query re: work on representations of Ebonics in TV

[Patrick, Peter L]

I received a query on the topic above, whcih I reproduce below,
partly to suggest the level of interest of the person who asked me.

I am also interested myself, however. It stands to reason that there
must be such work out there somewhere, eg under cultural studies etc.,
but whether there's any by linguists I don't know. I can't think of any offhand.
It strikes me as a good way to get students thinking both about structural
issues and about matters of representation, authenticity and identity,
and relating them to modern historical changes in attitudes.

Anybody know of any works? (I will pass them on to the inquirer too)
thanks,
	-peter-

I am currently taking a Linquistics class and part of our class project is
an intensive research paper on Language. We can use any form of Language
we wish for our research so I have chosen the topic of Ebonics.
I just don't want to study Ebonics as a Language but Ebonics as a culture
which it really is. So I was going to link the Ebonic language to the Tv Sitcom Show
Sanford and Son. I wanted to show how Ebonics has been used in main stream
television programs and how it continues to be used today. I was wondering if
there is a link between Sanford and Son and the Social Linguistics within the show.


Peter L Patrick
Dept of Language and Linguistics
University of Essex
patrickp at essex.ac.uk