In Black America; Non-Standard English

MUSIC From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is in Black America. What I'm most pleased about is the opportunity, for instance, on your program to explain that black English, like any non-standard English dialect, is only non-standard in that

it wasn't spoken by those in power and those with access to printing who then were able to decide what rules to call standard. Non-standard dialects are as rule-governed and as historical and as derived as any other dialect. And the only reason they're called non-standard is not because they're substandard or deficient, but because they were spoken by people who were powerless to make the rule. Mary Abberger, author of the book entitled Speak Standard 2, published by Orchard Books Inc. 12 years ago, Ms. Berger designed broadcast speech techniques that require an introductory course that she still teaches to the verse student body in the radio department of Chicago's Columbia College. This course helps students to acquire and switch into the general American Standard English dialects.

According to Ms. Berger, black English is a speaking style that resulted from the blending of African-based grammar and pronunciation with that of European plantation owners. She also says a black dialect has persisted because people tend to speak like their parents. She estimates that 80% of the black population in this country speak non-standard English. The other 20% speak only standard English or they switch back and forth. I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. This week, switching between black and standard English with author and publisher Mary Abberger in Black America. I would just say to don't make up your mind until you do some reading and why would you want your children, your students, your friends, your relatives to feel that their grandparents, parents and sisters spoke a style of English that reflected stupidity or laziness.

Why would you want to believe that? Why would you want your children to believe that about their communities, their friends, their relatives and their culture? The truth is that even though it's not well known, the truth is that every dialect, standard or non-standard, comes from a root language, another language, and often the languages it comes from are standard languages. Standard English is the dialect of English that is spoken by those people who carry on the business and educational fares of this country. Standard English has official recognition because grammar books and dictionaries have been written about its structure and pronunciation. Whole expository works are written in style. That is why the language conventions of Standard English are the most respected, emulated

and acceptable in this country. It is important to recognize, however, that Standard English excepting is based on social prestige and not on any natural linguistic superiority. Standard English is not inherently better or worse system of communication than your dialect or any other systematic English dialect. Mary Iberger has an MA in speech-language pathology and a BS in Communicative Disorders from Northwestern University. Her thesis statement was written about American Black English. Three of the ten years that she spent in the public schools were focused on teaching non-standard English-speaking students how to acquire the pronunciation and grammar of oral-standard English regardless of their linguistic background. I of course wasn't the first one to be interested in this. As a young graduate student at Northwestern, I was upset, I believe, by the educational disparity between African American youngsters and other youngsters from other linguistic backgrounds.

And was wondering why focus had not really been directed toward youngsters who, for my way of thinking, were intelligent, bright, enthusiastic, skilled, talented, and interested youngsters who were, by the age of nine or ten, obstructed in their academic pursuits and seemed to shut down often. And so my reading began to be focused on this issue of what we called even in those days Black English in the sixties. And I discovered that I certainly wasn't the first to be interested in this. There were scholars way before me, particularly a man by the name of Dr. Lorenzo Dial Turner who was the first African American member of the linguistic Society of America. And he was just one of many, perhaps the first, to focus on the issue of Black English. And so I began my reading, my research, and my developing an approach, an educational

approach wherein I could use my speech language, pathology training, and apply that to a linguistic philosophy, some linguistic truth, and a way of approaching youngsters that was both respectful and effective. Did you give us a brief history on how certain African Americans in this country have come to the point where there's switching between standard English and an African American dialect? Yes. Well, my guess is, in terms of statistics that have been done, I would guess that between 80 and 85% of Black Americans speak a variety of Black English. That leaves 15 or 20% who are able to switch back and forth between standard English and

Black English. In other words, I would say close to 100% of African Americans speak some Black English, but only 15 to 20% of African Americans can switch. And of course, there are several reasons why African Americans have learned to switch. Some of it is survival, and some of it is just generational. If you're a third generation college-educated family, then the likelihood of you're having acquired standard English is pretty good. But if you have not been to college, if you have been treated academically as so many African American youngsters have, then you have not acquired oral standard English, and therefore not been able to write or test or even orally read and standard English predictably, and

then continue to speak Black English without being able to switch into standard. But I think your question is, I hope I answered it, why people acquire oral standard English? And I think it's partially because of corporate America and social America not accepting Black English as reflective of intelligence or skill or potential. So language biased, premised on racism, that forces African Americans to learn standard English mostly on their own. What comes to mind, if African Americans were brought here from Africa having no knowledge of English, per se, then where did they pick up the grammar and pronunciation for these English words, and to some extent it's not right or wrong, it's just isn't correct for

a certain section of our society. Where did they learn English? Correct. Well of course they originally learned English when they were brought kidnapped, abducted, brought into slavery, and learned English from their plantation owners. That was probably the first exposure to a consistent style of English. And when we speak of Black English, of course we're speaking of combination, if you want to call it a creole fine, but in just lay person's terminology, it really is a mix of African-based grammar and some vocabulary. And then of course the English that they learned that they were expected to use on the plantation when they were communicating with white people.

