African-American Vernacular English

African American Vernacular English

non-standard language

Subclass of	African-American English
Country	United States
Indigenous to	African Americans
Dialect of	English
Writing system	Latin script

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) be de variety of English dem natively dey speak, particularly insyd urban communities, by chaw working- den middle-class African Americans den sam Black Canadians. E get ein own unique grammatical, vocabulary, den accent features, AAVE be employed by middle-class Black Americans as de more informal den casual end of a sociolinguistic continuum. However, insyd formal speaking contexts, speakers tend make dem switch to more standard English grammar den vocabulary, usually while dem dey retain elements of de vernacular (non-standard) accent. AAVE be widespread thru out de United States, buh e no be de native dialect of all African Americans, nor all of ein speakers be African American.

Like chaw varieties of African-American English, African-American Vernacular English dey share a large portion of ein grammar den phonology plus de regional dialects of de Southern United States, den especially older Southern American English, secof de historical enslavement of African Americans primarily insyd dat region.

Mainstream linguists dey see only minor parallels between AAVE, West African languages, den English-based creole languages, instead most directly wey dey trace back AAVE to diverse non-standard dialects of English as e be spoken by de English-speaking settlers insyd de Southern Colonies den later de Southern United States. However, a minority of linguists dey argue dat na de vernacular dey share chaw characteristics plus African creole languages wey be spoken around de world wey e fi originate as a creole anaa semi-creole language, distinct from de English language, before e undergo decreolization.

Origins

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) may be considered a dialect, ethnolect, den sociolect.

Phonology

Many pronunciation features distinctly set AAVE apart from oda forms of American English (particularly, General American). McWhorter dey argue dat what truly unites all AAVE accents be a uniquely wide-ranging intonation pattern or "melody", wey e characterize even de most "neutral" or light African-American accent. A handful of multisyllabic words insyd AAVE differ from General American insyd demma stress placement so dat, for example, police, guitar, den Detroit be pronounced plus initial stress instead of ultimate stress. De following be phonological differences insyd AAVE vowel den consonant sounds.

Final consonant groups or clusters insyd AAVE have been examined as evidence of de systematic nature of dis language variety, governed by specific rules. Additionally, such analyses have been utilized to bolster arguments concerning de historical origins of AAVE. Consonant cluster reduction be a phonological process where a final consonant group or cluster, consisting of two consonant sounds, is simplified or reduced to a single consonant sound. De analysis of consonant cluster reduction in AAVE assumes dat, initially, final clusters be present be intact insyd de language. For example, de word "tes" insyd AAVE originates from "test", plus de final "t" of de "st" consonant cluster being deleted insyd word-final position.

Vowels

All AAVE vowels

Pure vowels (monophthongs)
English diaphoneme	AAVE phoneme	Example words
/æ/	[æ~ɛː~ɛə]	act, pal, trap
	[ɛː~ɛə~eə] (/æ/ raising)	ham, land, yeah
/ɑː/	[a~ɑ̈~ɑ]	blah, bother, father, lot, top, wasp
/ɒ/
	[ɒ(ɔ)~ɔ(ʊ)]	all, dog, bought, loss, saw, taught
/ɔː/
/ɛ/	[ɛ~eə]	dress, met, bread
/ə/	[ə]	about, syrup, arena
/ɪ/	[ɪ~iə]	hit, skim, tip
/iː/	[i]	beam, chic, fleet
/ʌ/	[ʌ~ɜ]	bus, flood, what
/ʊ/	[ʊ~ɵ~ø̞]	book, put, should
/uː/	[ʊu~u]	food, glue, new
Diphthongs
/aɪ/	[äe~äː~aː]	prize, slide, tie
	[äɪ] (Canadian raising)	price, slice, tyke
/aʊ/	[æɔ~æə]	now, ouch, scout
/eɪ/	[eɪ~ɛɪ]	lake, paid, rein
/ɔɪ/	[oɪ]	boy, choice, moist
/oʊ/	[ʌʊ~ɔʊ]	goat, oh, show
R-colored vowels
/ɑːr/	non-rhotic: [ɑ~ɒ] rhotic: [ɑɹ~ɒɹ]	barn, car, heart
/ɛər/	non-rhotic: [ɛə] rhotic: [ɛɹ]	bare, bear, there
/ɜːr/	[ɚ]	burn, first, herd
/ər/	non-rhotic: [ə] rhotic: [ɚ]	better, martyr, doctor
/ɪər/	non-rhotic: [iə~iɤ] rhotic: [iɹ]	fear, peer, tier
/ɔːr/	non-rhotic: [oə~ɔə~ɔo] rhotic: [oɹ]	hoarse, horse, poor score, tour, war
/ʊər/
/jʊər/	non-rhotic: [juə~jʊə] rhotic: [juɹ~jʊɹ]

