What makes us speak the way we do?
Over the course of my life I've been told on many different occasions that I "talk white," meaning that I don't speak in "ebonics." I've been told this both from people (mostly white) who meant to compliment me and people (mostly white) who were completely bewildered, almost to the point of being offended. On the surface, I can understand this kind of remark; it's a fast and easy way of saying that I articulate my words and lack the "accent" that seems to pervade "black" culture.
My problem is this: who decides what's white or black? Does being black automatically mean that I have to speak, dress, or act a certain way? Or listen to a particular style of music? NO.
Or does being white automatically guarantee mastery of the English language? NO.
Tonight I happened to be in the midst of people who believe that "slang", "ebonic", or "ghetto" speech denotes a lack of intelligence in the speaker. And that the reason that I did not speak in that manner is due to the fact that I am an "intelligent black man."
Whoa.
That reasoning implies (albeit indirectly) that any person, black or not, who speaks that way is unintelligent. Perhaps it was simply a poor choice of words on the person's part; I might have said "uneducated" or something along those lines, because even I can admit that sometimes excessive use of slang and an excess of mispronounced words makes the speaker sound uneducated.
But in order to be able to properly speak about anything, you have to first understand what it is you're talking about, and this person obviously didn't.
If I were to guess at the origin of "ebonics," I would say that it may have originated with African slaves in this country, who learned English from their white counterparts, mostly in southern states. From there it'd be easy to assume that through the years, as descendants of slaves settled in different areas of the country, and passed their speech patterns on to their children (as with any other language/speech pattern), patterns which eventually turned into today's "ebonics." For years, many--but certainly not all--of these families did not have access to the quality of education that may have taught them improved English skills. Add all that together, and it seems to me like a perfect recipe for the foundation of today's "ebonics."
And I suppose you could connect the difference in speech between two people to their respective levels of education. Personally, my mother's parents instilled in her the value of a good education, lessons which my mother passed on to both of her children. I was fortunate enough to have access to very good schools all of my life. For many others that is not the case.
Another influence on language is environment. English was my mother's second language, and the perfectionist in her drove her to learn it perfectly. Because of this, the "King's English" was exclusively spoken at my house, and our mistakes in grammar were always swiftly corrected. But there are others who have spoken a certain way all their lives. You can't discredit them for being who they've always been, can you? Or perhaps people speak and act in certain ways to fit in with those around them. Often different regions seem to almost have their own dialects of American English.
I'm sure my reasoning above may be flawed; it's really more of an off-the-cuff hypothesis. But whatever the reasons, there are a few things some of us need to realize:
1) speaking in slang or "hip-hop" terminology most certainly does not denote un-intelligence. There are plenty of educated African-Americans who speak in ways that might be described as "ghetto," and these are people who handle themselves with grace and sophistication. On a daily basis. A perfect example--Mo'Nique, especially on her show, Charm School.
2) People should not be defined by other people's cultural expectations of them. Being a young black man does not automatically mean that I wear baggy clothing, commit crimes, or speak a certain way, and no part of my personality is or ever will be predicated on somebody else's idea of what or who I should be. I'm not going to start behaving a certain way because that's what other black/white/whatever guys are doing. I'm going to define myself.
3) Please, look in the mirror before you point the finger. It's common knowledge that Americans--in every color we come in-- have butchered English over the years. It's very interesting to me, for example, that the people who seem to be the most outspoken in both forcing immigrants to learn English and criticizing minorites for the use of slang, are often the very same people who have the most trouble spelling common words, and in fact often misuse everyday English words on a regular basis. I don't know how many thousands of times I have a heard a white, "educated" person say "heighth" when the correct word is , in fact, HEIGHT. If I really wanted to, I could amass dozens of examples in which the English language is misused, no matter what the race of the speaker.
Haha, I'm not exactly sure how to end this one, but I'll say this: be yourself, not who someone else says you should be, but your own true self.
Listen: "Say It Right" - Nelly Furtado