Is there a standard definition of standard English, what it is and what it isn't? It's a great question. Standard English, I guess you define it this way, it is the accepted norm for communicating in writing, and particularly in academic and corporate America. So I guess the best way to say it is it's what you find in the grammar books. We talk about one grammatical standard, which no one uses 100 percent, but when you speak of standard English I think the easiest way to think of it is what rules you read in American English grammar books. And then I would say that there are three acceptable pronunciation systems that you could call standard Southern, standard Eastern, and then something called general American. And of course there are thousands of regional differences that American English speakers

use. And one of those is black English that also within itself has a variety of pronunciation and vocabulary, but is basically differentiated from standard English by its grammar, which is African-based. Are African-American students in which you teach somewhat resentful when they are corrected on certain usage of words? Well I think it's a complicated question because of course students are like any humans and they differ in their... Do they understand the differences between the two? No, no they don't, and that is in just a situation of students. I find that with adults too, African-American Caucasian-Asian, anyone who speaks the style of English that differs from the standard is not really aware too much of the subtle

differences that are occurring. And that is what makes it so difficult to acquire a new style of English. I think it's more difficult than acquiring a foreign language because the differences between say French and English are obvious. Many of the differences between say black English and standard English are not so obvious. And that is a difficult procedure and one that needs a lot of respect first and explanation about the linguistic basis for these differences so that students understand that what they're speaking is not a debased style of English. It is a legitimate rule-driven style of English that is derived and historical. And once they understand that and respect it, then they're much less resentful about acquiring a new style.

Is our society more forgiving for other foreign-born children and African-American children in their particular dialect? Oh, yes, I don't have difficulty answering that at all. I'll give you an example. I was once doing a workshop in a corporation and was presenting, excuse my dog, Barkey. No, no problem. Was presenting to managers, and I asked the managers what they would, how they would interpret a young African-American male job candidate in an interview. That young man did not give good eye contact during the interview. And the answer was, well, they would just assume that that young man was not interested in the job. That interested me because why would he be interviewing? But any interpretation was that he wouldn't be interested. And when I asked what the interpretation of an Asian young man not establishing eye contact,

the answer was, well, that's a cultural difference. So it's not just speech that causes misinterpretation, but it is truly a pervasive ignorance about linguistic difference, which includes cultural difference, social and gestural and body language differences and tonal differences and just so much ignorance in both corporate and academic America with respect to our linguistic histories and differences. I'm making an assumption here, but I would assume that your class is a diverse class. Very diverse. Do the students understand the value and the necessity of being able to utilize standard English for their success in life? Well, you see, they're very ambivalent. Okay.

And I think they represent an awful lot of people who are ambivalent. Here's what happens. They come in intellectually knowing that they need standard English in order to pursue their dream. Many of them, not all of them, but many of them want careers in broadcasting, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they want to be on air like you. It might mean that they want to be in advertising or directing or producing, but whatever they pursue, they know radio or not. They know that non-standard English is obstructing their future and standard English will make it easier. I don't teach them, and I tell them this, I don't teach them standard English because I think that standard English is going to make them better people. I teach them standard English because I know it will afford them better opportunities and they know it and they accept that, but the difficulty comes in many of the African American students feeling justifiably so that this is just one more moment where white

America is telling them what to do. And so they know it intellectually, but emotionally, it upsets them and that obstructs them in accepting the course until we go through. We spend at least an hour and a half the first class discussing linguistic truth and discussing the linguistic history of standard and non-standard styles and how they become that way. How did you get to the point of actually writing the books? Actually, the book is not as interesting, I mean it is a text, you know, I wish I could just write and write linguistically, but even Smytherman and others have already done that. The text is really an outgrowth of about 20, 25 years of teaching and getting tired of individually handing out packets to students.

So what the book was a result of was learning from my students, learning from whatever reading I did and then taking my speech language pathology training and applying it to the linguistic differences. And I had taught the course at Columbia College for about six or seven years before I produced the book and the book was a wonderful tool for students no matter what their linguistic background to use rather than my handing out little packets of individual drill sheets. Without going into too much depth in the book, could you tell us some of the areas in which are covered that you need important that? The book is really divided into two sections, pronunciation differences and grammatical differences.

Could you give us an example? Well a pronunciation difference would be, this is the one that my grandmother likes. Now that particular difference, the D for voice TH, saying disandat and them and those instead of this, that, them and those, is a pronunciation difference that although it is represented with black English speakers is also pretty pervasive in almost any foreign language speaking person, as well as many American English speakers from Irish background Italian background, because the TH sound is not very represented in universal languages. American and British English are not unique but pretty different in the TH sound. So that's a pretty common pronunciation difference. A grammatical difference would be, a more dramatic grammatical difference would be, for instance, an African American student might say, she'd be watching TV instead of, she watches TV all the time.

