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TALKING BLACK in AMERICA – Trailer
TALKING BLACK in AMERICA – Martin Luther King
More Than Words: Martin Luther King, Jr. was inarguably one of the most influential and socially transformative speakers in American History. Linguistic assessment highlights the role of identity in shaping his powerful message.
TALKING BLACK in AMERICA – Skills
Hip hop as both a musical genre and a culture originated with inner-city African Americans in the Bronx in the 1970s and within a few years became a major cultural force in the United States and the world. Hip hop is popularly viewed as an influence on language, but NYU linguist John Singler notes, “People think that African American English is picking up these things from hip hop, when in fact hip hop is making use of longstanding features of African American English.” Battle rap also is nothing new, but a manifestation of a longstanding tradition exclusive to African American communities of ‘playing The Dozens.’ (Yale based Psychologist John Dollard is credited with the first academic treatment of The Dozens in 1939.)
TALKING BLACK in AMERICA – Education
African American Vernacular English is a learned language system, governed by strict grammatical rules and all of the other properties of any language system. In the 1990s American educators attempted to use this linguistic fact to help more students master Standard English and succeed in public schools. The media misrepresented – and the public misunderstood – these efforts, and the public uproar set back a scientifically-based endeavor to narrow the achievement gap.
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TALKING BLACK in AMERICA was produced by
The Language and Life Project at NC State University
www.talkingblackinamerica.org
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