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Ebonics

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Blend of ebony + phonics. Coined by scholars at the Cognitive and Language Development of the Black Child conference in 1973 led by Robert L. Williams and published in his book Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks (1975). Considered outdated by some.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Ebonics (uncountable)

  1. African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).
    • 1999, Geoffrey K. Pullum, “African American Vernacular English Is Not Standard English with Mistakes”, in Rebecca S. Wheeler, editor, The Workings of Language, →ISBN, page 40:
      Buried among the jargon of the announcement was a mention of a name for AAVE, suggested by a Black scholar in 1975[sic] but never adopted by linguists: Ebonics. That word, concocted from ebony (a color term from the name of a dark-colored wood) and phonics (the name of a method for teaching reading), was destined to attach to the board as if chiseled into a block of granite and hung round their necks.

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

  • ebonics (word) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Robert Williams (1975), Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks, St. Louis: Institute of Black Studies, →OCLC
  • Ebonics”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

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