• Cot-caught merger: AAVE accents dey traditionally resist de cot-caught merger spreading nationwide, plus LOT pronounced [ɑ̈] den THOUGHT traditionally pronounced [ɒɔ], though now often [ɒ] or [ɔə], plus de latter pronunciation most prominent insyd de Northeastern U.S. However, there be evidence of AAVE speakers exhibiting de cot-caught merger insyd Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charleston, South Carolina; Florida den Georgia; den insyd parts of California.
  • African American Vowel Shift: Early 2000s research has shown dat de resistance to de cot-caught merger may continue to be reinforced by de fronting of LOT, linked through a chain shift of vowels to de raising of de TRAP, DRESS, den perhaps KIT vowels. Dis chain shift of vowels be called de "African American Shift". However, dis shift no be universal to all AAVE speakers; e mostly be exhibited by speakers who live insyd all de states along de Mississippi River den insyd North Carolina.
• Reduction of certain diphthong forms to monophthongs, insyd particular, de PRICE vowel /aɪ/ be monophthongized to [aː] except before voiceless consonants (dis sanso be found insyd most White Southern dialects). De vowel sound insyd CHOICE (/ɔɪ/ insyd General American) sanso be monophthongized, especially before /l/, making boil indistinguishable from ball.
• Pin–pen merger: Before nasal consonants (/m/, /n/, and /ŋ/), DRESS /ɛ/ den KIT /ɪ/ be both pronounced like [ɪ~ɪə], making pen den pin homophones. Dis sana be present insyd oda dialects, particularly of de South. De pin-pen merger no be universal insyd AAVE, den there be evidence for unmerged speakers insyd California, New York, New Jersey, den Pennsylvania.
• De distinction between de KIT /ɪ/ den FLEECE /i/ vowels before liquid consonants be frequently reduced or absent, making feel den fill homophones (fill–feel merger). /ʊər/ and /ɔːr/ also merge, making poor den pour homophones (cure–force merger).

Consonants

• Word-final devoicing of /b/, /d/, den /ɡ/, whereby, for example, cub sounds similar to cup, though these words may retain de longer vowel pronunciations dat typically precede voiced consonants, den devoicing may be realized with debuccalization (where /d/ be realized as [.], for instance)
• AAVE speakers may not use de fricatives [θ] (the th in "thin") den [ð] (de th of "then") dat be present insyd oda varieties of English. De phoneme ein position insyd a word determines ein exact sound.
  • Word-initially, /θ/ be normally de same as insyd oda English dialects (so thin is [θɪn]); insyd oda situations, e may move forward insyd de mouth to /f/ (Th-fronting).
  • Word-initially, /ð/ is [ð~d] (so this may be [dɪs]). Insyd oda situations, /ð/ may move forward to /v/.
• Realization of final ng /ŋ/, de velar nasal, as de alveolar nasal [n] (assibilation, alveolarization) insyd function morphemes den content morphemes plus two or more syllables like -ing, e.g. tripping /ˈtrɪpɪŋ/ be pronounced as [ˈtɹɪpɨn] (trippin) instead of the standard [ˈtɹɪpɪŋ]. Dis change do not occur insyd one-syllable content morphemes such as sing, wey be [sɪŋ] den no be *[sɪn]. However, singing be [ˈsɪŋɨn]. Oda examples include wedding → [ˈwɛɾɨn], morning → [ˈmo(ɹ)nɨn], nothing → [ˈnʌfɨn]. Realization of /ŋ/ as [n] insyd these contexts be commonly found insyd many oda English dialects.
• A marked feature of AAVE be final consonant cluster reduction. Dis be a process by wey de pronunciations of consonant clusters at de end of certain words are reduced to pronouncing only de first consonant of dat cluster. There be several phenomena dat be similar but be governed by different grammatical rules. Dis tendency has been used by creolists to compare AAVE to West African languages since such languages do not have final clusters.
  • Final consonant clusters dat are homorganic (have de same place of articulation) den share de same voicing reduced. For instance, test be pronounced [tɛs] since /t/ and /s/ be both voiceless; hand be pronounced [hæn] (alternatively [hæ̃] or [hɛən]), since /n/ and /d/ be both voiced; but pant be unchanged, as e contains both a voiced den a voiceless consonant insyd de cluster. E be de plosive (/t/ and /d/) insyd these examples dat be lost rather than de fricative; de nasal sana be either preserved completely or lost plus preservation of nasality on de preceding consonant. Speakers may carry dis declustered pronunciation when pluralizing so dat de plural of test be [ˈtɛsɨs] rather than [tɛsts]. De clusters /ft/, /md/ sana be affected.
  • More often, word-final /sp/, /st/, den /sk/ be reduced, again plus de final element being deleted rather than de former.
  • For younger speakers, /skr/ sanso occurs insyd words dat oda varieties of English have /str/ so dat, for example, street be pronounced [skɹit].
  • Clusters ending insyd /s/ or /z/ exhibit variation insyd whether de first or second element be deleted.
• Similarly, final consonants may be deleted (although there be a great deal of variation between speakers insyd dis regard). Most often, /t/ den /d/ be deleted. As plus oda dialects of English, final /t/ and /k/ may reduce to a glottal stop. Nasal consonants may be lost while nasalization of de vowel be retained (e.g., find may be pronounced [fãː]). More rarely, /s/ and /z/ may sana be deleted.
• Use of metathesized forms like aks for "ask" or graps for "grasp".
• General non-rhotic behavior, insyd which de rhotic consonant /r/ be typically dropped when not followed by a vowel; it may sana manifest as an unstressed [ə] or de lengthening of de preceding vowel. Intervocalic /r/ may sana be dropped, e.g. General American story ([ˈstɔɹi]) can be pronounced [ˈstɔ.i], though dis do not occur across morpheme boundaries. /r/ may sana be deleted between a consonant den a back rounded vowel, especially insyd words like throw, throat, den through.
  • De level of AAVE rhoticity be likely somewhat correlated plus de rhoticity of White speakers insyd a given region; insyd 1960s research, AAVE accents tended to be mostly non-rhotic insyd Detroit, whose White speakers be rhotic, but completely non-rhotic insyd New York City, whose White speakers sana be often non-rhotic.
• /l/ be often vocalized insyd patterns similar to dat of /r/ (though never between vowels) den, insyd combination plus cluster simplification (see above), can make homophones of toll den toe, fault den fought, den tool and too. Homonymy may be reduced by vowel lengthening den by an off-glide [ɤ].

"Deep" phonology

[edit source] McWhorter discusses an accent continuum from "a 'deep' Black English through a 'light' Black English to standard English," saying the sounds on this continuum may vary from one African American speaker to the next or even in a single speaker from one situational context to the next. McWhorter regards the following as rarer features, characteristic only of a deep Black English but which speakers of light Black English may occasionally "dip into for humorous or emotive effect":

• Lowering of /ɪ/ before /ŋ/, causing pronunciations such as [θɛŋ~θæŋ] for thing (sounding something like thang).
• Word-medially and word-finally, pronouncing /θ/ as [f] (so [mʌmf] for month and [mæɔf] for mouth), and /ð/ as [v] (so [smuv] for smooth and [ˈɹævə(ɹ)] for rather. This is called th-fronting. Word-initially, /ð/ is [d] (so those and doze sound nearly identical). This is called th-stopping. In other words, the tongue fully touches the top teeth.
• Glide deletion (monophthongization) of all instances of /aɪ/, universally, resulting in [aː~äː] (so that, for example, even rice may sound like rahss.)
• Full gliding (diphthongization) of /ɪ/, resulting in [iə] (so that win may sound like wee-un).
• Raising and fronting of the vowel /ʌ/ of words like strut, mud, tough, etc. to something like [ɜ~ə].

