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'''African American Vernacular English''' ('''AAVE''')—also called '''African American English'''; less precisely '''Black English''', '''Black Vernacular''', '''Black English Vernacular''' ('''BEV'''), or '''Black Vernacular English''' ('''BVE''')—is an [[African American]] [[Variety (linguistics)|variety]] ([[dialect]], [[ethnolect]] and [[sociolect]]) of [[American English]]. Controversially, non-linguists sometimes call it ''[[Ebonics]]'' (a term that also has other meanings or strong connotations) or ''jive'' (which can mean the slang of AAVE and/or the [[signifying]] for which AAVE is famous). Its [[pronunciation]] is, in some respects, common to [[Southern American English]], which is spoken by many African Americans and many non-African Americans in the United States. There is little regional variation among speakers of AAVE.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Labov|2001|p=506-508}}</ref> Several creolists, including William Stewart, John Dillard, and John Rickford, argue that AAVE shares so many characteristics with [[Creole language|Creole]] dialects spoken by black people in much of the world that AAVE itself is a creole, while others maintain that there are no significant parallels.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p=341}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt|Pullum|1997}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Poplack|2000}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Poplack|Tagliamonte|2006}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt|Rickford|1998}}</ref> It has been suggested that AAVE has grammatical structures in common with West [[African languages]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smith and Crozier|1998|p=113-114}}</ref> As with all linguistic forms, its usage is influenced by age, status, topic and setting. There are many literary uses of this variety of English, particularly in [[African-American literature]].

== Overview ==
AAVE shares several characteristics with Creole English language-forms spoken by people throughout much of the world. AAVE has pronunciation, grammatical structures, and vocabulary in common with various West African languages.<ref>See {{Harvcoltxt|Howe|Walker|2000}} for more information</ref>

Many features of AAVE are shared with English dialects spoken in the [[American South]]. While these are mostly regionalisms (i.e. originating from white speech), a number of them—such as the deletion of ''is''—are used much more frequently by black speakers, suggesting that they have their origins in black speech.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=8}}</ref> The traits of AAVE that separate it from [[Standard American English]] (SAE) include:
* changes in pronunciation along definable patterns, many of which are found in creoles and dialects of other populations of West African descent (but which also emerge in English dialects that may be uninfluenced by West African languages, such as [[Newfoundland English]]);
* distinctive [[slang|vocabulary]]; and
* the distinctive use of verb tenses.

Early AAVE contributed a number of words of African origin to Standard American English, including ''gumbo'',<ref>''Shorter OED,'' 5th edition, cf [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] ''kingumbo''</ref> ''goober'',<ref>''Shorter OED,'' 5th edition, [[Kikongo]] ''nguba''</ref> ''yam'' and ''banjo''. AAVE has contributed slang expressions such as ''cool'',<ref>Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, 1984, Guralnik, ed.</ref> ''hip''<ref>Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, 1984, Guralnik, ed.</ref> and ''bling''.

