We all desire a place where we can be ourselves. Maybe not even ourselves, but something better. What if there was a place where we could have people look at us and only see what we wanted to see. Our strengths would be highlighted and our flaws would be disguised. Above all that, what if there was a place where we could enhance ourselves and give ourselves characteristics that we do not poses. There is one simple solution, the internet. There are thousands of social networking sites. One in particular is Blackplanet.com. This is a place where mostly persons of African American descent can come and meet other persons. The key principle about the site is you can show others browsing the site who you want them to see, whether or not it is really who you are. This allows many users to voice their opinions and express emotions and ways of means that they usually would not in the real world.
For example, I found that almost all of the users on Blackplanet.com dabbled in AAVE as well as rhetorical features. I found that many of the users used braggadocio and signifying when describing either themselves or just talking about things in general, “I be humble, down-to-earth, cool and collective brotha”, says one of the users from black planet. You can see in the users phrase AAVE features such as “be”. It looked as if the users were very comfortable using AAVE terminology which I usually don’t hear in a school setting or in most places. I did a course reading by Knadler entitled “E-racing”. His article supports that many people find it easy to go on the internet and use it as an outlet. It is a way to express who they are, as well as be who they want to be. Knadler writes that “ Rather than celebrating the e-space of their Web-based portfolios as utopias of alternative self-fashioning, many first-year Spelman students (who are all Black and female) re-constructed them as sites of what I call resistant memory where they might be seen, heard, and—most importantly—“felt.”’(Knadler 236) Knadler shows that African women can go on these social networking sites, such as Blackplanet.com, and have that freedom to express their individuality or be what they want people to see. When people go on Blackplanet.com or any other of these social networking sites they do not have to make excuse for who they are. They will no longer be judged. Knadler believed this. Knadler shows that finally many black women finally feel they have a place where they can speak AAVE or how they want and will not have that prejudice or discrimination placed on them, “finding the ideal community where she no longer has to explain or apologize for her “Blackness” and where others understand her as she understands herself”( Knadler 236).
I found that Blackplanet.com and they reading I did represent AAVE very similarly. Blackplanet.com actually shows how AAVE is appropriated, being used, and people actually expressing themselves. While the Knadler article shows that it is okay to use AAVE and using the internet as an outlet is a perfect solution. I found that in Knadlers article that one student wrote, “Once a net surfer has checked out my web-based portfolio, I want him or her to have a sense of who I am as a person. . . All of these works are representative of me. . . and in general are just me”(Knadler 236), I found this to be a rhetorical feature of braggadocio and found it consistent with many of the articles on Blackplant.com. Being able to voice your opinion is so important, whether you are voicing in it in AAE, AAVE, or any other form, just as long as it is being heard!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
dwb2
The site I analyzed was Blackplanet.com. It is a social networking system, welcome for all but centered on the Black community. Many different users can go on the website and make personal profiles about themselves. Users can meet new people, discuss current news, talk about music, etc. It is a very popular site, with a wide variety of users and people to meet. Within the site I found many ways in which AAVE is appropriated.
The first thing I noticed when I browsed from the various profiles was the way individuals represented themselves. I found it very common that people would brag about themselves in this particular section where you give information about yourself. The personal information was boastful and a little arrogant at sometimes. Many times the information given was unrealistic and over the top. I found this to be an AAVE rhetorical feature called braggadocio.
The next thing I noticed was many users would use AAVE or sometimes considered “slang”, quite often. For example, the word “love” was spelled “luv”. The word “thanks” was spelled “thanx” on some users. I came across some sentences I thought were perfect examples. For instance, “Whut up black P, you C we did it right U know”, only assuming it could mean “ What is up, black people, you see we did it right you know?”.
I next came upon people’s user’s names which I found very interesting. Instead of using normal or formal given names, users of the site used some pretty rambunctious ones. For instance twizzmoney, moneymaking guy, nakedwithsockson, get-money-641, and The Dazzler. I found it very interesting people would pick these names over the standard Jane or John Doe.
The last thing that really stuck out was the way users of the site would talk about how bad or sick they were. They did not have the common cold or were going to jail serve a term, however they were actually “bad” and “sick”. They used semantic inversion a lot to describe themselves. For example, “I aint the average guy, im way SIKKER!”. Saying he is “sicker” could mean that he is a lot cooler.
Overall, the site is a great way to social network. I found a lot of examples of AAVE everywhere I looked, mostly semantic inversion and braggadocio.
The first thing I noticed when I browsed from the various profiles was the way individuals represented themselves. I found it very common that people would brag about themselves in this particular section where you give information about yourself. The personal information was boastful and a little arrogant at sometimes. Many times the information given was unrealistic and over the top. I found this to be an AAVE rhetorical feature called braggadocio.
