All this talk about how AAVE is a different language from Standard American English (SAE)? That right there folks, is racist. Okay before you attack me let's back up some.
Different languages are defined by the mutual unintelligibility of two speakers. So the reason Tagalog and Quechua are considered different languages is cause if you put two speakers of Tagalog and Quechua in the same room, they won't know what the other one is saying. Sometimes the difference in languages vs. dialects is political, e.g. Chinese "dialects" versus Romance "languages." They are about as similar and different from each other, but China is one country, and Western Europe is made of all different countries, so all the sudden Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects, yet Spanish and Italian are languages.
Indian English and British English are considered two different dialects of English because they are mutually intelligible and a speaker of IE and BE in the same room would be able to understand each other no problem. Well guess what, two speakers in the same room, one of SAE and the other of AAVE will have no problem communicating. So they're dialects. And plus I have issues with the name AAVE because I know plenty of African American folks that speak SAE and I know plenty of white folks that speak AAVE (I use it myself and I'm white). So why do we have to use race to define dialects?
So since AAVE and SAE obviously meet the criteria for being dialects (mutually intelligible), the reasons they are claimed to be different languages is political. I don't know if others see this but I think trying to claim "that language associated with black people" is different from "that language associated with white people" is racist. To me it sounds like trying to widen the gap between two races. We really aren't all that different in the end, folks. I have plenty of AAVE-speaking friends (not all of them black or of color) and I have no issues understanding them. And they have no issues understanding me when I speak SAE.
Another thing I would like to mention is that it's not fair to talk about all these different white dialects, and then to make this one group of AAVE, that covers dialects from Dallas, TX to Chicago, IL. There is just as much variety within AAVE dialects as there is within SAE dialects.
So my end point folks, is that talking about SAE vs. AAVE as different languages is just racism disguised in language.
*As pointed out by my linguistics professor
3 comments:
ya know what I'm gonna sayyy!! EBONICS/AAVE IS BULLSHITTTT !!!
I tell ya boy are those racist/prejudiced/assholes in for a rude awakening when they talk to an African American or coloured person trying to speak 'AAVE/EBONICS' only to have them look at them and speak 'English' and go..."Wtf are you speaking, man are you high???? Which country are you from???"
I agree. There's a mildly subtle message that AAVE is substandard. I don't think there should be labels for dialects to begin with. English is English is English.
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