African American Language and Identity - Literature review Example

RUNNING HEAD: AFRICAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY The State Of Art In African Centered Communication: African Centered Language And Identity Name: Grade Course: Tutor’s Name: 2nd December, 2010 Introduction According to Linguists and philosophers, language is used for communication since human beings cannot live in isolation, and for representation of who the language speakers are. The purpose of words as according to Socrates as cited in Joseph, is to discriminate things from one another and to teach each other about the same things. The language that a specific community speaks defines what words they discriminate from other communities and what they teach each other. Discrimination in this case is the representation which means categorizing things in words that a specific language provides. Teaching one another about those words/representations is the communication (Joseph, 2004). Language identifies a specific community in so many ways. Their speeches, their language behavior, their rhetoric, phonological, syntactic, morphological, pragmatic and semantic features differ creating a different culture from other communities (Morgan, 2002). This is the same way African American Language is different from American language and other languages. African Americans language is used to identify themselves as black (Jackson, 2004). They used language to identify themselves as the oppressed, those discriminated against and those that need liberation. They used the language to gain the liberation they believed and still believe they desperately need. A lot of literature on African-American centered language and communication is all about language used for identity or language that identifies them (Jackson, 2004). Language has also been used to identify black people as those violent, irresponsible, drug dealers ec cetera by the Eurocentric community. They use language to identify black people as a “problem” therefore discriminates against them. The trend as depicted in all literature about African American history is not changing considering discrimination. It is only the form of discrimination that changes but the “us against them” (Joseph, 2004: p. 4) frame still remains. This paper is about the theories, approaches, trends and methodologies on the state of art in African centered communication focusing on language and identity. Below is a critical description of language and identity in African American centered communication. African American Language The language that a specific community speaks defines what words they discriminate from other communities and what they teach each other. It is what a specific community uses to communicate among themselves. According to Morgan, this is what language is and according to so many other authors (Lanehart, 2001; Norment, 2005; Hecht et al, 2003 & Jackson, 2004), language identifies a community. It even identifies the African American community as distinct from other communities in America. Most languages are recognized as “languages”. In this case “language” means that with recognized/legitimate grammar rules and dialects among other linguistic features. French, English, Swahili, Arabic and so many other languages are recognized as, let us say, ‘languages’, but is this the case with African American language? Is it recognized as a language with its own grammatical rules and language dialects? Yes, it is currently but for a long time it was not a language to be recognized as a “language” (Wheeler, 1999 & Rickford, 1999). A story by Wheeler and Rickford) on how people reacted to an announcement that intended to recognize the African American Vernacular English as a language that can be used in classrooms, a language that teachers should be taught to look at objectively and appreciate its merits tells it all (1999, 1999). According to Wheeler, the teachers were mocked, ridiculed and that was the story for weeks (1999). This was in 1996 at an Oakland city school; a city where half the population is African American. African American language is still viewed by many people as a spoilt American English; it is still considered English with grammatical errors and addition of some special slangs. It may be English with grammatical errors or added slang as other people view it but it has important roles in identifying what community the African American is. Wheeler (1999), Rickford (1999), Morgan (2002) and Lanehart (2001) however, do not agree with those who refer to African American Vernacular English as broken English or slang. These authors note that AAVE has phonological, morphological, pragmatic, semantic and syntactic features that have social and political meanings beyond linguistics (Wheeler, 1999), Rickford, 1999, Morgan, 2002 & Lanehart, 2001). The response of the public to recognition of AAVE is a clear indication of the identity that the African Americans hold and may still hold. As recent as 1996, it was still a surprise to recognize AAVE without any commotion. They are still perceived as that community that does not belong to the American society. Perspectives on African American Language There are four different perspectives about the African American language described by different authors and these are: Gillard Joseph’s perspectives on Black English Ralph Fasold’s “distinctive linguistic characteristics of Black English” Roger Adams’ “Advantages of Black English” and The Africanist approach to studying Black English by Dibose Charles and Faraclas Nicholas (Norment, 2005, p. 1-2) These are like theories about Black English and its roles. Gillard Joseph considers the language as that belonging to a specific group of people considering their economic, social and cultural status or difference. The group (disadvantaged) as he refers to them is the black American citizens whose descendants are the freedmen, house servants and those who worked in plantation fields. The language was however not spoken by middle class Negroes. His idea does not include Black English as that spoken by all Negroes (Norment, 2005). Just like Morgan (2002) describes that there are those who consider Black English as one of the varieties of English language, Gillard considers Black English spoken by this group of people as one of the varieties of English (Norment, 2005). “Distinctive linguistic characteristics of Black English”: Under this perspective, the author shows that Black English is totally different from Standard English and teachers, linguists and dialectologists