"Dissin' "the Standard

Ebonics as Guerrilla Warfare at Capital High

Bibliographic Data

ID2470684
AuthorsSignithia Fordham (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume30
Issue3
Pages272-293
Publication date1999-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropology & Education Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0161-7761 • E-ISSN: 1548-1492
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/aeq.1999.30.3.272
OpenAlexW2071472900
LanguageEN
Citations received31
References cited34

This article analyzes the discourse styles, including the linguistic practices, of a group of African American high school students and offers a twofold conclusion: (1) Ebonics or Black English is the norm against which all other speech practices are evaluated by the students at the research site and (2) "the standard"-that is, the standard English dialect-is constructed as a vernacular. As a vernacular, this discourse is not privileged; indeed, it is "dissed" (disrespected) and is only "leased" by the students on a daily basis from nine to three. This linguistic practice is centrally implicated in the postulated guerrilla warfare at the school. With data from a predominantly African American high school in Washington, D.C., the effects of this practice on African American academic achievement are documented. Several policy implications are also noted

African american · American English · Black culture · Citizen journalism · Guerrilla warfare · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Standard English · Vernacular · Anthropology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub