Black English: A Seminar

The treatment is direct and often personal, revealing the political and ethnocentric views of language, the persistence of historical influences in the face of language change, and the mutual language influence of White and Black communities. The role of language in reading, listening, speaking, writing, teaching and testing is discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of being bidialectal in a monolingual society are explored in the context of the attitudes of Blacks and Whites toward the standard and vernacular varieties of English spoken in the USA. The importance of Black folklore as an important and creative means of social and political communication is demonstrated, and the process of decreolization of languages is illustrated by using both West Indian and New World pidgins and creoles.

This classic volume continues to be an important part of the literature which critically appraises Black culture.