Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America / Edition 1

by Geneva Smitherman

Overview

A highly readable collection of key articles and essays by a leading scholar on African American language and politics. Discussing the inter-relationship between African American language, culture and education, Talkin' that Talk is divided into sections, each introduced by the author, which include:
* African American language and education
* Language theory, research and the Black intellectual tradition
* Black language and culture
* Black women's discourse
* Language policy and global multilingualism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415208659
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/30/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Geneva Smitherman is an established writer and key commentator on African American language and culture. She has forged a writing style which combines academic discourse and African American English which has become widely celebrated for efficacy in making the medium the message. Her previous publications include Talkin and Testifyin and Black Talk and she is a contributor to African American English

Table of Contents

Preface INTRODUCTION: FROM GHETTO LADY TO CRITICAL LINGUIST Part one EBONICS, LANGUAGE THEORY, AND RESEARCH 1 Introduction to Ebonics 2 From African to African American 3 White English in Blackface, Or, Who Do I Be? 4 Discriminatory Discourse on African American Speech 5 “A New Way of Talkin’”: Language, Social Change, and Political Theory 6 Review of Noam Chomsky’s Language and Responsibility Part two LANGUAGE AND THE EDUCATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS 7 English Teacher, Why You Be Doing the Thangs You Don’t Do? 8 “What Go Round Come Round”: King in Perspective 9 Ebonics, King, and Oakland: Some Folk Don’t Believe Fat Meat is Greasy 10 African American Student Writers in the NAEP, 1969–88/89 and “The Blacker the Berry, the Sweeter the juice” Part three LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 11 “How I Got Ovuh”: African World View and African American Oral Tradition 12 “If I’m Lyin, I’m Flyin”: The Game of Insult in Black Language 13 “Makin a Way Outa No Way”: The Proverb Tradition in the Black Experience 14 Testifyin, Sermonizin, and Signifyin: Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the African American Verbal Tradition 15 “The Chain Remain the Same”: Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation Part four LANGUAGE POLICY, POLITICS, AND POWER 16 African Americans and “English Only” 17 The “Mis-Education of the Negro”—and You Too 18 Language and Democracy in the USA and the RSA 19 Review of Multilingual Education for South Africa, Part five COLUMNS 20 Soul ’N Style 21 Black English: So Good It’s “Bad” 22 “Still I Rise”: Education Against the Odds in Cuba Part six THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES 23 CCCC and the “Students’ Right To Their Own Language”.

What People are Saying About This

Walt Wolfram

Captures the essence of Smitherman's forceful contribution to understanding of language, education and politics.

Mary Bucholz

The book we've been waiting for an intelligent, engaging and persuasive discussion of African American language within its cultural and political context.

Editorial Reviews

'A thoroughly engaging collection, intelligently conceived, and well presented. Smitherman is a force in her field, a true leader, a pioneer.' - Choice

'No one who is interested in the sway of language over class should miss this book.' - Library Review

From the Publisher

Noted for her best-selling Black Talk, Smitherman (English, Michigan State) explores the state of "Ebonics," a controversial black dialect that caused a stir in the media not too long ago. In these essays she writes about the African American oral tradition and the influence of rap and hip hop on black language. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal