Below is a resolution formulated by the executive committee of the
Linguistic Society of America, our nation's main professional
organization for language scientists. It was amended and voted on by a
subset of the membership at our annual meeting last weekend in Chicago.
I encourage you to disseminate this message and include it as a source in
discussions of the issue.
 
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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
English Department, California Polytechnic State University   ~
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407                                     ~
Tel. (805)-756-2184  E-mail: [log in to unmask]      ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 08:55:07 -0500
From: LSA <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Ebonics resolution
 
LSA RESOLUTION  ON THE OAKLAND
 " EBONICS" ISSUE
 
Whereas there has been a great deal of discussion in the media and among
the American public about the l8 December l996 decision of the Oakland
School Board to recognize the language variety  spoken by many African
American students and to take it into account in teaching Standard English,
the Linguistic Society of America, as a society of scholars engaged in the
scientific study of language, hereby  resolves to make it known that:
 
a. The variety known as "Ebonics," "African American Vernacular English"
(AAVE), and "Vernacular Black English" and by other names is systematic and
rule-governed like all natural speech varieties. In fact, all human
linguistic systems--spoken, signed, and written -- are fundamentally
regular. The systematic and expressive nature of the grammar and
pronunciation patterns of the African American vernacular has been
established by numerous scientific studies over the past thirty years.
Characterizations of Ebonics as "slang," "mutant," " lazy," "defective,"
"ungrammatical," or "broken English" are incorrect and demeaning.
 
b. The distinction between "languages" and "dialects" is usually made more
on social and political grounds than on purely linguistic ones. For
example, different varieties of Chinese are popularly regarded as
"dialects," though their speakers cannot understand each other, but
speakers of Swedish and Norwegian, which are regarded as separate
"languages," generally understand each other.  What is important from a
linguistic and educational point of view is not whether  AAVE is called a
"language" or a "dialect" but  rather that its systematicity be recognized.
 
c. As affirmed in the LSA Statement of Language Rights (June l996), there
are individual and group benefits to maintaining vernacular speech
varieties and  there are scientific and human advantages to linguistic
diversity. For those living in the United States there are also benefits in
acquiring Standard English and resources should be made available to all
who aspire to mastery of Standard English. The Oakland School Board's
commitment to helping students master Standard English is commendable.
 
d. There is evidence from Sweden, the US, and other countries that speakers
of other varieties can be aided in their learning of the standard variety
by pedagogical approaches which recognize the legitimacy of the other
varieties  of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School Board's
decision to recognize the vernacular of African American students in
teaching them Standard English is linguistically and pedagogically sound.
 
Chicago, Illinois
January l997
 
 
Selected references (books only)
Baratz, Joan C., and Roger W. Shuy, eds.  1969.  Teaching Black Children to
read.  Washington, DC:  Center or Applied Linguistics.
Baugh, John. 1983.  Black street speech:  Its history, structure and
survival.  Austin:  University of Texas Press.
Bloome, David, and J. Lemke, eds. 1995.  Special Issue:  Africanized
English and Education. Linguistics and Educaton 7.
Burling, Robbins.  1973.  English in black and white.  New York:  Holt.
Butters, Ron. 1989.  The death of Black English:  Convergence and
divergence in American English.  Frankfurt:  Peter Lang.
Dandy, Evelyn.  1991.  Black communications:  Breaking down the barriers.
Chicago:  African American Images.
DeStephano, Johanna 1973, ed.  Language, society and education:  A profile
of Black English.  Worthington, OH:  Charles A. Jones.
Dillard, J. L.  1972.   Black English:  Its history and usage in the United
States.  New York:  Random House.
Fasold, Ralph W., and Roger W. Shuy, eds.  1970.  Teaching Standard English
in the inner city.  Washington, DC:  Center for Applied Linguistics.
Gadsden, V. and D. Wagner , eds. 1995.  Literacy among African American
youth.  Creskill, NJ:  Hampton Press.
Jones, Regina, ed.  1996.  Handbook of tests and measurements.  Hampton,
VA;  Cobbs.
Kochman, Thomas.  1981.  Black and white styles in conflict.  NY: Holt Rinehart.
Kochman, Thomas, ed. 1972.  Rappin' and stylin' out.  Urbana:  University
of Illinois Press.
Labov, William  1972.    Language in the inner city:  Studies in the Black
English verna cular.   Philadelphia:  University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lippi-Green, Rosina.  To appear.  English with an accent.  London:  Routledge.
Mufwene, Salikoko S., John R. Rickford, Guy Bailey and John Baugh, eds.  To
appear.  African American English.  London:  Routledge.
Rickford, John R., and Lisa Green.  To appear.  African American Vernacular
English. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.
Shuy, Roger W., ed. 1965 .  Social dialects and language learning.
Champaign, Ill., National Council of Teachers of English.
Simpkins, G., G. Holt,  and C. Simpkins.  1977.  Bridge:  A cross-cultural
reading program.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin.
Smith, Ernie A. 1994.  The historical development of African American
Language.  Los Angeles:  Watts College Press.
Smitherman, Geneva. 1986. Talkin and testifyin:  The language of Black
America. Detroit:  Wayne State University Press.
_____ 1994  Black Talk.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin.
_____, ed.  1981.  Black English and the Education of Black Children and
Youth.  Detroit:  Center for Black Studies, Wayne State University Press.
Taylor, Hanni U.  1989.  Standard English, Black English, and
bidialectalism:  A controversy.  NY:  Peter Lang.
Williams, Robert L. 1975  Ebonics:  The true language of Black folks.  St
Louis:  Institute of Black Studies.
Wolfram, Walt  1969.  A linguistic description of Detroit Negro speech.
Washington, DC:  Center for Applied Linguistics.
_____  1991.  Dialects and American English.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ;
Prentice Hall and Center for Applied Linguistics.
Wolfram, Walter A., and Donna  Christian  1989.  Dialects and education:
Issues and answers.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice Hall.
Wolfram, Walter A. and Clarke, Nona, eds. 1971.  Black-White speech
relationships.  Washington:  Center for Applied Linguistics.