You know my Steez: An ethnographic and sociolinguistic study of styleshifting in a Black American speech community

Extract

Samy Alim. You know my Steez: An ethnographic and sociolinguistic study of styleshifting in a Black American speech community. Duke University Press, 2005. pp. Xi, 309. Hb $20.00.

Samy Alim's book is a balanced blend of hip hop linguistics, ethnography, and advocacy. There is an underlying intensity to his writing that challenges all researchers to become more active in applying their research to the benefit of the community. Most impressively, Alim puts his money where his mouth when it comes to linguistic advocacy. Paying lip service to the idea that African American English or Black Language is linguistically and socially legitimate is one thing; it is another to employ it in written form in a scholarly text. Yet Alim seamlessly shifts back and forth between a hip hop form of Black Language and Standard English, alerting the reader to his own stylistic range while serving to legitimize the language he uses. Furthermore, he does so in a style that is both lucid and transparent for readers less familiar with linguistic jargon.