Because the style and language of the black folk tradition have contributed significantly to the development of the English language, an analysis of black persuasive techniques and black communication systems can enhance the teaching of composition, rhetoric, and literature for both black and white students. Some of the persuasive techniques of the black folk tradition include punning, language improvisation, indirection (a technique of sending messages through innuendo or suggestion), metaphorical image making, bragging, exaggerated language, and the use of words or phrases for sound effects. Forms of communication that enrich black language range from "Call and Response," involving a spontaneous and nonverbal interaction between the speaker's calls and the listener's answers (found in spirituals, work songs, and sermons), to sequencing of narratives or storytelling that is structured to explain, persuade, influence, or entertain (illustrated in black folk stories and toasts). Another communication system, semantic signaling by way of tones, consists of using vocal inflections and voice rhythms to convey meaning and involves a type of talk-singing. (MAI)