Black English - in a nutshell
Black English – in a nutshellWhen one thinks of dialect variation in general, one usually thinks ofdialects that depend on geographic location. This holds true forAmerican English as well. Regional variation accounts for many lexicaland phonological differences between different dialects in America.For example, one may pronounce "creek" differently in Oregon than inCalifornia. Depending on where one lives, one also chooses wordsdifferently; some regions refer to carbonated beverages like Pepsi orSprite as "sodas", while others prefer saying "pop". Besides regionalvariation, however, dialects can also depend on social or ethnicfactors.One particular example is the English spoken by the majority of Blackyouth, especially in the inner city. This dialect is often referred toas Black English Vernacular (BEV). Although it does not apply to allBlacks in America, nor exclusively to Blacks (some White urban youthand White southerners possess similar speech patterns), BEV applies tothe majority of the Black population
and is therefore considered anethnic dialect.In comparing BEV to regional dialects, the main difference is that itis defined mostly by its syntactical and phonological differencesrather than lexical choices. There are indeed certain words that areused in the Black community that don't exist in other dialects, butthis vocabulary keeps changing. Terms used by Blacks, such as "rap" or"chill", are often spread to mainstream society through the MTVgeneration, and by the time their use becomes popular with Whites aswell, a new word to replace the old one is already being popularizedin the Black community.While lexical terms come and go, the syntactical and ...
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and is therefore considered anethnic dialect.In comparing BEV to regional dialects, the main difference is that itis defined mostly by its syntactical and phonological differencesrather than lexical choices. There are indeed certain words that areused in the Black community that don't exist in other dialects, butthis vocabulary keeps changing. Terms used by Blacks, such as "rap" or"chill", are often spread to mainstream society through the MTVgeneration, and by the time their use becomes popular with Whites aswell, a new word to replace the old one is already being popularizedin the Black community.While lexical terms come and go, the syntactical and phonologicalpatterns used in BEV are more static. This paper will outline thebasic syntactical features of BEV. Some of these features arephonologically conditioned, but since they go against the grammaticalrules of Standard English, they are also included in this category.One feature is the optionality of the plural marker (final -s),especially when the noun is preceeded by a numeral. A BEV speakermight say "six chair" instead of "six chairs", or "five foot tall"instead of "five feet tall". The point to remember here is that thenumeral that preceeds the noun is a marker of plurality in itself, sothe meaning is still understood. Saying "dem chair" instead of "thechairs" is no more confusing; "dem" (them) marks the plural.Another characteristic of BEV is the absence of the "s" suffix ofverbs conjugated in the third person singular. One might hear a BEVspeaker say "he sing" instead of "he sings". What these speakers aredoing, in effect, is making the conjugation pattern of verbs moreregular thatn in Standard English. Instead of "I sing, you sing, hesings, we sing, you sing, they sing," in BEV "sing" simply does notchange in the third person singular. In regards to irregular verbslike "say", "have", and "do", there is this same lack of differentconjugation.For BEV speakers, the past tense is sometimes indistinguishable fromthe present tense. "He miss the bus yesterday" would mean "He missedit". This is because the final "t" and "d" of words are often droppedin pronunciation. However, the past tense is used for irregular verbs:"He went to the store."A feature of BEV that is one of the most frequently frowned upongrammatical choices is double and multiple negation. many people usedouble negation, much to the dismay of English teachers. It is not aunique feature of BEV. Saying "I dont have none" instead of "I donthave any" is an example. What is unique to BEV, however, is thefrequent use of multiple negation, which often confuses non-BEVspeakers. "Aint nobody gonna beat me at nothin" is one example; "Iaint seen nothin like dat no place" is another. Although double andmultiple negation is considered "wrong" in Standard English, it isimportant to keep in mind that many languages (Spanish, for example)use it, and that it once was the rule in Old English. Therefore,"correctness" is subjective.The last point to be discussed is the use of the verb "be". "Copuladeletion" is quite common among BEV speakers. A person might say "Youugly" or "You bad" without including the second person singular form"are". In BEV, "be" has a meaning not present in Standard English;that being the idea of repeated action over time. This "DistributiveBE" is used in an example like "He be fooling around", meaning that"He always fools around".One might ask why the syntactical differences between Black EnglishVernacular and Standard English are so pronounced. Why is it thatother dialects of American English do not vary in syntacticalstructure?To attempt to answer the question, one must take into account theunique history of Blacks in America. They were brought over as slaves,and were speakers of a wide variety of African languages. Not beingformally taught English, they had to use an auxiliary form of thelanguage to communicate with each other and with Whites. These pidginsand creoles probably shared many syntactical features with theirnative African languages.It is important to understand the syntax and background of BlackEnglish Vernacular to realize that it isnt merely an erroneous way ofspeaking English. BEV has its own distinct rules and logic. Anyone whobelieves that BEV speakers have only "an inferior way of speaking" isnot familiar with background of American Black English. BEV, like anyother dialect, is a perfectly valid communication system.