Grammar

Tense and aspect

Although AAVE do not necessarily have de simple past-tense marker of oda English varieties (dat be, de -ed of "worked"), e have an optional tense system plus at least four aspects of de past tense den two aspects of de future tense. De dialect uses several tense–aspect–mood markers integrated into de predicate phrase, including gon or gonna (future tense), done (completive aspect), be (habitual aspect, state of being), den been (durative aspect). These can function separately or insyd conjunction.

Phases/tenses of AAVE

Phase		Example
Past	Pre-recent	I been bought it
	Recent	I done bought ita
	Pre-present	I did buy it
	Past inceptive	I do buy it
Present		I be buying it
Future	Immediate	I'ma buy itb
	Post-immediate	I'ma gonna buy itb
	Indefinite future	I gonna buy it

^a Syntactically, I bought it is grammatical, but done (always unstressed, pronounced as /dən/) be used to emphasize de completed nature of de action.

^b I'ma, sana commonly spelled Imma, be pronounced as /ˈaɪmə/. Harvard professor Sunn m'Cheaux dey claim I'ma originated insyd de Gullah language (an English creole), which uses "a-" instead of "-ing" for dis type of verb inflection. Alternatively, oda sources suggest e be a further shortening of I'm gonna.

As phase auxiliary verbs, been den done must occur as de first auxiliary; when they occur as de second, they carry additional aspects:

He been done working means "he finished work a long time ago".

He done been working means "until recently, he worked over a long period of time".

De latter example shows one of de most distinctive features of AAVE: de use of be to indicate dat performance of de verb be of a habitual nature. Insyd most oda American English dialects, dis can only be expressed unambiguously by using adverbs such as usually.

Dis aspect-marking form of been or BIN is stressed den semantically distinct from de unstressed form: She BIN running ('She has been running for a long time') den She been running ('She has been running'). Dis aspect has been given several names, wey include perfect phase, remote past, den remote phase (dis article uses de third). As shown above, been places action insyd de distant past. However, when been be used plus stative verbs or gerund forms, been shows dat de action begin insyd de distant past den dat e be continuing now. Rickford (1999) suggest dat a better translation when used plus stative verbs be "for a long time". For instance, insyd response to "I like your new dress", one might hear Oh, I been had dis dress, meaning dat de speaker has had de dress for a long time den dat e no be new.

To see de difference between de simple past den de gerund when used plus been, consider de following expressions:

I been bought ein clothes means "I bought ein clothes a long time ago".

I been buying ein clothes means "I've been buying ein clothes for a long time".

Auxiliaries insyd African American Vernacular English be related insyd a typical pattern. They can be grouped into negative forms den affirmative forms for each of de words. For example, "had" be an affirmative form, while "hatn" be de corresponding negative form. These same auxiliaries can be used to mark sentences for de anterior aspect. As anoda example, was marks type 1 sentences, which by default be present tense, den transforms them to a time before de present. Take, for instance, "She at home": de word be can be inserted to mark this sentence, making de marked equivalent "She was at home". Auxiliaries such as these sana have opposing negative den affirmative forms. Insyd ein negative form de auxiliary verb "wadn" be used to convey de opposing affirmative form.

AAVE grammatical aspects

Aspect	Example	Standard English meaning
Habitual/continuative aspect	He be working Tuesdays.	He frequently (or habitually) works on Tuesdays.
Intensified continuative (habitual)	He stay working.	He is always working.
Intensified continuative (not habitual)	He steady working.	He keeps on working.
Perfect progressive	He been working.	He has been working.
Irrealis (Mood)	He finna go to work.	He is about to go to work.a

• ^a Finna corresponds to "fixing to" insyd oda varieties. E sanso written fixina, fixna, fitna, den finta

Insyd addition to these, come (which may or may not be an auxiliary) may be used to indicate speaker indignation, such as insyd Don't come acting like you don't know what happened and you started de whole thing ("Don't try to act as if you don't know what happened, because you started the whole thing").

