Does anyone think that EBONICS should be(or is one its wayto be) a language?
Well, first you’d have to go into the distinction between a language and a dialect. Ebonics, a term invented by a school board in Oakland, California, is more generally called African-American Vernacular or AAV. As with any ‘home language’, it is a non-standard dialect of English. African-Americans are adept at code-switching, or changing from AAV to Standard American English, this country’s prestige dialect. The more successful individuals are more adept at code-switching. One of the major tasks of the education system is to teach students how to switch from AAV (home language) to standard English, and to be taught when it is appropriate to speak which dialect. “School talk” should more closely approximate standard American English in order that the students will be able to succeed in this society.
