Just wondering why a lot of blacks cannot speak English

[metalwolf]

Trying to be serious here.

Why is it a lot of American born blacks cannot speak English?
They hear the words spoken correctly on TV and in movies and by school teachers. They see the words written in magazines, comic books, and school books. They hear other people speaking the words correctly...........so WHY is it THEY cannot speak correct English?

Axed instead of ASK
Sposibly instead of SUPPOSEDLY
Prolly instead of PROBABLY
and many more words I've yet to decypher.

I was talking to one black I.T. guy at work and I could BARELY understand anything he was saying. And he kept saying "deckstop" instead of DESKTOP!! He slurred his words together, and sounded like verbal mashed potatoes.


So why is it they can't speak proper English, when they are around it all the time and taught it in school?

Spoken like a Incel.

 

[Rigby5]

Trying to be serious here.

Why is it a lot of American born blacks cannot speak English?
They hear the words spoken correctly on TV and in movies and by school teachers. They see the words written in magazines, comic books, and school books. They hear other people speaking the words correctly...........so WHY is it THEY cannot speak correct English?

Axed instead of ASK
Sposibly instead of SUPPOSEDLY
Prolly instead of PROBABLY
and many more words I've yet to decypher.

I was talking to one black I.T. guy at work and I could BARELY understand anything he was saying. And he kept saying "deckstop" instead of DESKTOP!! He slurred his words together, and sounded like verbal mashed potatoes.


So why is it they can't speak proper English, when they are around it all the time and taught it in school?

Sorry, but that is pretty ignorant and racist.
Don't you understand that the ears do hear the sounds differently in different races?
There is some argument as to whether it is what you hear as a child vs inherent hereditary differences.
But they REALLY do hear the sounds differently.
For example, Japanese do not hear the 'R' letter at all.
It just does not exist to them.

 

[Rigby5]

Different shaped vocal cords or diaphragm perhaps?

No, it is hearing, in the brain.

 

[Rigby5]

facts are not racism HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The racism is the part where he thinks he hears perfectly and only Blacks do not.
He is way wrong.
He hears just as badly, just differently.

 

[Rigby5]

Maybe because speaking well is acting white; a taboo in their plantation culture.

Just wrong.

 

[Unkotare]

Sorry, but that is pretty ignorant and racist.
Don't you understand that the ears do hear the sounds differently in different races?
There is some argument as to whether it is what you hear as a child vs inherent hereditary differences.
But they REALLY do hear the sounds differently.
For example, Japanese do not hear the 'R' letter at all.
It just does not exist to them.

That is a huge oversimplification.

 

[Rigby5]

That is a huge oversimplification.

Well yes of course.
But it was just an initial starting generalization.
I actually studied this a very long time ago, when I was first doing computer based natural language.
English vs Japanese as far as phonemes, is very inciteful.

Contrastive Analysis and Tutorial Report

www2.hawaii.edu

{...

INTRODUCTION

Within the field of linguistics a number of studies exist that compare the differences between the English and Japanese languages. Not only are the lexical, orthographic, and syntactic systems very different, but the phonological systems of the two languages also stand in stark contrast to one another. In the following paper, I will give a brief contrastive analysis of selected features of the phonological systems of English and Japanese followed by a report on my tutoring project. Due to the nature of this project, I will limit my contrastive analysis to only a few of the phonological aspects of the languages in comparison. Therefore, I will briefly consider certain articulatory settings before devoting most attention to the phonemic inventories of the languages. Afterwards, I will try to predict difficulties that native speakers of Japanese might have learning English as a second language based on my comparison of English and Japanese phonology. Finally, I will give a report on my tutoring project from this semester using my contrastive analysis as a guide.

ARTICULATORY SETTINGS

English and Japanese have very different articulatory settings; therefore, it may be difficult to gain high levels of proficiency in the pronunciation of one of the languages with the previously developed articulatory setting of the other language. These differences may account for the challenges that speakers of either language may have when learning the sound systems of the other language.

One of the major articulatory differences between English and Japanese is regarding the lips. Hattori (1951), cited in Vance (1987) says that in Japanese “the lips play almost no active role in pronunciation; they are neither rounded nor spread, but neutral” (p. 7). Lip rounding in Japanese is much weaker than in English. This contrast in articulation results in some of the phonemic differences between the two languages.

Perhaps the most problematic articulatory difference between English and Japanese may be found in tongue placement. Vance (1987) cites Honikman (1964) regarding tongue positioning in English to explain part of the difference. According to Honikman, “The tongue is tethered laterally to the roof of the mouth by allowing the sides to rest along the inner surfaces of the upper lateral gums and teeth” (p. 7) and the tip of the tongue is free to move. As a result, alveolar consonants are more frequent than any others in English. On the other hand, in Japanese pronunciation the average position of the tongue is quite far back in the mouth, with the body of the tongue shaped to the roof of the mouth, dorsum somewhat raised, and tip behind the lower front teeth. As a result, velar consonants are more frequent than the other consonants in Japanese, and they occur more often than in English.
...}

 

[Yarddog]

Trying to be serious here.

Why is it a lot of American born blacks cannot speak English?
They hear the words spoken correctly on TV and in movies and by school teachers. They see the words written in magazines, comic books, and school books. They hear other people speaking the words correctly...........so WHY is it THEY cannot speak correct English?

Axed instead of ASK
Sposibly instead of SUPPOSEDLY
Prolly instead of PROBABLY
and many more words I've yet to decypher.

I was talking to one black I.T. guy at work and I could BARELY understand anything he was saying. And he kept saying "deckstop" instead of DESKTOP!! He slurred his words together, and sounded like verbal mashed potatoes.


