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Ruben Genao – “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin – Response

Posted by Ruben Genao on

In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?”, James Baldwin explains the importance of language and how language is not exclusively for communication, it can be used to classify people with different social backgrounds and class, making it a tool to judge people based on their accents. Baldwin writes “There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous, even fatal. Or, one may speak the same language, but in such a way that one’s antecedents are revealed, or (one hopes) hidden. This is true in France, and is absolutely true in England: The range (and reign) of accents on that damp little island make England coherent for the English and totally incomprehensible for everyone else. To open your mouth in England is (if I may use black English) to “put your business in the street”: You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future”. Baldwin also explains the importance of language by saying the white rule over slaves would never have lasted as long as it did if the slaves didn’t have a language barrier, he states “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey”. Black English came into existence because of the dispersion of black people from different tribes, its creation helped the slaves to form a community and to combat tough times.

What stood out to me the most was when Baldwin said “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey” This sentence makes me think of human history relating to the river valley civilizations and how language was a necessity in order to survive in their environment, leading to slavery in the United States and how Black English only came to existence because of the need to communicate that came with the adversity of slavery.

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Ruben Genao

https://engl21001.commons.gc.cuny.edu/author/rubengenao/

Comments ( 5 )

  1. Christopher Collaguazo
    Ruben you did a good job explaining and I found interesting when you said that language "can be used to classify people with different social backgrounds and class, making it a tool to judge people based on their accents". I did not really view language this way, but it is nice to know that language can be used for other things as you mentioned. When you said that language is a necessity for one to survive in their environment and as you said back then during slavery many slaves survived through black english and communicate among themselves.
  2. Julian Fontanez
    Ruben I liked your explanation and how you showed what the author was talking about. Like when you said how language is not only for communication but also to classify people with different backgrounds. I also used one of the examples you used on how if the black prisoners on the boat spoke the same language things would have turned out differently. I also liked how you brought global history knowledge about the river valley civilizations on how they needed to know the same language to survive.
  3. Ali Husain
    I agree with Christopher and Julian you wrote a good explanation. Bringing in background knowledge into the explanation was a good touch. When you said "can be used to classify people with different social backgrounds and class, making it a tool to judge people based on their accents" I can see how that is true even today. For instance when a New Yorker goes to a different state people can tell where they are from and already start to judge them.
  4. Bryan Nunez
    Ruben I liked your explanation and how you showed what the author was talking about. And how you talk about information that wasn't in the text. Your explanation are clear and the person reading it understand what the quote is saying.
  5. Maximo Martinez Grullon
    I liked the way you added what you liked/ stood out, about the reading, and then the way you added your own knowledge about the topic. I also like the way you explained the importance of language by mentioning the times where white used slaves, and slaves were in a disadvantages for not having a language. But I would like you for you to add citation for the quotes used.

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