==Grammatical features==
=== Phonology ===
{{Expand|date=May 2008}}
The near uniformity of AAVE pronunciation, despite vast geographic area, may be due in part to relatively recent migrations of African Americans out of [[American South|the South]] as well as to long-term racial segregation.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p=339}}</ref> Phonological features that set AAVE apart from forms of [[Standard English]] (such as [[General American]]) include:
* Word-final devoicing of {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, whereby for example ''cub'' sounds like ''cup''.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=116}}</ref>
* Reduction of certain [[diphthong]] forms to [[monophthong]]s, in particular, {{IPA|/aɪ/}} is monophthongized to {{IPA|[aː]}} (this is also a feature of many [[Southern American English]] dialects). The vowel sound in ''boil'' ({{IPA|/ɔɪ/}} in Standard English) is also monophthongized, especially before {{IPA|/l/}}, making it indistinguishable from ''ball''.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=19}}</ref> (This is also characteristics of some white speakers from eastern Arkansas, and the vowel is actually the same as that in "file," as shown by the transcription of American folksong lyrics, "Bile 'em Cabbage Down," in Standard English, "Boil Those Cabbages Down" (see Branson).)
* AAVE speakers may not use the [[dental consonant|dental]] [[fricative consonant|fricatives]] {{IPA|[θ]}} (the ''th'' in '''''th'''in'') and {{IPA|[ð]}} (the ''th'' of '''''th'''en'') that are present in SE. The actual alternative phone used depends on the sound's position in a word.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=117-119}}</ref> (This, too, is a common substitution is many regional dialects, including parts of the South, and in New York, as readily heard in movies and television shows set in these areas.)
**Word-initially, {{IPA|/θ/}} is normally the same as in SE (so ''thin'' is {{IPA|[θɪn]}}).
**Word-initially, {{IPA|/ð/}} is {{IPA|[d]}} (so ''this'' is {{IPA|[dɪs]}}).
**Word-medially and -finally, {{IPA|/θ/}} is realized as either {{IPA|[f]}} or {{IPA|[t]}} (so {{IPA|[mʌmf]}} or {{IPA|[mʌnt]}} for ''month''); {{IPA|/ð/}} as either {{IPA|[v]}} or {{IPA|[d]}} (so {{IPA|[smuːv]}} for ''smooth'').
* Realization of final ''ng'' {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, the [[velar nasal]], as the [[alveolar nasal]] {{IPA|[n]}} in [[function word|function]] [[morpheme]]s and content morphemes with two syllables like ''-ing'', e.g. ''tripping'' is pronounced as ''trippin''. This change does not occur in one-syllable [[content word|content]] morphemes such as ''sing'', which is {{IPA|[sɪŋ]}} and not *{{IPA|[sɪn]}}. However, ''singing'' is {{IPA|[sɪŋɪn]}}. Other examples include ''wedding'' → {{IPA|[wɛɾɪn]}}, ''morning'' → {{IPA|[mɔɹnɪn]}}, ''nothing'' → {{IPA|[ˈnʌfɪn]}}. Realization of {{IPA|/ŋ/}} as {{IPA|[n]}} in these contexts is commonly found in many other English dialects.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=121-122}} although her examples are different.</ref> Such substitutions are so common throughout the American South that, for example, a sign urging customers to enter a store in Greenville, Texas, was printed, "Don't just be setten, come on in!" (1985).
* A marked feature of AAVE is final consonant cluster reduction. There are several phenomena that are similar but are governed by different grammatical rules.
** [[place of articulation|Homorganic]] final consonant clusters (that is, word-final clusters of consonants that have the same place of articulation) that share the same [[voice (phonetics)|laryngeal settings]] are reduced. E.g. ''test'' is pronounced {{IPA|[tɛs]}} since {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/s/}} are both voiceless; ''hand'' is pronounced {{IPA|[hæn]}}, since {{IPA|/n/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} are both voiced; but ''pant'' is unchanged, as it contains both a voiced and a voiceless consonant in the cluster.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rickford|1997|p=??}}</ref> Note also that it is the plosive ({{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}}) in these examples that is lost rather than the fricative or nasal. Speakers may carry this declustered pronunciation when pluralizing so that the plural of test is {{IPA|[tɛsəs]}} rather than {{IPA|[tɛsts]}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=107-116}}</ref> The clusters {{IPA|/ft/}}, {{IPA|/md/}}, are also affected.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=15}}</ref>
**More often, word-final {{IPA|/sp/}}, {{IPA|/st/}}, and {{IPA|/sk/}} are reduced, again with the final element being deleted rather than the former.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=15-16}}</ref>
**Clusters ending in {{IPA|/s/}} or {{IPA|/z/}} exhibit variation in whether the first or second element is deleted.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=17-18}}</ref>
* Similarly, final consonants may be deleted (although there is a great deal of variation between speakers in this regard). Most often, {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} are deleted. As with other dialects of English, final {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/k/}} may reduce to a [[glottal stop]]. Nasal consonants may be lost while nasalization of the vowel is retained (e.g, ''find'' may be pronounced {{IPA|[fãː]}}). More rarely, {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} may also be deleted.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=18-19}}</ref>
* Use of [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#S-cluster metathesis|metathesised]] forms like ''aks'' for "ask"<ref>See {{Harvcoltxt|Baugh|2000|p=92-94}} on "aks" and metathesis, on the frequency with which "aks" is brought up by those who ridicule AAVE (e.g.{{Harvcoltxt|Cosby|1997}}), and on the linguistic or cognitive abilities of a speaker of standard English who would take "aks" to mean "axe" in a context that in standard English calls for "ask".</ref> or ''graps'' for "grasp".
* AAVE is [[rhotic and non-rhotic accents|non-rhotic]], so the [[rhotic consonant]] {{IPA|/r/}} is usually dropped if not followed by a vowel. Intervocalic {{IPA|/r/}} may also be dropped, e.g. SE ''story'' ({{IPA|[stɔri]}}) can be pronounced {{IPA|[stɔ.i]}}. {{IPA|/r/}} may also be deleted between a consonant and a back rounded vowel, especially in words like ''throw'', ''throat'', and ''through''.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=14}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/l/}} is often deleted in patterns similar to that of {{IPA|/r/}} and, in combination with cluster simplification (see above), can make homophones of ''toll'' and ''toe'', ''fault'' and ''fought'', and ''tool'' and ''too''. Homonomy may be reduced by vowel lengthening and by an off-glide {{IPA|[ɤ]}}<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=14-15}}</ref>.
* Before nasal consonants ({{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}, and {{IPA|/ŋ/}}), {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ/}} are both pronounced as {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, making ''pen'' and ''pin'' [[homophone]]s.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=19}}</ref> This feature is also [[Phonological history of English high front vowels#Pin-pen merger|present in other dialects]].
* The distinction between {{IPA|/ɪ/}} and {{IPA|/iː/}} before [[liquid consonant]]s is frequently reduced, making ''feel'' and ''fill'' homophones. Before {{IPA|/r/}} specifically, {{IPA|/uː/}} and {{IPA|/oʊ/}} also merge.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=19}}</ref>
* Dropping of word initial {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/b/}}, and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} in tense-aspect markers, e.g., the pronunciation of ''don't'' as ''own''.
* Lowering of {{IPA|/ɪ/}} to {{IPA|/ɛ/}} or {{IPA|/æ/}} before {{IPA|/ŋ/}} causing pronunciations such as {{IPA|[θɛŋ]}} or {{IPA|[θæŋ]}} for ''thing''.

It's basically just stupid niggers who can't talk properly.

