2002-09-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS A BLURB?
Blurbs are a new feature of Alpha Mu Gamma meetings that we are experimenting with this year. Basically it goes like this. Toward the beginning of every meeting, I will give a brief presentation about some interesting aspect of language. I confine myself to a maximum time limit of five minutes to prevent blurbs from becoming lectures. Anyone who is interested in planning and presenting a blurb of their own may arrange to do so by contacting our President (Johan Doeden).

EBONICS
Last night's blurb (the first of the year) was about Ebonics. Since nearly all of the material presented came from a single source, I won't bother to summarize it here. You can check out the complete article by John R. Rickford entitled Suite for Ebony and Phonics. If you would like to pursue the subject in more depth, Dr. Rickford has written a whole slew of articles on both the linguistic and socio-political aspects of Ebonics.

You may also be interested in reading the text of the Oakland School Board resolution, which first recognized Ebonics as a valid language system as well as the resolution passed unanimously by the Linguistic Society of America, which endorses the Oakland decision.

There are also a number of books available on the subject. I myself haven't read any of them, but this one appears to be the most promising.