should not just assume that Black English is a distortion of Standard English. He notes that the difference in such languages is in the syntax and not the lexicophonology therefore word forms should not be used to distinguish the two (Norment, 2005). Abraham describes the nature of communication in African American culture just as described by Jackson (2004), noting the difference between Black English and Standard English in performance. According to this author, performances of Black English speakers involve interaction with the listener as compared to the Standard English performance which he refers to as a “thing”. The author has also described the importance of recognizing the linguistic differences between the two languages. The idea on African American language (Black English) to the two authors (Dibose Charles and Faraclas Nicholas) is that superficial differences or similarities should not be used to study or understand the origin, role and evolution of the language. According to the two authors, Black English has more surface similarities compared to surface similarities to other African American language systems. However, there is a lot of influence from African substrate language patterns in African American English. The model of development postulates that, there is basilectal Black English which develops due to creole ancestry for Black English, persistent African substratum influence or both (Norment, 2005). African American Language as an Identity and Source of Identity Language negotiates identity. It forms part of one’s culture hence identity. This is what Jackson (2004) tries to explain about African American communication. This author notes that the language used by African American women identifies them as African American women. An example is the use of the word “girl” which most African American women use to refer to each other when talking. The tone of the talking is also different and identifies African Americans social behavior. An example is, “Girl, hey, what’s up?” (Jackson, 2004 p. 168). This is like friendliness in the African American community among the women but it is not interpreted in the same way by white American women (Jackson, 2004). Lanehart indicates that language in African American community is part of its culture. The language formed by African Americans after the end of slavery (African American Vernacular English) is considered a cultural and linguistic treasure. It is more than just what the African Americans use for communication. According to the author, the language of African Americans represents a lot of issues in the society (Lanehart, 2001). According to Zeigler as written in (Lanehart, 2001), AAVE is a system used by African Americans to communicate, it is used by African American writers to express literacy hence a media, AAVE is used by African Americans to maintain their cultural unity and is constant, is a factor in nation building since it is a language whose origin and development is synchronous with that of the nation (America), it is a social institution, it is a matter for political controversy based on the issues surrounding it for example the “ Black English Trial” (Lanehart, 2001, p. 1169) and contains language factors that make African Americans express their cultural self (Lanehart, 2001). Language changes the nature of cultural identity. According to Hecht and others, there is a relationship between language and cultural identity and this is well explained by the ethnolinguistic theory. This theory is about how a community or group of people speaking the same language maintains their linguistic identity. According to the theory, there are processes and techniques that are used to maintain linguistic distinctiveness. These are; posture, vocabulary, gesture, style, accent, slang and other speech and non verbal markers. These techniques and processes create psycholinguistic distinctiveness as postulated by Giles (Hecht et al, 2003). The result is a language group that characterized by active collectivity and ability to survive as a unique group. The distinctiveness of the group is maintained by a boundary that is defined by emphasis on the group’s language so that people identify themselves as members of the group because of the language, insecurity levels in other groups, ability to have hard and closed intergroup boundaries, high perceived group vitality, strong identification with only one group, perception of the group as having a higher social status than other groups and perception or recognition of other persons as belonging to another group (Hecht et al, 2003). Ethnolinguistic theory explains the relationship between African American language and their cultural identity. The authors believe that African American language has non verbal and linguistic markers that make it distinctive. The manner in which African Americans switch codes explains how they manage the boundary of the group’s distinctiveness. The ability of the African American community to survive as a distinct group since their arrival in the United States also explains the vitality of the group. History explains a lot about the vitality of the group (Hecht et al, 2003). The Origin of African American Language and Identity African American communication systems dynamics are secular and sacred maintaining the African essence of African American Life (Jackson, 2004). According to Jack Daniel and Geneva Smitherman as cited in (Jackson, 2004), traditional Africa has a major role in the sacred and secular communication systems of African Americans. The continuity of traditional African heritage influencing the communications systems is brought about by the church. The church which has a call-response pattern of communication adopted from the traditional African heritage. According to these authors, this pattern does not diminish; it persists, is intact and only takes another form as the African American generations come and go (Jackson, 2004). The pattern is part of the deep structures of the African American communication patterns. The theory postulated here is that in African American communication, there are surface structures and the deep structures. Surface structures are subject to rapid change, objective, empirical, are constrained by space and time and are not generative in nature, while deep structures are subjective, not culturally bound, intangible, generative in nature and archetypal (Jackson, 2004). It means that however much changes are noticed in the communication patterns of the African Americans; their deep structures still