Blog Notes :) AAE

AAE (African American English) there is no consensus as to exactly how is developed
Theories-
· When slaves we transported from Africa to America, they developed Pidgin (a simplified version of a language used for communication between those without a common language… developing into Creole which children acquired in their homes through their parents use
· Gullah = language used on the Islands of South Carolina and Georgia
· Slaves worked with servants those who spoke non-mainstream varieties of English
· Language development could have been based on factors such as# of slaves, servants, crops being grown, role overseers played
In search of better job and living conditions, African Americans began migrating (Great Migration) they sought out to settle in their own little communities, and some were forced to through racism
· AAE is a valuable resource and an important aspect of a group Identity
Features (Overview)
· Copula Absence: “They Hungry” “She Going” the forms of “to be” are omitted from standard
o But “am, as, and were” remain
· Habitual be: “We be playing basketball” “she be working late” using to be un-conjugated to signal a habitual or regular occurrence
· “s” following 3rd person – “I jump, you jump, we jump, she jumps”
· Double negatives “We don’t know nothing bout nobody” (also found used by white appalachin speakers and in Shakespeare)
· Stereotypically – replacing the these, with, and birthday with “d”, “t”, or “f” replacing “th” so (dese, wit, and birfday)
· “G-Dropping” at the end of –ing words “fishing and fighting” become “fishin’, and fighten’)
· Dropping of second or third contants