Anth 271 Ebonics

In a recent discussion with my friend Ana, we argued about Ebonics and its relationship to educated versus non educated people. I argued that African Americans that are less educated are more likely use Ebonics. It should not be used in classrooms because it is not appropriate. Ana, on the other hand, argued that Ebonics is not related to the level of education an African American person has, and it should be allowed in classrooms. This discussion is related to this week’s theme if “Language and Class” because we examined how language and class are related through multiple concepts such as enregisterment, iconization, erasure, factual recursivity, standard language and linguistic competence.

Standard language is considered to be the normal language or the best dialect of the language. According the lecture on 03/28, professor Kramer explained that the best dialect is determined by selecting the “best” speakers first. To support this statement, Bourdieu says in his article, “a language is worth what those who speak it are worth (Bourdieu 649.)” This is related to my discussion with Ana because I am implicitly placing my language above Ebonics by stating that Ebonics is used by the less educated. Linguistic competence, on the other hand, refers to the ability to use language fluently and appropriately. By arguing that Ebonics should not be used in classrooms, I am implying that Ebonics does not have linguistic competence because it is used improperly in classrooms.

As Professor Kramer explained in lecture on 03/30, enregisterment is when a form of speaking becomes associated with a “type” of person. This can be demonstrated by the way I associated Ebonics with African Americans. In order for enregisterment to occur, iconization, factual recursivity, and erasure must also happen. Iconization is the process in which the relationship between the way of speaking and the way of being are connected. The examples that are given include Southern speech makes people believe that Southerners are slow and New York speech makes people believe that they are fast and rude. Similarly, Ebonics is connected to the idea of lack of education.

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