Questions tagged [african-american-vernacular-english]
African American Vernacular English or Black American English.
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Afro American specific slang [duplicate]
I'm from South America and I've been fluent (at least in my opinion) in English for several years as of now. With this in mind it has really called my attention lately that I've heard Afro-American ...
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What might the term "B-I-T-sweetie" mean in the context of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's play "The Mule-Bone"?
I am currently reading through Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's 1931 play, The Mule-Bone, and I am rather puzzled by the term "B-I-T-sweetie," which shows up in this exchange in Act ...
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What's the meaning of "legit" in this sentence?
I've playing a game called GTA san andreas and at the beginning there's a specific part of the first scene that the police ask to character if he's doing something wrong
basically the police says:
So ...
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does anyone know what's the meaning of "busta straight busta"? [duplicate]
I've playing a game called gta san andreas and in the second mission the character of the game says this sentence
busta straight busta
according to the urban dictionary:
A busta is somebody who ...
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There's a double negative in this sentence? [duplicate]
sentence:
I'm living in los angeles now. I'm clean. legit
No you ain't never been clean. dude
is this part → "ain't never" is this a case of double negative?
i was in doubt because i see ...
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4
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Is saying " you know what I mean" and " you know what I am saying" rude in a formal setting?
I lived in an Asian country and I recently moved to Europe. English was very popular in my country.
I have seen african -american people and British people on youtube ( Mostly african -american) ...
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Verb aspect for "be" preceding participle in AAVE
In many dialects of African-American Vernacular English, I understand the following two constructions to carry different aspects:
Mama doing laundry.
Mama be doing laundry.
What is the change ...
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"Work for the man" as Black English
Is the phrase
"work for the man"
considered to be African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) (also Ebonics)?
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What is the origin of the phrase "to not give two f***s"? [closed]
I was curious about the origin of the phrase "to give two fucks". When did the English language first feature counting to a number to express a level of vulgarity? And why two specifically?
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Distribution of "yelp" for "yes"
I've recently come across two people online who consistently write "yelp" meaning "yes" or "yep" in chat. Due to anonymity and privacy, I don't know much about them. From ...
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Where does the phrase "Ain't no thang but a chicken wang" come from?
Where does the phrase "Ain't no thang but a chicken wang" come from?
Per Online Slang Dictionary, it's an interjection used to indicate that something is "okay; not a big concern." ...
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He had his ears bored
I’m reading The Underground Railroad by Coleson Whitehead. Early in the first chapter he writes:
“Her last husband had his ears bored for stealing honey. The wounds gave up pus until he wasted away.”
...
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Why do Christians in American deep south say "whenever" when they mean "when"?
As a midwestern American (Iowa), I want to understand the history, reason, and mechanics of why southern Americans say "whenever" when the word "when" would suffice.
For instance:
...
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Why do southern evangelical Christians in American churches say "how that" instead of how? [duplicate]
Why do evangelical Christians in American churches say "how that" instead of how?
Ex. 1:
Let me tell you a story about Billy Beaumont and how that, for our sakes, he joined the war to fight ...
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What's the origin of this expression recorded in Louisiana, 1867?
From Freedmen's Bureau records as excerpted in Sterling's brilliant We Are Your Sisters:
Emmeline Ellaby jumped out of the cotton and called them damned bitches and said that everyone of them damned ...
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What does "girls of the world" refer to in this context?
In the 1986 rap song "Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble" by "DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince", the lyrics go like this:
Listen, homeboys, don't mean to bust your bubble
But ...
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AAVE deletion of alveolar stops before the ending -ing
They riding for us /ˈɹaɪjɪn/
I'd like to know whether whether it's represented somehow in writing.
Secondly, what phonological process enable it?
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Phonological process triggering <I'on't> for "I don't"
Mostly in AAVE, and mainly in the sentence "I'on't know", e.g. here, here, here, here, and even y'on't.
However, I am not aware of which process triggered such a pronunciation.
EDIT: A related ...
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What does "up in this grill" mean?
In an episode of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", Will Smith says:
What we gotta do, is get up in this grill and show 'em that we've got the power!
I've checked Wiktionary and Urban Dictionary, but ...
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Does the “a” of “I'ma” extend to other pronouns?
Consider “I'ma do this” (as in “I am going to do this”). How does the a in I'ma extend in usage? Does anyone have any usage where it's used with other personal pronouns? I heard in a song recently ...
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Is there a "correct" definition of woke as an adjective?
Merriam Webster and (Lexico) effectively define woke as social awareness. Bussel.com claims The Urban Dictionary has a similar definition, but over on The Urban Dictionary itself there are multiple ...
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When to use "I" + is
Once I saw this sentence in the movie that:
I is in charge of the classroom !
Why after "I" did they use is ?
Is that a metaphor ?
I want to explain my students but could not.
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In African American dialect, is it "I like" or "I likes"?
Following the rules of African American dialect, one rule is to drop the 's' on a verb when using third person singular, i.e. "she like, he like" - my question is - for the first person singular, ...