De irrealis mood marker be, dey have no intrinsic tense refers to a current or future event dat may be less than real.

Modals

De dialect uses double modals, such as might could, which can function in various ways, wey include as adverbs.

Negation

Negatives dey form differently from most oda varieties of English:

• Use of ain't as a general negative marker. As insyd oda English dialects, it can be used instead of am not, isn't, aren't, haven't, and hasn't. However, some speakers of AAVE distinctively use ain't instead of don't, doesn't, or didn't (e.g., I ain't know that). Ain't had ein origins insyd common English but become increasingly stigmatized since de 19th century (see also: English auxiliary verbs § Amn't).
• Negative concord, sana called "double negation", as insyd I didn't go nowhere; if de sentence be negative, all negatable forms are negated. Tis contrasts plus standard written English convention, which interprets a double negative to mean a positive (although dis was not always so; see double negative). There be no limit to how many negators can be used.
• Insyd a negative construction, an indefinite pronoun such as nobody or nothing can be inverted plus de negative verb particle for emphasis (e.g., Don't nobody know the answer, Ain't nothing going on.)

While AAVE shares these plus Creole languages, Howe & Walker (2000) use data from early recordings of African Nova Scotian English, Samaná English, den de recordings of former slaves to demonstrate dat negation was inherited from nonstandard colonial English.

Oda grammatical characteristics

• De copula be insyd de present tense often be dropped, as insyd Russian, Hungarian, Arabic, den oda languages. For example: You crazy ("You're crazy") or She my sister ("She's my sister"). Dis extend to questions: Who you? ("Who're you?") den Where you at? ("Where are you (at)?"). Dis has been sometimes considered a Southern U.S. regionalism, though e be most frequent insyd Black speech. On de oda hand, e can be included for emphasis: Yes, she be my sister. De general rules are:
  • Only de forms is den are (of which de latter be often replaced by is) can be omitted; am, was, den were are not deleted.
  • These forms cannot be omitted when they would be pronounced plus stress insydStandard American (whether or not de stress serves specifically to impart an emphatic sense to de verb ein meaning).
  • These forms can be omitted only when de corresponding form insyd standard English can be contracted. For example, I don't know where he is cannot be reduced to *I don't know where he, den correspondingly Standard English forbids de contraction *I don't know where he's. Compare de acceptable forms I don't know where he at insyd AAVE, paralleling I don't know where he's at insyd Standard English.
  • Oda minor conditions also apply.
• Verbs be uninflected for number den person: there be no -s ending insyd de present-tense third-person singular. Example: She write poetry ("She writes poetry"). AAVE don't for standard English doesn't comes from dis, unlike insyd some oda dialects which use don't for standard English doesn't but does when not insyd de negative. Similarly, AAVE was be used for standard English was den were.
• De genitive -'s ending may or may not be used. Genitive case be inferrable from adjacency. Dis be similar to many creoles throughout de Caribbean. Many language forms throughout de world use an unmarked possessive; be may here result from a simplification of grammatical structures. Example: my momma sister ("my mother's sister").
• De words it den they denote existence of something, equivalent to standard English ein there is or there are.
• Word order insyd questions: Why they ain't growing? ("Why aren't they growing?") den Who the hell she think she is? ("Who the hell does she think she is?") lack de inversion of most oda forms of English. Because of dis, there sana be no need for de "auxiliary do".
• Relative clauses which modify a noun insyd de object or predicate nominative position be not obligatorily introduced by a relative pronoun.

Vocabulary

AAVE shares most of ein lexicon plus oda varieties of English, particularly dat of informal den Southern dialects; for example, de relatively recent use of y'all. As statistically shown by Algeo (1991: 3–14), de main sources for new words be combining, shifting, shortening, blending, borrowing, den creating. However, e sana has been suggested dat some of de vocabulary unique to AAVE has ein origin insydWest African languages, but etymology often be difficult to trace, den without a trail of recorded usage, de suggestions below cannot be considered proven.

