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.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Senior speech
My high school did not do a traditional graduation ceremony. We had three commencement speakers instead of one, and I was chose out of a class of over four hundred to be one of them.
Speaking in front of audiences is what I do best. Nothing thrills me more than making a crowd of people rise and fall with my words, laugh or cry depending on my diction and voice. But speaking at commencement is a challenge that I’m not sure if I can handle: over 5 thousand people, including my peers, their parents, my teachers, my mentors, not to mention the Board of Education for my city. Could I really do this? Play on the emotions of over five thousand people?
I made one crucial decision that made that answer a yes.
I was myself. I didn’t use famous quotes from celebrities long since dead, or speak with a solemn superiority, using big words that I didn’t understand to make myself look smarter. I spoke as I would speak. Because, however this was something that my classmates and I would remember for years to come, I wanted to add some sort of inspiration for the future.
I didn’t begin my speech with a quote from Bernard Shaw or Rocky Balboa like the other two speakers. I used a line filled with my usual sarcastic self-deprecation: “Senior year. When the school year was about commence, I told myself “Carrie, this year, you’re gonna be cool.”
I used the slang term “gonna” to appeal to my classmates personally, because that is how we speak together. This speech was, after all, for them. I continued, “You’ll wave at people, and they’ll notice. No longer will people ask what your name is after going to school with you for ten years. And somehow when you get invited to a party, no longer will Mike Koester ask you, “’how did you get invited?’” I used language as we use it, to do something completely different from the others. But I did not forget the fact that my speech was being addressed to five thousand people, including a prestigious Board of Education. A line that I’m particularly proud of, one that touched me, was, “…the point is to take that strength of character we have gotten here (high school) and use it to carry ourselves over obstacles in the future.” This language was meant to sound inspirational. A touch more of formality made it appear eloquent and motivational. I changed my normal word choice and fluidity of speech to address a more serious section of my speech and to impress on my audience the importance of the tasks lying ahead of us.
My use of both formal and informal language in this piece of writing shows the diversity as well as the similarity in my changes between speech patterns. While my everyday language includes slang and rather sarcastic tones, I was able to morph them into formal speech with a more sophisticated rhythm and tone of speaking and word choice.
Speaking in front of audiences is what I do best. Nothing thrills me more than making a crowd of people rise and fall with my words, laugh or cry depending on my diction and voice. But speaking at commencement is a challenge that I’m not sure if I can handle: over 5 thousand people, including my peers, their parents, my teachers, my mentors, not to mention the Board of Education for my city. Could I really do this? Play on the emotions of over five thousand people?
I made one crucial decision that made that answer a yes.
I was myself. I didn’t use famous quotes from celebrities long since dead, or speak with a solemn superiority, using big words that I didn’t understand to make myself look smarter. I spoke as I would speak. Because, however this was something that my classmates and I would remember for years to come, I wanted to add some sort of inspiration for the future.
I didn’t begin my speech with a quote from Bernard Shaw or Rocky Balboa like the other two speakers. I used a line filled with my usual sarcastic self-deprecation: “Senior year. When the school year was about commence, I told myself “Carrie, this year, you’re gonna be cool.”
I used the slang term “gonna” to appeal to my classmates personally, because that is how we speak together. This speech was, after all, for them. I continued, “You’ll wave at people, and they’ll notice. No longer will people ask what your name is after going to school with you for ten years. And somehow when you get invited to a party, no longer will Mike Koester ask you, “’how did you get invited?’” I used language as we use it, to do something completely different from the others. But I did not forget the fact that my speech was being addressed to five thousand people, including a prestigious Board of Education. A line that I’m particularly proud of, one that touched me, was, “…the point is to take that strength of character we have gotten here (high school) and use it to carry ourselves over obstacles in the future.” This language was meant to sound inspirational. A touch more of formality made it appear eloquent and motivational. I changed my normal word choice and fluidity of speech to address a more serious section of my speech and to impress on my audience the importance of the tasks lying ahead of us.
My use of both formal and informal language in this piece of writing shows the diversity as well as the similarity in my changes between speech patterns. While my everyday language includes slang and rather sarcastic tones, I was able to morph them into formal speech with a more sophisticated rhythm and tone of speaking and word choice.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
It Bees Dat Way Some Times
IAR for : "It Bees That Way Sometimes"
A Whole New Outlook
The text was very insightful. It taught me a lot about Black Language and broke the preconceived notion I had about. What really stuck with me and resonated in my mind was the fact that Black English is not a random way to write or speak, like many people think. It has just as much structure and guidelines as White English. It is constantly evolving and changing with the mainstream twenty-first century. Having so many grammar rules, just like White English, I found it confusing to understand and learn all the Black English guidelines discussed in the text. The reading was pretty simple to understand, I think the only question I would have is how the Black English Grammar rules came about.
