4. Wath i be heaven? Heaven i be place for glad, where Angels... A pidgin becomes a creole when it becomes someone s native language

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1 African American English African American English (AAE) is also known as: BEV (Black English Vernacular AAVE (African American English Vernacular) Black English (BE) Ebonics (Ebony + Phonics) Spoken Soul AAE is a sociolect of American English that has been historically influenced by: West African languages General Southern American English (which has also been influenced by AAE) English-based creoles Pidgins & Creoles A pidgin is a new language developed out of a need to communicate with speakers of a foreign language pidgin supposedly is a Chinese pronunciation of the English word business pidgins are often used in trading relationships pidgins can also come about in emergency situations like captivity and forced migration, i.e. slavery A pidgin is based on a language called the lexifier language which: Provides most of the words in the pidgin Is the language of the people with the money and/or power May be the one common denominator language for the all the speakers of the pidgin Pidgins: Do not have all of the same vocabulary items as the lexifier language Have different meanings for many words borrowed from the lexifier language Have borrowings from other languages Have substrate influences from the speakers native languages, including both lexical borrowings and grammatical structures An example of a pidgin is East Camerounian Pidgin English (cited in Dillard, 1972) The Things why we must believe TRUE THINGS WHE EVERY MAN HE MUST SAVI FOR GO FOR HAEVEN 1. Who he ben make heaven and ground? God he ben make heaven and ground. 2. Who he be God? God he be big King for all things. He dash the good men, and he punish the bad men. 3. For wath God he ben make we? God he ben make we to savi him, to like him, to work for him for this ground, and to be glad with him for heaven, for all times.

2 4. Wath i be heaven? Heaven i be place for glad, where Angels... A pidgin becomes a creole when it becomes someone s native language A creole: Has more grammatical complexity than a pidgin Has a larger vocabulary than a pidgin Has less grammatical complexity than most languages that are not pidgins or creoles Sometimes a creole-like language exists where there is no evidence of an earlier pidgin, e.g. Middle English Over time with more contact with the lexifier language, a process of decreolization may happen This can lead to a creole continuum Standard lexifier language Lexifier language peppered with creolisms Many forms of the creole with varying degrees of decreolization The most conservative form of the creole AAE today: Is not a creole Is related to or at least influenced by creoles historically Is spoken along a continuum reminiscent of a creole continuum Is spoken by some African Americans who also speak a real creole, most famously Gullah in South Carolina AAE is stigmatized because: It is not standard A standard dialect of a language is: The dialect of the people in power (politically, economically, socially) The dialect used in the media The dialect reflected in the official orthography (spelling system) The dialect taught in the schools AAE is stigmatized because: It is not standard It s speakers have been the victims of slavery and racism AAE is a marker of identity For racists, AAE is used as a tool and excuse for identification and discrimination of African Americans

3 Chocolate voices For many African Americans, AAE is seen as a stumbling block to success in the larger society Waiting to Exhale Some view AAE as a symbol of defiance, non-conformity, and unwillingness to assimilate. But consider this... Which groups in US do and don t have to assimilate? Dan Rather? Groups that are the most discriminated against often conform more to the standard than others Most African Americans are in fact bidialectal AAE is a marker of identity For many African Americans, use of AAE reinforces the sense of a common identity For some non-african Americans, use of AAE signifies a desire to be part of the African American community and/or a desire to distance one s self from one s own ethnic background AAE has prestige because: It is creative, vibrant, and is the dialect spoken by the creators of several popular forms of artistic expression It is a symbol of racial unity (covert prestige) It is symbolic of African Americans, who may be admired by others for their endurance of historical and modern wrongs, and for their achievements (covert prestige) While speaking standard English speakers may switch into AAE: To emphasize a point To build rapport with the interlocutor or audience To give a sense of informality or truth or authenticity To indicate that what is being said is relevant to African American culture Linguistic features of AAE (used to varying degrees by different speakers and in different contexts) Phonetic and phonological features Grammatical features Lexical items The sounds of AAE Many West African languages lack certain English sounds like [D] and [ ] The dialects of English which slaves were the most in contact with also influenced the phonology and grammar of AAE

4 The sounds of AAE AAE has /d/ for initial standard English /D/, dem AAE has /v/ for final standard English /D/, AAE has /f/ or /t/ for final standard English /T/, wit, down Souf AAE is one of many rless dialects of English Postvocalic /l/ is deleted, hep, Iah /in/ /QN/, thang front-shifting of stress, PO-lice Consonant cluster simplification, one tes, two tesses Unstressed initial syllables are deleted, bout it The grammar of AAE Is also influenced by African languages, creoles, and other varieties of English Has many interesting differences from standard English including Deletion of certain suffixes Copula deletion Multiple negation A more complex aspectual system The grammar of AAE (or any language) is rule-governed Third person -<s> deletion Standard English marks third person singular subjects on verbs with a suffix which is spelled <s> I walk, he walks AAE (in its most conservative form) does not have this suffix I walk, he walk This makes the AAE verb more regular Further loss of case marking Standard English only preserves two cases on most nouns: genitive (for possession) Rosemary s, and nominative (for everything else), Rosemary AAE deletes the genitive ending spelled < s>, Rosemary house AAE uses nominative forms of some pronouns rather than genitive ones, they house AAE can delete the copula where Standard English reduces it SE he s here ~ AAE he here SE she s a teacher ~ AAE she a teacher AAE cannot delete the copula where it cannot be reduced in SE: Sentence-final position

