Anything I can't understand is nonsense ya understand.

I think it is nonsense. Ebonics grew from the inability to speak english correctly. A professor decided to cover up the ignorance of the people who speak this gibberish by giving it a name. DO NOT misinterpret my opinion as racist, I would feel the same if backwoods country folk had their own "language". This is just another way to divide and fragment our country.

Nonsense, I think it's an insult to the rest of us to be so lazy that you don't learn to speak properly.

Neither. It's a dialect. However, anyone who thinks it is okay to pronounce New York 'Nu Yoirk' needs some serious therapy.

I don't believe it is a language, I believe it is cultural.

It is a dialect. Just as English spoken in the United States is in some ways different from the English spoken in the U.K. It is still English just a different dialect. Definition of dialect: - regional variety of language: a regional variety of a language, with differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation - language spoken by class or profession: a form of a language spoken by members of a social class or profession

Ebonics is a term given to a substandard grasp of the English language. It is not cultural, it's a mark of lack of proper education. Many people with actual regional dialects can read and write their language properly. "Ebonics" is prevalent mainly among uneducated, poorly speaking people.

I think it's nonsense. An excuse to cover up the improper use of the English language rather than correct it.

Language evolves all the time. English spoken today would be unintelligible to an Englishman of 200 or more years ago. And I imagine that would also be true for other languages. Imagine the american accent and version of english did not exist 500 years ago. Australian english and strine did not exist 200 years ago. In England you only have to move a few miles from one village to another for the accent to change and the use and meanings of words to change. They evolved and changed with time and migration of people into and out of cities and other countries and wars and other natural disasters. So language continues to evolve. This is another example of perhaps a new language evolving. Reginald is right that language differences can divide nations, however it is a normal process in human society and one we ALL have to learn to cope with.

I think it is dangerous. For a while, they were trying to have schools in the lower economic areas teach in this form to "help" those kids who used it. Iy doesn't help them, it hinders them. Those are the kids who need the most help to better themseleves. It is a shame when a society makes it impossible to to get out of a bad situation.

It was not intended seriously - it was always effectively a way of getting extra money for kids that needed it. People noticed that schools got extra money for teaching children whose first language was not English. So they were getting extra money for Latino and Asian kids who, even if their parents didn't speak English well, themselves has perfectly good English. Meanwhile there was no extra money for African-American kids with real reading and writing problems because they were registered as speaking English already. So by inventing Ebonics, they hoped to get more money out of an inflexible system for a group of kids that badly needed it. But the idea got a bit out of control and people started to take it seriously.

Personally... I am from the deep south. Yes, I have a thick accent, but I am also educated. I was raised "country", and thus learned a country dialect. That beiung said, I learned to speak normal english, correctly, because the world shouldn't have to adapt to my ignorance. I couldn't get a job "talkin all redneck", and you can't speaking ebonics either. People want employees that they understand.

It is a form of English. Just like Caribbean English. And Australian English. And South African English. And all the different regional variations in the UK. There is no such thing as "proper" English or "substandard" English. Language is fluid - it fills up the shape (i.e. society) it happens to find itself poured into. And the shape of every society is different - be that a group of you at school or a state within a country.

As someone with some linguistic background, ebonics is a dialect folks. French and English are languages, and ebonics is a dialect of English. Then again ebonics is a name given to a broad collection of dialects typified by being spoken by African American speakers. African Americans in the deep south won't have the same dialect as those in New York, but a layperson would label both as ebonics, simply because of the race of the person. Dialects are not a result of speaking a language improperly. If they were somehow not intelligent enough to learn to speak what some may consider "proper" English, then they wouldn't be able to learn to write "proper" English either. Dialects have unique phonological and syntactical rules, as does what most people would consider Standard English, or Southern English or any other type of dialect. Think about it this way. The phonological and syntactical rules of Standard English vary from that of British English(of any dialect) yet no one speaking standard English would call British English nonsense or vice versa. Also, it is prejudiced to think someone is stupid just because of the way they speak. I've encountered professors with very thick accents, or who don't speak perfect English, or who have a different dialect of English who are very intelligent, and people do take them seriously regardless of the way they talk. Dialects do not fragment a country. Nearly every language in the world has different dialects, and these dialects don't cause nations to be any more or less tightly knit than any other nation.