What is "ebonics"

"African-American vernacular English," 1975, as title of a book by U.S. professor R.L. Williams (b.1930); a blend of ebony and phonics.

n. (alternative case form of Ebonics English)

Ebonics (a blend of the words ebony and phonics) is a term that was originally intended to refer to the language of all people descended from enslaved Black Africans, particularly in West Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Since the 1996 controversy over its use by the Oakland School Board, the term Ebonics has primarily been used to refer to the sociolect African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a dialect distinctively different from Standard American English.

Ebonics may refer to:

• African American Vernacular English, a distinctive lect, or variety, of English spoken by African Americans, sometimes called Ebonics
• Ebonics (word), a term that is used for what linguists far more often term African American Vernacular English, and that was originally used with strong connotations of the African origin of this language
• Oakland Ebonics controversy, generated by the recognition in December 1996 by the Oakland, California school board of "Ebonics" (i.e. African-American Vernacular English) as a distinct language
• Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks, a 1975 book by social scientist Robert Williams
• "Ebonics (Criminal Slang)", a song by rapper Big L from the album The Big Picture