The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • 107

20 the little sentinel. Wednesday. December 5, 1979 WP next door Professor researches black dialect By DONNA EYRING 1960's. Interest in that concept of recognizing and accepting minority dialects and teaching standard English as a second dialect, was further reinforced by the court's ruling in the Michigan case, she said. It's considered good to be called "bad" in the black culture, and similar words and phrases easily understood among blacks might be as misunderstood as a foreign language to speakers rt in1 1 CnrrlifiVt That suit was filed against the Ann Arhnr crnrvtl ctratam hahalf rr I I Nevertheless, research in urban areas black children.

The parents of those ri i rha mini hao ehmam (hot na. cific patterns in black language haVe Jh.i.ld.retn Charged the Sch'S failed to adequately accommodate the needs of their children and therefore violated their right to equal educational developed, and these patterns cut across regional boundaries, according to Dr. Jerrie Cobb Scott, an assistant professor of English at the University of 0PPumty- Florida kVU aj 14 1 VI kllV UI Villi! tIHIIIIVU kllUL their children's dialect was a barrier to academic progress because of the stigma attached to it, the lack of information about it and the response to speakers of that particular language system. "The case was not a case that claimed youngsters could not speak or understand standard English, rather it was a case which said we know more about Dr. Scott, an expert witness in a recent, highly publicized Michigan case centering around children who speak the black dialect, said it is important that educators and the public accept the black dialect and change their attitudes about responding to children who speak it.

"It's a struggle even getting people to language variations and we ought to try say languages vary and that it's legiti- mate for them to vary. If they don't they t0 nrate that into the curriculum ov iuii ucitci n. wiiiuiuuniv iii (the languages) die," Dr. Scott told needs of our children," Dr. Scott said.

"In a multicultural society, can we afford to ignore variations in language members of Rollins College Black Student Union last week. Dr. Scott was previously a teacher and administrator in Detroit and has when successful learning depends on published numerous articles exploring laneuage?" Dr. Scott black linguistics. She is presently re- cearrhin o.k., Scott sald tf court ruled in the Ann i Arbor case that the school system tan ue muue ueiween aiaieci Dasea errors and mechanical errors in the student's writing.

should take steps to help teachers recognize the language systems children use and to help the children learn to Miss Ann a white woman bad good! bet then OK brick house shapely woman busman police catch out have to go. For ex; ample: "Man I got to catch out!" check you light good-bye chocolate city Washington, D.C. cracker A derogatory term for whites, dude man fly Really neat in style; usually refers to a flashy dresser. gangster Also used to refer to neat and "clean" but also anything "bad." grease eat hit on To talk to someone; get their interest in a romantic way. mama a woman Mickey D's McDonald's nigger Among blacks it is usually not a negative word, but a way to identify each other.

Then in some contexts, it is used negatively to convey the baser qualities of blacks. sapphire a black woman sweet water "sorry." Used to describe an article of clothing. throw down To try to talk romantically, but also used to convey really getting involved in something. it is How are you doing? Negative attitudes about the black HiaWt aro read standard English. She said the municated by teachers to black chil- CaSe' jh thouht was widelV dren, making many children develop by both the press and negative attitudes and hostilities about th.f i t0 decide education, she said.

whether black English is a language or a dialect or whether black English What happens is they learn not to be should be taught in the schools, responsive to the school system. Stu- To reinforce her point that the black dents perceived as slow learners get dialect has developed common patterns less opportunity to respond and get less Dr. Scott distributed copies of a black challenging questions," Dr. Scott said, language test to her listeners. The test and often those children get no credit developed at the Center for Black Stud- for mastering a concept when that con- ies at Wayne State University, not only cept is expressed in anything other than provides samples of the black dialect standard English.

but also helps counter the misconcep- The rationale is to get a person in- tion that the Patterns of the dialect voivea in communicating," she said, not aim saia. The test also helps demonstrate that to "ridicule them for something that is the black language system is governed by rules in the same way other language systems are governed by rules. "I just feel that we ought to be able to communicate with as many different naturally acquired." Among three concepts that have developed for dealing with minority dialects in education dialect eradica tion, bidialectalism and dialect expan- people as we can and we ought to be sion bidialectalism gained the most flexible," Dr. Scott said. "Ideally, we all support from educators after initial re- should be multidialectical.

We all have search dialect variations in the to interact with each otheft.