What is AAVE?

[@TheMetrored]

"Drake who speaks it professionally" This now lives in my mind rent free.

[@languagejones6784]

I'm glad. It's one of those things that I can't stop thinking about

[@venomousbluefrog]

@@languagejones6784 Also, AAVE is very much influenced by the necessity of code switching for various reasons. Many native speakers will only speak it in certain contexts and not others.

[@latashatate7224]

Right!

[@pjandbooks7834]

This aged like fine wine 😂

[@pjandbooks7834]

This aged like fine wine 😂

[@haramanggapuja]

Whoah, dude. I knew a Tamil from Sri Lanka who, upon coming to Ohio for grad school, fell in with a bunch of guys who spoke AAVE of some sort. The Tamil guy, who took the name Vino, spoke English in a definite AAVE register, especially outside of class. He used it as much to escape the caste imposed on him by his co-ethnicist Tamils (both from Sri Lanka & ‘continental’ India/Tamil Nadu) & the other Hindu students disliked him for that as much as anything. Further out, since I was raised in a multi-lingual/‘polyglot’ family and my father often spoke to me in Tok Pisin & ‘canal bank Spanish,’ I was early on aware of the pidgin/creole process. And then there were a couple black co-workers who noted & remarked that my speech patterns changed when I spoke with them alone vs when I was among other white folk. My co-workers took no offense but did notice it, which is either my curse or part of my bilingual/‘polyglot’ upbringing. Which us prolly why I have always been into languages. (If onlyI had a time machine.) And at 77years breathing, I ain’t too keen on changing. - And thanks for the video. Keep on keepin’ on.

[@smelly1060]

This is cool as fuck bro. I've always been fascinated by tok pisin because I'm Nigerian and we speak pidgin here to and finding similarities in one halfway across the world is cold as fuck. I heard you guys also "kiss your teeth" in PNG and Solomon Islands, which if true is soooo fascinating that non African black people do it on the other side of the globe as well as across the African diaspora.

[@RankAndFileGuy]

I'm a Polish speaker and we use double negatives as part of the course. I love the double negatives in English in spite of its low overt prestige because I find it much more musical than your standard single negative in English.

[@jingy221292]

Great video. Wonder if you've encountered Singlish - a dialect in Singapore that, similarly to AAE, gets stigmatised as "poor English" but is in fact its own thing, with rules and all. Would be cool to see you make a video on it.

[@cathybroadus4411]

I forget people study languages professionally. I’ve been trying to describe AAVE by myself for a decade now. Thank you so much. I subscribed immediately.

[@kelvincook4246]

Hey thanks so much for this interesting and informative video. I really enjoy your take on linguistic as a whole. Count me as a new subscriber, please keep up the good work.

[@languagejones6784]

I appreciate it, and thanks for the subscription!

[@celesteartley905]

Something I find intresting is as a white American that was born in Atlanta, I find things written in "AAVE" easier to understand. From my personal perspective this lends credence to the idea that it can provide clearer concepts or do linguistic tasks that are difficult to do in "standard english". I really find this whole video interesting. Thanks for making it.

[@languagejones6784]

You’re welcome! I’ve got a few more planned after my series on the IPA (but I’ll need to be able to use the IPA to talk about it)

[@lolobee313]

I think that's because a lot of AAVE comes from Southern English due to the fact that historically we were slaves there. It's funny though because just today I thought about how I have an easier time being understood by Southern white folks when I talk, than I do in any of the other places I've lived.

[@sazji]

One interesting phonological feature of AAVE that sets it apart from most white southern dialects is the glottalization of final voiced stops. So the Bed > Be’d, but still distinct from “bet.”

[@sanyo_neezy]

this was unexpectedly awesome! As a foreigner myself I didn't even know what I'd clicked on, so I was baffled by finding out, what this video was about, and even moreso by the fact, that you wrote a paper on it and how appreciative a phd in linguistics can be about african american accents :) probs, dr jones, yo!

[@latashatate7224]

I definitely think most African Americans dont think about it much, unless your in environments that you steadily have to code switch. I am a nurse and work in a small diverse department, so Spanish, English, and AAVE is spoken more freely. Code switching is less required and our differences in communication is more accepted. Its honestly a more comfortable environment for me and my coworkers. When I think about it I jump in and out of AAVE through out my day with my black coworkers, client's, and when I get home with my family. Honestly, it feels like home when I do and when I don't have to I dont. Keep up the good work and helping to reduce the stigma.👍🏾

[@JackDSquat]

I would love to see more videos covering the other unique dialects and accents found in the U.S.

