Alanna Dailey - class discussion

Class Discussion: outside reading
In class today we discussed how text influences the way we speak. Charles Dickens’ literature was given as an example. Dickens is known for being difficult to read; his sentences are filled with subordinate clauses. Due to the abundance of subordinate clauses, oral cultures would be unable to understand his narration. I found a lot similarities between this and African American English (AAE/Ebonics). In The Language War, Robin Tolmach Lakoff explains in her chapter on Ebonics (pgs. 227-251) that the origins of AAE are Celtic. Slaves learned English from the whites they had the most contact with – the Irish indentured servants. Having both African and Celtic background, one can argue that AAE is rooted with oral culture traditions. AAE is not slang; it has its own lexicon, phonology, and grammar.
AAE speaking students often have a difficult time in school because they do not fully understand the Standard English that is taught in schools today. This is parallel to oral cultures not being able to understand Dickens. Lakoff suggests that it is the difference in language that puts African Americans at a disadvantage. Another characteristic of oral narration is that stories are not linear; it goes straight into action. This is another similarity between AAE and oral cultures. AAE speakers also use an “indirect” method of storytelling. Lakoff gives examples of this by quoting an AAE speaker in a trial testimony and an AAE speaking child describing her summer activities.
AAE has unique features found oral languages. Though its core is Standard English, a literate language, many of its features originate from other oral languages: African and Gaelic. Two characteristics of oral languages that can be found in AAE are difficulty following written texts due to the abundance of subordinate clauses and the use of non-linear narration.