=== Negation ===
In addition, negatives are formed differently from standard American English:<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Howe & Walker|2000|p=110}}</ref>
* Use of ''[[ain't]]'' as a general negative indicator. It can be used where Standard English would use ''am not'', ''isn't'', ''aren't'', ''haven't'' and ''hasn't'', a trait which is not specific to AAVE. However, in marked contrast to other varieties of English in the U.S., some speakers of AAVE also use ''ain't'' in lieu of ''don't'', ''doesn't'', or ''didn't'' (''e.g.'', ''I ain't know that'').<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Labov|1972|p=284}}</ref> ''Ain't'' had its origins in common English, but became increasingly stigmatized since the 19th century. See also ''[[amn't]]''.
* Negative concord, popularly called "double negation", as in ''I didn't go nowhere''; if the sentence is negative, all negatable forms are negated. This contrasts with Standard English, where a double negative is considered a positive (although this wasn't always so; see [[double negative]]). There is also "triple" or "multiple negation", as in the phrase ''I don't know nothing about no one no more'', which would be "I don't know anything about anybody anymore" in Standard English.
* In a negative construction, an indefinite pronoun such as ''nobody'' or ''nothing'' can be inverted with the negative verb particle for emphasis (eg. ''Don't nobody know the answer'', ''Ain't nothin' goin' on''.)

While these are features that AAVE has in common with Creole languages,<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Winford|1992|p=350}}</ref> Howe and Walker use data from early recordings of African Nova Scotian English, Samaná English, and the recordings of former slaves to demonstrate that negation was inherited from nonstandard colonial English.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Howe & Walker|2000|p=110}}</ref>

=== Other grammatical characteristics ===
Some of these characteristics, notably double negatives and the omission of certain [[auxiliary verb|auxiliaries]] such as the ''has'' in ''has been'' are also characteristic of general colloquial American English.

The linguist [[William Labov]] carried out and published the first thorough grammatical study of African American Vernacular English in 1965.
*The [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] ''be'' is often [[zero copula|dropped]], as in [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and other languages. For example: ''You crazy!'' ("You're crazy") or ''She my sister'' ("She's my sister"). The phenomenon is also observed in questions: ''Who you?'' ("Who're you?") and ''Where you at?'' ("Where are you (at)?"). On the other hand, a stressed ''is'' cannot be dropped: ''She ''is'' my sister''.
The general rules are:
*Only the forms ''is'' and ''are'' (the latter of which, in any case, is often replaced by ''is'') can be omitted
*These forms cannot be omitted when they are pronounced with a stress (whether or not the stress serves specifically to impart an emphatic sense to the verb's meaning).
*These forms cannot be omitted when the corresponding form in Standard English cannot show contraction (and vice-versa). For example, ''I don't know where he is'' cannot be reduced to *''I don't know where he'' because in Standard English the corresponding reduction *''I don't know where he's'' is likewise impossible. (Though ''I don't know where he at'' is possible.)
*Possibly some other minor conditions apply as well.<ref>Seven conditions: Geoff Pullum, "[http://abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/lf981017.htm Why Ebonics Is No Joke]" ''Lingua Franca'' transcript, [[17 October]] [[1998]], Australian Broadcasting Corporation.</ref>
*Present-tense verbs are uninflected for number/person: there is no -s ending in the present-tense third-person singular. Example: ''She write poetry'' ("She writes poetry"). Similarly, ''was'' is used for what in standard English are contexts for both ''was'' and ''were.''<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=38}}</ref>
*The genitive "-s" ending may or may not be used.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=102-103}}</ref> Genitive case is inferrable from adjacency. This is similar to many creoles throughout the Caribbean. Many language forms throughout the world use an unmarked possessive; it may, here, result from a simplification of grammatical structures and tendency to eschew particle usage. Example: ''my momma sister'' ("my mother's sister")
*The word ''it'' or ''is'' denotes the existence of something, equivalent to Standard English ''there'' in "there is", or "there are". This usage is also found in the [[Southern American English|English of the US South]]. Examples ''Its a doughnut in the cabinet'' ("There's a doughnut in the cabinet") and ''It ain't no spoon'' ("There isn't a spoon", also "They ''ain't no spoon''").
*Altered syntax in questions: In ''Why they ain't growin'?'' ("Why aren't they growing?") and ''Who the hell she think she is?'' ("Who the hell does she think she is?") lack the inversion of standard English. Because of this, there is also no need for the auxiliary DO.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Green|2002|p=84-89}}</ref>

== Lexical features ==
For the most part, AAVE uses the lexicon of SAE, particularly that of informal and [[Southern United States|Southern]] dialects. There are some notable differences between the two, however. It has been suggested that some of the vocabulary unique to AAVE has its origin in West African languages, but etymology is often difficult to trace and without a trail of recorded usage the suggestions below cannot be considered proven, and in many cases are not recognized by linguists or the [[Oxford English Dictionary]].<ref>eg: OED, "dig", from ME vt ''diggen''</ref>

* ''dig'' from [[Wolof language|Wolof]] ''dëgg'' or ''dëgga'', meaning "to understand/appreciate"<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|2000|p=??}} s.v. "Dig".</ref>
* ''jazz''<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rickford|Rickford|2000|p=146}}.<!--citing one or more of "David Dalby, Joseph Holloway, and Winifred Vass, among others"; this should be checked --></ref>
* ''tote''<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rickford|Rickford|2000|p=146}}.<!--citing one or more of "David Dalby, Joseph Holloway, and Winifred Vass, among others"; this should be checked --></ref>
* ''bad-mouth'', a [[calque]] from [[Mandinka language|Mandinka]]<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|1977|p=??}} cited in Rickford and Rickford, ''Spoken Soul,'' 240.<!-- who unfortunately don't give a page number for Smitherman or more detail of the allegedly Mandingo origin; must check for details. --> </ref>