[@eyeballpapercut4400]

"Arabic would have a word with you" Literally a word. -He said it- قاله

[@Steven_Gilbers]

Great video, Taylor! Thanks for the shout-out, too!

[@drgentech4930]

This entire video series has been incredibly educational, thank you. I really loved the interview with Dr Sonja Lanehart.

[@randy4903]

I've been aware of AAVE's existence, but I've never given it much thought. However, now I'm very curious to learn more about its grammar and other features. I may have to check out some of those books!

[@paulweiss2720]

I love your lovely comic timing about having pulled a statistic out of your… hat. In my former life as an engineer, we used the concept of “a brown number,” based on whence it had been extracted.

[@haniyasu8236]

OHHH something clicked in my brain with that indemnity example. Now I really really wanna see a video on AASE vs AAVE

[@alrightthen]

Great video, dude! I find a lot of the sentences you used are very similar to how some people talk here in Newfoundland. Language is crazy lol

[@pohjanvanamo]

Aave is a ghost. I am sorry xD I have been avoiding making this comment, but this video stays in my recommendations, and it is so clearly in the thumbnail, it is the word for a ghost in my mother tongue. Kuin aave, katoan alavan maan aavaan usvaan Like a ghost, I dissappear on the vast mist of the low lands.

[@hauskalainen]

Here in Finland aave is a regular noun meaning ghost or phantom 😂

[@stevencarr4002]

I spoke Geordie when I was young, so I am perfectly fine with the idea that variants of English exist with somewhat different grammars, dating back over a thousand years, and different vocabularies.

[@jonathanschneiderman6232]

I would love to hear more about your dissertation research in another video!

[@BBarNavi]

As an L2 speaker of the DMV dialect of BAE I got only one thing to say: AARON EARNED AN IRON URN

[@SichouKuzi]

got to put some of this learning into action yesterday. someone asserted something, and I had to then negate it. out of context, it sounds serious, but I got a laugh from everyone. "some of us over there be working" "yea but some of y'all over there don't be working" literal grade school level grammar, but it was surprisingly satisfying to close the loop, like solving a puzzle

[@echonuim]

Having aae electives at college would be such a fun class

[@j.s.c.4355]

Here’s an interesting thing. The simplification of the Be verb makes AAE more similar to Anglo-Saxon than is standard modern English. The irregularities in the Be verb originate mostly with Old Norse. Anglo Saxon be using Be for all forms.

[@gregbowen2477]

Anglo-Saxon had beon, wesan, and sindon. There was a lot going on with its BE verbs.

[@spuntotheratboy]

Fantastic. Clear and straightforward and un-f***ed up.

[@vincentheartland2088]

The biggest takeaway here is that Black communities in the US don't speak "bad English", they speak "good AAVE"

[@edward8597]

I'm curious about the use of apostrophes in this video, in sentences like "He workin'". Among speakers of the Scots language, apostrophes being used to distinguish between Scots constructions and standard English constructions is *highly* controversial as it is seen to mark Scots as inferior to standard English. With the same logic, one might expect written transcriptions of AAE to not include that apostrophe -- does such a discussion occur in AAE academic circles?

[@mayena]

From what I read online the major grammatical influences on AAVE were the Bantu languages of Kikongo* (Bakongo people), Kimbundu* (Mbundu people), Umbundu (Ovimbundu people)/Angola. The Volta-Niger language of the Igbo people*/Nigeria. Mande languages of the Mandinka* and Mende* peoples/Mali and Sierra Leone. West Atlantic language of the Wolof people/Senegal. Akan languages of the Twi and Fante peoples/Ghana. Gbe language of the Fon people/Benin. Volta-Niger language of the Yoruba people. Bantu language of the Makua people/Mozambique.

[@AAA-fh5kd]

Nonsense. It's Scots, Hiberno-english and colonial englishes.

[@BBarNavi]

When you contrast a true creole like Gullah with AAVE, you'd know just how UN-African the latter is. It got some African lexicon (gumbo, goober, banjo) but dassit. It might encode some hidden African cultural elements but at its core it a Southern American English dialect.

[@msGullahYams]

@@BBarNavi.. I am Gullah and I am Afro-American, 2 pronouns that I sometimes use interchangeably b/c most Afro-Americans have Gullah roots in this country. AAVE has Gullah and pidgin roots. The further our ancestors moved inland, the more they assimilated. You can’t tell us what AAVE is or isn’t.

[@Sora_Halomon]

I don't know if you'll have an answer, but how readable would you say your dissertation is for a non-linguist? Kind of interested in a full exploration but I'm not sure if I'd understand what I'm reading. As an aside, I love all of your videos and I think you do a very good job exploring/explaining a lot of concepts in a way that feels like I can share with people. Thank you for everything and I love you!

[@kohaku_amba]

I think using AAVE would be a great idea insofar as teaching english speakers about more "alien" topics we struggle with, like grammatical aspect

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

It's clearly an Anglo-Frisian language related to Dutch and low Saxon.

[@WhatsGoodEnglish]

Thanks for making this video

[@p1mason]

On the indemnity thing, you allude to AAE having formal and informal registers. Have I understood? If so, I'd be fascinated to hear you elaborate on this some more.

[@missalpha_essence3926]

Its interesting that other people are studying how weatslk as a language I never looked at it other than being so called improper or country language . It definitely has its stigma but i love it. Its how i talk when i feel at home. ❤❤❤

[@charityshopguitar8790]

Thanks for posting. A really interesting video.

[@herewardfeldwick8230]

I'm interested in there are any features or elements of AAVE that are transitioning into SAE and even, by extension, into wider global English dialects

[@angelynholtberg]

I really appreciate your efforts! Just a quick off-topic question: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (behave today finger ski upon boy assault summer exhaust beauty stereo over). How can I transfer them to Binance?

[@davidkantor7978]

I’ve been wondering: is it accurate to say that the relationship of AAVE to standard English is analogous to the relationship of Yiddish to German?

[@thegazetteyt]

I also think the language can be active depending on his high or low you say a word or phrase. "What's good" can mean something completely different depending on the pitch of the phrase.

[@llareia]

Honestly the first feature you listed, deletion of verbal copula, seems so obvious when you say it that it's interesting that it hasn't happened in the common vernacular yet.

[@slayer_starswirl]

you’ve earned yourself a follower

[@adeonn]

As a Swiss person the whole debate about dialects being "incorrect" is so dumb. I live in a country where literally almost every town has different pronunciation and even grammar, and there is no standardized written language. Not to mention the way ppl from Eastern Europe have different inflections and stuff. (Granted, that one has xenophobically motivated stigma) Different ppl speak differently.

[@utm0st]

A dialect isn't the same as a language though. But what if you get a letter from the government or something? Surely you can understand it?

[@adeonn]

@@utm0st Swiss German is generally seen as a dialect (or a collection thereof) and due to the fact that we have no official written language, we all learn standard German in school and everything is written in standard German. So letters from the government are standard German. Isn't AAVE a dialect/accent of English though?

[@Glassandcandy]

Can you do a video explaining why guys from Baltimore can’t say the sentence “Aaron earned an iron urn”? Also what other sentences are there like that to show mergers? Would a southern equivalent “Penn’s pen pens pinned pins?”

[@raythewriter00]

Interesting, I saw a tiktok video about you and an AAVE centered book. Um, if you are finished with it, I need that. Drop a link.

[@cobra02411]

I spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico as a kid. I also took Spanish class in middle and HS and I would get marked wrong repeatedly when using some of the more specific PR dialect words / phrases that I knew. Carro being one of them. I even brought in a picture of a Burger King with "Servi-carro" on the sign indicating drive-through. Still marked wrong because at the time it wasn't an official dialect. I bring this up because I'm AAVE's lack of acceptance is rooted in racial prejudice - we continue to grow as a society. For me the lack of understanding it's a semi-official dialect is an important thing as it just sounds like lazy English. Just like my teachers deducted points because I didn't use the correct Spanish words I can see people thinking it's wrong or stupid - not because it's black but because it's not accepted as an official dialect. I'm not sure where this goes when you get into the Ivy towers that decide such things but if I heard you correctly it's not fully understood and mapped out. I find it hard that any language could be accepted as a current dialect or even unique new language if nobody can give you rules and definitions. Language is an on again, off again hobby so I'm probably going to dig into the books you linked to learn more. I like the idea of exploring the boundaries of what is and what isn't. Or what it be. I hope that's the correct way to put it... The next thing would be to get wider recognition as an official or semi-official dialect. If I remember correctly Puerto Rican went from "NO!" to "Yeah, we know it's a thing but we don't like it" to "Ok, fine - it's a thing..."

