If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?

In the opening of “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” the rhythms and cadence of Baldwin’s writing style are immediately apparent: Two long, expository sentences open and close the paragraph and bracket the two short, direct middle sentences. This style, similar to the common verse structure A-B-B-A, is a hallmark of the essay. The cadence creates a rhythmic pattern that makes conspicuous the elements of language that linguists study: consistent sounds and structures.

By refusing any idea that language is a discrete, bounded object, Baldwin asserts that the true issue is the role of language, including how language “reveals the speaker” and can be used to “define the other” (Paragraph 1). This discussion establishes a sense of antagonism in the essay. While the title announces its argument about language, Baldwin immediately shows that the essay is less about an abstract concept than about the racism of those who subjugate Black people using linguistic weaponry. This paragraph establishes the theme of The Weaponization of the Power of Language with the idea that any attempt by one culture to define another culture through language is inherently controlling, condescending, and divisive.

Although the essay is ostensibly about English, Baldwin draws on a variety of languages and cultures to emphasize the extent to which language is weaponized by those who forcefully establish cultural hegemony. For example, he compares English to French, another northern European language spread around the globe in violent processes of colonization. In doing so, he describes the “different price” paid by various French speakers for that “‘common’ language” (Paragraph 2). The economic language of “price” implicitly recalls histories of labor, including the centuries-long slave trade of Indigenous African peoples, which enriched both English and French enslavers and traders who profited from the lands and labors of Black people. This French example hence establishes the historical, global resonances of the subjugation of Black English. The ensuing discussion of the Basque countries (geographically part of Spain and France), Wales, and Ireland—which (Baldwin says) share a dogged determination to maintain their native tongues in the face of derision or contempt—creates a picture of a global resistance using language to fight oppression.

Indeed, throughout the essay, Baldwin argues for Black English as a Form of Resistance: a way for Black people to rebel against external definition (such as when a majority culture insists that Black people should speak so-called “standard” English). Baldwin raises the stakes of this argument when he considers the historical origins of Black English, describing how it had to quickly convey dangers from one enslaved person to another while simultaneously keeping that communication unintelligible to enslavers. The essay connects past to present to highlight the need for Black English in enduring power structures that maintain anti-Black racism.

Baldwin introduces the theme of Education as a Tool of Self-Empowerment to highlight specific examples of the ongoing relationship between language and anti-Black racism. In the second paragraph, he suggests that any person unable to articulate their reality will be “submerged” by that reality. The vivid word “submerged” calls to mind drowning—a fatal outcome. Later, he claims that language represents and communicates experience and that a child’s experience is central to their education. He implies that many Black children have been “lost” because educators and educational systems stripped their language from those children. The ambiguity of the word “lost” speaks to both the tragedy of Black children who have died in racism-fueled assaults and also to the necessity of cultural preservation in order not to “lose” a language. His points that education–both about and in Black English–will empower Black people therefore connects his arguments about language to arguments about the need for self-determination in the face of violence.   

Baldwin uses several examples of Black English to liven his argument and convey the linguistic debt of white English speakers to Black people. The words and phrases illustrate facets of speech from sexual expressions—“jazz me, baby” and “sock it to me” (Paragraph 5)—to an image of abject poverty—“beat to his socks” (Paragraph 5). An additional facet to these words and phrases is that their feel—their flavor—evokes real daily life. The words can be gritty or graceful, and sometimes both at once, such as “let it all hang out” and “funky” (Paragraph 5). His first direct example of Black English is the phrase, “put your business in the street” (Paragraph 4). He conveys this in quotation marks to highlight the separation between white standard English and Black English. However, as the essay goes on, he uses italics to offer myriad examples of Black English seamlessly, typographically illustrating the use of Black terms by white people without properly attributing them with quotation marks and citations. The italicized text both suggests the integration of languages and draws attention to how each term’s meaning changed (like the font) when it was co-opted into “standard” English.

Baldwin uses paragraph-long sentences at major argumentative moments. Paragraph 9, for example, is a single sentence about the achievement of Black people and forms the crux of Baldwin’s assertion that Black English is a language. Later, Baldwin closes his essay with another paragraph-long, discursive sentence, accusing the United States of having “untrustworthy” standards and being unable or unwilling to face the truths that result in many people of color ending up in prison, becoming addicted to drugs, or being cut off from access to self-supporting work. These sentences capture passion uninhibited by standard grammatical conventions, creating a sense of breaking free from linguistic restrictions dictated by white standardization. This underscores the argument that Black English is a language unto itself with unique linguistic characteristics.