01/02/2022
Let’s talk about African American English (AAE) and break down some stigmas!
In the United States, the general language ideology, or belief system of what language is supposed to be, does not include varieties that differ from Standard American English (SAE). This means that any community that uses a variety of English different from SAE is stigmatized.
There are many myths that exist about standardized language, mainly, the idea that there is only one standard “correct” variety. Another myth is that anything that differs from that one “correct” variety is “bad” or “unfit”.
These myths and stigmas lead to many challenges for that people who speak AAE, including views that AAE is only spoken by “less educated” or “poor people”. However, since borrowing is a natural and widespread process, SAE is full of structures and words that indicate influence from a variety of non-English donor languages (including words and structures borrowed from many African Languages). (Mufwene 1996; Montgomery and Fuller 1996; Rickford 1997; Schneider 1989; Wolfram 1990).
Let’s continue to embrace people’s use of AAE. As we continue to celebrate Black history all year long we should also acknowledge the use of AAE as a language free from linguistic prejudice.
Here are a few characteristics of AAE:
Plural (–s) inflectional morpheme non-obligatory with quantifier: “He saw three cat”
Possessive (-s) not obligatory when word order indicates possession: “it daddy drink”
Possessive “they” used to mark 3rd person plural possessive: “that they drink”
Demonstrative “them”: “I want them shoes”
Past tense –ed is non-obligatory: “yesterday she play soccer”
Habitual “be” referring to continuous action: “he be working all day”