[@ramelep]

Brilliant!

[@lolobee313]

That's too funny. I definitely say "indemni-tea" when I'm trying to be proper. I didn't know that that wasn’t the classroom English pronunciation. These videos be showin me that parts of my speech that I just assumed were normal, are actually AAE. And I definitely don't really use "habitual be" although I understood the examples.

[@mickgorro]

Italian also uses double negation, but in some cases double negation can actually cancel out. "Non c'è nessuno" means there's nobody, but "Nessuno non c'è" means nobody isn't there, so everyone is there. Does it work like that in AA too? As in, there ain't nobody = nobody is there, but nobody ain't there = everyone is there? Or ain't nobody got time = nobody has time, but nobody ain't got time = everyone has time?

[@EonsCarrion]

gullah geechee - could you talk about this language

[@bikramkalsi1]

you are doing gods work my friend.

[@stevencarr4002]

Is there a set of grammatical rules which delineate what is 'correct' AAVE and what is grammatically 'wrong' AAVE , just like there is in British English?

[@aloedg3191]

Yes, he made another video on that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHWkm2yFi9Sir7s

[@harimsen]

I speak AAVE natively and for my entire life 2021, I never knew that "been" as in "I been finished that" wasn't standard English.

[@thehelm658]

IF YOU ARE NOT AFRICAN AMERICAN PLEASE STOP- AAVE IS CREATED FOR US BY US AND NOT AND NEVER WAS CREATED TO BE INTENDED TO BE "SHARED"

[@erichbrough6097]

It almost is, really - just needs 'I've' plus the preposition 'with' to make it fully standard.

[@BBarNavi]

​@@erichbrough6097The standard practice of educated Black speakers is to hypercorrext with the corresponding auxiliary verbs, like "would" for "be" and "had" for "been", both of which are usually contracted to “’d”.

[@mobo7420]

@@BBarNavi That hypercorrecting thing reminds me of how my local German dialect is considered hypercorrect because we used to speak something like a different language (i.e. low German, which is like Dutch) 500 years ago and then took the standard version and overdid it. Now my hometown's way of speaking is considered to be the most correct one.

[@ems3832]

Good Lord, harimsen... SMH.

[@oh2mp]

It's easy to answer the question in the title because "aave" is Finnish for ghost :)

[@Supermonistic]

I think it should be considered a unique language

[@damienhagedorn8990]

The matters in this context I am speaking as a white male who grew up with black family in predominantly black neighborhoods there was still distinction between the language I would use and the language being used by most of the people around me but I was also autistic it in the books even white people would be like can you say that in English please because of how formal it would be but I remember like my younger brothers also white and some of their friends some black people would have a conversation around us and then they would comment what were those people even saying and I had perfectly understood the conversation not even knowing to distinguish it from common English my mid-20s that's whenever I really started learning the language further and had to overcome that oh we've been speaking past each other because we think we using language the same but we ain't but a few years later I found because the language was so much part of my normal I did have to start "whitening up" my language so that I would not come off as offensive to people that didn't know who I was

[@LeeCarlson]

I checked your links and wish that there was a way that I could afford any of those books without taking out a student loan.

[@GroovingPict]

what about things like "axe" vs "ask"?

[@ems3832]

It's the sign of a lazy mind...

[@-existence-is-futile-6317]

​@ems3832 its just regular metathesis

[@aloedg3191]

​​@@ems3832"what about things like color vs colour" "Its the sign of a lazy mind"

[@davidkantor7978]

Metathesis, as one other commenter mentioned. I’d also speculate that the original African languages that their ancestors spoke did not have -sk at the end of a syllable. (Interestingly, as I understand, sk at the start of a syllable did not exist in Old English; it was introduced by the Norse.) But your question about axe reminds me that, an acquaintance of mine once asked, “Why do Black people say axe instead of ask? It it something about their mouth formation?”. I replied that they say axe because it’s a word in their language.

[@davidkantor7978]

Metathesis, as one other commenter mentioned. I’d also speculate that the original African languages that their ancestors spoke did not have -sk at the end of a syllable. (Interestingly, as I understand, sk at the start of a syllable did not exist in Old English; it was introduced by the Norse.) But your question about axe reminds me that, an acquaintance of mine once asked, “Why do Black people say axe instead of ask? It it something about their mouth formation?”. I replied that they say axe because it’s a word in their language.

[@etzenhammer]

In Bavaria we have quadruple negatives! It's crazy and not possible in standard german...

