What Is African American English? Language, Memory, and Belonging
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Transcript
Diana Jones: African-American English is a general term used to refer to a variety or several varieties of American English, chiefly used by African-Americans. It is a variety that is rule governed, and so it has its own grammatical rules and features and structures. There are correct ways of using terms or features and incorrect ways.
Sunn m’Cheaux: Because of so many cultures, contributing to the language it’s hard to pin down as any one particular sector of the African-American community. Being the, the one that is like the parent is out of the language. So it's a group project.
Diana: Some common linguistic features of African-American English, for example, habitual Be, which is the use of the verb ‘be’ in its uninflected form, as in the sentence “She be jogging”. And this use of be indicates that something such as an action or a state is happening frequently or habitually. And so, while this is maybe perceived to be ungrammatical or incorrect in standard or mainstream American English, it's actually completely grammatical and acceptable in African American English.
Nicole Holliday: African American English evolves from a long history that has to do with the way that African Americans were enslaved and brought to this country, and then the subsequent history of segregation that continues to this day in the language embodies some of that history.
Sunn: When we got here, there was no African American English, and we were also being forced to speak, know a language that was not our own. Our ancestors being able to speak their native languages was outlawed. Being literate in the new language was again, not all the people who were gathered from Africa spoke the same languages either. So you're not only trying to communicate with people who initially didn't speak the same language as you, you're communicating in a different language that neither one of you speak.
Sunn: Many of the ways that people would learn language, under normal circumstances, those things weren't in play. And also you were doing it under duress and so you need it to be able to communicate. But that communication was often more descriptive and prescriptive because you couldn't rely on the etymology of words and their established meanings. So you had to come up with ways to kind of describe what she wanted to describe certain tasks, a way to be able to communicate things in a more simplified form.
Sunn: So the people who couldn't speak the same language would be able to communicate with one another.
Tracey Weldon: So we are socialized into speaking language. Language itself is an innate quality. It is something that we are all, as human beings are born with the capacity to do speak a language. But the type of language that we speak is almost completely determined by what we're exposed to. And so that means that language is going to reflect much about who we are as people, our socio cultural identities, the regions in which we've grown up.
Tracey: Our gender identity, sexual identity, racial ethnic identity.
Diana: In this case, African-American communities. There's terminology that comes from a church. For instance, or the hair salon or the barber shop, or even a specific type of music or a specific neighborhood. There's also a specific body language or even a specific tone that is used with certain terms that can change the meaning of a term or feature.
Tracey: African American English in particular, because it has been so misunderstood and misrepresented and maligned, taking on this idea that it was somehow broken and unsystematic or bad English. When people put labels on language like good or bad, correct or incorrect, they often see that there is some linguistic basis for those kinds of labels that there is somehow a flaw or an error in the ways in which we are constructing language.
Tracey: But language doesn't work that way. Those labels tend to reflect the ways in which we're evaluating the speakers themselves. If there are groups of speakers who carry a particular power or prestige in a society, the language or languages that they speak tend to sort of take on those same qualities and therefore evaluated positively. Conversely, if they are groups of speakers with less power or prestige, the ways in which they use language often take on a certain stigma or lose value.
Sunn: When you look at a dictionary or reference book and say no, this is the definitive way that this word is used and it can't be used in any other way. Okay, well then how then would you make a reference to a mouse? Is is a mouse just a rodent? Or do we not use a mouse now as a device for controlling the cursor on a computer?
Sunn: Dictionaries are not supposed to be the things that dictate how we speak. Dictionaries essentially dictate how we've spoken up to this point, and we can use that as a guide to go forward. But that's not something that we need to be using our rear view to drive backward. And you have to think in terms of dictionaries as a baton being passed in a race.
Sunn: You get the baton, and now it's your turn to move forward with it and contribute to that document and then pass it on to the next person and the next and the next. Ultimately, African American English is the inheritance of our ancestors labor linguistically and socially, in order to be able to pass down something that to me is a gem.
Sunn: It is a legacy. It is an heirloom. It is something that is passed down. We were able to make it our own, and that has survived generation to generation.
Tracey: It's an interesting love hate relationship that we tend to have with African-American English as a society. It tends to hold a sort of covert prestige, particularly in the United States, but to some extent even globally. And linguists use that term covert prestige to refer to a type of prestige that isn't necessarily associated with education or educational institutions, but instead a type of prestige that says, I can trust this person. This person is fun. African American English in particular, there's often this sort of sense of coolness or trendiness.
Nicole: Cool came from African American English. In the 1920s. It was used by jazz singers in Harlem, in New York City. So the culture of jazz was a lot of African-American performers. They started saying like, that's a cool cat. And it entered the lexicon because the white folks that were coming to see the jazz performers started using that in everyday language, and it spread out from there.
Tracey: It's part of black lives in a white power structure. Colonizers were not just stealing people. They were not just stealing hands to pick crops. They're stealing minds. They were stealing ingenuity. They were stealing creativity. They were stealing cuisine, culture, so many things that went on to influence the broader culture. And so that's kind of what happened with language.