What is being invented in the text is the difference in the Black English grammar and White English grammar and how they are so similar all balled into one. The text shows how Black English is misunderstood, and how blacks have intense pressure to conform to White English. It shows that Black English usually is characterized as a pseudo language and has always had a bias. It then shows how Black English is an actual way to speak and has just as many rules and similar grammatical structure as White English. The author gives plenty of examples of Black English sentences and what it means in White English. Also how certain things are spoken in Black English and how a Black English Speaker would say them. A practice that could be done to compare and contrast and learn from Black English is to write a sentence in White English then translate it to Black English, or speak Black English. The arrangement in the text consists of dialects to grammar. It shows how in Black English, one speaks and how that would grammatically be written and the rules and regulations that must be followed. Basically, how something is spoken and how it is written in Black English. Also I believe biases in relation to the actual dialect. I believe that in certain cases people have a bias about personality or content of character by the way one speaks. In the text there is that underlying message that many feel Black English is not really a language , which is a bias, but on the contrary, it has just as many grammatical rules as White English. Thus, proving it is its own language, just different. The problem is that people have that preconceived notion about Black English. What the author does is set up a variety of different examples to prove the credibility of Black English. In doing so, a revision is made. The authors’ primary goal is to show that Black English is a grammatically correct way to speak and through various usages of different examples the author was very successful.
I admit that I had a preconceive notion about Black English, yet through my reading, found it is very credible and a grammatically correct way to speak, it depends on how you look at it. The author ends with a poem by Langston Hughes. What I took from the poem sums up the context of the entire text and my feelings about it as a whole. Grammar is not everything, if what your saying has meaning that’s all that matter, which is very, very true.
Cited Text: Smitherman: " It Bees That Way Sometimes"
A Whole New Outlook
The text was very insightful. It taught me a lot about Black Language and broke the preconceived notion I had about. What really stuck with me and resonated in my mind was the fact that Black English is not a random way to write or speak, like many people think. It has just as much structure and guidelines as White English. It is constantly evolving and changing with the mainstream twenty-first century. Having so many grammar rules, just like White English, I found it confusing to understand and learn all the Black English guidelines discussed in the text. The reading was pretty simple to understand, I think the only question I would have is how the Black English Grammar rules came about.
What is being invented in the text is the difference in the Black English grammar and White English grammar and how they are so similar all balled into one. The text shows how Black English is misunderstood, and how blacks have intense pressure to conform to White English. It shows that Black English usually is characterized as a pseudo language and has always had a bias. It then shows how Black English is an actual way to speak and has just as many rules and similar grammatical structure as White English. The author gives plenty of examples of Black English sentences and what it means in White English. Also how certain things are spoken in Black English and how a Black English Speaker would say them. A practice that could be done to compare and contrast and learn from Black English is to write a sentence in White English then translate it to Black English, or speak Black English. The arrangement in the text consists of dialects to grammar. It shows how in Black English, one speaks and how that would grammatically be written and the rules and regulations that must be followed. Basically, how something is spoken and how it is written in Black English. Also I believe biases in relation to the actual dialect. I believe that in certain cases people have a bias about personality or content of character by the way one speaks. In the text there is that underlying message that many feel Black English is not really a language , which is a bias, but on the contrary, it has just as many grammatical rules as White English. Thus, proving it is its own language, just different. The problem is that people have that preconceived notion about Black English. What the author does is set up a variety of different examples to prove the credibility of Black English. In doing so, a revision is made. The authors’ primary goal is to show that Black English is a grammatically correct way to speak and through various usages of different examples the author was very successful.
I admit that I had a preconceive notion about Black English, yet through my reading, found it is very credible and a grammatically correct way to speak, it depends on how you look at it. The author ends with a poem by Langston Hughes. What I took from the poem sums up the context of the entire text and my feelings about it as a whole. Grammar is not everything, if what your saying has meaning that’s all that matter, which is very, very true.
Cited Text: Smitherman: " It Bees That Way Sometimes"
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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