[@ommy7672]

I figure that a lot of AAVE makes it's way into my daily vernacular and the average English speaker could understand it without an issue

[@ems3832]

The average English speaker is going to look at you like you're some kind of dingbat, too.

[@juniper617]

I was 30 years old in 1996; I remember the Oakland kerfluffle well. The School Board really should have refrained from describing Ebonics as a “genetic language.” As you obviously know, there are no *genetic* languages. There were a lot of reasons the proposal pissed people off, but that was the one that irritated me. It was unfortunate, because the idea itself was sound.

[@mmayer37]

Thanks!

[@languagejones6784]

Thank you!

[@benj.bloomgren3680]

Whenever AAE comes up, I get sad. I am a white man from a middle-class suburb. I love Aae. It's like I'm transported between worlds when I hear it. I can even speak it to some degree. But I'm white, so I'm very careful. This stigma is real, and I do not want to marginalize anyone. I'm a consumer of black comedy, which has made me see how badass AAE is. I'm fascinated by its accents, its gender differences, and its rhythmic cadence. Please see if tonality back in Africa has influenced AAE at all. I'm an amateur linguist, and I hypothesize that it does. I love how you be talking bout dis way a speakin' wit de masses. Iss all in love!

[@ems3832]

Good grief, benji; you sound ridiculous.

[@LovelySingerTV]

8:49 😂😂 this aged well.

[@lizzardwizard2000]

I think Slave / Ghetto English is an appropriate term. If I was a black person, I would be offended that this is being mainstreamed. It just means you have a less than elementary school education in English. None of the black students I grew up with spoke AAVE. I’m a senior citizen now.

[@Nixitur]

The argument that it's not a legitimate dialect or language because you wouldn't publish in it doesn't even make sense. Like, I'm pretty sure there's no scientific journal in Low German, for instance. Not to mention all the languages that only recently got a written form.

[@folkishappalachian6827]

Noooo, nooooo why did they make the flag look like a watermellon XD when I first saw this flag I thought it was a 4chan trick lmao

[@languagejones6784]

It’s the “pan-African” flag colors applied to the US flag. UNIA-ACL developed the pan African flag - the red, black, and green stripes - after Marcus Garvey called for it in response to a racist minstrel song (“every race has a flag but de c***”), and the colors were originally to represent: “Red is the color of the blood which men must shed for their redemption and liberty; black is the color of the noble and distinguished race to which we belong; green is the color of the luxuriant vegetation of our Motherland.”

[@himothaniel]

Learning other languages would be so much easier if people could learn AAVE as an elective.

[@thehelm658]

BLACK CULTURE IS CREATE BY US AND ONLY FOR US- IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE SHARED- SORRY LOL

[@MrOtistetrax]

Many regional British dialects (ie ones in Britain) also frequently use the double-negative, eg, “I ent never…” I suspect the academic objection to this is as much about class as race.

[@magdalenescheidel]

interesting

[@jalillgamble7158]

More of this. Just more on the subject. It’s incredibly interesting!

[@languagejones6784]

Thank you! There's more in the works

[@topilinkala1594]

So this professor tells students that double negative in English is positive but in Russian it's still negative. But there is no known language where double positive is negative.From audience a voice was heard: yeah, right.

[@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474]

Unfortunately, with a lot of today's younger generation, you see a lot of plain old substandard English being "passed off" as AAVE. There's a huge difference between the two, but some people (including the speakers themselves) just don't see it.

[@BBarNavi]

Lookit you actin like language don't change.

[@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474]

@@BBarNavi Of course language changes, but there will always be a substandard form of it. Substandard English is *not* AAVE.

[@ChefClap]

I think it's silly to think most non blacks can't understand aave. Growing up in the south most people know what you're saying easily. They just don't want to use aave because it doesn't sound proper. AAVE is as much a separate language as British English or Australian English is.

[@languagejones6784]

There's a growing body of research demonstrating that people who don't speak AAE grossly over-estimate how well they understand it, and more often than not, assume they understand it but actually don't. This research goes back to the 1960s, with some experiments reported in Labov (1972) and Rickford (1996, 2000). A key search term for google scholar will also be "camouflage constructions" (Spears, 1982). We (Jones et al, 2019 "Testifying While Black" published in Language) found that both court reporters in Philadelphia and some lawyers (as part of the pilot for the court reporter study) did not always or often understand structures like habitual 'be' or stressed 'been' and instead shoehorned them into a defective version of their own internal grammars. They also had significant difficulty with parsing local AAE accents. There are not reliable numbers for how many people who don't speak AAE actually do understand it well, but there's a a sizable body of research that suggests that most non-Black people really do not understand AAE, whether they think the do or not. As far as not "sounding proper," that's a social evaluation, and nothing to do with the language variety. Any introduction to sociolinguistics will do a good job of discussing where we get our ideas of what does and doesn't sound proper. I'm a big fan of Van Herk's intro to sociolinguistics textbook.

