Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. For as long as she can remember, Sonja Lanehart has been fascinated by how people speak. In particular, she was interested in the ...

Geneva Smitherman ended up in speech therapy in her freshman year at Wayne State University in the 1950s, when she failed a test to screen incoming teaching students for possible speech problems. The ...

Only 7% of LAist readers currently donate to fund our journalism. Help raise that number, so our nonprofit newsroom stays strong in the face of federal cuts. Donate now. Black people have long ...

“Dr. Holt, I need you to come listen to one of my second graders. This is one of my best students, but I’m worried I might be overlooking a speech or language disorder—I’m just not sure,” the teacher ...

A first-of-its-kind dictionary is coming to the world that’s comprised of words created, defined, and used in the African-American lingo. Oxford University Press will issue the “Oxford Dictionary of ...

Walter Edwards does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round” is a crowd favorite for the Northwest African American Museum’s African American Choir Ensemble. Based on the spiritual “Don’t You Let Nobody Turn You ’Round,” ...

For as long as she can remember, Sonja Lanehart has been fascinated by how people speak. In particular, she was interested in the differences she noticed between how white people spoke, when compared ...

Black people have long contributed to the ways in which we use the English language. Linguistics professor Sonja Lanehart shares some examples. SONJA LANEHART: If we look at some present words, we can ...