own culture just to live comfortably and peacefully in ours, including altering the way they speak so as not to sound 'unprofessional', 'stupid' or 'lower class' (the media being a major driving force of this agenda). This has lead to not only a polarisation between ethnic communities that chose to adjust to cultural norms and those who chose instead to stand by their own culture but also a feeling of loss and guilt by many raised in adjusted households as if they have abandoned their own community when in reality they had just been offered no other choice.
(http://noshoesnosocks.blogspot.com/2010/08/hooked-on-ebonicsdoesnt-work-for-me.html for a more first hand experience on the polarisation)
So, to see that a trait of yourself and your community that for so long has been demonised and shunned has now been purposefully adopted by companies for marketing strategies, governments for relatability, media for the creation of characters rooted in stereotypes or individuals utilising it for either their own gain or simply to leech off the back of certain trends is not only emotionally taxing and hurtful but also exploitative in nature. This is exactly why we are seeing the backlash from some parts of the black community. Although many people now consider Ebonics a part of standard English there are still many groups that continue to look down on its use only to exploit it for their own success.
Ultimately there is a silver lining, the new generation using traits of ebonics uses it naturally and in fact tends to recognise the prejudice and stigma it has previously held. With this in mind, there is hope that moving forward we can expect to see the use of ebonics integrated more naturally into media.
(Please feel free to add anything I may have missed or correct me in places I may be wrong, thank you.)
I'd like to talk about how you would envisage society integrating ebonics 'more naturally' as you put it.
ReplyDeleteAnd how exactly does it seem forceful and mechanical at the moment by e.g. government?
Maybe some questions for another blog? Up to you.