remain unchanged. This is where the call-response pattern of communication comes in. Call response pattern is an interacting spontaneous process derived from the traditional African nature of communication. It is both verbal and non verbal interactions between the speaker and the listener in which the speakers “call” is interrupted or followed by the listeners’ “response” (Jackson, 2004). It covers the sacred secular variety in Black culture. Black communications network nowadays are superficially different depending on the socio cultural context, for example church Verses Street, but the basic underlying structures of such communication is the same. This is as evidenced in the structures of the communication patterns of African American poets and preachers, toast tellers and testifiers, and Gospelettes and bluesmen all with Traditional African world view pattern of communication (Jackson, 2004). Traditional Black church is the origin of call response pattern of communication. The church was characterized by tongue speaking, holy dancing, Amen saying, getting of the spirits, bench walking, holy rolling and God sending. Defining a church without consideration to the traditional African church, that is, the church that people go to today, the content of the church might be borrowed, for example from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but the process of communication remains the same (African). Examples of such churches are Sanctified, Methodist, Baptist and Holiness churches where there is still intense emotional singing, the preachers practice call-response pattern of communication and is characterized by hollers and shouts (Jackson, 2004). The content of the church does not matter in African traditional churches; instead, it is the intent of the church that matters. The church is meant to help people seek the power of God’s spirit to help them live through their life time since without that power, man is considered powerless. By this it means that the church does not just define the community (of the Africans or African Americans), it is not just a church but a trend of responding to economic and social disorder. This is why Daniel and Smitherman note that, the African American communication patterns are influenced by their Traditional African communication patterns (Jackson, 2004). Their history plays a part in their communication patterns. So in this case, communication patterns identify how the African Americans communicate. They are identified by their African inherited ‘call-response’ way of communication and inherited African church intentions that are practiced to date. The Origins of African American Language There are different views about the origins of African American Language but all of them trace back to the presence of Africans in the United States in the seventeenth century. In some cases, the language is referred to as Black English and its origin, role and difference with the American English is explained in some of the views (Norment, 2005). Morgan describes language and communication among the African Americans focusing on the role of language in mediating identity in social and cultural context. The history of how the African Americans achieved their language is of a lot of importance in understanding how the African Americans got their identity either by the colonizers or by themselves. The approach taken by this author in describing how African Americans identify themselves and how they are identified considers the formation of African language; a language formed due to oppression and has evolved into a creole (Morgan, 2002). According to the author, the history of language speaks volumes and that of African Americans is deafening. When Africans were captured as slaves and brought to America, two communities met and according to the author, when two communities come together or when two languages come together, issues of power and identity result. These communities will have to communicate with each other in one way or the other and their languages have to be used. One community however has to dominate and when that one does, it means that its ideology has weighed down the other language. The oppressed have to deal with it. This is the case of the African Americans. Their languages were overwhelmed by the American English and they came up with AAE to communicate (Morgan, 2002 & Louden, 2000). By dealing with it Morga means accepting the situation. The result of such situations however defines the language of the people that have been overwhelmed. If the result is a pidgin, then it means there was a desperate means to communicate for survival or trade purposes. If the pidgin develops into creole, that is, the children of the overwhelmed group uses the language, develops its vocabulary and grammar, then it means that such a group never got to go back home. This is a clear history of how the African American language was formed though a theory, but it can be confirmed because the African Americans are African generations who came to America, the American language became dominant and since they were slaves, they had to develop a language for survival. In the end, they developed a language (AAE) which according to the author, was a pidgin that later developed into a creole (Morgan, 2002). African American Identity African American identity has different theories and approaches that explain its origin, existence and content. One of such theories is that the African American Identity was shaped by the cultural experiences (Cokley & Helm, 2007), the economic and political power structure in which they lived and dynamics of social context in which they lived. The economic and political power structure was that which favored the white Americans; it was a white dominated society with leaders being white and those with high ranking employments being whites as well. The social context in which they lived did not allow them to express themselves freely; they lived in a society where Black people were oppressed (Wilkie, 2000). African Americans were therefore those black people, who worked in very low ranking jobs, who could not express themselves because of white oppression and violence against them and who could not be leaders in the society (Wilkie, 2000). Another theory is that the history of African Americans is the major influence of their identity. Their history influences their culture and so influences their language and identity. Hecht and other authors of “African American Communication...” describe the African American interpretations of