Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 10:04:32 -0500

From: "Salikoko S. Mufwene" s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UCHICAGO.EDU

Subject: Re: The Lords Prayer/Ebonics



Dear Mr. Futrell:



Just to reply in same style as your intervention, I see that you are in

a Department of Communication. I could not say everthing in one sentence.

If you read the whole of my posting, you should notice that I am not

opposed to dialectologists being interested in misrepresented "Ebonics". I

also make clear in my conditional apology to Carol (no sexism intended

here--I have addressed everybody else by first name so far!) what kind of

reports on "Ebonics" I object to. Linguists have typically been interested

in ill-formed structures too, but not for the satisfaction of some socially

biased entertainment, at the expense of some speakers. I think that I say

this explicitly in my posting. If you want to challenge me, you should do

so on the facts I say.



S. Mufwene.

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