Talk:African-American Vernacular English

Lack of sourcing

In order for it to be implied that "MOST working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians...." there needs to be relevant and credible sourcing. Given, there was some sourcing on the groups claimed to use it, so of course that is not where my issue lies. The issue is in the implication that a MAJORITY of these groups that use this type of speech. I appreciate whoever changed the word to "some" however, we must do better in the future. Words matter (as this article proves) and we cannot be irresponsible with their use. Booboodafoolery (talk) 21:07, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

• There is a credible source for it. I suggest you get the book from the library to see if it's correct or not; if it's incorrect, we'll talk more. Drmies (talk) 21:09, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

Firstly, you are reporting in 2018, from a book published in 2004, that likely sourced information dated before that. So an up to date credible source is past due. However, I will be happy look into it. Booboodafoolery (talk) 21:28, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

• The first three sentences of the article literally say:

  The variety of English known as AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) is spoken throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada (including Nova Scotia) primarily by African Americans. The variety is spoken most consistently by working-class African Americans, particularly in urban areas. The vast majority of middle class African Americans are bi-dialectal in AAVE and Standard American English (StAmE) and use AAVE in appropriate social contexts through a mechanism scholars have characterized as style-shifting.

  And I'm not buying that dramatic dialect changes have occurred in less than two decades. For a massive collection of studies, this source is still quite recent. Wolfdog (talk) 22:16, 10 September 2018 (UTC)
• Thank you Wolfdog. That style-shifting, that is absolutely fascinating. I'm still waiting on a student to write a paper on that topic, so I don't have to do the research. ;) Drmies (talk) 22:35, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

Copula dropping

When copula "are" is dropped, it's different from dropping the "be" and is sometimes transformed to an "is," is there some reason for the variability, like the semantics of, and tendency for emphasis of, "is." -Inowen (nlfte) 06:36, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

The best way I've heard it described is that the dropping of the copula are/is occurs in AAVE when other varieties of English, including Standard English, would allow contractions. There are cases when this copula is emphasized, which means it's not contracted in Standard English ("he is a clown" vs "he's a clown"). If the emphasized form is is instead of are, there could be some sort of morphological leveling going on. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 16:59, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:African-American gospel which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:20, 18 February 2019 (UTC)

Working to Middle Class?

Sounds like the ends have been cut off. I've generally heard/recognized the varieties: gut-bucket, old-negro, maryland farmer, standard ebonics, cutesy wigger, and hamptons, more or less in socioeconomic order. What about the people who don't even work, are they still working class? 98.4.103.219 (talk) 20:22, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Really

If African American children paid attention in school, they wouldn't be speaking crappy English, which is all this is. Somebody has to say it.98.162.136.248 (talk) 00:50, 19 April 2019 (UTC)