AAVE also has words that either are not part of Standard American English, or have strikingly different meanings from their common usage in SAE. For example, there are several words in AAVE referring to white people which are not part of mainstream SAE; these include the use of ''gray'' as an adjective for whites (as in "gray dude"), possibly from the color of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] uniforms, possibly an extension of the slang use for "Irish",<ref> or of ''paddyroller'' ''Gray'': Smitherman, ''Black Talk, s.v.'' "Gray". ''Paddy'': ''Dictionary of American Regional English, s.v.'' "Paddy".</ref> "[[Ofay]]," which is pejorative, is another general term for a white; it might derive from the [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] word ''ofe,'' spoken in hopes of disappearing from danger such as that posed by European traders. However, most dictionaries simply refer to this word as having an unknown etymology.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|2000}} suggests either a general West African or the Pig Latin origin. "Ofay".</ref> ''Kitchen'' refers to the particularly curly or kinky hair at the nape of the neck, and ''siditty'' or ''[[seddity]]'' means snobbish or bourgeois.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|2000|p=??}} "Kitchen". ''Kitchen, siditty'': ''Dictionary of American Regional English, s.vv.'' "Kitchen", "Siditty".</ref>

AAVE has also contributed various words and phrases to other varieties of English; including ''chill out, main squeeze, soul, funky'', and ''threads''<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Lee|1999|p=381-386}}</ref>

== Social context ==
AAVE's resistance to assimilation into [[Standard American English]] or other more standard dialects is a consequence of cultural and historical differences between blacks and whites.{{fact|date=August 2008}}
Any language used by isolated groups of people is likely to split into various dialects. Thus, language becomes a means of self-differentiation that helps forge group identity, solidarity and pride. It is "intricately bound up with his or her sense of identity and group consciousness".<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|1977|p=71}}</ref>

AAVE has survived through the centuries also as a result of varying degrees of isolation from Southern American English and Standard American English—through marginalization from and by mainstream society.{{fact|date=August 2008}} Still, most speakers of AAVE are bidialectal, since they use Standard American English to varying degrees as well as AAVE. This method of linguistic adaptation in different environments is called [[code-switching]]. Each dialect, or code, is applied in different settings. Generally speaking, the degree of exclusive use of AAVE decreases with the rise in socioeconomic status (although it is still used by even well educated African Americans).<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Coulmas|2005|p=177}}</ref> As with the case of many nonstandard varieties, almost all speakers of AAVE (at any socioeconomic level) fully understand Standard American English, even if they are not able to speak it.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} Thus use of AAVE, as with the use of SAE, can be a conscious choice. The level of usage of any dialect is subject to the speaker's volition.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} In certain situations, speakers of AAVE may deem it more appropriate to use SAE, and in other instances (most likely among other African Americans) use AAVE.

The preponderance of code switching indicates that AAVE and SAE are met with different reactions or discernments. AAVE is often perceived by members of mainstream American society as indicative of low intelligence or limited education. Furthermore, as with many other non-standard dialects and especially creoles, AAVE sometimes has been called "lazy" or "bad" English, although among linguists there is no such controversy, since AAVE, like all dialects, shows consistent internal logic and structure.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Labov|1997|p=?}}</ref>

=== Origins===
While it is clear that there is a strong relationship between AAVE and [[Southern American English]], the unique characteristics of AAVE are not fully explained and its origins are still a matter of debate.

One theory is that AAVE arose from one or more slave [[creole language|creoles]] that arose from the trans-Atlantic African slave trade and the need for African captives to communicate among themselves and with their captors. During the [[Middle Passage]], these captives (many already multi-lingual speakers of dialects of [[Wolof language|Wolof]], [[Twi]], [[Hausa]], [[Yoruba]], [[Dogon]], [[Akan]], [[Kimbundu]], [[Bambara]], [[Igbo]] and other languages{{Fact|date=September 2007}}) developed what are called [[pidgin]]s, simplified mixtures of two or more languages. As pidgins form from close contact between members of different language communities, the slave trade would have been exactly such a situation. Dillard quotes [[slave ship]] Captain William Smith<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Dillard|1972|p=??}}</ref>:

<blockquote>As for the languages of [[Gambia]], they are so many and so different, that the Natives, on either Side of the River, cannot understand each other.… [T]he safest Way is to trade with the different Nations, on either Side of the River, and having some of every Sort on board, there will be no more Likelihood of their succeeding in a Plot, than of finishing the [[Tower of Babel]].</blockquote>

Some slave owners preferred slaves from a particular tribe. For consigned cargoes, language mixing aboard ship was sometimes minimal. There is evidence that many enslaved Africans continued to use fairly intact native languages until almost 1700, when the Wolof language became one of the bases of a sort of intermediary pidgin among Africans. It is Wolof that comes to the fore in tracing the African roots of AAVE.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
By 1715, this African pidgin had made its way into novels by [[Daniel Defoe]], in particular, ''The Life of Colonel Jacque''. [[Cotton Mather]] claimed to have been very familiar with his slaves' speech, knowing enough to affirm that one of his slaves was a ''Coromantee'', a general term applied during slavery to the [[Akan]], [[Ashanti]] and [[Fanti]] peoples of the [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]], whom slaveholders commonly regarded as particularly rebellious in nature.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} Mather's imitative writing shows features present in many [[creole language]]s and even in modern day AAVE.

