BLACK VERNACULAR ENGLISH

Distinctive features
Although the distinction between AAVE and Standard American English is clear to speakers, some
characteristics, notably double negatives and the omission of certain auxiliaries(see below) such as the has
in has been are also characteristic of general collouial American English!
Phonolo!
"here is near uniformity of AAVE grammar, despite vast geographic area!"his may be due in part to
relatively recent migrations of African Americans out of the South (see #reat $igration and Second #reat
$igration) as well as to long%term racial segregation! &honological features that set AAVE apart from forms
of Standard English (such as #eneral American) include'
(ord%final devoicing of )b), )d), and ) ) , whereby for example cub sounds like cup!
*eduction of certain diphthong forms to monophthongs, in particular, )a ) is monophthongi+ed to
,a - except before unvoiced consonants (this is also a feature of many Southern American English
dialects)! "he vowel sound in boil () ) in Standard English) is also monophthongi+ed, especially
before )l), making it indistinguishable from ball!.onversely, older speakers in some regions (such
as the American South) may use ,o - in words like coach and road that have ,o - in SE (i!e! ,ko t - ,
,ro d- )!
AAVE speakers may not use the fricatives ,/- (the th in thin) and ,0- (the th of then) that are
present in SE! "he actual alternative phone used depends on the sound1s position in a word!
(ord%initially, )/) is normally the same as in SE (so thin is ,/ n- )!
(ord%initially, )0) is ,d- (so this is ,d s- )!
(ord%medially and %finally, )/) is reali+ed as either ,f- or ,t- (so ,m mf- or ,m nt- for month)2 )0) as
either ,v- or ,d- (so ,smu v- for smooth)!
*eali+ation of final ng )3), the velar nasal, as the alveolar nasal ,n- in function morphemes and
content morphemes with two syllables like -ing, e!g! tripping is pronounced astrippin! "his change
does not occur in one%syllable content morphemes such as sing, which is ,s 3- and not 4,s n- !
5owever, singing is ,s 3 n- ! 6ther examples include wedding7 ,w n- , morning 7 ,m n n- ,
nothing 7 , n f n- ! *eali+ation of )3) as ,n- in these contexts is commonly found in many other
English dialects!
A marked feature of AAVE is final consonant cluster reduction! "here are several phenomena that
are similar but are governed by different grammatical rules! "his tendency has been used by
creolists to compare AAVE to (est African languages since such languages do not have final
clusters!
8inal consonant clusters that are homorganic (have the same place of articulation) and share the
same voicing are reduced! E!g! test is pronounced ,t s- since )t) and )s) are both voiceless2 hand is
pronounced ,h9n-, since )n) and )d) are both voiced2 but pant is unchanged, as it contains both a
voiced and a voiceless consonant in the cluster!:ote also that it is the plosive ()t) and )d)) in these
examples that is lost rather than the fricative or nasal! Speakers may carry this declustered
pronunciation when plurali+ing so that the plural of test is ,t s;s- rather than ,t sts- !"he clusters
)ft), )md), are also affected!
$ore often, word%final )sp), )st), and )sk) are reduced, again with the final element being deleted
rather than the former!
8or younger speakers, )skr) also occurs in words that other varieties of English have )str) so that,
for example, street is pronounced ,skrit-!
.lusters ending in )s) or )+) exhibit variation in whether the first or second element is deleted!
Similarly, final consonants may be deleted (although there is a great deal of variation between
speakers in this regard)! $ost often, )t) and )d) are deleted! As with other dialects of English, final
)t) and )k) may reduce to a glottal stop! :asal consonants may be lost while nasali+ation of the
vowel is retained (e!g!, find may be pronounced ,f< - )! $ore rarely, )s) and )+) may also be deleted!
=se of metathesised forms like aks for >ask>or graps for >grasp>!
?ike other non%rhotic varieties, the rhotic consonant )r) is usually dropped when not followed by a
vowel2 it may also manifest as an unstressed ,;- or the lengthening of the preceding vowel!
@ntervocalic )r) may also be dropped, e!g! SE story (,st ri- ) can be pronounced ,st !i- , though this
doesn1t occur across morpheme boundaries! )r) may also be deleted between a consonant and a
back rounded vowel, especially in words like throw, throat, and through!
)l) is often vocali+ed in patterns similar to that of )r) (though never between vowels) and, in
combination with cluster simplification (see above), can make homophones of tolland toe, fault and
fought, and tool and too! 5omonymy may be reduced by vowel lengthening and by an off%glide , - !
