"Of the thousands of books and articles on the Black American English vernacular published in the last decade, almost all have failed to examine closely the vocabulary of Black English. This book corrects that failing by going beyond popular treatments that overemphasize the language of the drug trade and of prostitution - language, J.L. Dillard convincingly demonstrates, which is only incidentally "Black." Since there is no full-scale dictionary of Black English available, the present "lexicon" will be an indispensable work for Blacks seeking to understand their own historic past, and for all those who have been fascinated by the forcefulness and richness of this language"--From Amazon.com.

'An important, provocative study....Black English is not a sloppy imitation of white English, Dillard insists, but a precise language with a history and grammar of its own. A teacher of linguistics, he marshals an impressive--and often fascinating--case.'--Charles Michener, Newsweek