[@stevencarr4002]

@@languagejones6784 I can believe this totally! Most British people are baffled if I ever break into the Geordie language of my youth. And I myself struggle with Pitmatic which was spoken probably less than 20 miles away from my birthplace.

[@lordmaziofficial2438]

😂😂😂 Facts I’m from Atlanta they be thinking we talking pig Latin 😂

[@ems3832]

It's beyond not sounding "proper;" it sounds stupid. It's the verbal equivalent of showing up to a job interview with a giant ketchup stain on your shirt. 🙄👎

[@solarguy8875]

​@@ems3832 Eh, not really.

[@idraote]

So it's not a dialect but a family of dialects

[@redoktopus3047]

10:46 nice, i also use R and ggplot

[@The420033]

My native language is Russian and to me AAVE looks like broken English mostly because some of its features resemble mistakes made by Russians who learn English (double negatives, leaving out "is" and some others).

[@pikachuthegayatheist6215]

It may have a connection of Creole because Creole at it route was just a early version of slang that’s just what Creole meant in some variance of 17th century language was just slang “or language that didn’t fit within the norm.” “Also known as poor man’s language” Also Creole was identifies as as a separate race of humans at one time that later be adapted into the black and white races, but the largest majority of Creole’s were slaves, and objectively stood against the system, because the system stood against them. Also, the original French and German creole dialects were made illegal after the Louisiana purchase because most of the creole speaking people were black Catholics not white protestants Also, I can tell you this, even though personal experience is not always the best but living in New Orleans I can tell you this there’s a lot of history here and one of the things you’ll learn is that especially from being a Saints fan is that there is it there is close to 200 years in which black history has affected language. If you look at the words WHO DAT SAY THEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS the original wording dates back to the 1850s where it was used in New Orleans minstrel shows, but it was used by the black community for year, and was reappropriated after the Civil War. The dialect on its own, while used by the African-American community for generations in sports, and music, that same dialect was also used for other purposes as well. Particularly if you look at the song Wade in the Water this song and what it was used for was a code, the hawk in the back to the Bible and the book of Exodus. Usually the person who use the song during the 1860s who is giving code in Creole dialect as a means to tell slaves that we’re trying to escape that it’s not safe to escape. The point with these topics in the history they have with the city of New Orleans is very interesting because African-American vernacular English and it’s connections to Creole as a history has long historical roots, and that history is the reason why we have things like rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, in any type of contemporary music. It’s also the reason why we have so much diversity in art.

[@BBarNavi]

Creole great and all, but not all Black folk come from N'awlins.

[@jack2453]

Great video but I have to differ on a minor point. The 'is' in 'he is working' is not a copula, it is part of the verb. It is a copula in the cases 'he is wrong' or 'he is an idiot'.

[@LaVieDeReine86]

There is a profound lack of awareness amongst Americans who turn their nose up at aae or a southerners like Dolly Parton. In the same breath they get butt-hurt when a brit or australian derides them for using imperial measurements and "weird" spelling/vocabulary. One can colourise one´s neighbours walking on the footpath ;) however one wishes. American English as a whole is a deviation from the original source (which doesn´t make it inherently better or worse, just different). Openly analysing texture and variety in dialects, as well as standard versions of all languages should be a vehicle to unpacking racism/sexism/classism and growing as a society.

[@mickgorro]

They don't think it be like it is, but it do. Could you explain that quote?

[@smelly1060]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6jIdKafa8R1rqMsi=0Q3tQ3LRCZ5uZlnw - for those with anymore questions

[@mattburgess5697]

I want to know more about the origin of “finna”.

[@AAA-fh5kd]

its a contracted form of "fixin tae" (fixing) to set ones task/sights/preparing to, from "fix" evolution in u.s. "Finna" comes from "Fitna" comes from "Fixin tae" good Appalachian Scotch-irish english.

