Spoken Soul (Book Conclusion)

              In the final chapter of Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English, they spoke about the case of cultural identity, and its correlation with the dialect. It begins with a brief conversation between a child (student), and an adult (school secretary), in which Spoken Soul is at the forefront of the conversation. It explains by saying that the reason for this way of speaking has to do with its authenticity, and its fluidity from the mouth. In addition, the use of standard English might have diminished the comfortability between the  child and adult, and therefore, receiving a different sort of response from the child. The book also gives anecdotes about the lynchings, and the denial of equal rights in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which is why the dialect itself lasted so long. The distinctly Black talk, dress, dance, and behavior were ways to separate themselves from Whites because of the contempt that was held towards them. We should not forget that although the vernacular have been associated with lower socioeconomic status, this is not accurate. Many well-off and educated Blacks speak the vernacular, and now it is more acceptable to claim it as authentically theirs across every class whether it be lower or higher. Furthermore, the Black vernacular serves as a unifier in the Black community, and offers them a chance to relieve some of the stresses of life and identify with people whom feel more comfortable in the vernacular.

               In the book, a quote that I found really interesting is one that was said by W. E. B. Du Bois, and it states "One ever feels his two-ness--an American, a Negro; Two souls, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body. . . The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife-- this longing to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging, he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost", which I feel encompasses what the entire book is about. It explains how African Americans are indeed Americans, but there is an entire identity, which that should be recognized. This quote really caught my attention because it is a similar feeling that I have had before. I was born in the states, but to me there were always two different worlds. It is exactly what I've realized and instead of deleting a part of myself and replacing it with another, I accepted both standard English and the vernacular as facets of what makes me unique (Page 221).

              One question that I had about the book is how come you have decided to have the chapter numbers, in addition to breaking the book into 5 parts? Is that the only way that the book would have been understood?
              Question two is was there a specific moment that had occurred, which prompted you into actually writing a book on this subject? Are you a frequent speaker of the vernacular yourself?