Black Languages Matter

As we've said before, language reflects culture and history. So, in our effort to decolonize all facets of life, we need to also decolonize our minds* by learning about and appreciating African and African American languages and language variations. The title of this post was taken from Dr. Anne Charity Hudley's recent talk at Duolingo's Duocon, and this post was largely inspired by her talk as well. Dr. Hudley put things in words better than we ever could, so we'll offer a brief summary followed by lists of resources and action items.
*While we need to decolonize our minds through education, we also need to actually tear down systems of oppression and be careful not to metaphorize decolonization, thereby settling for symbolic justice. Language and education are just one small step in decolonizing our world - see this paper for more on the harms of metaphorizing decolonization.

Decolonizing The Mind via Language

Some key points from Dr. Hudley's talk:

• All languages are equal. Neither you nor your language is "broken" or inferior to any other language. This point is easy to comprehend at face value, but it's critical to also examine our daily behaviors to see if we really internalize it. Do we instinctively think that someone is "unprofessional" when we hear them speak in African American Vernacular English? Do we try to d*mb things down in speaking to someone when we hear a non-SAE accent in their voice? Do we think of Standard American English as "normal" English and reject other forms of the language in both academic and professional spheres? These are all manifestations of the racist and xenophobic misconception that there is some sort of linguistic hierarchy, and we need to actively notice and correct these behaviors as part of an ongoing process.
• There are many diverse languages across many different countries in Africa. Some of them are related to each other, and others are not. Africa is not a monolith.
• Language reflects history, culture, and power. This is seen not only through the creation of creoles and pidgins (through contact via colonization), but also through examining how words were integrated into languages (for example, the word for "prison" in Swahili comes from the word for "church" in Portuguese - prisons did not exist in pre-colonial African countries such as Kenya) and how people from various cultural background pronounce words differently.

Resources

These resources have been provided by Dr. Hudley and by Harvard's Introduction to African Languages and Cultures course.

• African American English: A Linguistic Introduction by Lisa J. Green
• Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English by John Russell Rickford
• Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America by Professor Geneva Smitherman
• Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular by William Labov
• Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas by Professor Arnetha Ball, Professor Sinfree Makoni, and Professor Geneva Smitherman
• The Language You Cry In (a film, directed by Alvaro Toepke and Angel Serrano)
• The Story of Swahili by Professor John Mugane
• ​Harvard's African Language Program homepage
  
• Settler Colonialism: The Root of Kenya's Brutal Penal System by Patrick Gathara
  

Action Items

Besides taking advantage of the resources above, here are some more actions you can take to de-center whiteness via language. These action items are provided by us but inspired by Dr. Hudley and Professor John Mugane.

• Learn about your linguistic background, behavior, and history, and document it. It's critical to understand and examine the context in which our minds are conditioned in order to change that conditioning.
• Participate in African language documentation, revitalization, and education (both research and practice), and share this research widely (the African Studies department at your university or your local university is usually a good place to start).
• Be mindful of how your linguistic conditioning informs your view of linguistic dialects that are not yours, and actively work to adjust any SAE-centric views.
• Take courses in African languages and cultures - this is especially important for those studying linguistics and computational linguistics, as many linguistics and computer science departments tend to approach linguistics as a pure science rooted in European languages and in doing so, fail to expose students to the culture, history, and power reflected in language (particularly African languages).

That's all for this week. As usual, please refer to our previous posts for general Black Lives Matter and human rights-related action items, and feel free to email us at info@linghacks.tech if any of this information is incorrect or misleading.