Beyond Ebonics

The decision by the Oakland, California school board to declare "Ebonics" as the official language of their African-American students unleashed a firestorm of controversy with overtly racial overtones. While the vast majority of linguists were caught off guard by these events, equivocating over technical distinctions between "a language" and "a dialect", journalists, legislators, and the public demanded to know more about "Ebonics", and the controversial claims that were asserted by its proponents. John Baugh, a leading authority on African-American English, sifts through the volatile circumstances and evidence that triggered this debate, including the origin of Ebonics, and provides detailed comparisons of the notorious resolutions that brought it to global attention.