Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Blog Summary 4: What is AAE?
AAE stands for African American English. The author talks about how names can make a person sound smart or dumb based on how it sounds, and even says that some teachers may base their opinions on students depending on their individual names. He then goes on to talk about how AAE is broken English and that many African Americans talk in "lazy English" which he defines as a fractured form of speech without logic or rules. However, he then goes on to make the point that many believe that this is not lazy English and compares it to calling Latin, "lazy Italian". He then goes on to point out the similiarities between AAE and early forms of American and British English. It suggests that the slaves actually learned AAE from their slaveowners and that is why they started to speak that way in the first place. Theoretically if people are speaking AAE, Appalachian English, and Standard American English, they are all still speaking English. Some think that AAE should be a dialect instead of a language which led some African American scholars to feel as if this is all about racism. Over time, a pidgin becomes dominant in a community, and when this happens the pidgin expands to meet the needs of everyone in the community. In the times of slavery it is very obvious that a pidgin was present. Linguistic research shows that AAE is neither broken language or slang, because it produces it's own vocabulary and characteristics of that vocabulary. He leaves it up to the reader to decide if AAE is a dialect or an actual language.
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ReplyDeleteThe author of "What is AAE" does a very good job presenting arguments for and against AAE. From what I read, it seems to me that there are specific rules for AAE, but I don't believe that it is its' own language. One would have to consider true southern dialects, northern dialects and everything in between as well. Anyone who has spent time in the upper peninsula of Michigan or Minnesota how radically different it sounds to "proper english." AAE should not be viewed as broken English, but it should perhaps not be substituted for English in other settings such as school or a professional work environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree that AAE should not be considered a seperate language from English but rather a different dialect of English.
ReplyDeleteI believe AAE is a dialect and should not be considered a separate language. As JohnGund said, if we decided that it was a language, then we'd have to start calling all other dialects and accents different languages, when they are obviously not. Everyone sounds different from each other anyway. Even us Midwesterners in the middle of the country have some sort of accent that we don't notice. In the end, if we considered everything a different language/form of English, then there would be no "proper English" anymore.
ReplyDeleteI agree that AAE should not be a separated language, however, I do believe that it is a more enhanced type of English language. I believe that in today's society we do talk with a lot of slang, which is considered a more easier way of speaking because most people understand it, but there is also a way to speak more professionally. AAE is just, to me, considered a different level of English but I agree with the author.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that AAE should be considered another language because it is just a different type of English. In this country, as well as others, there are many different forms of the native language, be it French, Spanish, German, or English. Each language has its own type of slang that over the years has come to grown, such as down south, or up north, or sport talk, or Theater talk. However, we do not say that they are a whole separate language from English. There are many forms of English and AAE is one of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with my classmates that African American English is among the many dialects of the United States. However, I do not consider it a language unto itself. The author argues that AAE could be considered a language because of the wide usage of it by African Americans. I would argue that dialects can arise in one area and over generations, spread to a wider area. For example, a friend of mine uses the word “pop” to indicate what I identify as “soda.” While I have not altered my words, her family has now replaced “soda,” in their vocabulary, with “pop”. Using this logic, the wide spread use of African American English can be explained as beginning with the Southern Slaves and then spreading to encompass a larger group. Another reason that it seems to be a dialect is that it can be easily understood by other English speakers.
ReplyDeleteSince most dialects are only familiar to an area or group of persons, they probably should not be used in professional situations. For example, I would not use typical aspects of the Southern Illinois dialect, such as dropping my –ing endings or intentionally misusing subject-verb agreement, in a professional exchange.
AAE should be considered a dialect and not a language. Dialect is a variation in speech spoken by a certain group of people. Whereas, language is a system of sounds, symbols, gestures, etc by which humans and other creatures communicate.
ReplyDeleteI would agree to say that AAE is a dialect rather than a language and should not be considered a language since everyone has different dialects that could be considered a language just like northern and southern and east coast and west.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article because it is relevant to our society. I do believe it is a dialect rather than a language. If every person had a new spin on English all the time then there would be so many different languages. I do not think incorrect English should get its own language. People of all races need to speak English correctly.
ReplyDeleteThe author expresses both sides of AAE very well. I believe that it is more of a dialect, it is different then what "technical English" is. However, it is still a form of English regardless. It is neat that something as simple as a dialect can hold such a history, and the author does a great job at explaining this.
ReplyDeleteThe argument between AAE being a dialect or a language is a very relevant issue in todays society. Though I think that like the author said it is "lazy English", not everybody chooses to speak properly. Each culture seems to have its own version of slang. Though, it may be how you talk comfortably with friends and family its not proper. Like someone said already in this blog we would have no true English language if anybody could choose what dialect is part of the language. As far as the racists part of the article, it is hard for me to understand how language could possibly be considered racists towards anybody when it is something we all share throughout many cultures.
ReplyDeleteI agree that AAE should be considered a different dialect of English and not a completely different language.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that AAE should be considered its own language; instead I would call it a dialect. I consider this dialect derived from the English language. Mexican Americans are doing the same thing, they borrow English words and turning them into what some people call “Splanglish” such the English word “car” became transform into “Carro”. This is called a barbarism and yet this word is frequently used and understood by Mexican speakers. I believe this is something that will continue happen. People from other nations will adopt words and integrate them into their native vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI agree that AAE is a dialect an not a language, there are many different dialects from every language. I think everyone today speaks in slang and many people speak "lazy English" Such words as finna instead of going to, is used often. I hear a lot of people say "Where IS you going" also. It just becomes a dialect that we are used to.
ReplyDeleteThis article provided so much insight to a conversation I thought most people would not feel comfortable having. I am very happy that someone took the time to explain and break down the definition they gave for AAE. I absolutely agree that AAE should be a different dialect of English. It has all the components to function as a different dialect.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that there is even such a thing as African American English is quite upsetting to me. There are two types of English, American English and British English. Slang is not a whole new dialect. The fact that there is even a discussion about this shows what a disservice the American school system is doing to children of color. Teach students proper English so they can stop being ignorant. Black children do not need translators or anything close to that. They understand English. AAE, which is really just slang, is not comparable to Spanish, which is what most of the approaches were trying to do. Also most black people cannot even identify one person in their family who is from Africa so how connecting the curriculum to an African culture, which there is no such thing since Africa is a continent not a country, will help is beyond me. As a person of color this whole topic is offensive to me and I think it is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that there should be a separate language created for different cultures. We all know that there are several different dialects in which people speak English. I think if were were create another language for all the different ways to speak we would end up with a mess. There are certainly differences in the way we all speak depending on our families, birth place, education, etc. ; However does that mean we need to label them all. For example, my mother is from the south, I often use phrases that people from the north would consider hillbilly. Does that mean we should label the way my mother speaks as, "Southern English"?. I found the article very interesting. I also enjoyed the writers response and summary.
ReplyDeleteAs others stated before me, I believe that they shouldn't make this a separate language. Like the article was stating it originated during the slavery times and the slaves weren't educated, which is why they spoke the way they did. I believe that it should be considered dialect
ReplyDeleteI feel that it should not be a separate language, but rather seen as a different dialect. My thoughts are based on the fact that it is still English, but it is being spoken differently.
ReplyDelete