And that difference is represented in the book as a distributive B or the durative B, which is really an African based grammar difference, which you will find almost only in the African American community, but interestingly enough you find it also among Irish speakers. And that is an example of a grammatical difference that is pointed out always as a difference by the way, not as right and wrong in the book, so that the student is presented with the contrasting rules, what he says in his style, what he needs to switch into for standard English style. And that's one of the most important techniques in the book as well as the course, and also in this new teaching manual that's coming out. And that is to help the students bring to a very conscious level the contrast, the translation of his rule versus the standard English rule.

Now I've just came up with a complex thought and question. If you're teaching this course at Columbia College and Chicago on a college level, what does happen to these students K through 12? Well you know one of the most common questions that I get from my college student is why didn't I learn this in grammar school? And of course many, many, many, hundreds of thousands of teachers would take exception to that student's remark because of course well-meaning teachers all over this country are trying to teach standard English in the schools, but there is a problem in teaching acquisition of oral standard English to English speaking students. You and I have already gone over a couple of those which is resentment and reluctance. But the major problem in my mind is that there has been a, no respect, an understanding and linguistic knowledge of the first style that the first grader brings to-

Okay. And then there has been no systematic approach to helping that child acquire oral standard English in the school setting in a systematic progressive way. If you don't accept, if you don't understand the fact that this little first grader is using rules, just as your standard English speaking children use rule. Your non-standard English speaking child is using rules that she has acquired as an infant and that cannot be changed with a quick fix with a random correction. And you see, let's give a very brief scenario. If a standard English speaking child were to pick up a reader in first grade and told to read when spot bee bark and sally bee laughing, if the standard English speaking child

reads that, there is going to be some understanding, he knows what a dog is, he knows what a little sister is maybe, but there is not going to be high level subtle understanding of that verb form. And so there is going to have to be a translation, and the teacher is going to have to take a very systematic approach to helping that child acquire that new verb. Well, if you reverse the scenario and have the non-standard English speaking child come in, being expected to use and read and write in a test in a style that is not representative of that child's rules, it's an impossible situation. And it's always interpreted as low level understanding. As early as kindergarten and particularly at the third grade level, we decide the future of eight-year-olds based on testing that is done in a language that is not the eight-year

age child, and the consequences are obvious, and we place them, we decide that they belong in learning disability classes, we decide that they are mentally deficient, we decide all kinds of awful things about intelligent, enthusiastic, skilled, talented youngsters, and tell them this by tracking them in many ways we tell them this, and so we lose them. And I wrote this teacher's manual called Teach Standard 2, with a course in it called School Talk, Friend Talk, just because of the T word. And this is a course that can be offered as young as kindergarten and as old as actually

high school. It offers a five-step approach to helping youngsters acquire oral standard English in a linguistically based respectful course, so that the teacher has a way of helping the youngster translate rule in a progressive gradual acquisition of about, I don't know, 20 grammatical issues that are the most common in testing as well as writing and reading and speaking in the school. Are other colleges and universities finding your book useful? Well, yes, they are, I'm pleased to say that it's, I would say it's in about 45 states that doesn't mean that it is millions and millions of bestseller at all. It does mean that it is, it finds its way into many different academic settings.

I would say that it's most typical, excuse me, setting is in voice-indiction courses. For instance, at Pembroke State University, at Norfolk State University, at Community College of Philadelphia, Lawson State Community College, these settings, Cheney University, I believe, these settings use the book as a freshman required voice-indiction course. And I'm pleased to say that because what it means is that professors are beginning to understand that we write the way we talk, and although by the time you reach college, your writing might be different from your talking, your oral style has a serious impact on your writing and reading. And so the voice-indiction courses that these schools are beginning to use is a very

good setting. Also, for instance, at Chicago State University and other colleges, they are using the text in the education departments to expose teacher candidates to how to teach this in a respectful and effective and systematic way. The book does find its way into public schools. I believe the teacher's manual is going to do that more, but there are high school programs that use this. And what's interesting, you know there are many high school programs at the college level, the upward bound program, and the pre-college summer programs. And for instance at James Madison University, there's a program called The Rising Nights. And that's a program for Adolescent African American males. It's an oral standard English program evidently, and they're using the materials as they

do on other campuses. Mary Iberger, author and publisher of the book entitled Speak Standard Two, published by Orchard Books, Incorporated Chicago. If you have a question or comment or suggestions asked in future in Black America programs, write us. Also let us know what radio station you heard us over. Views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or the University of Texas at Austin. We still have the opportunity again for IBA technical producer David Alvarez. I'm John L. Hanson, Jr. Thank you for joining us today, and please join us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America cassettes, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas 78712. From the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. Join me this week on in Black America.