Many words were originally African American English and have become mainstream, like:
✅ Cool (one of the first documented uses is Zora
Neale Hurston)
✅ Cancel (originated on Black Twitter)
@carolinavonkampen.com
@carolinavonkampen.comMany words were originally African American English and have become mainstream, like:
✅ Cool (one of the first documented uses is Zora
Neale Hurston)
✅ Cancel (originated on Black Twitter)
@carolinavonkampen.com@carolinavonkampen.comSome examples of AAE words:
✅ finna: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/f...
✅ kitchen: the hair that grows at the nape of the neck and that can be especially kinky www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/k...
✅ saditty: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/s...
@carolinavonkampen.com@carolinavonkampen.comAfrican American English has a Wh- question inversion feature.
Why I can't play?
What they was doing?
@carolinavonkampen.comMore African American English features:
✅ are/were ⟶ is/was ("We was just talkin’ about that yesterday.")
✅ double negatives ("ain't never," "didn't do nothing")
✅ negative inversions ("Can't nobody," "Don't nobody")
@carolinavonkampen.comAfrican American English has a zero possessive feature. Examples:
…at my sister apartment.
That’s Lisa dog.
And a possessive they:
They want to go to they friend's house.
@carolinavonkampen.comAfrican American English has a zero third-person singular present-tense -s.
Examples:
She sing.
He know where to go.
She walk to work.
@carolinavonkampen.comAfrican American English has a zero copula feature that drops the "to be" verb.
Examples:
She pretty.
They cool.
He studying.
The body tea.
@carolinavonkampen.comAfrican American English has a mood called "indignant come" that signals emotion or attitude.
Example: “She come walking in here like he owned the damn place.”
@carolinavonkampen.comHow to identify African American English's rules, patterns, and features!
Tense & Aspect: AAE has different tenses and aspects.
For example, the habitual be: www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/inva...
Other examples: stay, finna, stay.
@carolinavonkampen.comMore history of African American English:
1996 Oakland Ebonics Controversy
The Oakland school board decided to recognize “Ebonics” as the home language of African American students.
Acknowledged systematic, rule-governed patterns in African American speech.
@carolinavonkampen.com1979: Ann Arbor Black English Case
The school didn’t acknowledge the language variety their students were using.
Judge recognized “Black English” as a systematic language variety.
I'd never heard of this case! Wow. 🤯
@carolinavonkampen.comLet's debunk some myths!
AAE is NOT just slang and informal #language.
AAE is NOT just Standard American English with mistakes.
NOT every Black person speaks AAE, and some non-Black people speak AAE if they grew up in an AAE language environment.
@carolinavonkampen.comWhat should we call it?
Today, we use African American English.
But the term has evolved over the years from Ebonics to African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to African American English.
@carolinavonkampen.comAnglicist Theory of African American English
➡️ African American English comes from English varieties
➡️ Some features of African American English can be found in early British varieties
@carolinavonkampen.comCreolist Theory of African American English
➡️ Contact between West African languages and English resulted in a Creole
➡️ Decreolization resulted in modern-day African American English
@carolinavonkampen.comTwo theories of how African American English originated:
Creolist Theory and Anglicist Theory
@carolinavonkampen.comCurrently at #ACESVCON26: From Wack to Cool: A Linguistic Introduction to African American English by Diana Jones, Assistant Editor at @merriam-webster.com!
@ecmyers.comNext up, "Digital Accessibility for Editors: Making Your Content Accessible for Everyone" with Moira Kelly! #ACESVCON26