Introduction
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a derivative of English spoken primarily by African Americans in the United States. Even though named African American, this dialect cannot be defined racially since it is not necessary that only African Americans speak this. There are many Americans who are not black yet speak this tongue intrinsically (Patrick 2007). In a few instances, some people use only certain vocabulary of this version of English, thereby making it difficult to define the actual speakers of this dialect (Sidnell 2008).
Issues arise due to the differences in this dialect with that which is commonly spoken. One such issue is related to the reading problems faced by African American students who speak it. A major reason for the poor academic performance of African Americans throughout the country is because of their poor reading proficiency (Rickford, 1999). Although AAVE has been studied in intrinsic detail over the last few decades, a number of questions remain unanswered; particularly those pertaining to the development of the structures used in the dialect. Many established studies and results have tried correlating the dialect variables with age and answer questions prevailing for over half a century Labov, 1968; Wolfram 1969; Fasold 1972).
In some of the earliest descriptions of AAVE, it is observed that the prime period for vernacular use was preschool, after childhood development years and before the adulteration of the vernacular due to exposure to other dialects. Linguistically, there are two hypotheses which suggest how the dialect came into existence. One theory suggests that the slaves did not learn the “right” English when they arrived in the new world and this version of the language was passed on. The second theory suggests that the language of the slaves and English were mixed with many other West African languages to create a pidgin which over the years evolved into a completely new vernacular dialect.
Age and Vernacular Usage
It is observed that basic structures and elements of the dialect are spoken in largely lower class neighbourhoods by young children (Stewart 1969). The reason for children to develop the language more efficiently is perhaps because of they are at a phase beyond language acquisition (Dillard 1972). Studies have shown ages between 3 and 4 is when vernacular development reaches its maximum while this study also shows that as schooling commences, the vernacular features reduce.
It is interesting to understand certain parts of speech of AAVE. Research has shown that words such as go and be like are used more frequently by teenagers and young adults while those more frequently using the word say are born in the 1940s (Avila 2002). However there is a lack of research in determining the origins of these phrases; especially that pertaining to the demographic and racial influences. These commonly quoted phrases are spread more frequently by African Americans and Hispanics. A study conducted by Sanchez and Charity (1999) showed that the phrase be like is the most frequently used verb derivative of AAVE spoken in a predominantly African American neighbourhood in Philadelphia. This derivative appears 67% of the time in speakers under the age of 30, while the usage of the derivative say is about 19% in people above the age of 30.
It is suggested that African American adolescents more frequently use the AAVE dialect. Further research also gives validation to this theory to a certain extent. However, this correlation is not as straightforward as it suggests. A study conducted in 2005 shows that in rural areas, the older age group shows higher usage of some vernacular dialect structures while in a certain subgroup consisting of a younger section of the audience this usage is intensified while another group shows a reduced use (Rowe 2005; D’Andrea 2005). However, it is possible that this correlation is limited to the linguistic variable in consideration. For instance, studies show that older speakers use -s plural absence very frequently whereas the younger sections are more inclined towards using the variants of be.
Influence of Mode of Study
Factors such as the method of study contributes significantly to the results obtained with respect to the variants of AAVE. Studies conducted through surveys or laboratory techniques often show differences in previously concluded results. Researchers feel these methods are more constrained to give appropriate results. Thus, scholars suggest a more naturalistic approach of conducting surveys and collecting data for study. Thus, research suggests a lack in data of African American speakers through different stages of their lives, primarily from their childhood to their teenage years. This makes it difficult to validate any theory pertaining to the sociolinguistic development in African American speakers.
Vocabulary
Researcher Lisa Green conducted extensive research in the origins and structure of AAVE in the late 1990s. She points out that vocabulary forms a very interesting topic of study for many sociolinguists (Green, 2002). Green categorizes the vocabulary into two sections: one consisting of phrases and structure used by all irrespective of the age group, and the other containing usage restricted to a certain age group. Green’s results throw light on some very interesting uses of the language. Some words used in Standard English have completely different implications in AAVE. For instance, Smitherman (1977) defines kitchen as the “hair on the nape of the neck which is inclined to be very kinky”. Below are listed some commonly used vocabulary extracted from Green’s work (Green, 2002).
Ashy – whitish colour of skin due to exposure to cold
Tief – to teal
Chillun – children
Tote/tota – to carry/to pick up
Funeralize – to conduct funeral services etc.