[@francois487]

@@AAA-fh5kd I assumed it's because the "f" and "g" letters are right next to each other on the keyboard, as it is with "i" and "o". So, I thought it was intended to be "gonna", but evolved into "finna" due to the typo becoming accepted over time. But your theory sounds cool too.

[@AAA-fh5kd]

@@francois487 Fix, Fixing/ Fixin< (to be set on/doing/to get ready) becoms 'fitna' 'finna'. simple fastspeech/contraction of well known "fixin to'

[@AAA-fh5kd]

@@francois487 Out of curiosity what generation/age are you? That's bonkers you'd think that. I remember it like it was yesterday, in the early 90's taking 'typing' class on actual typewriters. Having a mac-classic< pc was a huge deal. Most people didnt get really into 'typing' until Uni in the 2000's when computers/printed /emailed assignments became standard. Before that it certainly wasnt common to be a wiz at the qwerty keyboard. Most texting on phones even in the 21st century didnt have a full qwerty keyboard either.

[@francois487]

@@AAA-fh5kd Interesting! I’m 30, so I remember typing on phones with a different keyboard, but I thought “finna” only entered the popular vocabulary very recently. I think my issue is more about my lack of exposure to African American culture than it is about technology.

[@jamesconnolly5164]

"Many people who do speak it are extremely adept at code switching." What world do you live in, man? Has that really been your lived experience?

[@CloutmasterPhluphyy]

Me and my sister are both black, and grew up in an AAVE speaking household and yet neither of us actually speak in AAVE and it's actually kinda funny to me. Obviously, we both understand AAVE, growing up around it and all, but if someone didn't know any better, they'd think we're white kids from the way we talk lmao. Cool video, and even cooler to actually see that this dialect actually is like a real thing with real rules and not just how black people happen to speak because we just do

[@ems3832]

"My sister and I..."

[@CloutmasterPhluphyy]

@@ems3832shut up, nerd.

[@CloutmasterPhluphyy]

@@ems3832 the letters "k", "y", and "s" on my keyboard are looking mighty fine rn

[@garrettbiehle9714]

Two comments: 1) Informal standard English has begun to import "been" as in "I been ready." 2) There is a line dividing lower and upper classes in white America, to wit, the use of the double negative.

[@ems3832]

It's, "I've been ready." THAT is correct, normal, standard English. "I been ready" sounds lazy and stupid, as does using double negatives.

[@solarguy8875]

@ems3832 Still understandable & both sentences mean the same thing, just expressed different. Also, "informal", as in casual talk. Don't overlook it.

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

I really wish I had been taught AAVE in school. I'm Norwegian and I read and write (standard British and standard American) English pretty fluently and I understand most English dialects pretty well; but since I have not grown up in USA and AAVE is pretty rarely used in the media I consume; I don't really understand a lot of it when I hear or read AAVE on the internet. But because of all the racists who think it's "broken English" there's basically no way for me to ask what something in AAVE means without the question being perceived as a racist and even get banned from the forums. I've already been banned from one subreddit for asking about what something meant (admittedly in a joking somewhat self deprecating way, but still) because apparently asking any questions at all even as a non-American in that subreddit is against their "No complaining about ebonics"-rule. Which means; unless I move to USA I have no real way to learn to understand AAVE even if I wanted to.

[@2xHooligan]

You can pick up on AAVE through music, movies, documentaries and KZbin Channels. Don't let anyone discourage you. Diving into regional music genre's can also give you a basis for understanding. The South like Atlanta, Texas & Florida sound completely different from the East such as Philly, Baltimore/DC/DMV & New York. There's "hood vlogs" that tend to explore different neighbor hoods through the country that can give you a solid understand. Hope it helps.

[@socalbarbie1040]

Don’t pick up on AAVE through media. Please just get around Native Black American speakers. They will show you the ropes. AAVE is also geographically dependent. A speaker from Atlanta isn’t gonna sound the same as a speaker from Philly or Miami ect. Just connect with your local Blk Americans.

[@socalbarbie1040]

@@2xHooliganYeah that’s how you develop a blaccent and seem like a vulture. He should start getting around Black people.

[@ChrisPyle]

I'm cool like that, I'm chill like that, I'm fly like that. I'm awesome like that. Hey dude, yo bro, sup, howdy, hello, hi, top of the morning to you. It's just based on what you grew up hearing. Romanticizing any of them is pointless. Oh and btw. In Philadelphia we have Jawns. All them jawns. Those jawns here and those them jawns over there. So what?

