Philological
Sciences / Rhetoric and
Stylistics
N.M. Hotsa
Linguistic Peculiarities of African-American Vernacular English and Their Influence on the Content of a
Literary Text
African American Vernacular English (AAVE), the dialect of English used
by most African Americans in the United States in familiar and informal
settings. Vernacular refers to the first form of language that a person learns
to speak, one that is used among family and friends. AAVE is also known as African
American English, Afro-American English, Afro-American, (American) Black
English, black English, Black English Vernacular (BEV), Ebonics. Terms in
sociolinguistics for English as used by a majority of US citizens of Black
African background, consisting of a range of socially stratified urban and
rural dialects. The most non-standard varieties are used be poor blacks with
limited education, who have restricted social contact beyond their native communities
[1].
The aim of our work is to show some interesting and important features
of AAVE, point out its grammar and vocabulary peculiarities, and define the
function of AAVE in a literary text.
Prof.
Peter L Patrick admits
that African American English is one name for a collection of varieties (ways
of speaking) characteristically used by African Slave Descendants in North
America. Over the years a number of names have been used, and a number of
different varieties or dialects have been the focus of both linguistic and
general public attention. In an earlier period (mid/late 1960s), the name Negro
Non-standard English was often used. It’s obvious that the terms for this
language variety change more or less in step with terms of self-identification
for the people who speak it. Thus, the term “Negro” gave way in popular (and
eventually out-group) usage to the term “Black”, which was followed by “African
American” [2].
The use of these names, and their changes over time, has sometimes been
cited as an example of “political correctness”.
Even today linguists argue about the origin of AAVE. Some emphasize its
English origins, pointing to the fact that most of the vocabulary is from
English and that much of its pronunciation and grammar could have come from the
nonstandard dialects of English indentured servants and other workers with whom
African slaves interacted. Others emphasize Ebonics’ African origins, noting
that West African languages often lack th sounds and final consonants clusters, and that replacing
or simplifying these occurs both in US Ebonics and in West African English
varieties spoken in
As to linguistic features of AAVE, we may point out peculiarities in
grammar and vocabulary. We may divide the special features of AAVE grammar into
three types: 1) Characteristic word order or syntax; 2) the use of suffixes or
inflections; 3) the use of grammatical markers such as be and been.
Tom McArthur distinguishes eleven main rules in AAVE grammar. Among them
are: 1) Multiple negation; 2) existential it
replaces there; 3) inflected forms
such as plural, possessive, and singular –s and past –ed are variably omitted;
4) some inversion occurs with questions: What
it is? What you are?; 5) auxiliary do
can replace be in negative statement;
6) auxiliary be is often used to
indicate habitual occurrence; 7) stressed been
conveys long-standing events with remote pasts; 8) intention is sometimes
expressed by the particle a; 9)
aspectual usage with steady occurs before progressive verbs or with heavy
stress in sentence-final position; greater emphasis occurs when sentences
conclude with steady; 10) come sometimes functions as
semiauxiliary; 11) adverbial use of like
to meaning almost [1].
Jack Sidnell adds some peculiarities of the verb be usage in AAVE. He points out that in AAVE this verb is not
always included because of a variety of factors: 1) in future sentences with gonna or gon; 2) before verbs with the –ing or –in ending (progressive); 3) before adjectives and
expressions of location; 4) before nouns (or phrases with nouns) [4].
Linguists consider only a few features of word order to be unique to
AAVE: in indirect questions (AAVE preserves the order of a main question), and
modal auxiliaries such as may, can, and might often comes in pairs.
Many scholars have sought to trace the influence of African languages in
the grammar of AAVE, but its special features cannot be identified with any
particular language. In fact, there is good evidence that aspectual particles
were absent in the language spoken by slaved in the 19th century and
only developed in the last half of the 20th century, following the
great migration of rural African Americans to large cities. At the same time,
these recent trends follow a type of grammatical structure common throughout
West African languages.
The vocabulary of AAVE is very interesting for investigation, because it
is not always possible to understand the meaning of AAVE words. We shall
illustrate only some examples of AAVE vocabulary. Nevertheless, Jack Sidnell
stresses the fact that AAVE does not have a vocabulary separate from other
varieties of English. However AAVE speakers do use some words which are not
found in other varieties and furthermore use some English words in ways that
differ from the standard dialects [4]. Scientists admit different origins of
some words. For example several terms trace their history to
Several ingroups terms are used to refer to intimates or to other
African Americans in general: homeboy
was coined by convicts who served prison terms with other “boys from home”:
that is, other convicts from the same neighborhood. The bond between homeboys is stronger than
that between other brothers or blacks who have had no relationship prior to
imprisonment. This term moved from prisons to the black communities where most
(ex)convicts lived. Homies
is the plural form and homegirl
the feminine equivalent of homeboy.
Pejorative ethnic terms for whites include honkie and whitey for all whites, and redneck
and peckerwood for poor and/or rural
and/or Southern whites, especially such overt racists as members of the Ku Klux
Klan [1].
Such contemporary African-American writers as Maya Angelou, Toni
Morrison, Alice Walkner, Richard Wright have provided literary versions of
Black English that continue to have impact on broader interpretations of
English usage and American literature. Conclusion African-American varieties of
English vary considerably, tending to reflect the social background and
personal aspirations of individual speakers as well as the social circumstances
in which different dialects thrive [1].
Linguistic features of African American Vernacular English help author
to express the main idea of a text, and also help reader to understand it.
Reading such texts we may trace the history and culture of Afro-American
people, feel its influence on the main idea of a literary text.
Literature:
1.
McArthur, Tom. African-American
Vernacular English. – www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1029-AFRICANAMERICNVRNCLRNGLSH.html.
- Date of visiting – 18.05.2008, 21:48.
2.
Patrick L., Peter. African American
Vernacular English: A Webpage for Linguists and other Folks. - http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/AAVE.html.
- Date of visiting – 23.05.2008, 19:15.
3.
Rickford R., John. What is Ebonics
(African American Vernacular English)? - http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-faqs-ebonics.cfm.
- Date of visiting – 15.05.2008, 23:25.
4.
Sidnell, Jack. African American
Vernacular English (Ebonics). – www.une.edu.au/langet/definitions/aave.html.
- Date of visiting – 20.05.2008, 20:56.