So why is it they can't speak proper English, when they are around it all the time and taught it in school?

Well,..... I was working on a project a few years back and we brought in a couple plaster guys. The guys who do plaster on walls you know? Well they were a couple of Irish fellows and one of em came up to me and had a complete conversation with me.... I only understood maybe 3 or 4 words and spent the whole time just nodding my head, one of the most bizarre moments ever... technically I think he was speaking English. I guess that goes to show African Americans aren't the only ones.... or maybe they are part Irish?

 

[frigidweirdo]

Trying to be serious here.

Why is it a lot of American born blacks cannot speak English?
They hear the words spoken correctly on TV and in movies and by school teachers. They see the words written in magazines, comic books, and school books. They hear other people speaking the words correctly...........so WHY is it THEY cannot speak correct English?

Axed instead of ASK
Sposibly instead of SUPPOSEDLY
Prolly instead of PROBABLY
and many more words I've yet to decypher.

I was talking to one black I.T. guy at work and I could BARELY understand anything he was saying. And he kept saying "deckstop" instead of DESKTOP!! He slurred his words together, and sounded like verbal mashed potatoes.


So why is it they can't speak proper English, when they are around it all the time and taught it in school?

Well, a lot of English people are like "Why can't Americans speak English properly?"

 

[Rigby5]

Well,..... I was working on a project a few years back and we brought in a couple plaster guys. The guys who do plaster on walls you know? Well they were a couple of Irish fellows and one of em came up to me and had a complete conversation with me.... I only understood maybe 3 or 4 words and spent the whole time just nodding my head, one of the most bizarre moments ever... technically I think he was speaking English. I guess that goes to show African Americans aren't the only ones.... or maybe they are part Irish?

Exactly.
It is not just those of African descent, but everyone.
The main question is if it is hereditary or cultural, and most likely it is both.
If you have not heard certain sound by the time you are 11, it is possible you may never be able to hear those sounds.
The section of the brain that would be needed just never developed.

 

[Rigby5]

Well, a lot of English people are like "Why can't Americans speak English properly?"

And then there are Australians who wonder why the British can't speak correctly?

 

[frigidweirdo]

And then there are Australians who wonder why the British can't speak correctly?

I mean, what's the name of the language? It's ENGLISH.

 

[Rigby5]

I mean, what's the name of the language? It's ENGLISH.

Except it was originally Anglo Saxon, which is essentially German.
Then the Normans invaded, who were French Vikings really.
And no one can tell me cockney is proper pronunciation.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Except it was originally Anglo Saxon, which is essentially German.
Then the Normans invaded, who were French Vikings really.
And no one can tell me cockney is proper pronunciation.

No, it wasn't.

Modern English is made up of lots of languages.

This is taken from the core 10,000 words of English. Obviously there are more words out there, so it's limited. But Germanic (which includes the Angles, Saxons AND Vikings) is less than that of French and Latin (and Latin came to England through religion and through the Norman invasion in 1066).

So, 1066 had the biggest impact for modern English. Far more than the Anglo-Saxon "invasion"/"invasions" of England.

 

[Rigby5]

No, it wasn't.

Modern English is made up of lots of languages.

View attachment 541596


This is taken from the core 10,000 words of English. Obviously there are more words out there, so it's limited. But Germanic (which includes the Angles, Saxons AND Vikings) is less than that of French and Latin (and Latin came to England through religion and through the Norman invasion in 1066).

So, 1066 had the biggest impact for modern English. Far more than the Anglo-Saxon "invasion"/"invasions" of England.

That is what I said.
I said it only started out Germanic Anglo/Saxon, but 1066 was the Latin French conquest.

 

[frigidweirdo]

That is what I said.
I said it only started out Germanic Anglo/Saxon, but 1066 was the Latin French conquest.

But it happened in England, not in Australia, or America. In fact neither place had ever met an Englishman when all this was happening.

The language developed and changed in England, hence why it's called ENGLISH.

 

[Rigby5]

But it happened in England, not in Australia, or America. In fact neither place had ever met an Englishman when all this was happening.

The language developed and changed in England, hence why it's called ENGLISH.

But my point is that it diverged even in England, such as Cockney.
Language is constantly changing.
There likely is no way of determining what is "correct".
The interesting thing is the possibility of inherent racial aspects to language, like Eubonics hints at?

 

[frigidweirdo]

But my point is that it diverged even in England, such as Cockney.
Language is constantly changing.
There likely is no way of determining what is "correct".
The interesting thing is the possibility of inherent racial aspects to language, like Eubonics hints at?

Yes it is.

I've seen an Irish guy try and teach English with his "Tank you". Could I tell him it's not "proper English"? No. But that people often want American or English English.

So, back to the topic, do black people in the US not speak English properly? Well, they speak what they speak. Is it proper? Well, they communicate, I guess.

 

[AZrailwhale]

It's a chosen ethnic dialect. I had black coworkers that could and did change from clear educated American English to black dialect at the drop of a hat. Like Aussies and Cockneys they enjoyed watching the rest of try to figure out what they meant. Language is a key instrument in being part of a group. As an example, when I was married to my ex -wife and in the Army, she came on base one time and overheard me briefing my squad. To say the least my language was "colorful". She told me later that she never imagined soft spoken polite me could have such a filthy mouth.

 

[AZrailwhale]

There are dozens of regional and cultural accents and socio-linguistically based ways of speaking in England, like everywhere else.

Ach mon, I dinna ken ya knew, Dina fash yerself