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AAVE grammar: Difference between "continue to/keep on" vs "steady"
For those who are speakers of AAVE or those who are relatively learned in this area, could someone explain to me the context in which one would use "steady" as an aspectual marker, and its ...
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Meaning of "But no Source never made me not buy an album when they say it was wack"
I cannot get the real meaning of this AAVE sentence from rapper Kon Artis, a song lyric transcribed at Genius:
But no Source never made me not buy an album when they say it was wack
Source is the ...
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'Gwine': How accurate is the African-American dialect in early 20th c writing?
A recent question here about "fo' sho'" produced answers with a number of quotes of Southern US or AAE (African American English) varieties. To my ear, these quotes sounded awful and I question their ...
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I thought 'bout seein' everything and then…
Oprah: I thought 'bout seein' everything and then... I saw a pregnant man.
YouTube
It sounds very much like Oprah Winifrey, the iconic show woman and world-famous TV host, is parodying African ...
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Is it correct to say "You be the best"? [closed]
This phrase is in constant use by many lately , just to appreciate a person in something.
But I personally feel there's some problem in this - "You are the best" makes better sense.
Is this even ...
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Is “What goes around comes around” African-American?
The famous aphorism, (and a Justin Timberlake's song) what goes around comes around, appears to have originated in the United States. It refers to a completed cycle, and normally carries a negative ...
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All I'm askin' / Is about the interesting preposition placement in the song "Respect"
The Aretha Franklin song "Respect" has the interesting lyric "All I'm askin' / Is for a little respect" [link] where in everyday English, I would expect "All I'm askin' for / Is a little respect".
I'...
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"Best believe..." as a rhetorical device or device of storytelling
On imgur, there is a post with screenshots of an individual's row of Twitter posts. In them, he is telling a story making use of what I (as a non-native speaker of English). I was originally guessing ...
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"I leaked nothing to nobody." - SAE? AAVE? Deliberate double negative?
"I leaked nothing to nobody" (around 3:42 in the video)
Is the sentence above from Susan Rice grammatically correct in standard American English (SAE)? Seems like it should be:
I leaked nothing ...
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Meaning of the phrase 'you turned me out' in a song
A line from the song You Dropped A Bomb goes:
You turn me out, you turn me on
I understand the meaning of turn me on, which basically means 'you sexually arouse me'.
But I can't make out the meaning ...
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As a shortening of "bourgeois", is "bougie" or "bourgie" correct?
Bougie or bourgie is used as a shortened, informal version of bourgeois used in African American Vernacular English. For example:
The car he drives is indicative of his [bougie | bourgie] lifestyle....
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Is the past participle becoming obsolete? (I have went)
I noticed someone saying "I have went" about a month ago and it jarred me. Then I heard it again, and again, so I started paying attention. I noticed that the first couple of people I heard say this ...
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"I had been done that" Is this correct?
I teach freshmen English in inner-city Baltimore, and I often get the following:
Teacher : Did you complete the homework?
Student : I had been done that!
I have not been able to give a straight ...
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Exceptions to the rule that AAVE can omit "is" and "are" iff the corresponding form in standard English can be contracted?
According to the Wikipedia page for African-American Vernacular English:
Only the forms is and are (of which the latter is anyway often replaced by is) can be omitted; am, was, and were are not ...
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If I believe that AAVE is a legitimate dialect of English, am I a linguistic prescriptivist or a descriptivist? [closed]
Or maybe there is a third categorization I should use, such as "linguistic inclusivist"?
I believe that hypercorrections like "This is a secret between you and I" and "Whom is he?" are incorrect ...
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Where does "my ass" come from?
The usage of my ass to mean me is now relatively common. My impression is that it originated from AAVE and has since been included in various other dialects. The NGram below implies it became popular ...
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African American Vernacular English
I was going through some articles about "African American Vernacular English". Article 1. Article 2. These articles give some examples, but they do not clearly specify hard rules to be followed in ...
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"I'd-a lost"? What does this contraction stand for?
The first lines of George Thorogood's version of "One bourbon, one scotch, one beer":
Wanna tell you a story
about the houseman blues.
I come home one Friday,
had to tell the landlady I'd-a ...
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"Bust a cap" meaning and derivation
I've always believed that the phrase "bust a cap in yo ass" was AAVE for:
To shoot an individual with a gun.
Whilst trying to figure out what the cap actually meant, I ran into this alternate ...
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Meaning of "roll"
What's the meaning of rollin in this context?
Ridin
They see me rollin
They hatin
Patrolling they tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch ...
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Auxiliary movement in AAVE
My question is inspired by the question of why "So do I". Usually I have no problem figuring out what to do for AAVE (African American Vernacular English), but in this case, I am confused, because ...
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What's the negative of the nonstandard perfect: "He done eat his breakfast"
In movies I hear a lot of sentences like that in the title of the question spoken mainly by African Americans. As I understand it's the dialect version of the standard Present Perfect. I was wondering ...
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How did southern US blacks address whites post-emancipation and pre-civil rights?
You hear it in movies like "The Help" all the time, but I'm trying to look for words like "missuh" and not finding any. Anyone familiar with the early 20th century African American lingo?
I'm only ...
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