IAR

"Taking Black Technology Use Seriously: African American Discursive Traditions in the Digital Underground" by Adam J. Banks

What is invention?

• research on AAVE, its uses and rhetoric/gramatical features
• research previously written information on this topic by scholars
• Smitherman, Powell, Rickford
• find websites that use and discuss AAVE, blackplanet.com

What is being invented?

• how do African Americans express themselves in different situations online
• BlackPlanet allows them to express who they really are
• African American accessibility to the internet and digital space
• interaction with others let them know they are not alone

What is being arranged?

• the internet to AAVE
• AAVE to the "underground"
• the "underground" to the digital divide
• the digital divide to Blackplanet.com
• Blackplanet.com to feedback from peers
• feedback from peers to rhetoric features
• rhetoric features to allowing blacks to use their own language

What is arrangement?

• example of what is not used much
• general to specific
• specific problem
• problem to solution
• example of solution
• general to specific
• what should be done

What is being revised?

• allow blacks to use their own language
• allow greater access to the internet
• let them explore their culture
• they need an outlet to be themselves
• bridge the gap of the digital divide

What is revision?

• examples of real life and how blacks can express themselves
• examples of specific AAVE language
• quotes from scholars, many resources
• solution to bridge the gap

DW 2b

Professor Peter L. Patrick created an Ebonics frequently asked questions site and provided some simple answers. On his website through the University of Essex near London, England provides reasons and perceptions of Ebonics as a language and a dialect. He does not say what he thinks it is, but instead gives the reader the opportunity to discover what they think about Ebonics, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE). He discusses how linguists argue over whether it is a language or a dialect and even he admits there is no right answer. His website allows us, as readers, to form our own opinions and judgements so when we see the use of AAVE, we will understand it that much better.

Our in class readings have also discussed the use of AAVE and have actually provided examples of AAVE, especially in the use of digital space. Adam J. Banks' work is in A Reader For Writers and is entitled "Taking Black Technology Use Seriously: African American Discursive Traditions in the Digital Underground." In this piece, a website called BlackPlanet is the primary base of discussion. This website is intended to give blacks a place where they can express themselves. The use of AAVE is very prominent on this website. There are certain rules and regulations that determine that something is considered to be AAVE. In this blog post by a BlackPlanet user, we can see the use of sermonic tone and repetition, "Be Strong. We are not here to play, dream, or drift. we've got hard work to do and heavy loads to lift. Shun not the struggle, for it is God's gift. Be Strong (107)." It is obvious to hear and see the use of AAVE in this passage. It is obvious that this particular user is a typical AAVE speaker and uses it in her everyday life.

We can read passages such as these and see how they are considered to be AAVE. It is obvious that many people speak this but we still do not know if it is a language or a dialect. When we see a passage such as the one in the previous paragraph, it is easy to think back to the thoughts of Professor Peter L. Patrick and determine what we think about the passage. From my interpretation of the passage I would conclude that AAVE is a language. It is obvious that the rhetoric features are very much AAVE features. However, when you read Patrick's page, you realize that in fact, the passage still follows many similar features of Standard English. This is very conflicting viewpoints. This one passage could be written in both, its own language, or a dialect of english. Which is it? I don't think we will ever really know what to consider AAVE. The important thing is that people in this world speak it and those of us who do not, are able to recognize it and still understand it. Patrick's ideas give us a background to AAVE but it is our own perception that really matters. If we can learn to accept the use of this language or dialect then the world will become a stronger place. As long as we can all be understood, that is all that ultimately matters.

DW 2a

Professor Peter L. Patrick of the University of Essex near London, England uses his website to try to give readers a better understanding of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Ebonics. He answers generic questions to give an overview of AAVE. On his website he says that AAVE is a dialect of english. Patrick says, "AAVE is an English dialect, too. Most of its components in the dimensions of grammar, lexicon, and pronunciation are widely shared with English - either with standard American English, or with Southern White English, or with vernacular dialects of English around the world." This helps to give us a comparison to other dialects. We've all learned Standard English through our schooling and we've all heard what a southern accent sounds like. We hear the differences but we know they are both dialects of english. When Patrick compares all of these to we are able to think about AAVE and how it really does sound like English with just a few differences that aren't too noticable.

An interesting question Patrick discusses is that if AAVE is a language then how come it isn't spoken by a particular country. Before this I had never thought about how we associate English with the United States and England, Spanish with Mexico and Spain, Japanese with Japan, etc. We know that these are all languages and they also have countries associated with them. Peter Patrick goes on to say that, "Languages existed long before the modern world became organized into "countries", or nation-states. A languages doesn't need to be the official speech of a nation-state in order to be real. Yet it is a fact that giving such official status tends to increase the prestige of a language." A language is spoken by a particular type of people. Those who speak AAVE are African American. African American's are a particular type of people. Many of these people are decendents of the slaves directly from Africa and still encompass the African culture. By sharing this culture, they developed their own language and there is no reason for us to refer to that as being a wrong way to talk. We never say that something such as French, which we do consider a language, as being wrong. If AAVE is a language then African Americans have the right to speak it and we must accept that.

AAVE is not specifically for African American use. While many African Americans use this language at the very least, at home, not all are fluent in it. In fact, while some African Americans are not fluent in it, some members of other cultures, whether it be white or latino, are fluent in it. As Patrick says, "almost all African Americans have some command of other forms of English, including Standard American English." Not only do African Americans have the ability to use more than one form of English but everyone else usually has more than one form of their language that they can use. We all have some knowledge of different forms and we can use them whenever we need to. AAVE is just another form and there is nothing wrong with that.

*Website* http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/aavesem/EbonicsQ&A.html