Ebonics

[Ron Kuzar]

On Mon, 6 Oct 1997 I posted a query re Discourse on Ebonics:

Does anybody know of work on the recent Ebonics controversy?
I am interested in a description of the evolution of the debate, and
the socio-cultural arguments used in it, coming from fields such as
folklinguistic beliefs, policies on mono/bilingualism, English as the
official language of the US, etc.
The context of this request is a course I am giving next semester on
'Language and Nation-Building'. I have been reading some of the
contributions on the linguist list. Some interesting documents also show
up upon searching the net for 'ebonics'. What I am looking for is a
text-book level summary of the issues that may be assigned as reading.
Other contributions, more theoretical ones, are also highly welcome.
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Most responses pointed out to me that there are internet resources, which
I in fact mentioned in my question. The following was the only really
relevant answer I received, and I find it to be an excellent one. The
article by Jaquelyne Jackson is a very good overview, and other
articles in that issue, including McWhorter's contribution, can be
used to expand the treatment of the topic in many ways.
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>>From johnmcw at socrates.Berkeley.EDU Tue Oct 28 12:26:27 1997
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 13:12:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: "John H. McWhorter" <johnmcw at socrates.Berkeley.EDU>
To: rok2 at CS1.CC.Lehigh.EDU
Subject: Ebonics

For a readable treatment (several, actually) on the Ebonics CONTROVERSY and
its larger meanings, try the recent issue of THE BLACK SCHOLAR (27:1) which
solicited various contributions. One piece (by Jacqueline Jackson, I think)
was particularly good in describing the whole thing.

Best,
John McWhorter
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If anybody has any new ideas re the above, let them please be heard.
Thanks
Ron Kuzar
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  |  Dr. Ron Kuzar                                                       |
  |  (Dept. of English, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel)              |
  |  During the academic year 1997/8 Visiting Professor at:              |
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