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?

"That guy BAMBOOZLED me into buying his meal"

For those of you that did not catch on to what the word "bamboozled" meant; it is to frustrate, confuse, or completely throw off a person. This word was created in 1703 and started as an American Slang term. Its one of those peculiar terms because it has two places where it could have derived from. The word formation is borrowing, and has been borrowed from both French and Scottish. In Scottish, perhaps from bombaze, which is perplex, or in French embabuiner, which is literally "to make a fool of".  The reason why I chose this specific word is because in my household, we used the word as often as we said food, which is a lot. I do not use it any more, but I thought it would be fun to take a term that I used often and find out its formation. A funny thing is that when I was using this term all of those years ago, I assumed that it was indeed slang, but doing this research allowed me to learn a new thing that I had not known before. In addition, I also found out that the word once was a comic that portrayed Black features in an exaggerated fashion. These Black caricatures were seen are one of the most offensive forms of entertainment. Nonetheless, the word is now used in casual conversation amongst all people.

Writing assignment for presentation. . . Option #2

Dear Lucy Linguistics,
I am honored that Doctor Jerskey recommended you to ask me for book advice. The book that I chose, which is Spoken Soul, taught me a lot about how Black English is acquired, and the differences between that and standard English. Indeed, the book has increased not only my tolerence over the way people speak, but also explained in depth how culture along with location affects your speech. In addition, I learned that the vernacular is much more than short lived slang, but in fact a language with its own meaning a part from Standard American English. For Example, in the vernacular, the rule of grammar allows speakers to move negative helping verbs such as can't or ain't to the beginning of the sentence, making the statement more assertive. So in the sentence "Ain't nobody ready!", in terms of the vernacular this is completely normal. In correlation, this usage would only apply if you have a negative quantifier such as "nothing" or "nobody", and will not apply if you have an actual name in lieu of "Ain't".


I learned that in every dialect studied to date, whether popular or not, has regularities or rules of this nature. Without set rules, the dialect could not be successfully used in everyday communication. In addition, many Blacks do not realize that some of the words that they use which are not slang terms, are used very differently from that of other Americans. Examples are ashy, kitchen, bad, and things of that nature. Also a lot of the pronunciations of words are different, such as "my:" as mah, "I" as ah, and "side" as sahd. White southern speech also resembles the vernacular in the sense that they also say "mah", and "Ah", and merge pin and pen so that they sound a like. Although this is evident, it still does not detract from its significance in Spoken Soul because in vast areas in the North and Midwest, where African Americans presently live, are regularly used and are distinctively "black sounding". This book is a must read if you are interested in the etymology of words in the vernacular and are interested in how culture shapes language. It has allowed me to understand why I sometimes use certain words, and that sometimes I should clarify what I mean for an individual, rather than getting frustrated by them not knowing. I hope you decide to read this book, and provide me with your own opinions.

Sincerely,
Eric T. Baker

(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.

Pronouncing Eric. . .

How to say ɛrɪk?

For Linguists: 

You begin by pronouncing the first syllable [ɛr] by beginning with the front vowel "ɛ" as pronounced in "bed", followed by the voiced alveolar liquid sound of "r". The second syllable is "ɪk", which begins with the high front vowel "ɪ" and ends with the voiceless velar, with the manner of articulation being stops. 

For Non-Linguists: 

You begin by saying the “e” sound as in elephant, and then allow your upper teeth to touch your bottom lip and say the “r” sound as you would say red. In addition, you would combine the the last to letters in my name “ic” and pronounce it as you would form your mouth to say sick, which comes from further back in the roof of the mouth.

Now you know how to pronounce my name.

Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English (Research Book).

            Spoken Soul is a book about the Black vernacular English. So far, they are giving background information on how it came to be and why the vernacular is so important in telling stories of the struggles that many Blacks faced. In the book there are many references to poets such as Claude McKay and Sterling Brown, whose goals were to expose Black struggles, but also empower African Americans to be pro-active and find happiness in their own skin. In addition, the Black vernacular was also used as a protection technique against outsiders, in which many African Americans were hypersensitive with lending out trust. It was to safeguard their knowledge, and offer people within the Black community a sanctuary to express themselves without judgement. This also entails why many Blacks live by the motto "keep'n it real", because in the African American community, trust is an important commodity. Words such as "conversate" was coined by Black people because of its fluidity from the lips, due to the influences of West African tongues infused with the English language. It has little to do with having a colleged background, but to the comfortablity and ease that these words provided.

            I have learned a lot from this book about my culture that I have not previously known. Many Blacks could switch between the vernacular and standard English, but the vernacular is what many feel comfortable speaking. It is the common thread that each person share with one another aside from their American identities. With bi dialectal people, also comes these people with protean identities that has existed for many centuries. Although we are one nation, this nation has been so divided due to slavery and the Jim Cow laws that in a sense still remains divided today. Moreover, the spoken soul is the way African Americans speak, and the culture that is inherited from their parents, and I look forward to continuing the book for a future update.

Research Book Option. . .

Blog Post #2: Write about which book you chose, briefly describe (in your own words!) what it's about and why you chose it.
 
Hello Everyone,
The book that I chose is named Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English by Rickford, John Russell. This particular book is about the African American vernacular, and how it obtained its prevalence in society. It focuses on the history of  the English Language and discusses the significant similarity and differences between it and other western African languages that serve as influences of the vernacular. With elements of history and disadvantages it attempts to negate the theory of "laziness" and focuses on the various differences in culture and pronunciation.

The reason why I have decided to engage in research using this book is because I am very fascinated in learning if the African American vernacular is a co-requisite in the decisions and perceptions about the world. In addition, I want to research its origins and obtain an understanding of a language which is as popular as "standard English". Furthermore it is a topic worth exploring and aides in understanding the cultural norms of African Americans, which could enable my peers and I to be a lot more empathetic toward people that I may not understand or agree with.