Foreword.

Acknowledgments.

Part One: Introduction.

1 What's Going On?

Part Two: "This Passion, This Skill, This Incredible Music"

2 Writers.

3 Preachers and Pray-ers.

4 Comedians and Actors.

5 Singers, Toasters, and Rappers.

Part Three: The Living Language.

6 Vocabulary and Pronunciation.

7 Grammar.

8 History.

Part Four: The Ebonics Firestorm.

9 Education.

10 The Media.

11 Ebonics "Humor"

Part Five: The Double Self.

12 The Crucible of Identity.

Notes.

Index.

Permissions and Credits.

In Praise of Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English

"Spoken Soul brilliantly fills a huge gap. . . . a delightfully readable introduction to the elegant interweave between the language and its culture."
-Ralph W. Fasold, Georgetown university

"A lively, well-documented history of Black English . . . that will enlighten and inform not only educators, for whom it should be required reading, but all who value and question language."
-Kirkus Reviews

"Spoken Soul is a must read for anyone who is interested in the connection between language and identity."
-Chicago Defender

Claude Brown called Black English "Spoken Soul." Toni Morrison said, "It's a love, a passion. Its function is like a preacher's: to make you stand out of your seat, make you lose yourself and hear yourself. The worst of all possible things that could happen would be to lose that language."

Now renowned linguist John R. Rickford and journalist Russell J. Rickford provide the definitive guide to African American vernacular English-from its origins and features to its powerful fascination for society at large.

JOHN R. RICKFORD is the Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

RUSSELL J. RICKFORD, a former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, lives in Philadelphia.