By the time of the [[American Revolution]], varieties among slave creoles were not quite mutually intelligible. Dillard quotes a recollection of "slave language" toward the latter part of the 18th century<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Dillard|1972|p=??}}</ref>:

<blockquote>Kay, massa, you just leave me, me sit here, great fish jump up into da canoe, here he be, massa, fine fish, massa; me den very grad; den me sit very still, until another great fish jump into de canoe; but me fall asleep, massa, and no wake 'til you come…</blockquote>

Not until the time of the [[American Civil War]] did the language of the slaves became familiar to a large number of educated whites. The abolitionist papers before the war form a rich corpus of examples of plantation creole. In ''Army Life in a Black Regiment'' (1870), [[Thomas Wentworth Higginson]] detailed many features of his soldiers' language. In particular, this book contains the first reference to the distinction within AAVE "been" between stressed BÍN and unstressed bin.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}

Following the [[Emancipation|abolition of slavery]], some freed slaves traveled to [[West Africa]], taking their creole with them. In certain African tribal groups, such as those in west [[Cameroon]], there are varieties of Black English that show strong resemblances to the creole dialects in the United States documented during this period.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}

Recently, [[Shana Poplack]] has provided corpus-based evidence<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Poplack|2000}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Poplack|Tagliamonte|2006}}</ref> from isolated enclaves in [[Samaná]] and [[Nova Scotia]] peopled by descendants of migrations of early AAVE-speaking groups, that suggests that the grammar of early AAVE was closer to that of contemporary British dialects than modern urban AAVE is to current American dialects, suggesting that the modern language is a result of divergence from mainstream varieties, rather than the result of decreolization from a widespread American creole<ref>William Labov, in the Forward to Poplack and Tagliamonte (2001), says "I would like to think that this clear demonstration of the similarities among the three diaspora dialects and the White benchmark dialects, combined with their differences from creole grammars, would close at least one chapter in the history of the creole controversies."</ref>.

=== In education ===
AAVE has been the center of controversy about the education of [[African American]] youths, the role AAVE should play in public schools and education, and its place in broader society. Educators have held that attempts should be made to eliminate AAVE usage through the public education system. Criticisms from social commentators and educators have ranged from asserting that AAVE is an intrinsically deficient form of speech to arguments that its use, by being considered unacceptable in most cultural contexts, is socially limiting.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p-343-348}}</ref> It is often argued that incorporating AAVE in schools would only impede the academic progress of young African American children.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The harshest criticisms of AAVE have come from other African Americans.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Lippi-Green|2000|p=200}}. Further, "Black critics [of Black English] use all the different arguments of the white critics, and spare us the more or less open embarrassment that all white Americans feel when publicly criticizing anything or anyone Black. So, of course, they can be even more wrong-headed and self-righteously wrong-headed than anyone else .&nbsp;.&nbsp;." {{Harvcoltxt|Quinn|1982|p=150-51}}.</ref> Most notably, [[Bill Cosby]], in his [[Pound Cake speech]], criticized members of the African American community for various social behaviors including exclusive use of AAVE.
<!--this is not a proper citation as it is a primary source
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Changes in formal attitudes regarding the acceptance of AAVE as a dialect correlated with advancements in [[civil rights]]. One notable shift in the recognition of AAVE came in the "[[Ann Arbor Decision]]" of 1979 (Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School Children et al., v. Ann Arbor School District). In it, a federal judge ruled that a school board, in teaching black children to read, must adjust to the children's dialect, not the children to the school.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p=345}}</ref>

Prior to this, the [[Conference on College Composition and Communication]] (CCCC), a division of [[National Council of Teachers of English]] (NCTE), issued a position statement on students' right to their own language.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} This was adopted by CCCC members in April 1974 and appeared in a special issue of ''College Composition and Communication'' in Fall of 1974. The resolution was as follows:<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Smitherman|1999|p=357}}</ref>
<blockquote>"We affirm the students' right to their own patterns and varieties of language—the dialects of their nurture or whatever dialects in which they find their own identity and style. Language scholars long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any validity. The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another. Such a claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers and immoral advice for humans. A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects. We affirm strongly that teachers must have the experiences and training that will enable them to respect diversity and uphold the right of students to their own language."</blockquote>

The formal recognition of AAVE was revisited when a [[Oakland Ebonics controversy|controversial resolution]] from the [[Oakland, California]], school board on [[December 18]], [[1996]], called on "[[Ebonics]]" to be officially recognized as a language of African Americans.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Coulmas|2005|p=213}}</ref> At its last meeting, the outgoing Oakland school board unanimously passed the resolution, before being replaced by the newly elected board. The new board's members held different views; the board modified the resolution then effectively dropped it. Had the measure remained in force, it would have affected funding and education-related issues.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}

The Oakland resolution declared that AAVE was not English or even an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]], asserting that the speech of black children belonged to "West and Niger-Congo languages and are not merely dialects of English."<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Golden|1997|p=A10}}</ref> This claim is inconsistent with the current linguistic theory that AAVE is a dialect of English and thus of Indo-European origin. Also, the differences between modern AAVE and Standard English are nowhere near as great as those between [[French language|French]] and [[Haitian Creole]], which are considered separate languages. The resolution was widely misunderstood as an intention to teach AAVE and "elevate it to the status of a written language."<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Coulmas|2005|p=214}}</ref> The resolution gained national attention and was derided and criticized, most notably by [[Jesse Jackson]] and [[Kweisi Mfume]] who regarded it as an attempt to teach [[slang]] to children.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Morgan|1999|p=173}}</ref> The statement that "African Language Systems are [[Genetic (linguistics)|genetically]] based" also contributed to widespread hostility because it was popularly misunderstood to mean that African Americans have a biological predisposition to a particular language.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} In an amended resolution, this phrase was removed and replaced with wording that states African American language systems "have origins in West and Niger-Congo languages and are not merely dialects of English."<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Golden|1997|p=?}}</ref>

