Growing up in Neptune, New Jersey, my ears were open to many
different types of language. Being that, according to city-data.com, Neptune is 37% African American and
about 54% white, it was not uncommon to hear a lot of African American
Vernacular English. At school, at local stores, etc. it is where I grew up and
it was and is a language I have been exposed to. Many criticize this way of
speaking as an uneducated English, but this is not at all what this language
is.
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| AAVE is commonly thought to be a dialect with contributions from French and American English.
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According to the Linguistics Society of America, African American Vernacular English is historically referred
to as “Ebonics,” or “black speech.” According to a story in the New York Times, in the late 1980's and 90's, Ebonics became
a topic of vast interest because of the debate in Oakland, California. The
school board of Oakland decided to portray African American English as a
genetically different language and try to set it aside and get more funding for
teaching their students English as a secondary language, thus making them
“bilingual.” The Oakland school board recognized that the English its students
were used to was a disservice to the learning abilities of many students in the
schools. Many people do not realize that dialect prejudice is real and the fact
that students are struggling in school due to their language handicap
demonstrates this.
While stirring up quite the controversy, this idea of
bilingualism by the Oakland school board failed. However, Oakland was the first
school board to recognize African American Vernacular English, AAVE, as a
language. This situation did bring up an important topic: why do people view AAVE as an "improper" use of English?
According to PBS, many suggest that this AAVE is a dialect in America that was
created over time and through a history of social and physical separation.
African Americans quite simply were kept as illiterate bodies for white men as
slaves. Therefore, it would make sense that the African American slaves would
have to teach themselves a way to communicate based off of the white man’s
native tongue and mixed with certain vernaculars from Africa such as creole. It
seems to be that AAVE is based more off of oral tendencies than anything.
Oakland conflict aside, AAVE has been a constant topic of debate and is under much scrutiny. In an article on slate.com, writer Jamelle Bouie argues that AAVE is far from being understood. Just recently in 2014 a woman posted a Reddit video that called people out on not speaking "properly." She calls AAVE a "broken" way of speaking and, while she properly points out that speaking properly should not be called "talking white," she fails to recognize that AAVE is a recognized language and that it is not speaking improperly. It seems to be that there is still much debate as to how AAVE is perceived by the masses- whether or not one's opinion differs from the cold hard facts, linguists have fully recognized AAVE as its own language/dialect.
Proving to the general public that AAVE is not purely an
uneducated version of American English is something that linguists have been
attempting to do for years. While there is plenty of evidence out there, many
still refuse to believe this.
