Justice Department Seeks Ebonics Experts

In addition to helping decipher their Lil Wayne albums, the Justice Department is seeking Ebonics experts to help monitor, translate and transcribe wire tapped conversations. The DEA wants to fill nine full time positions. From the article: "A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a 'DEA Sensitive' security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of 'telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media.'”

Comments

Not enough mod points...

[strokerace]

There aren't enough mod points in the universe to mod down all the trolls that are going to be posting on this topic.

Airplane!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, stewardess, I speak jive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhJDvI3gUO8

awesome!

[larry bagina]

all those years of wigger training is finally going to pay off! YOU HEAR THAT MOM?!?!?!?!

Couldn't help it...

[John Pfeiffer]

ENGLISH, motherfucker. DO YOU SPEAK IT?

Re:Couldn't help it...

[Anonymous Coward]

What?

Re:That's not the professional term

[Anonymous Coward]

It says said group does not want to be assimilated and would instead prefer retaining certain unique cultural and linguistic elements.

Re:That's not the professional term

[WiglyWorm]

s3r10usLY, t3h 1MPl1c4T10NS 0f 4 Su8CUltur3 D3V3L0p1N' 1t's 0wN l4n9U493 R S3R10USLY d1sTur81n'. truLy 4M3r1c4 h4S F41L3d tH3Z3 c1T1Z3ns.

Herein follow a few terms to help you get started

[MRe_nl]

on your merry way towards the ve-nak-u-lar

"Damn- that shit is DOPE".
That is a wonderful concept/object/action.
"Can't FADE that".
I am unable to comprehend or assimilate that concept at this time.
"Shante ain't havin' it".
This is not something that Shante will allow to occur.
"Homey- Boo was dropping PHAT beats".
Our friend Boo was playing some wonderful music.
"YO!- Let me GAFFLE that BLUNT"!
Might I be able to indulge in your marijuana cigarette?
"JIMMY was on and I was HITTIN' it"!
I had in my possession a condom, which was used in my engagement of sexual activity.

http://www.ebonics-translator.com/ebonics_101.php

AAVE is a fairly recent development

[kurisuto]

Actually, it appears that AAVE is a product of the Great Northern Migration of African-Americans in the early 20th century. Prior to that time, there was little to no distinction between the dialects of southern whites and southern blacks.

The pieces of evidence for this claim include:

• Phonograph recordings made in the 1930's of former slaves
• Diaries and letters written by semi-literate slaves and former slaves in the 19th century. Since the writers were semi-literate, the spelling is a better indication of the pronunciation than standard spelling would be.

• Something which linguists call "age grading". If you take speakers of AAVE today and compare younger speakers with older speakers, the younger speakers actually have a higher percentage occurrence of the distinctive features of AAVE. This suggests that AAVE is becoming increasingly distinct from standard American English over time.

There are other pieces of evidence as well, but those are some of the important ones.

Translation:

[twoallbeefpatties]

In other words, we have a dialect of English that is generally spoken in the inner-city areas that have a predominance of crime, and we need someone who understands this dialect to help us make sure that we understand what's being talked about when we intercept criminals speaking that way. You dig?

I HAS a Dream

[theshowmecanuck]

I saw this poster in 1999 on a fellow's cubical wall at a place where the company I worked for was putting in a software system, in Rhode Island. The blog where the picture is hosted from provides the text below the picture. It was commissioned by The National Head Start Association. For those that it matters to, the person who put up the poster was black. It was no surprise when I saw it for the first time, as I found previously that he placed a lot of emphasis on being able to communicate effectively with those around him.

Your politically correct stance does not help people. In order to overcome prejudices it is best to focus on our similarities with others rather than on our differences. Once that is done, the differences don't matter as much. We cannot focus on anything if we cannot communicate. It doesn't help communication when one community works so hard on creating a wholly new dialect, if not language, just so that they can be more different.

In case the site is not available, or for those that don't care to click, here is the text:

"I HAS A DREAM" written over the image of the man. Below the image was the following text:

"Does this bother you? It should. We've spent over 400 years fighting for the right to have a voice. Is this how we'll use it? More importantly, is this how we'll teach our children to use it? If we expect more of them, we must not throw our hands in the air and agree with those who say our children cannot be taught. By now, you've probably heard about Ebonics (aka black [sic] English). And if you think it's become a controversy because white America doesn't want us messing with their precious language, don't. White America couldn't care less what we do to segregate ourselves.

The fact is language is power. And we can't take that power away from our children with Ebonics. Would Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and all the others who paid the price of obtaining our voice with the currency of their lives embrace this? If you haven't used your voice lately, consider this an invitation."

("SPEAK OUT AGAINST EBONICS", The National Head Start Association, 1651 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, The New York Times, October 9, 1998, A19 [National Edition])