Black English: Its history and usage in the United States

• Published in: Journal of English linguistics 1973-03, Vol.7 (Mar), p.87-106
• Main Author: D'Eloia, Sarah G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0075-4242

A review of a work which, in its attitude toward cultural and linguistic relativism, is a plea for linguistically enlightened minds to give Black English a nationalistically respectable history. Based on the espousal of an African-substratum hypothesis, it is maintained that historical differences in language, rather than differences in intelligence, account for the poor academic performance of black students. African pidgin English or Creole first developed on the West Coast of Africa; Dillard argues against tracing the origins of Black English to the archaic features of British English dialects, which he views as a racist theory. Dillard writes as a polemicist rather than as a disappasionate linguist; his over-zealous attachment to proving a narrowly conceived Creole hypothesis excludes much that would have been more helpful. He is, however, on solid ground in urging an attitude of mutual respect, in attacking the language deprivation-cognition-deficiency theory advanced by non-linguists, and in deploring the simple equation of the linguistically and culturally different with mental inferiority. He is arguing reasonably when he urges a bi-dialectal approach to our pressing social problems. R. Gaskill