(2/5) Summary of Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English.

In Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English, what I have read thus far is how “language is a tool which conveys the ideas of the one who speaks it”, as stated by Sekou Toure. This quote not only inspired the author of the book, but also allowed me to view language as a necessary component to conveying thoughts both clearly and effectively in its own context, enabling the audience to understand the message. That being said, each language, or dialect has its own significance and importance. Also, this book carefully expresses the love hate relationship to the vernacular between many public figures, and people alike. This in reaction has fueled many debates over its use in American literature to convey African American life. Much of the literatures in the 1960s were of the AA hardships and the inequalities that were prominent all over. In addition, the way Black Vernacular literature was created; it was to create pieces of art that exhibited an authentic experience of Blackness that led the reader to feelings of empathy and embracement. In The Cosby Show, there was a backlash to the show, which was partly due to the “unrealistic life” that many AAs felt the show portrayed. It featured “well-to-do professionals who spoke proper English and meted out textbook perfect-guidance and affection to their children”, which at the point of high unemployment among Blacks at that time, showed resentment toward the powerhouse couple of television. However, there are many AAs that are very successful and goal oriented, but there is an overwhelming presence of those that are of low socioeconomic standing, and in many of these homes the vernacular is home language.

In the book, Rickford states that the problem is not Spoken Soul itself, but that many people were not able to successfully transition from the vernacular to English, or was unwilling to do so. It was the main argument that had many people against spoken soul, and protested for its removal from schools. In addition, spoken soul in many cases has no use of dental fricatives i.e. this becomes “dis” and so forth. It is for this reason that it is widely objected by people across color lines, and to this day is not considered a language. Spoken soul was a medium for Black interpretation of these hardships and provided its reader to with a true understanding of the occurrences. Its origin is embedded within the AA culture and has more to do with the grammar of English as opposed to solely dealing with slang, which without doubt, has had a large influence in today’s American Standard English.