Ting an’ ting - identical
AAVE grammar also reveals many interesting structures of the dialect. The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) places many such words depending on the time frame and region of most prominent use. Green’s work gives lucid insight into the different grammatical structures prevalent in AAVE. Some examples of these structures are listed below
Verbs:
Derivatives of be are used differently in different contexts. For instance, the is and are forms of the verb are omitted while indicating a current status.
She smart – She is smart
We working – We are working
For actions which are repetitive be is used in its native form. This form is also used to represent future tense in certain contexts
We be workin’ Saturdays – We usually work on Saturdays
They be goin’ to the cinema tomorrow – They will be going to the cinema tomorrow.
The perfect tense forms of be are usually omitted and replaced by been or bin to suggest something that prevails for a long time.
She been teaching – She has been a teacher for a long time.
He bin ate it – He ate it a long time back.
Slang
Slang is an integral part of the AAVE dialect. Teresa Labov (1992) identifies three categories of slang – those for naming people, the other painting people, activities and places, and those involving spending free time. The most widely used slang is that used for referring people. For instance, honey, hot girl, bopper, etc. are slangs used to refer to females while balla, cat, homes, money, playa etc. are words used to refer to males. Interestingly, the term money is also used to refer to men as a common noun. Eg: That’s my money (That’s my friend); what’s up, money (What’s up, man?) (Green 2002). However, money also finds its way around in different forms in the AAVE dialect. For example benjis, cabbage, greens, paper etc. all refers to money.
Conclusion
It is evident that there are questions yet to be answered with respect to the development of AAVE with age. The use of AAVE is varies across children through adolescents. However, studies do suggest that learning the AAVE dialect in childhood depends on the linguistic circumstances to a larger extent. However, even though this fades away when schooling begins, care should be taken to avoid miscommunication in a class with students speaking both AAVE and Standard English. Very often, in an attempt to standardize English, educators negatively handle students speaking AAVE which is a prime reason for miscommunication. Certain studies even suggest if AAVE is used in classrooms to teach Standard English, subject comprehension becomes easier and it becomes more compatible with students to eventually learn Standard English. Categorizing the AAVE grammar and structure is also an important task faced by scholars. Scholars and researchers endeavour to unify AAVE with its different linguistic components and to present it in a way to simplify extracting information from the different elements encompassed in it.
References
Patrick, Peter L. African American English: A Webpage for Linguists and other Folks. Last updated 20 November 2007. University of Essex, United Kingdom. URL: <http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/AAVE.html>.
Sidnell, Jack. African American Vernacular English (Ebonics). University of New England, Australia. URL: <http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/definitions/aave.html>. Viewed 30 September 2008
Rickford, John R., and William Labov. African American vernacular English: Features, evolution, educational implications. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 1999.
Wolfram, Walter A. "A Sociolinguistic Description of Detroit Negro Speech. Urban Language Series, No. 5." (1969).
Labov, William. "A Study of the Non-Standard English of Negro and Puerto Rican Speakers in New York City. Volume II: The Use of Language in the Speech Community." (1968).
Fasold, Ralph W., and Carolyn Kessler. Tense marking in Black English: A linguistic and social analysis. Washington, DC: Center for applied linguistics, 1972.
Stewart, William A. "Urban Negro Speech: Sociolinguistic Factors Affecting English Teaching." Florida FL Rep (1969).
Dillard, Joey Lee. Black english. New York: Random House, 1972.
Cukor-Avila, Patricia. "She say, she go, she be like: Verbs of quotation over time in African American Vernacular English." American Speech 77.1 (2002): 3-31.
Sanchez, Tara, and Anne Charity. "Use of be like and other verbs of quotation in a predominantly African-American community." 28th meeting on New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English (NWAVE 28), Toronto. 1999.
Rowe, Ryan D. The development of African American English in the oldest Black town in America: -s absence in Princeville, North Carolina. Unpublished master’s thesis. Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina State University (2005)
D’Andrea, Kristy D. African American English in Princeville, NC: Looking at dialect change through the feature of r-lessness. Paper presented to American Dialect Society Annual Meeting, January, Oakland, California (2005).
Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin and testifyin: The language of Black America. Vol. 51. Wayne State University Press, 1977.
Green, Lisa J. African American English: a linguistic introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Labov, William. "Objectivity and commitment in linguistic science: The case of the Black English trial in Ann Arbor." Language in Society 11.02 (1982): 165-201.
