Summary Part I

Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English

Summary Part I (1-50 pgs.)

The Spoken Souls starts off by providing a few definitions.

“The Soul: the animating and vital principal in humans; the central or integral part; the vital core; a sense of ethnic pride among Black people and especially African Americans,  expressed in areas such as language, social customs, religion and music.”

Now that we know what the soul is, one might ask what is Spoken Soul? The author’s use the words of African American author and intellectual Claude Brown, to define it as the Black Vernacular of African Americans. What makes this language so unique is it “possesses a pronounced lyrical quality which is frequently incompatible to any music other than that ceaselessly and relentlessly driving rhythm that flows from poignantly spent lives.”

Spoken Soul is the language of African Americans primarily spoken in homes, churches, neighborhoods, streets, schools, the media, literature, and music. African Americans use this language to preach and praise, sing and dance, laugh or cry, confide or console, philosophize, and examine, survive in the streets or relax with friends and family at home. It is simply the way African Americans feel comfortable to express themselves in their cultural environment. According to the Rickford’s this language is important to our history, popular culture as well as both African and American society. “It marks black identity and stands as a symbol of the culture, and lifestyle that has greatly impacted popular American culture." Rickford asserts without it we would lose a vital link to our nation’s past.

On the other hand, contrary to the definitions given prior, those who oppose “Black English”, popularly define it as: “disgusting black street slang; incorrect and substandard English; nothing more than ignorance; lazy English; the language of illiteracy.” These definitions are starkly different than those of Claude Brown, and reflect the love hate dynamics with Ebonics. Some of the resentment towards Black English stems from the belief that it could replace Standard English and that it will also create more differences between Americans. Many opponentd believe support of Black English would “Keep us in the Ghetto”, instead of aiding African Americans in upward mobility.

Just from reading the first fifty pages I can understand how important a persons' cultural language is to them. Language is something that we cannot live without, and it is important to our daily lives. Upon further reading this book, I would like to know if one can truly succeed in the economic and social worlds without having to surrender one’s distinctive identity, if language is a component of our identities.