Talking Black in America, Part II: Mini-Series and Public Education

该项目将制作一部关于非裔美国人语言(AAL)的四集迷你系列片，用于电视广播以及正式和非正式的公共教育分发。这部迷你系列剧讲述了与美国英语历史上最突出、最有争议和最被误解的方言--非裔美国人语言--有关的社会、文化和教育问题。方言偏见、语言侧写和基于语言的歧视仍然“如此普遍地被接受，如此广泛地被认为是适当的，以至于它必须被视为歧视的最后一扇后门。门仍然大开着”(Lippi-Green 2012：73)。通过呈现语言在非裔美国人生活中的历史、发展、多样性和象征性作用，这部纪录片系列有助于消除关于非裔美国人语言的持续错误信息和误解。该系列基于公众对一小时纪录片《在美国谈论黑人：非裔美国人语言的故事》的流行接受，包括以下几集：1)非裔美国人语言的历史和当代发展；2)基于地区、年龄、地位、教育和风格的非裔美国人语言使用的多样性；3)语言在表现力表演中的使用，包括布道、喜剧、音乐、嘻哈、口语和其他富有表现力的流派；以及4)语言差异在教育成就中的作用。该系列的一个网站将包括各种教育资源，包括每一集的综合插曲、附加评论和背景、活动和讨论问题，以及更多的在线教育材料。纪录片和伴随的活动是教育公众了解美国社会语言多样性的一个重要里程碑。在美国英语的历史上，没有一种方言比非裔美国人的语言更突出、更具争议性和更多被误解，方言偏见、语言侧写和语言歧视仍然强烈地影响着这种变体的说话者。通过呈现语言在非裔美国人生活中的历史、发展、多样性和象征性作用，这部纪录片系列将有助于消除关于非裔美国人语言的持续传播的错误信息。这一系列和随附的在线材料在教育公众了解语言多样性的努力中提供了一个重要的里程碑，有助于减少美国社会中的语言歧视。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will produce a four-part mini-series on African American Language (AAL) designed for television broadcast as well as for formal and informal public educational distribution. This mini-series addresses the social, cultural, and educational issues related to the most prominent, the most controversial, and the most misunderstood dialect in the history of American English--African American Language. Dialect prejudice, linguistic profiling, and language-based discrimination continue to be "so commonly accepted, so widely perceived as appropriate, that it must be seen as the last back door to discrimination. And the door is still wide open" (Lippi-Green 2012:73). By presenting the history, development, diversity, and symbolic role of language in the lives of African Americans, this documentary series helps to counteract the persistent misinformation and misinterpretation circulated about the language of African Americans. The series builds on the popular public reception to the one-hour documentary, Talking Black in America: The Story of African American Language, and includes the following episodes: 1) the historical and contemporary development of African American Language; 2) the diversity of language use among African Americans based on region, age, status, education, and style; 3) the use of language in expressive performance, including preaching, comedy, music, hip hop, spoken word, and other expressive genres; and 4) the role of language differences in educational achievement. A website accompanying the series will include a variety of educational resources, including streaming, discursive chapters with integrated vignettes from the episodes, additional commentary and background, activities, and discussion questions for each episode, with further online materials for education. The documentary and accompanying activities constitute an important milestone in the effort to educate the public about language diversity in American society. No dialect in the history of American English has been more prominent, more controversial, and more misunderstood than African American Language, and dialect prejudice, linguistic profiling, and language discrimination still intensely affect speakers of this variety. By presenting the history, development, diversity, and symbolic role of language in the lives of African Americans, this documentary series will help to counteract the persistent misinformation circulated about African American Language. This series and the accompanying online materials offer an important milestone in the effort to educate the public about language diversity that can help to reduce linguistic discrimination in American society.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.