1、Black on White: African American Vernacular English,What is it? What is its origin? Why are debates about it significant?,Background,African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English formerly known as Black English Vernacular or Vernacular Black English among sociolinguists, and c
2、ommonly called Ebonics outside the academic community.,AAVE can be described by a number of different features,PhonologicalReduction of final consonant clusters when followed by a word beginning with a vowellifup for lift up But not thing today for think today Note also that nearly all dialect speak
3、ers say things like Im goin to the store.,Grammatical: Present tense/3rd person absencehe walk for he walksshe raise for she raises,2. Plural absence on general plural (but not plurals for weights and measures)four girl for four girlssome dog for some dogs But notfour cup for four cups,3. Remote tim
4、e been (something that happened a long time ago and is still relevant) You been paid your dues. I been known him for a long time But not You been gone to school today.,Possessive s absenceman hat for mans hat Jack car for Jacks car,Copula (verb be) deletionShe nice for Shes nice He in the kitchen fo
5、r Hes in the kitchen You ugly for You ugly.,6. Use of habitual be Sometimes my ears be itching. She dont be usually be there,Vocabulary,Food words with African origins:banana (Mandingo) yam (Mandingo) okra (Akan) gumbo (Western Bantu),Vocabulary,Adjectives: bogus fake/fraudulent cf. Hausa boko, or b
6、oko-boko deceit, fraud. hep, hip well informed, up-to-date cf. Wolof hepi, hipi to open ones eyes, be aware of what is going on.,cat a friend, a fellow, etc. cf. Wolof -kat (a suffix denoting a person) cool calm, controlled cf. Mandingo suma slow (literally cool)dig to understand, appreciate, pay at
7、tention cf. Wolof deg, dega to understand, appreciate,bad really goodIn West African languages and Caribbean creoles a word meaning bad is often used to mean good or alot/intense. For instance, in Guyanese Creole mi laik am bad, yu noo means I like him a lot. Dalby mentions Mandingo (Bambara) a nyin
8、ata jaw-ke Shes very pretty. (literally She is beautiful bad.); cf. also Krio ( a creole language spoken in West Africa) mi gud baad.,What is its origin?,1. Dialectologists view:AAVE is a variety of English that has its roots in the varieties of English spoken in the British Isles, just like any oth
9、er variety of English,Dialectologists (Anglicist) View,African Languages| Earlier English-Pidgin | | | | | Creole | | | Modern Non-standard Gullah/Jamaican Standard Varieties English (including AAVE),Creolist View:AAVE developed out of a Creole language used during the times of slavery. This languag
10、e can be traced back to various West African Languages of the slaves who were brought to the New World.,Creolist View,African Languages| Earlier English-Pidgin | | | | | Creole | | | Modern Non-standard Gullah/Jamaican/AAVE Standard Varieties English,Which view do you believe?,What evidence can you
11、provide in support of your view?,Exercise,Read: Ebonics Slang No Substitute for Standard English by Michael King What is the main point he is making? What points do you agree with? Why? What points do you disagree with? Why?,Why are Debates about it significant?,Is AAVE systematic and rule-governed just like all languages are?Can an understanding an appreciation of AAVE help students whose home language is AAVE acquire standard American English?,
