Date:  Fri, 10 Oct 1997 08:02:50 -0400
From:  Al Futrell <awfutr01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HOMER.IT-DATACNTR.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
Subject: Re: The Lords Prayer/Ebonics

On Thu, 9 Oct 1997, Salikoko Mufwene wrote:

>   Perhaps we cannot prevent people from creating websites where incorrect
> information is disseminated. Perhaps we should even tolerate their

I find this an odd statement coming from someone who studies language
usage. Although there is no doubt that the fabricated Ebonics example
Carol sent bears little resemblance to how an "Ebonics speaker" might use
the dialect, there also is little doubt that this language variety is
regular misconstrued by non speakers. Seems that as language scholars,
this misappropriation of a dialect -- i.e., "incorrect" examples of
Ebonics flying around the net -- should be part of our knowledge
inventory. Thus, ADS-L is precisely the type of venue where these
examples should be shared. To label any language usage as "incorrect"
when people actually use it seems oxymoronic, which is to say contrary to
the history of the American Dialect Society's century long mission.


Al Futrell
-- awfutr01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]homer.louisville..edu
-- http://www.louisville.edu/~awfutr01
Dept of Communication -- University of Louisville