Aefore nasal consonants ()m), )n), and )3)), ) ) and ) ) are both pronounced , - , making pen and pin
homophones! "his feature is also present in other dialects!
"he distinction between ) ) and )i ) before liuid consonants is freuently reduced, making feel and
fill homophones! Aefore )r) specifically, )u ) and )o ) also merge!
?owering of ) ) before )3) causing pronunciations such as ,/ 3- or ,/93- for thing!
@n addition to these, there are a handful of multisyllabic words that differ from SE in their stress
placement so that, for example, police, guitar and Detroit are pronounced with initial stress instead of
ultimate stress!
"ense an# as$ect
Although AAVE doesn1t necessarily feature the preterite marker of other English varieties (that is, the
-ed of worked), it does feature an optional tense system with four past and two future tenses or (because
they indicate tense in degrees) phases!
Phases%"enses of AAVE
Phase E&a'$le
Past
Pre(recent I been flown it
Recent I done fly it
a
Pre($resent I did fly it
Past Ince$tive I do fly it
Present I be flyin it
)uture
I''e#iate I'm a-fly it
Post(i''e#iate I'm a-gonna fly it
In#efinite future I gonna fly it
*a Syntactically, I flew it is grammatical, but done (always unstressed) is used to emphasi+e the
completed nature of the action
As phase auxiliary verbs, been and done must occur as the first auxiliary2 when they occur as the
second, they carry additional aspects'
He been done work means >he finished work a long time ago>!
He done been work means >until recently, he worked over a long period of time>!
"his latter example highlights one of the most distinguishing features of AAVE, which is the use of
be to indicate that performance of the verb is of a habitual nature! @n SAE, this can only be expressed
unambiguously by using adverbs such as usually!
"his aspect%marking form of been or A@: is stressed and semantically distinct from the unstressed
form' She BIN running (1She has been running for a long time1) and She been running (1She has been
running1)! "his aspect has been given several names, including perfect phase, remote past, and remote
phase (this article uses the third) As shown above, been places action in the distant past! 5owever, when
been is used with stative verbs or gerund forms, been shows that the action began in the distant past and
that it is continuing now! *ickford (BCCC) suggests that a better translation when used with stative verbs is
>for a long time>! 8or instance, in response to >@ like your new dress>, one might hear Oh I been had this
dress, meaning that the speaker has had the dress for a long time and that it isn1t new!
"o see the difference between the simple past and the gerund when used with been, consider the
following expressions'
I been bought her clothes means >@ bought her clothes a long time ago>!
I been buying her clothes means >@1ve been buying her clothes for a long time>!
AAVE ra''atical As$ects
As$ect E&a'$le SE +eanin
5abitual)continuative aspect
5e be working
"uesdays!
5e works freuently or habitually on
"uesdays!
@ntensified continuative (habitual) 5e stay working! 5e is always working!
@ntensified continuative (not
habitual)
5e steady working! 5e keeps on working!
&erfect progressive 5e been working! 5e has been working!
@rrealis 5e finna go to work! 5e is about to go to work!
a
*a !inna corresponds to >fixing to> in other varieties2

it is also written fi"ina, fi"na, fitna, and
finta
,
@n addition to these, come (which may or may not be an auxiliary) may be used to indicate speaker
indignation, such as in Don't come acting like you don't know what happened and you started the whole
thing (1Don1t try to act as if you don1t know what happened, because you started the whole thing1)!
-
Neation
:egatives are formed differently from standard American English'
=se of ain't as a general negative indicator! As in other dialects, it can be used where Standard
English would use am not, isn't, aren't, ha#en't and hasn't$ 5owever, in marked contrast to other
varieties of English in the =!S!, some speakers of AAVE also use ain't instead of don't, doesn't, or
didn't (e$g$, I ain't know that)! %in't had its origins in common English, but became increasingly
stigmati+ed since the BCth century! See also amn't!
:egative concord, popularly called >double negation>, as in I didn't go nowhere2 if the sentence is
negative, all negatable forms are negated! "his contrasts with Standard English, where a double
negative is considered incorrect to mean anything other than a positive (although this wasn1t
always so2 see double negative)! "here is also >triple> or >multiple negation>, as in the phrase I
don't know nothing about no one no more (in Standard English >@ don1t know anything about
anyone anymore>)!
@n a negative construction, an indefinite pronoun such as nobody or nothing can be inverted with
the negative verb particle for emphasis (e!g! Don't nobody know the answer, %in't nothing going
on!)
