thorough integration, we can expect that the children will learn from
each other, and the present trend towards separation may be reversed.
(ibid.: 21; emphasis added)Let’s take this apart.1. Labov proposes that AAVE-speaking children shift toward
other varieties of English as a first step toward better
performance in school and an improvement in reading scores
for the disempowered. He sees this as an important and even
primary goal.
2. What is needed to make this shift happen is early contact
between AAVE speakers and speakers of other (unnamed)
varieties of English.
3. The result of early contact – handled correctly – would be true
integration, in which the two groups really interact.
4. True integration will bring about linguistic convergence and
the shift away from AAVE, which would be better than what is
now happening (the two varieties are becoming less alike).In a talk Labov gave at a conference in 2006 called “Unendangered
Dialects, Endangered People,” he is more specific about some of his
points: “[AAVE] is [the AA community’s] great resource, an elegant form
of expression which they use when they reflect most thoughtfully on the
oppression and misery of daily life” (Labov 2010b: 24). He goes on to
propose a causal relationship between segregation and the existence of
AAVE: “AAVE has developed its present form in the framework of the
most extreme racial segregation that the world has ever known” (ibid.).
Labov anticipates criticism, and makes a statement designed to forestall
any more objections or suggestions that he is denigrating the language of
the AAVE speaking community: “In no way have I suggested that AAVE is
a cause of the problems of African American people” (ibid.).
Labov’s position is that in the broadest sense, segregation is responsible
for the current troubles in the African American community. Many would
agree with this general statement. But he moves beyond this observation to
draw other conclusions. Desegregation is crucially important; from