Proponents of AAVE instruction in public education believe that their proposals have been distorted by political debate and misunderstood by the general public.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} The underlying belief is that black students would perform better in school and more easily learn standard American English if textbooks and teachers incorporated AAVE in teaching black children to speak Standard English rather than dismiss it as substandard.<ref>Nonstandard language is not the same as substandard, as noted a point made for example by the cognitive scientist [[Steven Pinker]] in ''[[The Language Instinct]]'' (pp.&nbsp;28 ''et seq.''); (Pinker's comments on dialects in general and AAVE in particular go unmentioned by [[Geoffrey Sampson]] in ''Educating Eve,'' a book-length attempted debunking of ''The Language Instinct.'') The same point is made in various introductions to language and sociolinguistics, e.g. {{Harvcoltxt|Radford|Atkinson|Britain|Clahsen|1999|p=17}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Schilling-Estes|2006|p=312}} ''et seq.''; and also in surveys of the English language, e.g. {{Harvcoltxt|Crystal|2003}}, sec.&nbsp;20, "Linguistic Variation"</ref>

For students whose primary dialect was AAVE, the Oakland resolution mandated some instruction in that dialect, both for "maintaining the legitimacy and richness of such language... and to facilitate their acquisition and mastery of English language skills." This also included the proposed increase of salaries of those proficient in both AAVE and Standard English to the level of those teaching LEP (limited English proficiency) students and the use of public funding to help teachers learn AAVE themselves.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Morgan|1999|p=173}}</ref> Teachers were to recognize that the "errors" in Standard American English that their students made were not the result of lack of intelligence or effort, and indeed were not errors at all but instead were features of a grammatically distinct form of English.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} Rather than teaching Standard American English by proscribing non-standard usage, the idea was to teach SAE to AAVE-speaking students by showing them how to translate expressions from AAVE to SAE.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}

Pedagogical techniques similar to those used to teach English to speakers of foreign languages appear to hold promise for speakers of AAVE. William Stewart experimented with the use of dialect readers—sets of text in both AAVE and SAE.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Stewart|1975|p=??}}</ref> The idea was that children could learn to read in their own dialect and then shift to Standard English with subsequent textbooks.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p=345}}</ref> {{Harvcoltxt|Simpkins|Holt|Simpkins|1977}} developed a comprehensive set of dialect readers, called bridge readers, which included the same content in three different dialects: AAVE, a bridge version that was closer to SAE without being prohibitively formal, and a Standard English version.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Simpkins|Holt|Simpkins|1977|p=??}}</ref> Despite studies that showed promise for such dialect reader programs, reaction to them was largely hostile<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Morgan|1999|p=181}}</ref> and both Stewart's research and the Bridge Program were rejected for various political and social reasons, including strong resistance from parents.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Downing|1978|p=341}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Morgan|1999|p=182}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wardhaugh|2002|p=345}}</ref> Opinions on AAVE still range from advocacy of official language status in the United States to denigration as "poor English."{{Fact|date=September 2007}}

In 2002, [[Lisa Delpit]] and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy edited and contributed to the book ''The Skin that We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom''. It examines how classrooms deal with the issue in practice and what that can mean for students. While policymakers debate the issue, teachers have to make their own policies.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Delpit|2002|p=??}}</ref>

Teaching children whose primary dialect is AAVE poses problems beyond those commonly addressed by pedagogical techniques, and the Oakland approach has support among some educational theorists. However, such pedagogical approaches have given rise to educational and political disputes. The American public and policymakers remain divided over whether to even recognize AAVE as a legitimate dialect of English. Though she had no standing in the school district, [[California State University, San Bernardino]] sociology professor Mary Texeira suggested in July 2005 that AAVE be included in the San Bernardino City Unified School District.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} The recommendation was met with a backlash similar to that in Oakland nine years before.

According to Smitherman, the overwhelming controversy and debates concerning AAVE in public schools insinuate the deeper, more implicit [[Cultural determinism|deterministic]] attitudes towards the African-American community as a whole. Smitherman describes this as a reflection of the "power elite's perceived insignificance and hence rejection of Afro-American language and culture".<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|1977|p=209}}</ref> She also asserts that since African Americans, in order to succeed, are forced to conform to European American society, this ultimately means the "eradication of black language…and the adoption of the linguistic norms of the white middle class." The necessity for a "bi-dialectialism" (AAVE and SAE) has "some blacks contend that being bi-dialectal not only causes a schism in the black personality, but it also implies such dialects are 'good enough' for blacks but not for whites."<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Smitherman|1977|p=173}}</ref> However, this is an errant view, for it is the norm throughout the world for one's dialectical mother tongue to subordinate to the Standard Language in the realms of education and interregional and intercultural communication, such as is the case for Swiss who speak [[Alemannisch]] as their native language, but use [[Standard German]] at school and for communication with speakers of other Germanic dialects, and as is also the case for all Chinese who do not speak [[Mandarin]] as their native tongue. The development of a Standard Language alongside variant dialects is the usual and healthy structure of a language. It is only by cultural bias, instead of logic and communicativeness, that effort is made to eliminate these dialects rather than foster their cultivation through the balanced use and sufficient teaching of an unambiguous standard dialect for all.{{Fact|date=November 2008}}

== See also ==
{{portalpar|African American|AmericaAfrica.png}}
*[[Languages in the United States]]
*[[Gullah language]]
*[[Ebonics]]
*[[Habitual be]]
*[[Is-leveling]]
*[[Sociolinguistics]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==

