“The only thing I HAVE to do is stay black and
die."
African American Language
African American Vernacular English
NOT Slang, NOT Hood Talk, Not Uneducated Talk Ebonics is a language system characteristic of certain speech communities in the United States, especially (but not exclusively) African American communities in urban areas and the South. Although it has many features that distinguish it from various dialects of English, it also has very much in common with kinds of English all over the world. It also differs from community to community. We must be careful to note that (a) not all African Americans speak Ebonics (b) there are non-African Americans who do speak Ebonics, by virtue of having grown up in the communities where it is spoken. The 'creole hypothesis', asserts that Ebonics evolved out of a pidgin language that developed in West Africa as a result of the slave trade and commercial trade between Africans and Europeans during the 16th-19th centuries. This theory says that the pidgin language grew into a full-fledged language (a full language that develops from a pidgin is called a creole language) used by slaves, who, because of deliberate mixing of Africans from different tribes in the slave trade, did not share a common language. Creole languages have arisen in many parts of the world where European colonization has taken place, including the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Papua New Guinea. Most linguists would characterize Ebonics as a dialect of English. Some (usually strong believers in the creole hypothesis) claim that, due to its pidgin and creole origins, it is a separate language. |
Negro dialect
Nonstandard Negro English Negro English American Negro speech Black communications Black dialect Black folk speech Black street speech Black English Black English Vernacular Black Vernacular English Afro American English African American English African American Language African American Vernacular English (AAVE) |
Lexicon of Black Americans
Lexicon: The vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.
Example:
Lexicon: The vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.
Example:
- Ashy: The whitish coloration of black skin due to exposure to the cold and having dry skin.
- Kitchen: The hair at the nape of the neck which is inclined to be very kinky.
- Saditty: Uppity-acting blacks.
- Pot liquor: Juice from greens, meat fat and beans.
- Color struck: Being conceited because of the color of one’s skin or having an affinity for certain skin tones.