[@languagejones6784]

It’s mad Jawns in Philly

[@ChrisPyle]

@@languagejones6784 indeed it is lol I didn't want to overwhelm anyone with them mad jawns lol

[@jamesbey8779]

It should be Black American instead of African American. Especially since its apart of Black Americans culture and not African Americans. All black Americans are black but not all black people are black Americans

[@mickgorro]

I been got a job. I done got a job. What's the difference?

[@ems3832]

There is no difference. They're both idiotic. Just stick with, "I got a job" (as in acquired one) or "I have a job."

[@mickgorro]

@@ems3832 What the fuck are you here for if you think AAVE is "idiotic"?

[@ems3832]

@@mickgorro Simply pointing out the obvious. Relax, mickey; don't wet yourself. SOMEONE has to be the voice of reason and normality, after all.

[@burner555]

​@@ems3832wet? 🥵🥵🥵

[@socalbarbie1040]

@@ems3832Just anti black and hateful. What’s wrong with you? So this man can write a dissertation on AAVE and you still call it idiotic? Some of yall really going to purgatory

[@HonchoNoQuavo]

I agree that AAE is its own dialect with clear patterns, and the fact that one can speak it incorrectly/sloppily goes to prove that. I disagree that it should be taught in schools at all, as every important document and book of any kind in your life will be in standard English if you're an American of any race. I think the stigma is fueled by some racism, some frustrated linguistics, and some of the ignorance that tends to accompany the people very fluent in AAE lol I grew up speaking and still "speak AAE" but I know that a lot of it is stemmed from ignorance, and that it's often still perceived that way

[@rosenchin]

This was enlightening and changed how I viewed Black Vernacular English as it's own dialect of Standard American English, so thank you. Still, BVE sounds derpy

[@jenm1]

AAVE/AAL gets no credit for being created as an entire language just from hearing hushed tones literally over the course of a couple of decades

[@perrywilliams5407]

I would never claim to be a proficient speaker of AAL, 'cuz I understand far more of it than I speak, but this white boomer grew up in the Midwest. We were EXPECTED to pronounce "indemnity" as "indemni-tea" (IPA: /ɪnˈdɛmnɪti/). We didn't play with our t's. "Flight" was to be pronounced /flaɪʔt/. None of this lazy British nonsense of /flaɪ/. And those "ght" words always ended with a subtle glottal stop followed by a "t." If you whisper the word flight and make sure to keep the "t" at the end, you can feel the glottis close. That's all that is left of whatever my Germanic ancestors were gargling in the back of their throats.

[@foogod4237]

Racism certainly does play a big role in a lot of things in our society, including a lot of language-related things, but to be honest I don't think it's accurate to lay all of the blame for AAVE's poor reception on just racism. In particular, I have noticed in the past that the attitudes many people have towards AAVE actually are very similar to the way many people view, for example, "hillbilly English" (which is typically thought of as being spoken largely by rural white people, rather than just by POC). If "it's just racism" were really the answer, it seems unlikely that you'd have two independent dialects one of which is associated with black people and one with white people, but are viewed very similarly and with equivalent disdain by many people regardless. In this particular case, I think it's arguably much more really a perception of education and economic level, rather than actually about race per se. That is, (most) people who dislike AAVE don't dislike it because it's "something black people do", they dislike it because they perceive it as "something poor/uneducated people do", (and they tend to dislike "hillbilly" speech for exactly the same reason. They are "equal opportunity snobs".). Now, of course, there are likely some aspects of racism inherent in the association of "poor/uneducated" with "black" in a lot of people's minds, but it is also I think true that even among AA communities, the use of AAVE is often more common among less affluent people, or people who do not have as much education (for a wide variety of reasons), so you also don't necessarily have to be racist to still end up making a mental association of AAVE with "poor/uneducated" anyway (and I'd venture there are even many black people, even AAVE speakers, who have that same association in their own minds too, to some degree).

[@socalbarbie1040]

Yeah one is an actual dialect with grammar rules, intention and variations. Hillbilly English doesn’t have that kind of diversity.

[@intelDump]

dare is nuttin racist about teaching chillin to speak da kings English

[@bradnotbread]

Reminds me of the joke that is BBC Pidgin.

[@BBarNavi]

Wetin BBC pidgin o? E no dey Naija, no dey Cameroon, no dey Sierra Leone, den wey e come from o?

[@johncasillas9484]

I ain even kno we had are own language tbh

[@smileytownSF]

Prime example here of the soft bigotry of low expectations.