Ebonics (aportmanteau of the wordsebony andphonics) is a term created in 1973 by a group ofAfrican-American scholars who disapproved of the negative terms and stereotypes being used to describe their unique language and manner of speaking.^[1] Since the 1996controversy over its use by the Oakland School Board, the termEbonics has primarily been used to refer to thesociolects ofAfrican-American English, which typically are distinctively different fromStandard American English. In the 21st century, the termAfrican American Vernacular English (AAVE) is often preferred, especially in the context of formal academic research.

The wordEbonics was originally coined in 1973 by African American social psychologistRobert Williams^[2] in a discussion with linguist Ernie Smith (as well as other language scholars and researchers) that took place in a conference on "Cognitive and Language Development of the Black Child", held inSt. Louis, Missouri.^[3][4] His intention was to give a name to the language of African Americans that acknowledged the linguistic consequence of the slave trade and avoided the negative connotations of other terms like "nonstandard Negro English":^[5]

We need to define what we speak. We need to give a clear definition to our language...We know that ebony means black and that phonics refers to speech sounds or the science of sounds. Thus, we are really talking about the science of black speech sounds or language.^[6]

In 1975, the term appeared inEbonics: The True Language of Black Folks, a book edited and co-written by Williams:

A two-year-old term created by a group of black scholars, Ebonics may be defined as "the linguistic and paralinguistic features which on a concentric continuum represent the communicative competence of the West African, Caribbean, and United States slave descendants of African origin. It includes the various idioms, patois, argots, idiolects, and social dialects of black people" especially those who have adapted to colonial circumstances. Ebonics derives its form from ebony (black) and phonics (sound, the study of sound) and refers to the study of the language of black people in all its cultural uniqueness.^[7]

Other writers have since emphasized how the term represents a view of the language of Black people as African rather than European.^[8] The term was not obviously popular, even among those who agreed with the reason for coining it. Even within Williams' book, the termBlack English is far more commonly used than the termEbonics.^[9]

John Baugh has stated^[10] that the termEbonics is used in four ways by itsAfrocentric proponents. It may:

1. Be "an international construct, including the linguistic consequences of the African slave trade";^[11]

2. Refer to the languages of theAfrican diaspora as a whole;^[12]

or it may refer to what is normally regarded as a variety of English:either

3. It "is the equivalent of black English and is considered to be a dialect of English" (and thus merely an alternative term forAfrican American English), or

4. It "is the antonym of black English and is considered to be a language other than English" (and thus a rejection of the notion of "African AmericanEnglish" but nevertheless a term for what others refer to by this term, viewed as an independent language and not a mereethnolect).^[13]

Ebonics remained a little-known term until 1996. It does not appear in the 1989 second edition of theOxford English Dictionary, nor was it adopted bylinguists.^[14] The term became widely known in the United States due to a controversy over a decision by theOaklandSchool Board to denote and recognize the primary language (orsociolect orethnolect) ofAfrican-American youths attending school, and to thereby acquire budgeted funds to facilitate the teaching ofstandard English.^[15][16] Thereafter, the termEbonics became popularized, though as little more than a synonym forAfrican American English, perhaps differing in the emphasis on its claimed African roots and independence from English. The term is linked with the nationally discussed controversy over the decision by the Oakland School Board, which adopted a resolution to teach children "standard American English" through a specific program of respect for students' home language and tutoring in the "code switching" required to use both standard English and Ebonics.^[17]

In 1997, a special subcommittee discussed whether federal funding for ebonics language programs would be allowed.^[18]

While the term is generally avoided by most linguists,^[19] it is used elsewhere (such as on Internet message boards), often for ridiculing AAE, particularly when this is parodied as drastically differing from Standard American English.^[20] African American linguistJohn McWhorter argues that the use of the term does more to hinder than to help black academic achievement because considering AAE to be a completely different language from English serves only to widen the perceived divide between whites and blacks in the United States.^[21]Walt Wolfram, a long-time researcher into AAE, points out that discussion of this variety of English "gets politicized and trivialized by the very termEbonics."^[22]

• African American Vernacular English
• Code-switching
• Cubonics
• Chicano English
• Dialects of North American English
• Hebronics
• Multicultural London English
• Southern American English
• Stereotypes of African Americans

Look upEbonics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Writings on the "Ebonics" issue, byJohn R. Rickford
• Baugh, John. "American varieties: African American English: Ebony + Phonics". PBS, 2005.
• You're Wrong About podcast "The 'Ebonics' Controversy" (61 minutes) 4 April 2019podcast websiteApple podcasts

• African-American English
• 1973 neologisms

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing explicitly cited English-language text