*{{Harvard reference
|last=Baugh
|first=John
|year=2000
|title=Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice
|place=New York
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|isbn=0-19-515289-1
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Cosby
|first=William
|year=1997
|title=Elements of Igno-Ebonics Style
|newspaper=Wall Street Journal
|date=[[10 January]]
|pages=P.A11
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Coulmas
|first=Florian
|year=2005
|title=Sociolinguistics: The Study of Speakers' choices
|publisher=Cambridge
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Crystal
|first=David
|year=2003
|title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
|edition=2nd
|place=Cambridge
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|ISBN=0-521-82348-X
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Delpit
|first=Lisa
|last2=Dowdy
|first2=Joanne Kilgour
|year=2002
|title=The Skin that We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom.
|place=New York
|publisher=New Press
|ISBN=1565845447
}}
* ''Dictionary of American Regional English.'' 5 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985&ndash;. <!-- The last volume has yet [2007] to be published. -->
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Dillard
|first=John L.
|year=1972
|title=Black English: Its History and Usage in the United States
|publisher=Random House
|ISBN=0-394-71872-0
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Downing
|first=John
|year=1978
|Journal=International Review of Education
|title=Strategies of Bilingual Teaching
|volume=24
|issue=3
|pages=329-346
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Howe
|first=Darin M.
|last2=Walker
|first2=James A.
|editor-last=Poplack
|editor-first=Shana
|year=2000
|chapter=Negation and the Creole-Origins Hypothesis: Evidence from Early African American English
|title=The English History of African American English
|pages=109-139
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Golden
|first=Tim
|title=Oakland Scratches plan to teach black English.
|newspaper=New York Times
|year=1997
|date=January 14
|pages=A10
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Green
|first=Lisa J.
|year=2002
|title=African American English: A Linguistic Introduction
|place=Cambridge
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|ISBN=0-521-89138-8
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Labov
|first=William
|year=1972
|title=Language in the Inner City: Studies in Black English Vernacular
|place=Philadelphia
|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Labov
|first=William
|year=2001
|title=Principles of Linguistic Change, II: Social factors
|place=Oxford
|publisher=Blackwell
|ISBN=0631179151
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Lee
|first=Margaret
|title=Out of the Hood and into the News: Borrowed Black Verbal Expressions in a Mainstream Newspaper
|Journal=American Speech
|year=1999
|pages=369-388
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Lippi-Green
|first=Rosina
|year=1997
|title=English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States
|place=London
|publisher=Blackwell
|pages=200
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Morgan
|first=Marcyliena
|editor-last=Davis
|editor-first=Kathryn Anne
|editor-last2=Huebner
|editor-first2=Thom
chapter=US Language Planning and Policies for Social Dialect Speakers
|year=1999
|title=Sociopolitical perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA.
|publisher=John Benjamins
|ISBN=1556197357
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Pinker
|first=Steven
|authorlink=Steven Pinker
|title=[[The Language Instinct]]
|place=New York
|publisher=Morrow
|year=1994
|ISBN=0-688-12141-1
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Poplack
|first=Shana
|authorlink=Shana Poplack
|title=The English History of African American English
|publisher=Blackwell
|year=2000
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Poplack
|first=Shana
|last2=Tagliamonte
|first2=Sali
|authorlink=Shana Poplack
|title=African American English in the Diaspora
|publisher=Blackwell
|year=2006
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Quinn
|first=Jim
|year=1992
|title=American Tongue and Cheek: A Populist Guide to Our Language
|place=New York
|publisher=Penguin
|ISBN=0-14-006084-7
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Radford
|first=Andrew
|last2=Atkinson
|first2=Martin
|last3=Britain
|first3=David
|last4=Clahsen
|first4=Harald
|title=Linguistics: An Introduction
|place=Cambridge
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|year=1999
|ISBN=0-521-47854-5
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Rickford
|first=John
|year=1997
|title=Suite for Ebony and Phonics
|journal=Discover Magazine
|volume=18
|issue=2
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Rickford
|first=John
|year=1999
|title=African American Vernacular English
|publisher=Blackwell
|isbn=0-631-21245-0
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Rickford
|first=John
|last2=Rickford
|first2=Russell
|year=2000
|title=Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English.
|place=New York
|publisher=John Wiley & Sons
|isbn=0-471-39957-4
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Sampson
|first=Geoffrey
|authorlink=Geoffrey Sampson
|title=Educating Eve: The "Language Instinct" Debate
|place=London
|publisher=Cassell
|year=1997
|ISBN=0-304-33908-3
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Schilling-Estes
|first=Natalie
|editor-last=Fasold
|editor-first=Ralph
|editor2-last=Connor-Linton
|editor2-first=Jeff
|year=2006
|chapter=Dialect Variation
|place=Cambridge
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|pages=311-42
|title=An Introduction to Language and Linguistics ed
|ISBN=0-521-84768-0
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Simpkins
|first=Gary A.
|last2=Holt
|first2=Grace
|last3=Simpkins
|first3=Charlesetta
|year=1977
|title=Bridge: A Cross-Cultural Reading Program
|publisher=Houghton-Mifflin
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Smith
|first=Ernie
|last2=Crozier
|first2=Karen
|title=Ebonics Is Not Black English
|Journal=The Western Journal of Black Studies
|year=1998
|volume=22
|pages=109-116
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Smitherman
|first=Geneva
|year=1977
|title=Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America
|place=Boston
|publisher=Houghton Mifflin
}}<!-- No, there's neither a "g" nor an apostrophe for the words in the main title -->
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Smitherman
|first=Geneva
|year=1999
|title=CCCC's Role in the Struggle for Language Rights
|journal=College Composition and Communication
|volume=50
|issue=3
|pages=349-376
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Smitherman
|first=Geneva
|year=2000
|title=Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner
|place=Boston
|publisher=Houghton Mifflin
|isbn=0-395-96919-0
|edition=revised
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Stewart
|first=William
|editor-last=Luelsdorff
|editor-first=P.A.
|chapter=Teaching Blacks to Read Against Their Will
|year=1975
|title=Linguistic Perspectives on Black English.
|place=Regensburg, Germany
|publisher=Hans Carl
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Wardhaugh
|first=Ronald
|year=2002
|title=An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
|publisher=Blackwell
}}
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Winford
|first=Donald
|title=Back to the past: The BEV/creole connection revisited
|year=1992
|journal=Language Variation and Change
|volume=4
|issue=3
|pages=311-357
}}

