61 AAVE: AFRICAN- AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH SEE ALSO “AFRICAN-AMERICAN HUMOR” by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen

62 AAVE: AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH During the slave trade, shippers were careful to separate African slaves who spoke the same language as they loaded them onto ships, so that the language they developed was an English based pidgin which became a creole language.During the slave trade, shippers were careful to separate African slaves who spoke the same language as they loaded them onto ships, so that the language they developed was an English based pidgin which became a creole language. Ironically, black wet nurses did much of the raising of aristocratic white babies, so many Black features can be seen also in “white” Southern dialects.Ironically, black wet nurses did much of the raising of aristocratic white babies, so many Black features can be seen also in “white” Southern dialects. African-American Vernacular English (and much of Southern “white” English) has the following features: African-American Vernacular English (and much of Southern “white” English) has the following features:

63 this, that, these, those, them, there /d/this, that, these, those, them, there /d/ south, mouth /f/south, mouth /f/ during, more, Paris, star /r-less/during, more, Paris, star /r-less/ help, will /l-less/help, will /l-less/ hood, bed, test, wasp (loss of final consonant)hood, bed, test, wasp (loss of final consonant)

64 thing, ring, sing /ey/thing, ring, sing /ey/ r-less so that such pairs as guard-God, nor-gnaw, sore-saw, poor-Poe fort-fought, and court-caught are not distinguished.r-less so that such pairs as guard-God, nor-gnaw, sore-saw, poor-Poe fort-fought, and court-caught are not distinguished. police, Detroit (front-shifted stress)police, Detroit (front-shifted stress) nice, boy (simplified vowels)nice, boy (simplified vowels) invariable “be” (durative)invariable “be” (durative) zero copula (non-durative, compare Spanish “ser” and “estar”)zero copula (non-durative, compare Spanish “ser” and “estar”) (Fromkin Rodman Hyams )(Fromkin Rodman Hyams )

65 CALLING SOMEONE OUT OF THEIR NAME In her I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou tells about Mrs. Cullinan “calling her out of her name.” Rather than calling her “Margaret,” she called her “Mary.” Miss Glory says that she too had been “called out of her name.” Her name used to be Hallelujia, but her mistress called her “Glory,” and it stuck. (Nilsen 15-16)

66 !THE N-WORD According to Randall Kennedy, The n- word is perhaps the most volatile, derogatory, powerful and hurtful ethnic slur in the English language. However, “the use of nigger by black rappers and comedians has given the term a new currency and enhanced cachet such that many young whites yearn to use the term like the blacks whom they see as heroes and trendsetters” (Kennedy 45).

67 !!HIP HOP LANGUAGE What is it? What’s happenin? What’s up? Snoop Dog’s “-izzle” words as in “televizzle,” “Americizzle,” and “in a minitizzle” bro chillin gangsta rap (or G-rap), and Hood (for neighborhood) One line in Lupe Fiasco has a line in his hip-hop rap that goes, “I had to turn my back on what got you paid. I couldn’t see, had the hodod on me like Abu Ghraib.”(Loretz 3)

68 !!!MORE HIP HOP LANGUAGE to school (teach) someone a trick (sexually manipulative female) to spit (talk to a female) props (proper respects), the opposite of “to dis(respect)” someone Sweet! One = One Love = Good Bye! I gotta bounce (leave the premises)

69 References # 1: Baldwin, James. “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What It Is.” in Living Language. Ed. Alleen Pace Nilsen. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, Campbell, Kermit. Getting Our Groove On. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, Clark, Virginia, Paul Eschholz, and Alfred Rosa. Language: Readings in Language and Culture, 6th Edition. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, Crystal, David. “Pidgins and Creoles” (Clark, ) DeBose, Charles. The Sociology of African American Language. New York, NY: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2005.

610 References # 2: Elgin, Suzette Haden. “Notes on the Ebonics Controversy.” in Living Language. Ed. Alleen Pace Nilsen. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, Eschholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. “The Power of the Mass Media.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers, Ninth Edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005, Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman and Nina Hyams. An Introduction to Language. New York, NY: Thomson/Wadsworth, Gordon, Dexter B. “Humor in African American Discourse: Speaking of Oppression.” Journal of Black Studies 29.2 (1998): Kennedy, Randall. Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2002.

611 References # 3: King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I Have a Dream” (Eschholz ). Kitwana, Bakari. The HipHop Generation. New York, NY: BasicCivitas Books, Lanehart, Sonja L. Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, Loretz, Connor. “Inner-City English Education: Using Hip-Hop as a Pedagogy.” Tempe, AZ: ENG 312 Research Paper, McKissack, Frederick L. “Cyberghetto: Blacks Are Falling Through the Net” (Eschholz ). Mey, Jacob L. Pragmatics: An Introduction, 2 nd Edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001.

612 References # 4: Nilsen, Alleen Pace. Living Language. Needham Heights, MA, Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Encyclopedia of 20 th Century American Humor. Westport, CT: Greenwood, Schiffrin, Deborah. Approaches to Discourse. Malden, MA: Blackwell, Smitherman, Geneva “`It Bees Dat Way Sometime’: Sounds and Structure of Present-Day Black English” (Clark, ). Staples, Brent. “Black Men and Public Spaces” (Eschholz ). Vaid, Urvashi. “Separate and Unequal” (Eschholz ).