Just add -izzle, it'll be fun-izzle.

I really don't think that Black English Vernacular (Ebonics) is slang. How can we define it as so? I reviewed my notes from class the day we went over slang and this was the general definition that we came up with: "Slang is a creative or innovative use of lg. that establishes community or identity to a particular group of "tribe." If everyone remembers, we were talking about particular words (cool, wasted, pig, etc), and also went on to talk about a variety of different types of slang such as clipping, blending, or acronyms. The dictionary definition of slang is a "very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language."

I can see where it would be easy to assume that Ebonics is simply slang. While I give that warrant and I can understand the assumptions, based on these definitions, I cannot see how we can say Ebonics is just a set of "words" that we borrow from the mother language and alter to our own means. This may be a common misconception because Ebonics carries a lot of slang words and terms that aren't "standard" in Standard English. Ebonics is more than just a word or two or a few dropped constants here or there. We have learned that there are rules and order to how it is spoken and used. While it isn't the language of the dominant bloc, it still has merit as more than just a slang of English. It holds a culture. It may have begun as a slang, it has transcended that status. I researched several websites online and the general consensus seems to be that Ebonics is a creole. What was it we said creole's were again? Not once in class did we say that a creole is slang. Ebonics probably won't survive to become it's own official language because, in the end, Standard English will prevail because it is the language of power. As far as Ebonics being "less intelligent..." That is subjective and overall a very hard question to answer. To me personally, Ebonics does not sound intelligent. I don't speak it and people don't really speak it to me. However, because it doesn't meet my expectation of intelligence in language does mean that Ebonics is a "less intelligent form of English." It is just a different form of English. Who am I to make that judgement, anyway?

On a more fun note, I did a general Google search on Ebonics. Several linguistics-related websites came up that were very interesting to read, but that wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted to know what real people thought about Ebonics. By real people I mean people that aren't studying it. I found two websites of interest. The first is "DA Ebonics Site." (http://joel.net/EBONICS/translator.asp) It is a "translator" for Ebonics. You type a phrase or word in and click a button that says "Ebonify dis whack English" and it gives you the "Ebonics" equivalent. It's fun to go there, but grossly inaccurate. The disclaimer at the bottom reads: "This website is an Ebonics related entertainment site. This is not real Ebonics. It is mostly slang and what people perceive as Ebonics. View this site in jest. If you think this is actually real Ebonics or believe me to be either racist or promoting Ebonics... then you're an idiot." This person brings up a lot of interesting points, but at the end even seems like he wants to dissociate himself from Ebonics. He's making a joke, and it seems that maybe he thinks Ebonics as a whole is a joke.

The other website I found was an "Urban Dictionary." (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ebonics) This is a site that allows people to write what they think a term means. It's a little upsetting to read for me. The majority of people regard it as ignorant slang. There are a few comments, if you go far enough, that talk about Oakland.

:) 'tis all. B.Knee