We gon go to the store, is you comin?
We are going to the store, are you
coming?

I be diggin on this one girl, man she fly.
I like this girl, she is beautiful.

I be, I is, We is, We be, She be
I am, I have, We are, We were, She is,
She was

These are the speech differences
Bernstein speaks of and they make a
HUGE difference in education. Have you
ever taken a second language?

Imagine growing up speaking one
language and then having to try and learn
another language once you begin school.
I am partially bilingual and verb tenses
are NO JOKE. I have to change the verb,
the past participle, the present tense,
past tense, subjunctive, blah blah blah. It
takes a long time to speak another
language. And so it is with English and
slang. Unfortunately, the term has been
labeled "Ebonics," because only blacks
speak it right (wrong), but it is significantly
different from English.

Languages are composed of grammar
and syntax (I think I am doing this right).
Syntax is the order the words are put in
while grammar is the words. For
example, Spanish:gato rojo means cat
red. In Spanish one puts the adjective
after the verb as with many other Latin
Syntaxes.

Although English has mostly Latin
grammar roots English is a Germanic
language in syntax. The whole thing
about ebonics is that it is (although
prejudicely named) an authentic and
distinct language. Ebonics is formed of
English grammar and syntax of Western
African countries where most African
were slave traded from.

From this knowledge, I have to say that
Bernstein has a point. Much of lower
class America especially in southern and
eastern regions speak "Ebonics." They
are taught they are simply uneducated
and ignorant because of the syntax they
speak from, yet they simply have not been
properly taught upper class and English
syntax at home. The stereotyping of
these individuals as ignorant is
unfortunate because they are actually
bilingual once they learn English (by the
definition of languages). These
individuals are disadvantaged by the
stereotype of the syntax they speak in and
are at a disadvantage due to the usage of
the upper class syntaxes in schools.