Date:  Mon, 17 Jul 1995 18:07:55 CST

From:  salikoko mufwene <mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>

Subject: Re: oj trial



In Message Mon, 17 Jul 1995 16:08:52 -0500,

 Ditra Henry <udhenry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU> writes:



>EVERYONE......especially Sali...Sounding Black...talking Black..speaking

>BEV..AAVE..Ebonics or as I prefer to call it..BAE..Black American English..

>IS A MOOT ISSUE IN COURT ESP. FOR LAYMEN AND EVEN MORE SO FOR LINGUIST.

  How does this become MY business? Besides, your don't explain the racist

dimension of the comment to which Attorney Cochran objected!

>

>ADVOCATE OF BAE IS ANOTHER LANGUAGE NOT JUST A DIALECT

  Now, this is interesting. Is your position based on linguistic or

sociohistorical facts, or is it based on sentiments? A term more consistent

with your position should drop "English" from "Black American English," by

the way. The term "Ebonics" would be more adequate within your list. In any

case, find a name that won't tempt others to characterize it as a variety

of English.

Sali.

***********************************************************************

Salikoko S. Mufwene

University of Chicago

Dept. of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861