African American Vernacular English

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a name for the way some African Americans talk. Linguists who study various spoken forms of language gave it its name. Some non-African Americans use this dialect, too. Some of its pronunciations and grammar resemble the way people talk in West Africa.

It first came about in the 16th and 17th centuries when many Africans were taken as slaves by whites. The captives developed a way to communicate among all their various tribes.

African American Vernacular English became famous in 1996, when some educators in Oakland, California said they wanted to use AAVE to help teach black kids. They called it Ebonics. However, Ebonics often times has a negative connotation.

There are many rules that govern how the sounds of AAVE are different from Standard English. Some have to do with pronunciation and vocabulary (or lexicon). Most have to do with grammar. This includes verb tenses, and sentence structure.

Hip hop music has made AAVE more famous since the 1980s. Some people think it is cool and they try to speak it or learn it even if they are not really familiar with it. Some non-black people can speak it well.