[G8_LCS Thu 4-6] PPT african american language

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1. African American
Language

Group 8
Tran Thi Ngoc Huyen
Nguyen Thi Hoang An
Ryom Jong Gun

2. Table of contents
01
African
American
Community
02
African
American
Language
03
AAL
Linguistic
Patterns
04
Discussion

3. African
American
Community
01

4. An ethnic group
consisting of Americans
who are descendants of
African ancestors
African American
Community in the US

5. Location
Mostly settled in the
South-East area of the
US

(Adapted from Census 2000)

6. ●46.8 million people (2019)
●Make up roughly 14% of the country’s population.
Population

7. African
American
Language
02

8. A variety of English language spoken by many African American
speakers in the United States.
( Van Hofwegen, 2015: 454)
.
What is African American Language?
African
American
Vernacular
English
African
American
English

9. The history of AAE
-Theory 1: pidgin → creole
-Theory 2: African American
slaves learned English from
indentured servants (often of
Scots-Irish descent)

NOTE: These theories are not
mutually exclusive.

10. Influenced the music culture
Contributions to American English
Pop, Rap, hip-hop,...
no longer a language limited
to one particular race
Transcended the streets and gone
mainstream
01
02

11. Not all African Americans speak
AAE, and not all speakers of AAE
are African Americans

12. AAL
Linguistic
Patterns
03

13. Activity 1
Note down some features
of AAE in the rap song
“Hey! Mama” of Kanye
West

14. Activity 1

goin’, cheatin’
Finna, gotta
y’all
you never put no man over me
you don't hurt no more
you ain't gotta work no more


.

15. Syntax
(Source: adapted from Wolfram, 2009: 330)
Linguistic feature AAE European-American
English
Copula deletion: deleting
the verb “to be”

Habitual “be”: to indicate
habitual or intermittent
activity (“be” + -ing form)



Absence of “possessive”

He late.
They hungry.

She be working late
John be late.
We be playing basketball
after school

John hat
Jack car

He is late.
They are hungry.

She works late a lot
John is always late.
We play basketball from
time to time

John’s hat
Jack’s car

16. Syntax
Short activity 2: Choose the one sentence in which habitual ‘be’ would be
used in AAE

1.a. Sometimes my ears be itchin’
b. My ears be itchin’ right now.

2.a. Momma be workin’ today.
b. Momma be workin’ every day.

3.a. I be tellin’ you just now, I ain’t hungry!
b. I always be tellin’ you I ain’t hungry, but you never listen.



.

17. Morphosyntax
Morphosyntactic feature Example
3rd person SG-s deletion she talk, he sing
plural -s deletion three dog, some cat
multiple negation He don’ know nothin’
Negative inversion Can’t nobody talk like that.
stressed bín (for present perfect tense) She bín married.
I bín known him.
come to express indignation She come goin’ in my room.
gon/ gonna/ finna/ I’ma to express the future We gon visit them soon

18. Phonology
Phonological feature Example
Consonant cluster reduction word-finally test → tes, desk → des
Deletion of postvocalic liquids help → /hɛp/, car → /kɑ/
Your→ yo, my ride→ /ma: ra:d/
Stopping of th word-initially the man → /də/man
Change th to /f/, and th to v word- medially
and word- finally
mouth → / mawf/
the brother → /də bɪʌvə/
smooth → /smuv/

19. Lexical items
●bogus = 'fake/fraudulent'
●hep, hip = 'be well informed, up-to-date'
●cat = 'a friend, a fellow, etc.’
●cool = 'calm, controlled'
●dig = 'to understand, appreciate, pay attention'
●Phat = excellent
●Shit = something worthless; garbage; nonsense.
●bad = 'really good'
●lit = exciting, excellent

.

20. Discussion
04

21. DISCUSSION
1.Why is it that people speaking AAL is often
viewed as sub-standard?
2.Just as you can have racial or gender
discrimination, you can have linguistic
discrimination. How does linguistic discrimination
affect the AAL speakers?

22. Answer
-Stereotypes
●‘Faulty’ version of standard English.
●AAE is often derided as ungrammatical and linguistically less than
other forms of American speech.
→ AAE speakers are denigrated and discredited based on their speech.
This negative attitude toward AAE is an example of the strong roots of
language ideologies and linguistic subordination
→ This phenomenon poses a dilemma to AAE speakers that language
that basically serves as a symbol of ethnic identity becomes the focus
for discrimination in society(Rahman, 2008).

23. Answer

-Feelings of prejudice can determine
views about comprehensibility and
credibility: People can shut down and
stop trying to understand when they
don’t like the dialect of the person
speaking.






A boy named Trayvon Martin was recorded brutally shot by
Zimmerman, 2012 ( Source: The NYTimes)

25. -Prejudice about speech affects people’s housing, employment and
education.
●Wage inequality: Black workers who were perceived as sounding
Black earning 12% less than similarly qualified whites
●Education: children who speak AAE may be told that their speech
isn’t “proper” or legitimate
Answer

26. Language is a treasure for
all ethnicities and it
deserves respect.

27. Thanks
for
listening!

28. References:
●Tamir, C., Budiman, A., Noe-Bustamante, L., & Mora, L. (2021, December 15). Facts about the U.S. Black
population. Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/facts-about-the-us-black-population/
● Mooney, A., & Evans, B. (2019). Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. Routledge.
●Jones, T. (2020, November 13). African American English and Cross Dialect Comprehension. Language
Jones. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from
https://www.languagejones.com/blog-1/2018/10/2/african-american-english-and-cross-dialect-comprehen
sion
●Kendall, Tyler, Jason McLarty, and Brooke Josler. 2018. ORAAL: Online Resources for African American
Language: AAL Facts. Eugene
●Erik R. Thomas (2007). Phonological and Phonetic Characteristics of African American Vernacular English.
North Carolina State University.
●Schneider, Edgar W. 1989. American Earlier Black English: Morphological and syntactic variables.
Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
●Jones, T. (2022, February 1). What's in a name? why do some linguists not call it African American
vernacular English (AAVE) anymore? Language Jones. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from
https://www.languagejones.com/blog-1/2020/12/21/whats-in-a-name-why-do-some-linguists-not-call-it-a
frican-american-vernacular-english-aave-anymore