AAVE
“There are times when so much talk or writing, so many ideas seem to stand in the way, to block the awareness that for the oppressed, the exploited, the dominated, domination is not just a subject for radical discourse, for books. It is about pain – the pain of hunger, the pain of over-work, the pain of degradation and dehumanization, the pain of loneliness, the pain of loss, the pain of isolation, the pain of exile... Even before the words, we remember the pain.”
Hi Friends!
Welcome to Issue 10 of this newsletter! This week’s topic is AAVE or Ebonics. I am so excited to get into this topic and to learn more myself. Has there been a time in your life when you spoke to someone and found them more or less educated because of their canance, vocabulary, tone? Did you make judgements about them based on this vocal minutiae? While these instant decisions and choices are rooted in implicit bias, they are also rooted in a lack of understanding. When we talk about the ways some Black people speak in America, there is a lot of judgment and criticism, and most often, unnecessary correction to the way in which they speak. Let’s learn more about it. Let’s get into it!
Key Terms
Portmanteau: A linguistic blend of words in which parts of multiple words or their phonemes (sounds) are combined into a new word.
Ebonics: A portmanteau, a blend of the words ebony or black and phonics or sounds. The term was created in 1973 by a group of Black scholars who disliked the negative connotations of terms like 'Nonstandard Negro English' that had been coined in the 1960s when the first modern large-scale linguistic studies of African American speech-communities began. Scholars who prefer the term Ebonics wish to highlight the African roots of African American speech and its connections with languages spoken elsewhere in the Black Diaspora, e.g. Jamaica or Nigeria.
AAVE (African American Vernacular English): AAVE and Ebonics essentially refer to the same sets of speech forms. In theory, AAVE is specific to America.
Code Switching: The practice of interacting in different ways depending on the social context, and it isn’t limited to race. Because dominant culture is white, whiteness has been baked into institutions as natural, normal and legitimate. So there’s much more incentive for people of color to code-switch to adapt to the dominant culture and to improve their prospects. White people rarely, if ever, feel this same pressure in their daily lives.
Language Prejudice: Negative value judgments made about a person based on the way he or she speaks, usually directed toward a speaker of a vernacular dialect.
Pidgin Language: Language that arises when speakers of different languages come into contact (typically in trade situations), have no language in common, and have an immediate need to communicate. Features of pidgin languages include a simplified grammar and a relatively small vocabulary. An important and defining characteristic is that pidgin languages have no native speakers. Tok Pisin, spoken in Papua New Guinea, is an example of a pidgin language. In some areas of the country, Tok Pisin has been creolized.
Creole Language: A language that develops when a pidgin language begins to be learned as a native language. Creoles tend to have more complex grammars and vocabularies than pidgins.
Let’s Get Into It
*NOTE: Since first posting this newsletter, I’ve seen some varying sources describe the term ebonics as outdated and even a slur.
The term ebonics originated in 1973, but did not come into the vernacular until December 1996 when the Oakland School Board recognized it as the 'primary' language of its majority African American students and resolved to take it into account in teaching them standard or academic English.
Ebonics is often stigmatized and associate with impoverished and undereducated demographics. This stems from anti-Blackness, because the dialect is closely associated with Black people who have historically been disenfranchised with less access to things such as “quality” education. It is imperative to understand that ebonics is not “bad grammar” or an uneducated way of speaking, it is a full-fledged dialect of English that is entirely rule-bound — meaning it has a very clear grammar which can be (and has been) described in great detail. We must end the stigma.
Ebonics has so many different facets.
There are slang words that are trendy, usually used by teenage or young adult demographics, and often heard in Hip Hop and rap music. Words like lit, hype, bling, brick, tight, woke, bae, fleek, ratchet, hella, squad, turnt, swag, strapped.
There are words that have been around for ages, that are not restricted to particular regions or age groups, and are virtually unknown outside the Black community. Words like kitchen (the curly hair at the nape of your neck) or ashy (dry skin).
There is the way in which words are pronounced. With certain letters dropped or replaced. Phrases like they be, finna, imma, tryna.
Some grammatical rules are:
Deletion of verbal copula — This means that in some contexts, the word "is/are" can be left out. Speakers of Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin do this. Example. "he workin'."
A habitual aspect marker (known as habitual be, or invariant be) — Aspect refers to whether an action is completed or ongoing. Habitual aspect means that a person regularly/often/usually does a thing, but does not give any indication of whether they are currently in the process of doing that thing. Example: "He be workin'" (Meaning: He is usually working.)
A remote present perfect marker (stressed “been”) — This communicates that not only is something completed (ie. perfective aspect), but it has been for a long time. Example: "He been got a job." Meaning: He got a job a long time ago.
Negative concord — This means that negation has to all "match." If you've ever studied French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, you've seen this. It is often stigmatized in English, but is totally normal in many, languages and in many varieties of English. Example: He ain't never without a job! Can't nobody say he don't work.
“It” for the dummy expletive “there: — What's a dummy expletive? It's that word that's necessary to say things when there isn't really a person doing the thing in question -- like in "it's raining." Some languages can just say "raining," and be done with it, but in English we add the “it’.
In this context, we use the word “it” instead of the word “there”. Example: "It's a man at the door here to see you."
Preterite “had” — This refers to grammatical constructions that in other dialects do not use had, but use the simple past. It's usually used in narrative. Example: "He had went to work and then he had called his client." Meaning: He went to work and then he called his client.
Some varieties have 'semantic bleaching' of words that are considered obscenities in other dialects - this is where a word loses shades of meaning over time.
Resources
Next week, we are going to chat about Colorism. Colorism is defined as prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color. Ever heard of light-skin privilege? Or seen an article like this one in Teen Vogue in your inbox? Let’s take a closer look at what it is and how people (like me, who is mixed-race, with a lighter complexion, hair extensions and an overall conformity to white beauty standards) can be tokenized and fetishized while also grossly benefiting from Colorism. See you next week!
