8. If you are planning a lesson on grammar and
standard written English, and you google the
phrase “rap lyrics,” looking for a fun example to
talk about conventions of discourse, the first hit
that comes up is going to be this:
http://www.bizbag.com/Misc%20articles/Rap%
20Lyrics%20Translated.htm
9.
10. Here’s what it says:
This paper was turned in by an Oakland High school
student who received the highest honors at the
school district’s Ebonics translation competition.
Assignment: Please translate the following Rap song
lyrics from Ebonics to standard English.
Artist: Notorious B.I.G.
Album: Ready to Die
Song: One more chance (remix)
12. From the hoax email
Notorious BIG
First things first, I poppa, freaks all
the honeys
Dummies - playboy bunnies, those
wantin’ money
Those the ones I like ‘cause they
don’t get nathan’
But penetration, unless it smells like
sanitation
Garbage, I turn like doorknobs
Heart throb, never, black and ugly as
ever
However, I stay coochied down to
the socks
Rings and watch filled with rocks
Student’s translation
As a general rule, I perform deviant
sexual acts with women of all kinds,
including but not limited to those
with limited intellect, nude magazine
models, and prostitutes. I
particularly enjoy sexual encounters
with the latter group as they are
generally disappointed in the fact
that they only receive penile
intercourse and nothing more, unless
of course, they douche on a
consistent basis. Although I am
extremely unattractive, I am able to
engage in these types of sexual acts
with some regularity. Perhaps my
sexuality is somehow related to my
fancy and expensive jewelry.
21. How are these terms different?
EBONICS
African American Vernacular
English
22. AAVE is not just a badly spoken version
of English
• These differences from Standard Written
English are not random mistakes. There are
ways to speak AAVE correctly and incorrectly
23. An important note:
AAVE is not based on race
• Millions of African Americans don't speak the
language at all; it is a vernacular dialect
restricted mostly to disenfranchised residents of
segregated areas.
• And not all Ebonics speakers are African
American.
• A significant number of whites, Hispanics, and
Asian Americans who live and work closely
together speak dialects that can be characterized
as black English.
24. 90’s backlash against
Ebonics=Media Hype
• When the Oakland School Board voted to
recognize AAVE as the primary speech of
African American students, it provoked a
backlash
25. Race-baiting aside,
the Oakland School District was right
• The Linguistic Society of America has made a
unanimous resolution that AAVE is as
“systematic and rule-governed as all natural
speech varieties”
26. AAVE is not slang
• Slang refers to a small set of new and usually
short-lived words within a dialect and
language. They are not the language itself.
27. AAVE is a dialect
• Everyone speaks in a dialect.
• All languages have dialects.
• All dialects have rules.
28. What is a dialect?
• Chinese has different dialects: Mandarin and
Cantonese. Speakers can’t understand one
another, but they are regarded as dialects, and
not different languages, because they share the
same writing system and same country
• On the other hand, Norweigian and Swedish
speakers can understand each other, but they are
thought of as different languages because they
are in different countries
29. AAVE is not just filled with mistakes. When you
analyze this dialect linguistically, you find a system
of rules common to other languages.
• Rule: Only the forms is and are (of which the latter is
anyway often replaced by is) can be omitted.
• These forms cannot be omitted when they would be
pronounced with stress in General American (whether
or not the stress serves specifically to impart an
emphatic sense to the verb's meaning).
• “To be” is often dropped in other languages as well,
such as Hebrew, Russian, and Arabic.
30. AAVE
• Toni Morrison wrote about its “five present
tenses” and said “the worst of all possible
things would be to lose that language”
32. Present tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• He is working.
• He be working.
33. Present tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He is working.
• AAVE: He be working.
34. Present tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He is working. (He is working right now)
• AAVE: He be working. (He is working
habitually, as in “he is working all the time.”)
35. Present tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He is working. (He is working right now)
• AAVE: He be working. (He is working
habitually, as in “he is working all the time.”)
• AAVE: He working. (“He is working right now”)
36. Past tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He has been married
• AAVE: He been married.
37. Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He has been married
• AAVE: He been married. (He was married in
the past, and he is still married.)
38. Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He has been married
• AAVE: He been married. (He was married in
the past, and he is still married.)
• AAVE: He done been married.
39. Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He has been married
• AAVE: He been married. (He was married in
the past, and he is still married.)
• AAVE: He done been married. (He was
married in the past, and is no longer married.)
40. Future tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He is going to be late.
• AAVE: He gonna be late.
41. Future tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He is going to be late.
• AAVE: He gonna be late.
• AAVE: He finna be late
42. Future tense of “to be”
Do these sentences mean the same
thing?
• SWE: He is going to be late.
• AAVE: He gonna be late.
• AAVE: He finna be late (Unknown whether he
is actually going to be late or not)
43. Taylor Swift uses AAVE in “Shake it off”
I stay out too late, got nothin' in my brain
That's what people say, that's what people say
I go on too many dates, but I can't make 'em stay
At least that's what people say, that's what people say
But I keep cruisin', can't stop, won't stop movin'
It's like I got this music in my mind sayin' it's gonna be alright
Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off
44. Taylor Swift uses AAVE in “Shake it off”
I stay out too late, got nothin' in my brain
That's what people say, that's what people say
I go on too many dates, but I can't make 'em stay
At least that's what people say, that's what people say
But I keep cruisin', can't stop, won't stop movin'
It's like I got this music in my mind sayin' it's gonna be alright
Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off
45. What is valuable about AAVE?
• James Baldwin called African American
Speech: “This passion, this skill … this
incredible music.”
47. Topic: GRAMMAR
• Have you ever been judged for your grammar?
For the way you word your ideas?
48. KNOW
• What are some comments you have gotten on
essays in the past?
• What are some grammatical mistakes you can
name?
49. Want to know
• Can you think of any jobs or roles in life where
it is important to have “perfect” grammar?
• Can you think of any situations where it is not
important to have perfect grammar?