5 I ain the one did it, he is Emphasis Allah is God Questions He ain home, is he? Multiple negation Ain no way no girl can (t) wear no platform shoes to no amusement park AAE has a complex aspectual system Tense---categories some languages mark on verbs to indicate the actions place on a timeline (e.g. past/present/future) Aspect---categories some languages mark on verbs to indicate the status of events (e.g. completive, incompletive, habitual, potential) Habitual be: she be eatin (like say if she s pregnant) Been Is she married?---she been married. she married a long time ago and still is married Completive done She done took it and gone Future perfective be done---combination of future tense and completive aspect She be done graduated by June (spoken in December of previous year) Continuative steady Them fools be steady hustlin everybody they see. AAE lexical items (like these from Smitherton, 1994), including AAE slang, are a common source of non-aa slang and eventual new words for Standard English Bread money Crib house Mojo personal magic < Fula moco o medicine man Wigga or wigger---white youth who identify with AA culture Mickey D s McDonald s A recent sociolinguistic study involving AAE Wolfram, 2003 Wolfram looked at these variables among Black and White speakers in isolated North Carolina communities:

6 Consonant cluster reduction specifically when preceding vowels tesses 3pl. -s on verbs (from contact with Ulster Scots), e.g. in Appalachia they eats Absence of 3sg. -s he eat Absence of are and is copula he cute they cute Affirmative was they was talkin Negative were I weren t mad Hyde County Beech Bottom Local past tense levelling to: Wolfram compared two communities He recorded use of these variables based on age and race Pre-vocalic CC reduction European Americans in both localities do this a little (possibly an influence from AAE) African Americans in both localities do this more, but not to a high degree Young African Americans in Beech Bottom are doing it less, about as much as their white cohort 3pl. -s All older residents of both towns do this a lot (a general feature of this regionalect) All younger residents of both towns do this less than their elders (they are moving towards the non-local standard) Young European Americans in Beech Bottom do this at a moderate level, i.e. more than AA youth in their own town or any youth in Hyde Co. (they identify more with the region) Absent 3sg. -s Most African Americans in both places leave off -s (a common feature of AAE) at moderate levels European Americans do not delete 3sg. -s

7 Younger African Ameicans in Beech Bottom do not delete -s (they are assimilating towards Standard English) Deletion of are copula Older African Americans in both places do this moderately(again this is typical of AAE) Elderly European Americans in Hyde Co. do not delete the are copula Young European Americans in Hyde Co. and all European Americans in B.B. do this a little (influence from AAE) Younger African Americans in Hyde Co. do this at a high rate of frequency (they identify with AAE) Younger African Americans in Beech Bottom do this at a low rate of frequency (moving towards standard) Deletion of is copula European Americans in both places do not do this (it is a typical feature of AAE). African Americans in Hyde Co. do this moderately Elderly African Americans in Beech Bottom do this a little (moving towards standard) Young African Americans in Beech Bottom do not do this (identical to standard for this variable) Weren t levelling No one in Beech Bottom does this Older citizens of Hyde Co. do this moderately (a localism for both races) Younger European Americans in Hyde Co. do this a lot (they identify as locals) Younger African Americans in Hyde Co. do this a little or not at all (they are moving away from use of the localism) The younger generation of African Americans in Beech Bottom is moving away from AAE features like CCR, lack of 3sg. -s, and copula deletion Younger European Americans in Beech Bottom while still moving away from localisms like 3pl -s, are doing so at a slower rate than African Americans or youth of any race in Hyde Co. Young African Americans in Hyde Co. are using AAE features like deletion of are more than their elders are using the localisms of weren t levelling and 3pl. -s less than their elders are changing in the opposite direction as their European American cohort by using less weren t levelling Younger European Americans in Hyde Co.

8 are using more of the AAE-ism of are deletion than their elders. This trend had already taken place earlier in Beech Bottom. It is perhaps being reinterpreted as a regionalism. are using more of the localism of weren t levelling than their elders Based solely on these findings one might conclude European Americans in rural North Carolina are proud to be from their hometowns and probably enjoy high status there. African Americans in Hyde Co. identify themselves more strongly as African Americans than as local citizens. AAE has covert prestige. African Americans in Beech Bottom are assimilating their speech to that of the European American standard. They are upwardly mobile and probably perceive AAE and other markers of their culture to be roadblocks to their success.