Prescriptive grammar, Ebonics, linguistics

[MalignD at aol.com]

I find going back through posts that the topics outlined have been addressed 
from so many different directions--from the serious to the laughable, that 
it's become all but impossible to address them without giving over one's life 
to this board.

I'm offering a link to an article (one among many I've looked at) which 
addresses, to my mind pretty even-handedly (far more so than I would be), 
many of the topics--Ebonics pro and con; language vs. dialect; prescriptive 
vs. descriptive grammar, etc.--floating through this argument.   This seems 
more useful than my continuing to argue merely my own side.

I will say that there seems to be near unanimous agreement among those 
concerned that all need, and in the end benefit by, being taught standard 
American English--grammar and spelling--in the schools, whether after, or 
simultaneous with, Ebonics.   

What grave consequences that portends for the future of Black literature I'll 
leave to the Millison to ponder and worry.

The link:   http://www.csa.com/hottopics/ebonics/overview.html.   

I'm sure it won't satisfy everyone, but neither will anything else.
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