African American Language

Also AAL, African-American Language, Afro-American Language

1. technical language
   1902–Originally, any variety of language used by African Americans; now, chiefly, any rule-governed language systems or English language varieties collectively used by African Americans.

   usage The term acts as an umbrella term that includes, but is not limited to: African American Vernacular English, Gullah Geechee, Louisiana Creole, Hip Hop National Language, African American Standard Language, and Black American Sign Language.

   encyclopedic African American English is often believed to have developed as a distinct variety of colonial American English by enslaved Black people, as a pidginized or creolized variety that emerged from language contact between enslaved Africans and other groups, or as a combination of these processes, and possibly others, over time. Although sometimes associated with inner-city language of major metropolitan areas, there is significant overlap with other varieties of American English throughout the country, especially in the southeastern states.

   cultural It should be noted that not all African Americans or Black people in the United States are speakers of African American Language, nor are all of its speakers African American. The variety continues to be regarded by many as non-standard or incorrect even as many of its words and other features are adopted in other varieties of American English.

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   1902

   The has finally found an editor and a selection of authors capable of expounding on the subject of Ebonics, the study of African-American language.

   R. Kipling Just So Stories 92

   1902

   Much of the research conducted on African-American language during the 1960s‥was directed toward determining whether its deep structure was the same as, or different from, that of Standard American English.

   G. S. Whitmore Last Maori War viii. 130

   1907

   The session "Rhythm, Dialect, and Style: African-American Language" attracted a capacity audience of 40 with many persons having to stand.

   G. Bell Letter 25 May 1927 I. 240

   1938

   The notion of seamlessness may be applied...that Southern dialect and African American language are subcomponents of a single complex diachronic development with overlapping synchronic features.

   R. Hum Chemistry for Engineering Students ix. 180

   1947

   Contention remains, however, over the nature of relationship between Gullah and other African American language (AAL) varieties...whether Gullah represented the remnant of an earlier stage in the development of African American Vernacular English (AAVE).

   P. I. Smith Practical Plastics iii. 39/1

   1954

   It is essential to distinguish between Afro-American language, in the hemispheric sense of the term, and the domiance of studies on varieties of black American English.

   Five O'Clock Angel 1991 92 in T. Williams Letter 22 May

   1974

   Y'all really hear AAVE when Travis speaks? 💀 like legitimate African American Language?!

   R. A. Caro Power Broker i. iii. 50

   1994

   Most European-American linguists believe that African-American language can be understood and explained without reference to African antecedents...ignorant of African languages and culture.

   J. Barth Once upon a Time: A Floating Opera 83