Q: African-American Authors

[Margaret Ronkin]

Hello all,

I'm posting the message below for Ben Gurney, a visiting
undergrad from the UK here at Georgetown.  He's been
studying African-American authors and would be very
grateful for any suggestions that ADS members can offer.

Please reply to bengurney at hotmail.com

Thanks,
Maggie Ronkin
---------- Forwarded message ----------

African American authors choose overwhelmingly to write in
Conventional American English, many of the authors giving a
written voice to communities which use another form of the English
language. I would like to know whether there are any theories to
explain this language choice outside of the most obvious ones. First
of these is black authors need for critical and economic success,
leading them to write in the language their culture sees as most
prestigious. This first reason relates closely to the second which is
the influence of the American Education system upon both the
individual and the group.
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