Black English - Report Example

Black English is considered as a dialect of American English. It is being spoken by the urban working and largely bi-dialectal middle-class African Americans. Black English differs from Standard English in terms of morphology, syntax, phonology, and vocabulary. The language is defined by the wide use of the multiple negatives. The typical use of the auxiliary verb ‘be’, the omission of the third-person singular present tense and its lack of possessive nouns is another key feature. In relation to other linguistic forms, the use of Black English is influenced by several factors such as age, status, setting, and topic (Pullum 53). There exist several characteristics of Black English, which are used to differentiate it from the American English. These dialects include the distinct pronunciation traits along definable patterns found in creoles of other populations of West African origin. It also has its specific vocabulary. Black English also contains the use of double negatives and distinctive verb tenses. Because of its relation to its African roots, earlier versions of Black English contributed words such as cool and hip to the American English. There has been a perceived negativity towards it due to it being considered as a nonstandard dialect (John 128). In this paper, the question discussed is whether Black English is an English dialect, or it is wholly made up of African dialects. We can define a dialect as languages that are similar and mutually intelligible. Since they are mutually intelligible, Black English and Standard English can be considered as dialects (John and Russell 60). As it is the case in current literature, linguists have considered language varieties similar if the users can communicate to one another without any hitches. In this aspect, Black English is therefore considered a dialect of English (Pullum 60). According to Geoffrey Pullum, the differences between American English and Black English can be systemic differences such as the copula “be” omission in certain contexts such as, “she crying”. At the commencement of words, th changes to d in Black English. An example is where the word those is pronounced as dose. Black English is characterized by a systematic grammar such as the continuous use of habitual tense. It also has self-sound patterns with some scenarios having words that deviate from Standard English in terms of meaning. This example clearly brings out the African dialect in Black English (John 131). According to McWhorter (p.132), some Black English sounds are cross-linguistically different compared to their equivalents in standard American English. These are sounds that are hard to pick up at an older age and are known as marked sounds. He gives an example of the “u” in “but” as a marked sound in Black English. The vowel has a tenser pronunciation, somewhat higher in Black English. It is considered longer than in normal English. According to John and Russell, Black English is characterized by the presence of five verb-tense markers that are absent in Standard English (119). According to Smitherman, the major differences between Black English and Standard English are based on grammatical structure (60). The following examples of each tense-aspect marker are given in Rickford’s Spoken Soul: • He laughin. (He is laughing.) • He be singin. (He is often singing, or he will be singing.) • He be steady walkin. (He is usually walking in an intensive, sustained manner, or He will be walking in an intensive manner.) • He been eating. (Means he has been eating–at some earlier point not now) • He been callin. (He has been calling for a long time) To this extent, Black English cannot be considered as an English dialect with its typical logical and grammatical structure, which do not relate it to normal English (John and Russell 119). In Black English, a foreigner always has to understand that a simple verb such as walk is only used in the expression of habitual actions(John 137).For most people, it is extremely difficult to master the difference between present action and present action. According to John(139), such difficulties arise from the use of done to intensify the past. It is used in the expression of the recent and not distant past. A good example is: I done meet her today. Ebonics refers to a particular grammar, syntax and paralinguistic features such as laughter and crying. It also refers to gestural features of the African American communication. Black English Ebonics are based in the African World View. This a view that emphasizes rhythm, metaphors, analogy, and intuition. These Ebonics radically differ from English views of nature and reality. Its Ebonics are similar to African languages in the form of their uniqueness of speech patterns, voice quality, intonation and certain other culturally learned elements. A good example is the linguistic articulation and tempo control, which are associated with some African American speakers (Cindy 53). Black English patterns are largely linked to the Niger-Congo tongues oral traditions. This means that its patterns are aligned closely with the social constructs of West African people. An appropriate example is: in the pronunciation ask as ax, The Problems they experience in terms of pronouncing“sk”, a double consonant, has been witnessed in the speakers of several West African languages.In terms of Phonological simplification, Black English has reduced phonological sounds. To be specific, consonant clusters have affected its phonotactics. The lack of phonological languages has been achieved through their simplification. An example is as follows: (desk > dess; master > massa). Its typical aspectual distinctions are habitual, unlike the Standard English that has non-habitual aspectual distinctions. Habitual aspectual distinctions expressed in Black English due to the presence of the verb ‘do’ in an unstressed form (Quinn 70). In terms of its progression towards an analytic structural type, Black English portrays its African origin in a number of ways. It has the tendency to develop grammar to the one-word-one-morpheme. In terms of its verbal syntax, the third person singular -s is omitted. An example is:She like my brother.The term come has also been used as a type of auxiliary. This word is often referred to as an ‘indignant’ come since it contains a connotation of disapproval. An appropriate example is given below: He come tellin’ me some story. ‘He told me some false story.’ Base subject relative clauses are common in Black English and not in the American English. Instead, such structures do occur in other forms of African languages. The following is an example: she the woman (who) got all the old records. She’s the woman she talked to. In terms of its grammatical aspect that gives the internal composition of a temporal event, it exhibits a refinement of tense. Black English has uninflected ‘be’ functions that are used as a habitual aspect marker(Pullum 56). Example: They be out of the house at night. ‘They are always out of the house at night.’ Black English drifts further from Standard English in expressing the iterative aspect. This expression occurs in the terminal position. For instance: They steady chillin’ outside. ‘They are always talking outside.’ They high steady. ’They are always high on drugs.’ In terms of vocabulary, some of its vocabulary items are predominant in regions characterized by individuals of West African origin(John R. Rickford and Russell J. Rickford).These terms include: buckra ‘white man’ found in African languages and yam which means ‘sweet potato’. In conclusion, Black English is principally of African rather than English due to its wide differences with Standard English. Works Cited Cindy, L Vitto. Grammar by Diagram: Understanding English Grammar through Traditional Sentence Diagraming. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2003. Print Geneva, Smitherman. Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print John R. Rickford and Russell J. Rickford. Spoken Soul. NY: John wiley, 2000. Print John, McWhorter. Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of “Pure" Standard English. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Publishing, 1998. Print Pullum, G. "African american vernacular english is not standard english with mistakes." The workings of language: From prescriptions to perspectives (1999): 59-66. Print Quinn, Jim. American Tongue and Cheek: A Populist Guide to Our Language. New York: Penguin, 1992. Print R., Rickford J. "Linguistics, education, and the ebonics." Dialects, Englishes, and education (2006): 71-92.Print Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.Print Read More