the social process of the group as a source of their culture and identity. The study on African American communication perspective used to understand how the culture is developed hence determine their identity is the same as the anthropological, psychological, historical, sociological, political and other perspectives but distinct because of its use of cognate disciplines to understand the interactions that form culture (Hecht et al, 2003). According to the authors, communication provides the points through which interactions that form culture are formed. One important example is that because of the African American history, different ways of communication have different meanings to what people may perceive as their meanings, for example, power. The meaning of power in African American context cannot be understood without understanding the powerlessness and discrimination they experienced in their lives (Hecht et al, 2003). Ron Eyerman also confirms that African American history affects what identity they adopt or have. This author stresses that the influence of cultural trauma due to slavery on the identity of the group. The theory of cultural trauma indicates that the memory and representation of slavery in art work and speeches by African Americans after the abolishment of slavery forms the background of African American Identity (2001). The definition of a cultural trauma that defines the identity of a group is as according to Neil Smelser which states that it is memory of what had happened to the people accepted by the group of people and given credibility in the public. The event or situation which the group remembers is represented as unforgivable or difficult to remove, loaded with negative effects and threatening to the existence of the group in one way of the other (Eyerman, 2001). According to Eyerman, threatening of the existence includes violations of the cultural identity of a society. This is the case with African Americans. The way they remember slavery and regard it classifies it a cultural trauma (2001). Eyerman explains this by describing how the African Americans remember slavery, the way they represent it and the way they tried to cope with the situation. In memories, it defines who they are as people whose ancestors were slaves. This is shown in art representations, speeches and poems. In one case for example, George Washington Williams wrote “Here were four million human beings without clothing, shelter, homes and alas! most of them without names. The galling harness of slavery had been cut off of their weary bodies, and like a worn out beast of burden they stood in their tracks scarcely able to go anywhere” (William 1882, p. 378 as cited in Eyerman, 2001). As Eyerman (2001) explains, this was written 20 years after the event which shows what memories the African American people hold with them. In trying to cope with the situation, the African Americans formed their own Identity. The author relates their efforts to form a collective identity by referring to the manner in which the Irish people formed their collective identity after destruction of their ethnic, racial and religious values. When forming such a collective identity, they have already identified themselves as people whose natural identity was taken away, people whose cultural identity was destroyed and people who need to come together and recollect what was lost (Eyerman, 2001). Africans were and in some cases, are still perceived as violent and ‘problems’, but there are reasons why they came to be considered as a problem or a violent community. Ela Forbes explains the reasons why African Americans resorted to fighting. According to the author (Ela Forbes as cited in Jackson & Richardson, 2003), African Americans (he refers to them as Africans because of the lack of acceptance as Americans by the White Americans at the time) are human beings just like the White people are and they wanted to show the white people, that they could be good brothers (Jackson & Richardson, 2003). This was turned down by the white Americans and racial discrimination increased. There is a case where a slave owner wanted to capture Africans to make them slaves again after they were freed and this made the African militants to kill the slave owner. They were fighting for their rights. This is the origin of the perception of Africans as a violent group. A sentence reads “Africans came to understand that, to this end, violent resistance was sometimes necessary” (Jackson & Richardson, 2003 p. 156). Another reads “Africans championed redemptive violence, a violence both retributive and retaliatory because it was to be committed in self defense and for the purpose of liberation” (Jackson & Richardson, 2003, p. 156). This is why the manner of fighting for liberation among African Americans has changed. They were identified as trouble makers when fighting for their rights, but this changed over time with the development of civil rights organizations and Black Nationalism promoting organizations (Gordon, 2006 & Adeleke, 1998). The Change in African American Identity African American identity since its establishment has changed over time. It was first considered an identity of a dysfunctional culture but several actions, events and ideas have changed that to proud blacks. Black people may still be considered violent as evidenced by statistics on the number of those jailed, drug dealers and so on currently (Joseph, 2004), but there is a great change in their identity from the time they came to America. According to Ogbar, African Americans have developed their own power and have embraced their identity as black, changed the way they view themselves and the way they expect people to view them (2004). This is due to the actions of the civil rights movements and African American nationalists who encouraged Africans to embrace their identity and take responsibility for their lives. They changed the way of fighting against racial discrimination (Ogbar, 2004 & Gordon, 2006). The change in African American Identity to a new one occurred after the 1960s and is due to the black power movement which constituted the Nation of Islam (NOI) and Black Panther Party (BPP) that made changes in the Black culture to incorporate politics and identity in America. The aim of the organizations was to achieve Black Nationalism although the organizations were not black nationalists. Just like in civil rights activism, the basic reason of operation was to fight for civil rights and privileges. With time this led to a new system of beliefs and this changed