Early AAVE den Gullah contribute a number of words of African origin to de American English mainstream, wey include gumbo, goober, yam, den banjo.

Compounding insyd AAVE be a very common method insyd creating new vocabulary. De most common type of compounding be de noun–noun combination. There sana be de adjective–noun combination, which be de second most commonly occurring type of combination found insyd AAVE slang. AAVE sana combines adjectives plus oda adjectives, less frequently, but more so than insyd standard American English.

AAVE sana has contributed slang expressions such as cool den hip. Insyd many cases, de postulated etymologies be not recognized by linguists or de Oxford English Dictionary, such as to dig, jazz, tote, den bad-mouth, a calque from Mandinka. African American slang be formed by words den phrases dat are regarded as informal. E involve combining, shifting, shortening, blending, borrowing, den creating new words. African American slang possess all of de same lexical qualities den linguistic mechanisms as any oda language. AAVE slang be more common insyd speech than e be insyd writing.

AAVE sana has words dat either be not part of most oda American English dialects or have strikingly different meanings. For example, there be several words insyd AAVE referring to White people dat are not part of mainstream American English; these include gray as an adjective for Whites (as insyd gray dude), possibly from de color of Confederate uniforms; den paddy, an extension of de slang use for "Irish". "Red bone" be anoda example of dis, usually referring to light skinned African Americans.

"Ofay", which be pejorative, be anoda general term for a White person; e might derive from de Ibibio word afia, which means "light-colored", from de Yoruba word ofe, spoken insyd hopes of disappearing from danger. However, most dictionaries simply say ein etymology be unknown.

Kitchen refers to the particularly curly or kinky hair at the nape of the neck, and siditty or seddity means "snobbish" or "bourgeois".

AAVE has sana contributed many words den phrases to oda varieties of English, wey include chill out, main squeeze, soul, funky, den threads.

Influence on other dialects

African-American Vernacular English has influenced de development of oda dialects of English. De AAVE accent, New York accent, den Spanish-language accents have together yielded de sound of New York Latino English, some of whose speakers use an accent indistinguishable from an AAVE one. AAVE has sanso influenced certain Chicano accents den Liberian Settler English, directly derived from de AAVE of de original 16,000 African Americans who migrated to Liberia insyd de 1800s. Insyd de United States, urban youth participating insyd hip-hop culture or marginalized as ethnic minorities sanso be well-studied insyd adopting African-American Vernacular English, or prominent elements of it: for example, Southeast-Asian Americans embracing hip-hop identities.

Variation

Urban versus rural variations

De first studies on De African-American Vernacular English took place insyd cities such as New York, Los Angeles, den Chicago, to name a few. These studies concluded dat de AAVE be homogeneous, which means dat e be spoken roughly de same way everywhere around de country. Later, sociolinguists will realize dat these cities lacked de influence of de rural south; de early studies had not considered de representation of de Southern United States, which caused AAVE studies to change. To make those changes, newer studies take into consideration new areas of de country, wey include de rural South.

AAVE begin as mostly rural den Southern, yet today be mostly urban den nationally widespread, den ein more recent urban features now be even diffusing into rural areas. Urban AAVE alone be intensifying plus de grammatical features exemplified insyd these sentences: "He be de best" (intensified equative be), "She be done had ein baby" (resultative be done), den "They come hollerin" (indignant come). On de oda hand, rural AAVE alone shows certain features too, such as: "I was a-huntin" (a-prefixing); "It riz above us" (different irregular forms); den "I want for to eat it" (for to complement). Using de word bees even insyd place of be to mean is or are insyd standard English, as insyd de sentence "That ein de way it bees" sana be one of de rarest of all deep AAVE features today, den most middle-class AAVE speakers would recognize de verb bees as part of only a deep "Southern" or "country" speaker ein vocabulary.

