Ebonics and Mandarin Chinese...a comparative analysis.

After a meeting this morning, I had lunch with Spydrz at a local mall. Now, I detest malls....especially, malls during weekends. Yet, for one to enjoy a hearty Chick-fil-A sandwich, these things must be endured from time to time. As I was leaving, I passed a couple of African-American kids on their way in. As they were engaged in conversation, and I was not, I, while passing in close proximity, heard a part of their dialogue. Yes, I heard...but I did not, and could not, understand what was said. This conversation was steeped in the earthy tradition of Ebonics communication. As I marveled at not understanding but one word of, what seemed to be, this happy going and active verbal to and fro, it reminded me of something that happened in China.
One of the hurdles faced while teaching English as a second language is getting a student to actively speak, regardless of mistakes made. This is especially true of Chinese students, as they are leery of any public gaffes that might cause them to 'lose face'. This said, one way to mitigate this fear is to inundate them with pop-culture through mass media.....meaning, songs and movies. Every week I would have a movie night for my students....for social and learning purposes. One week, we watched Rush Hour(don't worry...these students were university age and the cursing was mostly edited out). This was a very interesting experience for a number of reasons....1. part of the movie's shtick was that Chris Tucker always complained about not understanding Jackie Chan, when he, himself, is also...shall we say...verbally dexterous. 2. I was watching this play out in real life, as I was watching the movie with Chinese speakers who couldn't understand a single word of what Chris Tucker was saying. Hence, this post....
After leaving the mall, I started thinking about the similarities found in Ebonics and Chinese Mandarin.
I. They are both tonal languages. One's inflection when speaking can drastically change the meaning, and carry as much weight, communicatively, as the actual words chosen.
II. Neither uses the possessive form of nouns(well, Mandarin does have the 'de' ending...denoting ownership, but other than this...).
III. Neither is gender specific. In Mandarin, the third person 'Ta' is universal. While in Ebonics...bit!@#$, motherf!@#%$#, and the 'n' word are also used generally for both sexes, rendering their use neutral.
IV. Neither conjugates verbs.
V. Both are indecipherable to the untrained ear, and require total cultural immersion to fully grasp the language.

These are just my initial thoughts. I'll try to expand and expound later.


* just for posterity and sensitivity, let it be known that i in no way mean this to be demeaning for either chinese or ebonics. if you are still offended, this probably rests with a hyper-sensitivity on your part rather than a pernicious motive on my part.