Oh Stewardess, I Speak Jive...

[gblowfish]

June Cleaver could work for the DEA!
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documen...bonics-experts

Justice Department Seeks Ebonics Experts
DEA wants “Black English” linguists to decipher bugged calls


AUGUST 23--The Department of Justice is seeking to hire linguists fluent in Ebonics to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to federal records.

A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a “DEA Sensitive” security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of “telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media”

The DEA’s need for full-time linguists specializing in Ebonics is detailed in bid documents related to the agency’s mid-May issuance of a request for proposal (RFP) covering the provision of as many as 2100 linguists for the drug agency’s various field offices. Answers to the proposal were due from contractors on July 29.

In contract documents, which are excerpted here, Ebonics is listed among 114 languages for which prospective contractors must be able to provide linguists. The 114 languages are divided between “common languages” and “exotic languages.” Ebonics is listed as a “common language” spoken solely in the United States.

Ebonics has widely been described as a nonstandard variant of English spoken largely by African Americans. John R. Rickford, a Stanford University professor of linguistics, has described it as “Black English” and noted that “Ebonics pronunciation includes features like the omission of the final consonant in words like ‘past’ (pas’ ) and ‘hand’ (han’), the pronunciation of the th in ‘bath’ as t (bat) or f (baf), and the pronunciation of the vowel in words like ‘my’ and ‘ride’ as a long ah (mah, rahd).”

Detractors reject the notion that Ebonics is a dialect, instead considering it a bastardization of the English language.

The Department of Justice RFP does not, of course, address questions of vernacular, dialect, or linguistic merit. It simply sought proposals covering the award of separate linguist contracts for seven DEA regions. The agency spends about $70 million annually on linguistic service programs, according to contract records.

In addition to the nine Ebonics experts, the DEA’s Atlanta office also requires linguists for eight other languages, including Spanish (144 linguists needed); Vietnamese (12); Korean (9); Farsi (9); and Jamaican patois (4). The Atlanta field division, one of the DEA’s busiest, is the only office seeking linguists well-versed in Ebonics. Overall, the “majority of DEA’s language requirements will be for Spanish originating in Central and South America and the Caribbean,” according to one contract document.

The Department of Justice RFP includes a detailed description of the crucial role a linguist can play in narcotics investigations. They are responsible for listening to “oral intercepts in English and foreign languages,” from which they provide verbal and typed summaries. “Subsequently, all pertinent calls identified by the supervising law enforcement officer will be transcribed verbatim in the required federal or state format,” the RFP notes.

Additionally, while “technology plays a major role in the DEA’s efforts, much of its success is increasingly dependent upon rapid and meticulous understanding of foreign languages used in conversations by speakers of languages other than English and in the translation, transcription and preparation of written documents.” (11 pages).

[KCFalcon59]

BB still shinin all old n shit!!!!! I hit it!!!

[kepp]

I've just one thing to say -

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Detractors reject the notion that Ebonics is a dialect, instead considering it a bastardization of the English language.

Um, yeah.

It would be like signing up translators for Chinese restaurants.

"You wan buh-feh? Ah'two? Ya. Siht 'Ovah heah. Wan drink o' wata'?"

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Um, yeah.

It would be like signing up translators for Chinese restaurants.

"You wan buh-feh? Ah'two? Ya. Siht 'Ovah heah. Wan drink o' wata'?"

In Boston?

[rambleonthruthefog]

[mikey23545]

How embarrassing for blacks...

[gblowfish]

[Inspector]

Couldn't they just hire someone from Ebonia?

[MOhillbilly]

Originally Posted by Inspector

Couldn't they just hire someone from Ebonia?

Is that close to the Land of Naga?

[Fumblerooski]

Shea, flippaz be dippin in da bizzy, but hatas be hatin irregardlessly no matta tha sitch. I keep it pushin to tha pinnacle mayne, dats my yahwea...

[vailpass]

Excellent Thread Title.....



Shiiiiit, maaaaan. That honky muf' be messin' mah old lady... got to be runnin' cold upside down his head, you know?
Second Jive Dude: Hey home', I can dig it. Know ain't gonna lay no mo' big rap up on you, man!
First Jive Dude: I say hey, sky... subba say I wan' see...
Second Jive Dude: Uh-huh.
First Jive Dude: ...pray to J I did the same ol' same ol'!
Second Jive Dude: Hey... knock a self a pro, Slick! That gray matter backlot perform us DOWN, I take TCB-in', man!
First Jive Dude: Hey, you know what they say: see a broad to get dat booty yak 'em...
First Jive Dude, Second Jive Dude: ...leg 'er down a smack 'em yak 'em!
First Jive Dude: COL' got to be! Y'know? Shiiiiit

[Inspector]

Originally Posted by MOhillbilly

Is that close to the Land of Naga?

I flunked out of Geography. Or maybe it was Geometry. One of those....

[jet62]

[Bwana]

Heh, now these poor bastards know what I went through when I had trouble with my Dell back in the day. I should have been seeking to hire linguists for some of those conversations.