Reading Summary
In James Baldwin's essay, If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?, he introduces the idea that black English is undefined on account of its role as a language. Baldwin suggests that language is purposed as a tool for description and control when 'properly' articulated; If not, those trying to communicate are speaking in different realities.
Such is the case in different regions of France. Two Frenchmen from Paris and Marseilles having a conversation could very likely seem to be speaking foreign languages to one another. He continues to elaborate on the use of language as a power and identifier.
Such is the case in different regions of France. Two Frenchmen from Paris and Marseilles having a conversation could very likely seem to be speaking foreign languages to one another. He continues to elaborate on the use of language as a power and identifier.
Baldwin states the influences of undefined black English has been overlooked. Throughout time white people have coined key characteristics as their own.
When slaves from all different tribes of Africa were brought to the Sates, they couldn't communicate with each other. Slavery was the start of the black church and thus the birth of black English. A language white men couldn't afford to understand because it would unmask their dehumanization of an entire people.
He quotes; A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey. He then argues that if black English is not a language, then "what definition of language is to be trusted?"
Referring back to his thesis- black English is undefined on account of its role as a language- James Baldwin concludes his essay by informing his audience that black people are not, nor have they ever been inarticulate, rather, they refuse to "defend a morality that we know to be a lie."
If the history of black people suggests that their role is less than, why should they articulate according to the learning's of an illiterate country?
When slaves from all different tribes of Africa were brought to the Sates, they couldn't communicate with each other. Slavery was the start of the black church and thus the birth of black English. A language white men couldn't afford to understand because it would unmask their dehumanization of an entire people.
He quotes; A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey. He then argues that if black English is not a language, then "what definition of language is to be trusted?"
Referring back to his thesis- black English is undefined on account of its role as a language- James Baldwin concludes his essay by informing his audience that black people are not, nor have they ever been inarticulate, rather, they refuse to "defend a morality that we know to be a lie."
If the history of black people suggests that their role is less than, why should they articulate according to the learning's of an illiterate country?
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