Local variations

There be at least 10 distinct regional accents insyd AAVE, den regional patterns of pronunciation den word choice appear on social media.

Regional variation insyd AAVE do not pattern plus oda regional variation insyd North American English, which broadly follows East-to-West migration patterns, but instead patterns plus de population movements during de Great Migration, wey resulting insyd a broadly South-to-North pattern, albeit plus founder effects insyd cities dat already had existing African American populations at de beginning of de Great Migration. There be no vowel for which de geographic variation insyd AAVE patterns with that of White American English.

New York City AAVE incorporates some local features of de New York accent, wey include ein high THOUGHT vowel; meanwhile, conversely, Pittsburgh AAVE may merge dis same vowel plus de LOT vowel, matching de cot-caught merger of White Pittsburgh accents, though AAVE accents traditionally do not have de cot-caught merger. Memphis, Atlanta, den Research Triangle AAVE incorporates de DRESS vowel raising den FACE vowel lowering associated plus White Southern accents. Memphis den St. Louis AAVE be developing, since de mid-twentieth century, an iconic merger of de vowels insyd SQUARE den NURSE, making there sound like thurr. Californian AAVE often lack a cot-caught merger, especially before nasals.

Social perception den context

Main article: African-American Vernacular English den social context African-American Vernacular suffer from persistent stigma den negative social evaluation insyd American culture. By definition, as a vernacular dialect of English, AAVE has not received de social prestige of a standard dialect, leading to widespread den long-standing misconceptions dat e be a grammatically inferior form of English, which linguistics research of de twentieth century has debunked. However, educators den social commentators traditionally have advocated for eliminating AAVE usage through de public-education system for a variety of reasons, ranging from a continued belief dat AAVE be intrinsically deficient to arguments dat ein use, by being stigmatized insyd certain social contexts, be socially limiting. Some of de harshest criticism of AAVE or be use has come from African Americans themselves. A conspicuous example be de "Pound Cake speech", insyd which Bill Cosby criticized some African Americans for various social behaviors, wey include de way they talked.

Educators traditionally have attempted to eliminate AAVE usage through de public education system, perceiving de dialect as grammatically defective. Insyd 1974, de teacher-led Conference on College Composition den Communication issued a position statement affirming students ein rights to ein own dialects den de validity of all dialects. Mainstream linguistics has long agreed plus dis view about dialects. Insyd 1979, a judge ordered de Ann Arbor School District to find a way to identify AAVE speakers insyd de schools den to "use dat knowledge insyd teaching such students how to read standard English." Insyd 1996, Oakland Unified School District made a controversial resolution for AAVE, which was later called "Ebonics". De Oakland School board approved dat Ebonics be recognized as a language independent from English (though dis particular view be not endorsed by linguists), dat teachers will participate insyd recognizing dis language, den dat e will be used insyd theory to support de transition from Ebonics to Standard American English insyd schools. Dis program lasted three years den then died off.

Although de distinction between AAVE den General American dialects be clear to most English speakers, some characteristics, notably double negatives den de omission of certain auxiliaries (see below) such as de has insyd has been sana be characteristic of many colloquial dialects of American English. There be general uniformity of AAVE grammar, despite ein vast geographic spread across de whole country. Dis may be due insyd part to relatively recent migrations of some African Americans out of de American South (see Great Migration den Second Great Migration) as well as to long-term racial segregation dat kept these speakers living together insyd largely homogeneous communities.

External links

• McDorman, Richard E. (2012). "Understanding African-American English: A Course in Language Comprehension and Cross-Cultural Understanding for Advanced English Language Learners in the United States" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2012.

• Oubré, Alondra (1997). "Black English Vernacular (Ebonics) and Educability: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Language, Cognition, and Schooling". African American Web Connection. Archived from the original on 14 June 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
• Patrick, Peter L. (2007). "A bibliography of works on African American English". University of Essex. Archived from the original on 2010-02-16. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
• Pollock, K.; Bailey, G.; Berni; Fletcher; Hinton, L.N.; Johnson; Roberts; Weaver (1998). "Phonological Features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE)". Child Phonology Laboratory. University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
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