The Influences of Africanisms on American English: The Variety of Afro-American English

The Influences of Africanisms on American English: The Variety of Afro-American English PDF

Author: Milena Pollmanns

Publisher: Grin Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 9783640539932

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Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Englisches Seminar), language: English, abstract: There are many different types of the English language. Primarily there are distinctions between regional varieties, like British English (British Standard English resp. RP) and American English (AE). Those two differ in their linguistic characteristics, for example the pronunciation, namely the orthography and its phonetic realization. This term paper deals with the African-American variety of English, its special features, and shows how meaning can differ from Standard American English to the African American variety of English. African American Vernacular English (AAVE); also variously called African American English (AAE), African American Language (AAL), Afro-American English and less precisely Black English (BE), Black Language (BL), Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black Vernacular English (BVE) or Ebonics, which is used especially by those peoples who maintain that this variety has African origins, is an African American variety of American English (Tootie 2002: 218). Or how Smitherman would call it, a style of speaking English words with Black flava (2006: 3). Even without being to the United States, most people have heard samples of AAVE through movies or rap lyrics. "African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the term most current among linguistics today" (Tootie 2002: 218)

African American English and White Southern English - segregational factors in the development of a dialect

African American English and White Southern English - segregational factors in the development of a dialect PDF

Author: Timm Gehrmann

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-02-19

Total Pages: 14

ISBN-13: 3638595846

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Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Wuppertal, course: African American Culture as Resistance, language: English, abstract: In 1619 the first Black People were violently taken to Virginia, United States. Many more Blacks were to follow and hence had to work as slaves on the plantations in the south, fueling the trade of an emerging economic power. Families and friends were separated and people from different regions who spoke different African dialects were grouped together. This was to make sure that no communication in their respective native languages would take place in order to prevent mutinies. Thus the Africans had to learn the language of their new surroundings, namely English. Today the English of the Blacks in America is distinguishable as African American Vernacular English (AAVE). AAVE and American White Southern English (AWSE) were very similar in colonial times, and according to Feagin1 AWSE still has features of AAVE, such as the non-rhoticism and falsetto pitch2, which is supposed to add to the apparent musicality of both AAVE and AWSE today. Many commonalities can be attributed to the coexistence of the two cultures for almost 200 years, while many differences are claimed to be due to segregation. Crystal claims that first forms of Pidgin English spoken by Africans already emerged during the journey on the slave ships, where communication was also made difficult due to the grouping of different dialects in order to prevent mutiny. The slave traders who often spoken English had already shaped the new pidgin languages on the ships and helped shape a creole that was to be established in the Carribean colonies as well southern US colonies in the 17th century.

Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English

Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English PDF

Author: Sonja L. Lanehart

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 9027248869

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This volume, based on presentations at a 1998 state of the art conference at the University of Georgia, critically examines African American English (AAE) socially, culturally, historically, and educationally. It explores the relationship between AAE and other varieties of English (namely Southern White Vernaculars, Gullah, and Caribbean English creoles), language use in the African American community (e.g., Hip Hop, women's language, and directness), and application of our knowledge about AAE to issues in education (e.g., improving overall academic success). To its credit (since most books avoid the issue), the volume also seeks to define the term 'AAE' and challenge researchers to address the complexity of defining a language and its speakers. The volume collectively tries to help readers better understand language use in the African American community and how that understanding benefits all who value language variation and the knowledge such study brings to our society.

African American Vernacular English

African American Vernacular English PDF

Author: Desirée Kuthe

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-11

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 3638845109

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Essay from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Córdoba (Spain: Universidad de Córdoba), course: Sociolinguistics, 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: African American Vernacular English or AAVE, which is also variously labelled 'African American English', 'Black English', 'Black Vernacular English' or 'Ebonics', is the non-standard variety of English spoken by many African Americans, at least to some extent and in some contexts. The now very popular term Ebonics is a portmanteau of the words 'ebony' and 'phonics', created in 1973 by a group of black scholars, who disliked the term 'Nonstandard Negro English', which was in use at that time. The circumstances of the creation of the term, (which has gained considerable popularity during a huge debate in 1996, which will be discussed later), already highlights one of the main features associated with AAVE: the controversies which centre upon it, "even" - according to McCrum et al. - "within the Black community. For some, it is an authentic means of self-expression for Black English speakers throughout America and the world. For others, who prefer the norms of Standard English, Black English represents the disadvantaged past, an obstacle to advancement, something better unlearned, denied or forgotten." The first thorough sociolinguistic study of AAVE was carried out by William Labov in 1968. It was funded by the US Office of Education, which was interested in "the relation between social dialects and the teaching of English." The problems many Black American children had to acquire thorough reading skills was, in fact, what first brought attention to AAVE. Still scholars can't seem to agree on what exactly AAVE is and where it comes from. Scholars on one end of the scale of opinions hold it to be very different from Standard English, even a distinct language, those on the other end claim it to be a mere product of regional a

Spoken Soul

Spoken Soul PDF

Author: John Russell Rickford

Publisher: Wiley

Published: 2002-02-28

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0471437220

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In Praise of Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English "Spoken Soul brilliantly fills a huge gap. . . . a delightfully readable introduction to the elegant interweave between the language and its culture." –Ralph W. Fasold, Georgetown university "A lively, well-documented history of Black English . . . that will enlighten and inform not only educators, for whom it should be required reading, but all who value and question language." –Kirkus Reviews "Spoken Soul is a must read for anyone who is interested in the connection between language and identity." –Chicago Defender Claude Brown called Black English "Spoken Soul." Toni Morrison said, "It's a love, a passion. Its function is like a preacher’s: to make you stand out of your seat, make you lose yourself and hear yourself. The worst of all possible things that could happen would be to lose that language." Now renowned linguist John R. Rickford and journalist Russell J. Rickford provide the definitive guide to African American vernacular English–from its origins and features to its powerful fascination for society at large.

The African Heritage of American English

The African Heritage of American English PDF

Author: Joseph E. Holloway

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13:

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The African Heritage of American English provides a detailed compilation of Africanisms, identified linguistically, from a range of sources: folklore, place names, food culture, aesthetics, religion, loan words. Presenting a comprehensive accounting of African words retained from Bantu, Joseph Holloway and Winifred Vass examine the Bantu vocabulary content of the Gullah dialect of the Sea Islands; Black names in the United States; Africanisms of Bantu origin in Black English; Bantu place names in nine southern states; and Africanisms in contemporary American English. These linguistic retentions reflect the cultural patterns of groups imported to the United States, the subsequent dispersion of these groups, and their continuing influence on the shaping of American culture.

The Sociology of African American Language

The Sociology of African American Language PDF

Author: C. DeBose

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2005-12-12

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 0230502083

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The current state of knowledge of African American language is examined from a broad, multidisciplinary perspective that includes its structure, history, social role and educational implications, as well as the linguistic scholarship from which it derives, as a case study of language planning. A diverse array of topics including Hip-Hop culture, the Black Church and the Ebonics controversy are unified by a pervasive theme of latent conflict between academic knowledge and 'real world' knowledge of Black language.