Diana: We now have the internet and we have social media. So while language does become widespread through contact, it's actually happening an accelerated rate because of social media, the terms that are now being referred to as internet culture or Gen-Z slang, a lot of those terms do come from African American English, and sometimes they are kind of repackaged without acknowledging a lot of the historical context that comes along with African American English in the United States.
Nicole: So marginalized groups, young people, immigrants, people of color, especially African-Americans, have always been instrumental to language change in this country. And that's fine. That's a great thing. We're very cool. Obviously, people want to talk like us. The issue isn't really that words are borrowed. The issue is that when we use particular words, we experience discrimination and sometimes we don't get credit for them.
Nicole: And then five years later or ten years later, when they become mainstream, other people will try to use those words, the same words for cultural cachet, and they'll get benefits from it while we still experience discrimination. That's the issue with appropriation. It's not about whether you're allowed to say slay. It's about whether you know that for decades there were black and brown queer people who were saying slay who were mistreated for using that kind of language, and now it's something fun for you to do on TikTok.
Sunn: Someone asked me once, why are black people so good at creating slang? Well, because what you're calling slang is part and parcel. It's integral to the way that we learn to speak this language. We have to be more descriptive. We have to be more figurative in our speech to get you closer to what it is we're talking about.
Sunn: That form of speech is very cultural. So when people are saying, well, it's just slang or just words or whatever, you can't corner the market or you can't and you can't keep language to yourself. Well, the way that you're using the language is very integral to the culture of black speech, black people. That is how we speak. And so when it comes time to take it and turn it into something that you want it to be internet slang, it's almost like there's a serial number on it.
Sunn: I know that's my bike. Look, I put this right here on the seat or on the wheel. Like that's how we do with. We tag our language.
Nicole: African American English is a miracle. And this is why, when people exist in oppressive structures, right? When they're minoritized community, one of the first things that tends to happen is that the majority community wants them to stop speaking their language. So the fact that we still maintain this way of speaking, that a society that has been arranged to not necessarily give black people the same rights, has not been able to get rid of our distinctive ways of speaking, means that we have some power, some cultural sustainability, some solidarity, and that the history of our people is reflected in that language.
Nicole: We kept it because it was important to us, even in the face of adversity.
Sunn: Language is it's not a lock, it's it's not a thing that's meant to to bind you. It's not a trap. No matter how flowery, no matter how articulate and eloquent you are, if you don't feel it, you can express yourself in any other way than what's been dictated to you as proper. That's just a gilded cage. And language is is meant to set you free, you have to be able to find your voice. And in finding that voice, you will find a liberation that you seek.
Sunn m’Cheaux: Because of so many cultures, contributing to the language it’s hard to pin down as any one particular sector of the African-American community. Being the, the one that is like the parent is out of the language. So it's a group project.
Diana: Some common linguistic features of African-American English, for example, habitual Be, which is the use of the verb ‘be’ in its uninflected form, as in the sentence “She be jogging”. And this use of be indicates that something such as an action or a state is happening frequently or habitually. And so, while this is maybe perceived to be ungrammatical or incorrect in standard or mainstream American English, it's actually completely grammatical and acceptable in African American English.
Nicole Holliday: African American English evolves from a long history that has to do with the way that African Americans were enslaved and brought to this country, and then the subsequent history of segregation that continues to this day in the language embodies some of that history.
Sunn: When we got here, there was no African American English, and we were also being forced to speak, know a language that was not our own. Our ancestors being able to speak their native languages was outlawed. Being literate in the new language was again, not all the people who were gathered from Africa spoke the same languages either. So you're not only trying to communicate with people who initially didn't speak the same language as you, you're communicating in a different language that neither one of you speak.
Sunn: Many of the ways that people would learn language, under normal circumstances, those things weren't in play. And also you were doing it under duress and so you need it to be able to communicate. But that communication was often more descriptive and prescriptive because you couldn't rely on the etymology of words and their established meanings. So you had to come up with ways to kind of describe what she wanted to describe certain tasks, a way to be able to communicate things in a more simplified form.
Sunn: So the people who couldn't speak the same language would be able to communicate with one another.
Tracey Weldon: So we are socialized into speaking language. Language itself is an innate quality. It is something that we are all, as human beings are born with the capacity to do speak a language. But the type of language that we speak is almost completely determined by what we're exposed to. And so that means that language is going to reflect much about who we are as people, our socio cultural identities, the regions in which we've grown up.
Tracey: Our gender identity, sexual identity, racial ethnic identity.
Diana: In this case, African-American communities. There's terminology that comes from a church. For instance, or the hair salon or the barber shop, or even a specific type of music or a specific neighborhood. There's also a specific body language or even a specific tone that is used with certain terms that can change the meaning of a term or feature.
Tracey: African American English in particular, because it has been so misunderstood and misrepresented and maligned, taking on this idea that it was somehow broken and unsystematic or bad English. When people put labels on language like good or bad, correct or incorrect, they often see that there is some linguistic basis for those kinds of labels that there is somehow a flaw or an error in the ways in which we are constructing language.
