African American Vernacular English 

Everyone has various styles of speaking and various ranges of vocabulary that they utilize depending upon with whom they speak. This concept, known as code switching, portrays an integral part of our lives in today’s society. The fact that different groups of people speak in different ways necessitates the use of code switching. One would not speak to a group of high school students in the manner that one would speak to a scholar, or speak to a prison inmate in the same regard that one would speak with the President of the United States. Speaking in standard American English and then in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or Ebonics, portrays the most prominent use of code

Jarriett----How does Asante describe the future of African American Rhetoric? What kinds of approaches or topics does he advocate scholars use or pursue in the future?

According to the author, education was not bestowed upon African-American by enlightened citizens. Literacy is viewed as a valuable commodity that African-Americans have had limited opportunities to acquire. And for them becoming literate is perceived as continuous struggle. So Literacy serves emancipatory function when appropriate to reconstruct a society, so it limits access to those who are not literate to participate in all cultural institutions. According to Harris, European American do not fully support the education of African-American and would prefer not to fund it at the levels comparable to funding for their children and would prefer curricula that do not enable African –American to compete with their children for access to high education and possibly opportunities .

Language is the inevitable medium which people use as a means of communication. However, how that person uses the language that they have varies. Some view language as a persuasive political instrument and others view it as a means of expression and empowerment. In the essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin, he was able to illustrate the history of the discrimination of language and how Black English is not accepted as its own language. Baldwin also shows that due to the lack of acknowledgement of Black English, it lacks the power it needs to empower the people who speak it. In the essay “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, he was able to break down language and explain how language shapes reality. Orwell states that the he is not considering the literary use of language, but language is an instrument of expression and the promotion of cognitive deliberation and persuasion. Furthermore, both these authors agree that language is a political instrument, however, Baldwin uses this instrument to unite people and Orwell uses the instrument to persuade people.

Moving to another country is a tremendous cultural change and as a middle school student, it was quite overwhelming. One of the major differences in background between the population in the UK and the population in the US is the Hispanic community. A reason for this being that North America shares a border with Central and South America, whilst Britain is proximate to Spain, however, I learnt that the two societies have comparatively different traditions despite having the same overall heritage. One person I met during my second year in the states, who ultimately became my best friend, was born into a Mexican-African-American household. So even with having the African likeness on our fathers’ sides, there was a world of dissimilarities but

Explaining and identifying the differences and relationships between societies and cultures in Europe and Africa can be a very interesting and a controversial topic to talk about. The two continents are very large masses of land and have many populated areas throughout their regions. There are some very important facts to know if one wants to travel or move to these specific locations. Important facts to consider are the languages, food, and places there are throughout the regions, the visitors would like to consider to tour through. Knowing these considerations will also help tourists understand what the citizens of these countries do and what their lives revolve around on a day to day basis when visitors arrive there.

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) refers to the specific dialect of English spoken by African American people. Many other terms are also used, such as Black English, Inner-city English, and Ebonics, but they all refer to the same vernacular of English (Lewis, 160). While Standard English is the English generally spoken in formal academic settings, AAVE is considered nonstandard (Lewis, 157). For many years, AAVE was the most highly researched English dialect, with more papers dedicated to it than to any other form of English (Wolfram, 282). Much of the research on AAVE focuses on its origins, the way it is viewed in society, how it diverges from Standard American English, and its effect on and place in the education of African American

I have traveled all over the world but I have never been down South. Being from New York has also given me a very narrow perspective of African American culture. The purpose of this research project is to gain some understanding of Black culture specifically in the South. College has exposed me to a lot of people who were born and raised in the South and some of my closest friends are southerners. By researching the history, culture, and demographic information of the South, I plan on becoming a more well-informed American.

Speaking English is a way of identifying with home, peers or a certain way of life in America. It is not a matter of speaking English the correct way, but of speaking in a way that makes people comfortable in their world and that accurately projects their identity. Ultimately, the way we speak is intrinsically tied to a number of complex factors, including ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Last Wednesday, in class, we listened to the song by Yasiin Bey - Hip Hop. One of our classmates expressed his lack of understanding to a particular verse in the song where Bey raps "used to speak the kings En-g-lish/ But caught a rash on my lips/ So now my chat just like dis" Immediately, I raised my hand to explain what I understood the verse to mean. When I read and heard the lyrics of the song a scholar who came to mind was Geneva Smitherman and her concept of Black English. I remember that she critiqued the many white scholars misguided attitudes they had in regards to those who spoke black english and how they believed it to being inferior to old or standard English. But in reality there is no deficiency in speaking different variations

African American vernacular traditions have been around for many centuries and still cease to exist in their culture. The vernacular traditions of the African Americans started when slaves were existent in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It is believed that the slaves spoke a mix of Creole and partial English, in which they had to create in order to communicate between them discreetly. The vernacular traditions originated from the way the slaves lived their lives and their creativity. The relationship between the slaves and their masters, were very weak because the master’s believed that the slaves were inferior to them. It is believed that African American

Although the current study examines language use in HHNL, it is first necessary to go further back in time to the origins of AAVE and look at specific features AAVE has in contrast with standard English and also examine further developments of AAVE through cultural movements such as Hip Hop. In one of the earlier studies done on language use in AAVE, John R Rickford, Arnetha Ball, Raina Jackson Blake, and Naomi Martin (1991), stated that AAVE is the only American dialect where is deletion is found. He had found occasional instances of are deletion in some European American dialects. Rickford also discussed copula variation playing a large role in the origin debate of AAVE. He presents all previously stated methodologies of the origin debate including the Dialectologist and also the Creolist Approach, in order to compare all theories of copula variation in AAVE. There are two specific views on the origin of AAVE. Labov’s Dialectologist approach (1969) assumes that AAVE was created into a dialect of American English. This means that all of the distinguishing features of AAVE were created out

Black English and Standard English share many words in common, which might explain the resistance by many Americans to accept African American Vernacular as anything other than a dialect of English. In any event, Smitherman warns that Black English terms may be used differently or have unique meanings:

There are hundreds of regional dialects within the same language. These dialects reflect the everyday experience of people living in different parts of the country and shape their cultural identity. Someone from Pittsburgh sounds very different than someone from Texas, and if they speak to each other, they will have a good guess as to where the other is from. The type of English spoken in the United States is commonly known as American English (Delaney). Various dialects are the result of historical, geographical, and social factors. There is a considerable range of language diversity within each of the different dialectal speech communities, with individual

I trust that the American lingo will keep on growing, however, different dialects/vernaculars will, in the end, cease to exist or end up noticeably imperiled. The reason is on the grounds that there are a huge number of dialects that many individuals don't think about; individuals need to likewise remember that there are just a few individuals just talking certain vernacular in various locales. The two dialects that this paper will concentrate on will be African American Vernacular English known as Ebonics and the Gullah dialect; I chose to pick these two dialects since it is critical to see this African Diaspora the two gatherings originated from oppressed Africans from West of Africa, yet today one gathering just communicates in English while the other gathering has their own particular dialect, for example, English, and Creole all through the areas of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.