| 释义 |
Ebonics, n. orig. and chiefly U.S.
Brit. |ɛˈbɒnɪks|, U.S. |iˈbɑnɪks|
Forms: also with lower-case initial.
[Blend of ebony n. and phonics n.]
African-American English, esp. when considered as a distinct language or dialect with linguistic features related to or derived from those of certain West African languages, rather than as a non-standard variety of English.
The term was first used by Prof. R. L. Williams on 26 January 1973, at a conference at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri. The status of Ebonics as a language is disputed.
1973N.Y. Times 10 Mar. i. 14/4 He [sc. Prof. E Smith] suggested the study of ‘ebonics’, which views speech patterns of black Amers as they relate to Caribbean and African blacks rather than to white Amers. 1975R. L. Williams Ebonics p. vi, Ebonics may be defined as ‘the linguistic and paralinguistic features which on a concentric continuum represents [sic] the communicative competence of the West African, Caribbean, and United States slave descendant of African origin. It includes the various idioms, patois, argots, ideolects, and social dialects of black people’ especially those who have been forced to adapt to colonial circumstances. 1989San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 19 Apr. b3 Weber said many black children come to school speaking ‘black English’ or ‘ebonics’, and deserve the same bilingual instruction that Hispanic or Asian pupils receive in their native tongues before being required to learn standard American English. 2000R. T. Lakoff Lang. War vii. 237 A number of proponents of ‘Pan-African Communication Behaviors’ have tried to argue for the existence of a relationship between Ebonics and Niger-Congo languages on the basis of shared features. |