Feds Get Help Translating Ebonics, Reigniting Debate
(Lexington Herald) –The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s decision to hire nine Ebonics translators for the Southeast region briefly reignited a 40-year debate over whether African-American speech constitutes a separate language. The translators are expected to help the agency decipher wiretapped telephone conversations of suspected drug dealers who speak in the African-American vernacular, which some people think of as little more than slang.