==External links==
*Asimov, Nanette. "[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1997/01/19/SC55142.DTL Opening Pandora's Box]". ''San Francisco Chronicle'' [[January 19]], [[1997]]. Asimov interviews Toni Cook: "The Oakland school board member principally responsible for the controversial resolution on ebonics reflects on several weeks of turmoil."
*Drake, Dan. "[http://www.dandrake.com/ebonics.html The Notorious Ebonics Resolution of Oakland, California]". Critique of the Oakland resolution (with annotated text) and of most of its critics
*Jones, Gayle. "[http://www.missouri.edu/~bkstdwww/ebonics.html Ebonics essay]". ''The African-Americanist'' (University of Missouri&ndash;Columbia) 7, no. 1. 1998. <!-- This seems very slight. Cited? Needed? -->
*[[Michael King (Project 21)|King, Michael]]. "[http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21NVKingEbonics802.html Ebonics Slang No Substitute for Standard English]", Project 21 New Visions Commentary, August 2002.
*Linguistic Society of America. "[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/ebonics.lsa.html Resolution on the Oakland "Ebonics" Issue]" unanimously adopted at the annual meeting of the [[Linguistic Society of America|LSA]], Chicago, [[January 3]], [[1997]] in support of the Oakland school board's decision.
*[[Geoffrey Nunberg|Nunberg, Geoffrey]], [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/wow/nunberg.html "Double Standards"], a linguist's essay on press coverage of the Oakland "Ebonics" resolution.
*Oakland (Calif.) Board of Education. [http://www.linguistlist.org/topics/ebonics/ebonics-res1.html First resolution] ([[18 December]] [[1996]]), formal title "Resolution of the Board of Education adopting the report and recommendations of the African-American Task Force: A policy statement; and Directing the Superintendent of Schools to devise a program to improve the English language acquisition and application skills of African-American students".
*Oakland (Calif.) Board of Education. [http://www.linguistlist.org/topics/ebonics/ebonics-res2.html Revised resolution] ([[15 January]] [[1997]]), formal title "Amended resolution of the Board of Education adopting the report and recommendations of the African-American Task Force: A policy statement; and Directing the Superintendent of Schools to devise a program to improve the English language acquisition and application skills of African-American students".
* Oubré, Alondra. "[http://www.aawc.com/ebonicsarticle.html Black English Vernacular (Ebonics) and Educability: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Language, Cognition, and Schooling]". 1997. African American Web Connection.
* Patrick, Peter L. "[http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/AAVE.html African American English: A webpage for linguists and other folks]". University of Essex.
* Patrick, Peter L. "[http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/aavesem/Biblio.html A bibliography of works on African American English]". University of Essex.
*"[http://www.rehabmed.ualberta.ca/spa/phonology/features.htm Phonological Features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE)]". Child Phonology Laboratory, University of Alberta. 2001. A large inventory of AAVE phonological features.
* Pullum, Geoff. "[http://abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/lf981017.htm Why Ebonics Is No Joke]". ''Lingua Franca'' transcript, [[17 October]] [[1998]]. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The grammarian [[Geoffrey Pullum|Geoff Pullum]] corrects popular misconceptions about AAVE.
* Rickford, John R. "[http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/EbonicsExamples.html Ebonics Notes and Discussion]". December 1996. On the grammar and phonology of AAVE, and the term "Ebonics".
*Rickford, John R., and Angela E. Rickford. "[http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Linguistics/DIALECT_READERS_REVISITED.html Dialect Readers Revisited]". ''Linguistics and Education'' 7 (1995), no. 2, 107&ndash;128.
*Sidnell, Jack. "[http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/definitions/aave.html African American Vernacular English]". ''Language Varieties'' (University of New England).

{{Template group
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{{African American topics}}
{{English dialects by continent}}
}}

[[Category:Wikipedia references cleanup]]
[[Category:African American culture]]
[[Category:American English]]
[[Category:English dialects]]
[[Category:Sociolinguistics]]

[[de:Afroamerikanisches Englisch]]
[[it:African-American Vernacular English]]
[[nl:Afro-Amerikaans Engels]]
[[ja:黒人英語]]
[[pt:Inglês vernáculo afro-americano]]
[[simple:African American Vernacular English]]
[[sv:Ebonics]]
[[tr:Afrikalı Amerikan İngilizcesi]]
[[uk:Ебоніка]]
[[yo:AAVE]]

Revision as of 12:47, 30 November 2008

It's basically stupid niggers who can't talk properly.

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