Where is ebonics spoken

This matter is compounded by the fact that, with the AAVE-speaking community, attitudes towards the language are complex and equivocal.

At the same time these same speakers may also express clearly positive attitudes towards AAVE on other occasions and may also remark on the inappropriateness of using standard English in certain situations. While the situation in this case is made more extreme by the context of racial and ethnic conflict, inequality and prejudice in the United States, it is not unique. Such ambivalent and multivalent attitudes towards nonstandard varieties of a language have been documented for a great many communities around the world and in the United States.

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.

These include:. A discussion of AAVE vocabulary might proceed by noting that words can be seen to be composed of a form a sound signal and a meaning. In some cases both the form and the meaning are taken from West African sources.

In other case the form is from English but the meaning appears to be derived from West African sources. Some cases are ambiguous and seem to involve what the late Fredric Cassidy called a multiple etymology the form can be traced to more than one language -- e.

Wolof hepi, hipi 'to open one's eyes, be aware of what is going on'. Mandingo suma 'slow' literally 'cool'. Wolof deg, dega 'to understand, appreciate'. For instance, in Guyanese Creole mi laik am bad, yu noo means 'I like him alot'. Dalby mentions Mandingo Bambara a nyinata jaw-ke 'She's very pretty. Another interesting set of vocabulary items are called loan translations or "calques".

In such cases a complex idea is expressed in some West African language by a combination of two words. In AAVE these African words appear to have been directly translated and the same concept is expressed by the combination of the equivalent English items.

Any discussion of AAVE vocabulary must take note of the many recent innovations which occur in this variety and which tend to spread rapidly to other varieties of English. Most recent innovations are not enduring. These lexical items give regionally and generationally restricted varieties of AAVE their particular texture. AAVE and standard English pronunciation are sometimes quite different. People frequently attach significance to such differences in pronunciation or accent and as such the study of phonology the systematic a patterning of sounds in language is an important part of sociolinguistics.

It should be noted that phonology has nothing to do with spelling. The way something is spelt is often not a good indication of the way it "should be", or much less is, pronounced. When two consonants appear at the end of a word for instance the st in test , they are often reduced: the final t is deleted. This happens, to some extent, in every variety of English including standard ones. In AAVE the consonant cluster is reduced variably i.

Sociolinguists have shown that the frequency of reduction can be expressed by a rule which takes account of a number of interacting facts. Crucially, the frequency of reduction depends on the environment in which the sound occurs. The following two factors, among others, have been found to affect the frequency of reduction in consonant clusters. If the next word starts with a consonant, it is more likely to reduce than if the next word starts with a vowel.

For example, reduction is more likely to occur in west side becoming wes side than in west end. A final t or d is more likely to be deleted if it is not part of the past tense -ed than if it is. The past tense -ed suffix is pronounced as t or d or Id in English depending on the preceding sound. For example, reduction is more likely to occur in John ran fast becoming John ran fas than in John passed the teacher in his car.

The written symbol th can represent two different sounds in English: both an "unvoiced" sound as in thought , thin and think , and a "voiced" sound as in the , they and that. In AAVE the pronunciation of this sound depends on where in a word it is found.

At the beginning of a word, the voiced sound e. Less common in AAVE is the pronunciation of the unvoiced sound as t. Thus 'thin' can become tin but rarely does. This however is a very common feature of Caribbean creoles in which 'think' is regularly pronounced as tink , etc. When the th sound is followed by r , it is possible in AAVE to pronounce the th as f as in froat for 'throat'. Within a word, the unvoiced sound as in nothing , author or ether is often pronounced as f.

Thus AAVE speakers will sometimes say nufn 'nothing' and ahfuh 'author'. The voiced sound, within a word, may be pronounced v. So 'brother' becomes bruvah , etc.

At the end of a word, th is often pronounced f in AAVE. For instance 'Ruth' is pronounced Ruf ; 'south' is pronounced souf. When the preceding sound is a nasal e. When they do not occur at the beginning of a word l and r often undergo a process known as "vocalization" and are pronounced as uh. This is most apparent in a post-vocalic position after a vowel. For instance 'steal', 'sister', 'nickel' become steauh , sistuh , nickuh.

In some varieties of AAVE e. And there are Black people who, though they have not lived in close proximity to Euro-Americans, have had the benefit of an excellent English language instruction. Let us now turn to the perspective of the Africologist or Africanist scholars that the native language or mother tongue of the descendants of West and Niger-Congo African slaves is not a dialect of English.

The term Ebonics was coined in January , by Dr. Robert L. Louis, MO. Williams coined the term Ebonics during a small group discussion with several African American psychologists, linguists, and speech communications professionals attending a conference convened by Dr.

See Williams , p. In the sense that Ebonics includes both the verbal and para-linguistic communications of African-American people, this means that Ebonics represents an underlying psychological thought process. Hence, the non-verbal sounds, cues, and gestures, etc, which are systematically used in the process of communication by African-American people are encompassed by the term as well. This is the original and only intended meaning of the term Ebonics.

The consensus among the African-American scholars at the conference was that, owing to their history as slave descendants of West and Niger-Congo African origin, and to the extent that African Americans have been born into, reared in, and continue to live in linguistic environments that are different from the Euro-American English speaking population, African-American children are not from home environments in which the English language is dominant.

The consensus was that, as evidenced by phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactical patterns, African-American speech does not follow the grammar rules of English.

Rather, it is a West and Niger-Congo African deep structure that has been retained. It is this African deep structure that causes African-American children to score poorly on standardized scales of English proficiency. These include Carter G. These scholars have consistently maintained that in the hybridization process, it was the grammar of the Niger-Congo African languages that was dominant and that the extensive word borrowing from the English stock does not make Ebonics a dialect of English.

In fact, they argue, because it is an African language system, it is improper to apply terminology that has been devised to describe the grammar of English to describe African-American linguistic structures. One thing is for sure: This dynamic, distinctive variety--thoroughly intertwined with African American history and linked in many ways with African American literature, education, and social life--is one of the most extensively studied and discussed varieties of American English and it will probably continue to be so for many years to come.

Baugh, John. Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic pride and racial prejudice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Green, Lisa. African American English: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Labov, William. Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Poplack, Shana, ed.

The English history of African American English. Rickford, John R. Spoken Soul: The story of Black English. New York: John Wiley. Smitherman, Geneva. Black talk: Words and phrases from the hood to the amen corner. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Wolfram, Walt, and Erik R. The development of African American English. Donate Jobs Center News Room.