(hile these are features that AAVE has in common with .reole languages, 5owe and (alker use
data from early recordings of African :ova Scotian English, SamanE English, and the recordings of former
slaves to demonstrate that negation was inherited from nonstandard colonial English!
,ther ra''atical characteristics
"he copula be is often dropped, as in *ussian, 5ebrew, Arabic and other languages! 8or example'
&ou cra'y (>Fou1re cra+y>) or She my sister (>She1s my sister>)! "he phenomenon is also observed
in uestions' (ho you) (>(ho1re youG>) and (here you at) (>(here are you (at)G>)! 6n the other
hand, a stressed is cannot be dropped' She ismy sister! "he general rules are'
6nly the forms is and are (of which the latter is anyway often replaced by is) can be omitted!
"hese forms cannot be omitted when they would be pronounced with stress in Standard English
(whether or not the stress serves specifically to impart an emphatic sense to the verb1s meaning)!
"hese forms cannot be omitted when the corresponding form in Standard English cannot show
contraction (and vice%versa)! 8or example, I don't know where he is cannot be reduced to 4I don't
know where he Hust as in Standard English the corresponding reduction 4I don't know where he's is
likewise impossible! (I don't know where he at is possible, paralleling I don't know where he's at in
Standard English!)
&ossibly some other minor conditions apply as well!
&resent%tense verbs are uninflected for number)person' there is no %s ending in the present%tense
third%person singular! Example' She write poetry (>She writes poetry>)! Similarly, was is used for
what in standard English are contexts for both was and were$
"he genitive %1s ending may or may not be used!#enitive case is inferrable from adHacency! "his is
similar to many creoles throughout the .aribbean! $any language forms throughout the world use
an unmarked possessive2 it may here result from a simplification of grammatical structures!
Example' my momma sister (1my mother1s sister1)
"he words it and they denote the existence of something, euivalent to Standard English there is,
or there are!
Altered syntax in uestions' (hy they ain't growing) (1(hy aren1t they growingG1) and (ho the hell
she think she is) (1(ho the hell does she think she isG1) lack the inversion of standard English!
Aecause of this, there is also no need for the auxiliary D6!
=sage of personal pronoun >them> instead of definite article >those>!
Le&ical features
AAVE shares much of its lexicon with other varieties of English, particularly that of informal and
Southern dialects! "here are some notable differences between the two, however! @t has been suggested
that some of the vocabulary uniue to AAVE has its origin in (est African languages, but etymology is often
difficult to trace and, without a trail of recorded usage, the suggestions below cannot be considered proven2
in many cases, the postulated etymologies are not recogni+ed by linguists or the 6xford English Dictionary!
dig from (olof d*gg or d*gga, meaning >to understand)appreciate>(@t may instead come from
#aelic dtuig!)
+a''
tote
bad-mouth, a calue from $andinka

AAVE also has words that either are not part of Standard American English or have strikingly
different meanings from their common usage in SAE! 8or example, there are several words in AAVE
referring to white people which are not part of mainstream SAE2 these include gray as an adHective for whites
(as in gray dude), possibly from the color of.onfederate uniforms2 and paddy an extension of the slang use
for >@rish>! >6fay,> which is peHorative, is another general term for a white person2 it might derive from the
@bibioword afia which means >light%colored,> and may have referred to European traders
,citation needed-
2 or from
the Foruba word ofe spoken in hopes of disappearing from danger such as that posed by European traders2
or via &ig ?atin from >foe>! 5owever, most dictionaries simply refer to this word as having an unknown
etymology! ,itchen refers to the particularly curly or kinky hair at the nape of the neck, and siditty or seddity
means snobbish or bourgeois!
AAVE has also contributed various words and phrases to other varieties of English2 including chill
out, main s-uee'e, soul, funky, and threads!
It is a fact that Black English is not different enough from standard English to pose any
significant obstacle to speaking, reading, or writing it. Black English is simply a dialect of English,
just as standard English is. (...)
(...) It is mutually intelligible with standard English both on the page and spoken and its
speakers do not occupy a separate nation. (...)
We also must not make the mistake of euating Black English with mere !street slang.!
Black English speakers indeed often use a colorful slang (...) just as standard English speakers use
slang (...).
(...) "frican "mericans are often aware of the similarity between black speech and that of
poor #outhern whites, such speech is essentially as different from standard English as Black English
is.