the identity of African Americans (Ogbar, 2004 & Adeleke, 1998). “Black power demanded inclusion while advocating for autonomy and self determination. It asserted black access to full citizenship rights while conspicuously cultivating pride in much that was not American” (Ogbar, 2004, p. 2). They now had the pride of being African American “Black” and were black self determinations which were part of the main themes of the Black Power movement (Ogbar, 2004). Gordon also indicates that African American change of identity has also been brought by rhetoric empowerment. He refers to the new identity as the nineteenth century Black Nationalism which encourages self belief and self determination. According to Gordon, African Americans are still violent, they are still a problem and when the issue of dealing with racism is brought up in discussions to solve problems of racism, African Americans are still considered a problem (2006). Racism is African Americanism and a problem to the white people that should be eliminated. This is the political and social ideology that developed in the earlier centuries when Blacks were slaves, when slavery ended and the early lives after slavery. Although this has reduced in this current century, there are still high cases of discrimination and dependence on the ideology that Blacks are a problem. An example is in the case of strategies of dealing with drug addiction and dealing with problems and increased rate of crime (2006). The solution according to the author’s argument is still discriminative. The author argues that instead of developing strategies of increasing employment opportunities, which may reduce rates of crimes considering the cause of crimes, and instead of developing drug addiction reduction strategies, the American state is focused on eliminating the problem. The problems in this case are the drug dealers and the criminals. Statistics show that the number of African Americans arrested is higher than the white Americans (Gordon, 2006). The author explains that the Blacks have resorted to a different way of identifying themselves, that is, rhetoric empowerment to change their beliefs on how they are regarded in the society. Before the change in how the Black people were perceived and how they perceived themselves, African Americans were perceived as those dependent on white people (Eurocentric perception) and those oppressed (Afro centric perception). Today black people pride themselves with their progress, there are and there have been black mayors since the influence of congressional Black caucus was felt, there are black professors and African Americans are now part of the American cultural society not just by name and previous perceptions, but by their music, politics and fashion (A new identity). It has changed from the days of oppression and dependence on white people to the days of realistic black consciousness and belief that they can create their own liberation organizations to serve black people; a change towards believing in self and group sovereignty (Ogbar, 2004). Black nationalists such as Garvey who in most cases used anti black notions to promote black pride and nationalism also contributed much to the change in identity of African Americans. According to Garvey, the African American culture by then encouraged irresponsible health habits, the leaders were corrupt and the African Americans chose to follow them and the blacks were a product of a dysfunctional culture. These beliefs made Garvey speak against the culture. He would encourage them to be realistic in their actions and stop blaming God, whom they believed provided everything and influenced every part of their life. In one occasion, Garvey told African Americans as quoted, “what spirit wouldn’t leave you. You ignorant good for nothing lot?” (p. 6). Garvey was referring to the belief that African Americans had, that any sickness was brought about by the spirit of God having left them. He wanted them to get realistic and practice responsible health habits that would prevent them from getting diseases and even help them treat those diseases. All these are self effacing rhetoric which most black nationalists used. Civil rights movements have also played a very important role in changing African American identity through fighting for their rights (Ogbar, 2004). Conclusion Several theories and approaches have been described giving explanations of different authors’ beliefs about African American language and identity. One view that most authors share is that the African American language has its origins from the African culture. Another view is that the history of African American’s life and slavery has influenced their culture. Language as shown by Jackson is used for communication and representation (2004). African Americans represent themselves using their developed language which also forms part of their culture. The perceived identity of African Americans by the white population during the previous centuries is not the identity they may have had although their actions during that time could have led to the development of that perception. After slavery, the blacks thought they would be free and could share the privileges of the white man, which never happened. The white people were also oppressive and denied them their rights. This led to violence as a form of self defense and manner of seeking liberation. White people considered them violent and of low status. Even today, African Americans are still perceived as violent, drug kingpins, most being unemployed and lazy. A lot has changed however with the African Americans embracing their identity as Black and trying to change the Eurocentric perception of them as a bad group. It is important to note that African American culture forms its identity and language forms part of that culture. Reference List Adeleke, T. (1998). Black Americans, Africa and History: A Reassessment of the Pan-African and Identity Paradigms. The Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 22. Cokley, K and Helm, K. (2007). The Relationship between African American Enculturation and Racial Identity. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Vol. 35. Eyerman, R. (2001). Cultural Trauma: Slavery And The Formation Of African American Identity. (4th Ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gordon, D. B. (2006). Black Identity: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalism. Illinois: SIU Press. Hecht, M. L, Jackson, R. L. and Ribeau, S. A. (2003). 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