The next thing I noticed was many users would use AAVE or sometimes considered “slang”, quite often. For example, the word “love” was spelled “luv”. The word “thanks” was spelled “thanx” on some users. I came across some sentences I thought were perfect examples. For instance, “Whut up black P, you C we did it right U know”, only assuming it could mean “ What is up, black people, you see we did it right you know?”.
I next came upon people’s user’s names which I found very interesting. Instead of using normal or formal given names, users of the site used some pretty rambunctious ones. For instance twizzmoney, moneymaking guy, nakedwithsockson, get-money-641, and The Dazzler. I found it very interesting people would pick these names over the standard Jane or John Doe.
The last thing that really stuck out was the way users of the site would talk about how bad or sick they were. They did not have the common cold or were going to jail serve a term, however they were actually “bad” and “sick”. They used semantic inversion a lot to describe themselves. For example, “I aint the average guy, im way SIKKER!”. Saying he is “sicker” could mean that he is a lot cooler.
Overall, the site is a great way to social network. I found a lot of examples of AAVE everywhere I looked, mostly semantic inversion and braggadocio.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Dw1 b
From the course text “It Bees Dat Way Sometime” the author Smitherman writes about Black English. Smitherman shows how Black English has just as many rules and regulations as AAE. Throughout the passage she shows different rules and grammatical structures for particular sentences. She also tells of ways one would speak in Black English. The main point that she tries to get across is that although Black English is different from AAE, it doesn’t make it any better or worse. At the end of the passage she quotes a poem by Langston Hughes.
The poem really resonated in my mind because it reminded me so much of my commencement speech. The whole poem was written in Black English, which was considered incorrect. In my senior commencement speech, I spoke in a manner at some points which was considered “informal”. It was looked at as an incorrect way to address a public audience. In the Langston Hughes poem there is a phrase by a man named Simple, “If I can get the sense right, the grammar can take care of itself. I have not had enough schooling to put words together right-but I know some white folks who have went to school for forty years and do not do right. I figure it’s better to do right than to write right, is it not?”. The point is, it does not matter what you are saying, as long as it has meaning. The man in the Langston Hughes poem stated it beautifully; it doesn’t matter if you can speak correct AAE English or if you are speaking Black English, as long as what is said is true to the speakers’ heart and has meaning behind it than that’s all that matters. Even though my speech was not spoken in standard AAE, it was understood and enjoyed by the public. It did not matter how I was speaking to my audience, it was the fact that me and my senior class had a connection and I could speak in a way which was comfortable to me, and I believed would get my point across in the most effective way.
After reviewing the “ It Bees Dat Way” passage, and relating it to my own experience with my commencement speech, I found an underlying similarity. When you are expressing yourself through words, all that has to be made is that connection with the listener. It does not matter how you are saying it as long as that connection is made and the point is getting across. I used everyday language that a standard teenager would use, in my speech, to connect with the teenage audience. Langston Hughes used Black English, and showed slight differences did not make a difference to the power of the passage, it still has meaning. So as long as what your saying has meaning it doesn’t matter what type of grammar you use.
The poem really resonated in my mind because it reminded me so much of my commencement speech. The whole poem was written in Black English, which was considered incorrect. In my senior commencement speech, I spoke in a manner at some points which was considered “informal”. It was looked at as an incorrect way to address a public audience. In the Langston Hughes poem there is a phrase by a man named Simple, “If I can get the sense right, the grammar can take care of itself. I have not had enough schooling to put words together right-but I know some white folks who have went to school for forty years and do not do right. I figure it’s better to do right than to write right, is it not?”. The point is, it does not matter what you are saying, as long as it has meaning. The man in the Langston Hughes poem stated it beautifully; it doesn’t matter if you can speak correct AAE English or if you are speaking Black English, as long as what is said is true to the speakers’ heart and has meaning behind it than that’s all that matters. Even though my speech was not spoken in standard AAE, it was understood and enjoyed by the public. It did not matter how I was speaking to my audience, it was the fact that me and my senior class had a connection and I could speak in a way which was comfortable to me, and I believed would get my point across in the most effective way.
After reviewing the “ It Bees Dat Way” passage, and relating it to my own experience with my commencement speech, I found an underlying similarity. When you are expressing yourself through words, all that has to be made is that connection with the listener. It does not matter how you are saying it as long as that connection is made and the point is getting across. I used everyday language that a standard teenager would use, in my speech, to connect with the teenage audience. Langston Hughes used Black English, and showed slight differences did not make a difference to the power of the passage, it still has meaning. So as long as what your saying has meaning it doesn’t matter what type of grammar you use.
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