Tracey: But language doesn't work that way. Those labels tend to reflect the ways in which we're evaluating the speakers themselves. If there are groups of speakers who carry a particular power or prestige in a society, the language or languages that they speak tend to sort of take on those same qualities and therefore evaluated positively. Conversely, if they are groups of speakers with less power or prestige, the ways in which they use language often take on a certain stigma or lose value.
Sunn: When you look at a dictionary or reference book and say no, this is the definitive way that this word is used and it can't be used in any other way. Okay, well then how then would you make a reference to a mouse? Is is a mouse just a rodent? Or do we not use a mouse now as a device for controlling the cursor on a computer?
Sunn: Dictionaries are not supposed to be the things that dictate how we speak. Dictionaries essentially dictate how we've spoken up to this point, and we can use that as a guide to go forward. But that's not something that we need to be using our rear view to drive backward. And you have to think in terms of dictionaries as a baton being passed in a race.
Sunn: You get the baton, and now it's your turn to move forward with it and contribute to that document and then pass it on to the next person and the next and the next. Ultimately, African American English is the inheritance of our ancestors labor linguistically and socially, in order to be able to pass down something that to me is a gem.
Sunn: It is a legacy. It is an heirloom. It is something that is passed down. We were able to make it our own, and that has survived generation to generation.
Tracey: It's an interesting love hate relationship that we tend to have with African-American English as a society. It tends to hold a sort of covert prestige, particularly in the United States, but to some extent even globally. And linguists use that term covert prestige to refer to a type of prestige that isn't necessarily associated with education or educational institutions, but instead a type of prestige that says, I can trust this person. This person is fun. African American English in particular, there's often this sort of sense of coolness or trendiness.
Nicole: Cool came from African American English. In the 1920s. It was used by jazz singers in Harlem, in New York City. So the culture of jazz was a lot of African-American performers. They started saying like, that's a cool cat. And it entered the lexicon because the white folks that were coming to see the jazz performers started using that in everyday language, and it spread out from there.
Tracey: It's part of black lives in a white power structure. Colonizers were not just stealing people. They were not just stealing hands to pick crops. They're stealing minds. They were stealing ingenuity. They were stealing creativity. They were stealing cuisine, culture, so many things that went on to influence the broader culture. And so that's kind of what happened with language.
Diana: We now have the internet and we have social media. So while language does become widespread through contact, it's actually happening an accelerated rate because of social media, the terms that are now being referred to as internet culture or Gen-Z slang, a lot of those terms do come from African American English, and sometimes they are kind of repackaged without acknowledging a lot of the historical context that comes along with African American English in the United States.
Nicole: So marginalized groups, young people, immigrants, people of color, especially African-Americans, have always been instrumental to language change in this country. And that's fine. That's a great thing. We're very cool. Obviously, people want to talk like us. The issue isn't really that words are borrowed. The issue is that when we use particular words, we experience discrimination and sometimes we don't get credit for them.
Nicole: And then five years later or ten years later, when they become mainstream, other people will try to use those words, the same words for cultural cachet, and they'll get benefits from it while we still experience discrimination. That's the issue with appropriation. It's not about whether you're allowed to say slay. It's about whether you know that for decades there were black and brown queer people who were saying slay who were mistreated for using that kind of language, and now it's something fun for you to do on TikTok.
Sunn: Someone asked me once, why are black people so good at creating slang? Well, because what you're calling slang is part and parcel. It's integral to the way that we learn to speak this language. We have to be more descriptive. We have to be more figurative in our speech to get you closer to what it is we're talking about.
Sunn: That form of speech is very cultural. So when people are saying, well, it's just slang or just words or whatever, you can't corner the market or you can't and you can't keep language to yourself. Well, the way that you're using the language is very integral to the culture of black speech, black people. That is how we speak. And so when it comes time to take it and turn it into something that you want it to be internet slang, it's almost like there's a serial number on it.
Sunn: I know that's my bike. Look, I put this right here on the seat or on the wheel. Like that's how we do with. We tag our language.
Nicole: African American English is a miracle. And this is why, when people exist in oppressive structures, right? When they're minoritized community, one of the first things that tends to happen is that the majority community wants them to stop speaking their language. So the fact that we still maintain this way of speaking, that a society that has been arranged to not necessarily give black people the same rights, has not been able to get rid of our distinctive ways of speaking, means that we have some power, some cultural sustainability, some solidarity, and that the history of our people is reflected in that language.
Nicole: We kept it because it was important to us, even in the face of adversity.
Sunn: Language is it's not a lock, it's it's not a thing that's meant to to bind you. It's not a trap. No matter how flowery, no matter how articulate and eloquent you are, if you don't feel it, you can express yourself in any other way than what's been dictated to you as proper. That's just a gilded cage. And language is is meant to set you free, you have to be able to find your voice. And in finding that voice, you will find a liberation that you seek.