African American Vernacular English, commonly abbreviated AAVE, is a variety of English natively spoken by most working-class and many middle-class African Americans, with roots in the Southern United States and a presence today in Black communities across the country and, to a lesser extent, among some Black Canadians. It carries a systematic grammar of its own, including habitual be for describing a recurring action, zero copula in sentences like she my sister, and multiple negation, alongside phonological features such as final consonant cluster reduction and the fronting or stopping of the th sounds. Long stigmatized in American public life, AAVE has also profoundly shaped mainstream American English and popular culture, especially through hip-hop, contributing words such as cool and hip to the wider language.
Facts
Regionthroughout the United States, historically concentrated in the Southern states and today present in Black communities in cities nationwide, with related varieties among some Black Canadians 1 Speaker Communityspoken by most working-class and many middle-class Black Americans as an everyday vernacular, alongside participation in the wider hip-hop culture that has carried many of its features into broader American youth speech 1 Distinguishing Featuresreduction of final consonant clusters, so test can be pronounced tes; th-fronting and th-stopping, shifting theta and eth toward f, v or d sounds; grammatical habitual be marking a recurring action, as in he be working Tuesdays, alongside zero copula, as in she my sister, and multiple negation, as in I didn't go nowhere 1 Classification
Variety Kind Connections
Descends From
Source Wikipedia: African-American Vernacular English
Sources
1. Wikipedia: African-American Vernacular English
Wikimedia FoundationPhonology section
John McWhorter argues that what truly unites all AAVE accents is a uniquely wide-ranging intonation pattern or melody.
Variety kind, African American Vernacular English entity page
African American Vernacular English, commonly abbreviated AAVE, is a variety of English natively spoken by most working-class and many middle-class African Americans, with roots in the Southern United States and a presence today in Black communities across the country and, to a lesser extent, among some Black Canadians.
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