In Episode 51, we discuss Black American English, also known as AAVE, as a way to consider some of the differences between identitarian and identity politics approaches. Black American English is minority dialect in the United States of America. The identitarian approach to protecting Black American English typically involves appropriation discourse and the restriction of who can use Black American English on the basis of racial idenity. We offer another approach, one based in identity politics, which treats Black American English as a minority language deserving of legal protection and recognition. This approach does not restrict who can learn or speak Black American English, but does insist there are correct and incorrect ways to speak it, and, more importantly, focuses on the rights of native Black American English speakers, regardless of racial identity. 

Part of the Identity Crisis series.

Show Notes

Could Black English Mean a Prison Sentence? by John McWhorter: "An upcoming study in the linguistics journal Language found that 27 Philadelphia [court] stenographers, presented with recordings of Black English grammatical patterns, made transcription errors on average in two out of every five sentences, and could accurately paraphrase only one in three sentences."

Lexicon Valley with John McWhorter: Black Like Us

Lexicon Valley with John McWhorter: What Had Happened Was Storytelling

Lexicon Valley with John McWhorter: White Author, Black English. Problem?

Quebec's Charter of the French Language

Aboriginal Language Knowledge and Youth Suicide: "Youth suicide rates effectively dropped to zero in those few communities in which at least half the band members reported a conversational knowledge of their own Native language."

Indigenous Language Organizations and Initiatives

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Theme song by ST x LIAM.

Mixing and editing by Charlotte Dora.

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