AAVE, and Its Unsung Impact on Society

Of the many varieties of spoken American English, one of the most distinctive and culturally significant ones is African American Vernacular English (AAVE). AAVE is a vibrant dialect with its roots tied to the history of African Americans in the USA, and is primarily used today by working- and middle-class African Americans, although it has had major impacts on the linguistic landscape of the USA in general. Despite this, AAVE is often stigmatized and misunderstood, endangering it and the African American identity associated with it.

During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, people from Africa were forcibly brought to the Americas and forced to work on plantations. Despite attempts at suppression and assimilation, they also brought with them their cultural traditions and languages. These fused with European and Native American ones to form new syncretic African American cultures and languages. Over time, some of these "pidgin" languages differentiated further from their standard forms to form new "Creole" languages, of which some well-known modern ones include Haitian Creole (the official language of Haiti) and Gullah (spoken by Gullah-Geechee communities on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia). Others, however, went through "decreolization" — that is, they were assimilated into "standard" varieties of their original language. AAVE is thought to have either been a distinct English creole that decreolized, or a dialect that never diverged fully from standard American English.

AAVE isn't simply viewed as a specific dialect, however. It is viewed as a "sociolinguistic spectrum", which means that different forms of the dialect are used in different social contexts. On one end of the spectrum are the more colloquial, or "deep" forms of AAVE, which are often marked by stronger pronunciation variations, such as the fact that "th" sounds like a "d" at the start of words (so that, for example, "this" might sound more like "dis"). The other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, is much closer to standard American English.

The reason for these differences in how AAVE is used has to do with the misconceptions and stigma it faces in society. This marginalization has historical roots in systemic racism, which has perpetuated inequalities in education, employment, and social interactions for African-Americans. In addition to racial stereotypes, the use of AAVE is also affected by how different it is from standard English, and consequently it is viewed as an "improper" way of speaking English. These portrayals encourage AAVE speakers to engage in something called code-switching, in which they alter how they speak in order to sound more "acceptable" to others who do not speak AAVE.

Despite this, in the contemporary landscape, AAVE continues to thrive as a dynamic and integral aspect of African American identity. It has also greatly influenced popular culture, music, literature, and everyday discourse. In fact, even those who do not speak AAVE may use slang terms that come from it, such as "slay", "woke", and "jazz".

To fully recognize and celebrate African American identity, embracing the uniqueness of dialects like AAVE is paramount. By recognizing the linguistic richness of African American Vernacular English and elevating its status, we honor the enduring spirit of African American heritage, allowing us to weave a more inclusive and complete tapestry of American culture and history.