Why do African Americans still struggle with english after all this time?

Question

"I am a beautiful black women." "She do got a baby on the way." His mama and dem had came over." These are all very real examples to name just a few. Your thoughts?

Answer 1

Because generally the inner city school that we attend have pisspoor curriculums compared to our white counterparts, as well as poor dialect being passed down from undereduacated generation to undereduacated generation.

Answer 2

Someone above commented on African-American Vernacular English, and that's definitely a big step in the right direction to answer this question. It's also known as Black Vernacular English and colloquially as Ebonics. It's important to realize several things about Ebonics.

First, linguists who have studied it recognize that it is a dialect of English with its own rules. Toni Morrison famously commented on the "five present tenses" of Ebonics. Some of these are tenses which many other forms of spoken English do not have. As the previous poster mentioned, just because you think you can "talk black" doesn't mean you actually can.

Second, Ebonics is not slang. It's not a bastardized version of standard American English, whatever that standard English might be. It has its own rules, many of which are derived from African grammatical patterns. Remember that blacks were forced from their homes and brutally brought to the Americas. They combined many of their old linguistic practices with new ones they encountered.

Third, language debates are always intensely political. Upper classes use language to create an elite group, lower classes use language to create solidarity, and the linguistic field is mired with tremendous competition. To suggest that blacks talk poorly is to not only reveal your ignorance of the findings of linguists on Ebonics but it is also to ignore and perpetuate the political oppression of blacks - particularly in the United States.

Answer 3

1. Not all African-Americans speak this form of English called African-American Vernacular English.

It is a dialect, a form of English. Just as the Aussie or the Brits speak a different form of English, those raised in AAVE areas speak AAVE because that is what they heard spoken by role model kids just a bit older than they are (kids do NOT learn a language from their parents; if that were true, all children of immigrants would sound just like their immigrant parents, right).

There are actually many Latinos and Asians who speak exactly the same way because they were raised hearing that form of English.

AAVE has rules just like "Standard" English and it's really funny to hear non-native speakers of AAVE (on youtube) try to speak it. They make amazingly funny mistakes!

I would like you to try to speak "PERFECT" Australian English for one day and you will appreciate how difficult it is to change your grammar and accent once it's fixed.

Answer 4

Some people choose to speak in slang so others won't know what they're talking about. I guess it depends on what you want to do with your life, for example the kind of job you're looking for. For some, it would be detrimental not to speak proper English. For some, it wouldn't. Obviously being agle to speak and even Write proper English is an asset.

Answer 5

Many people are most ignorant about the true nature of language. They actually believe that language and linguistics are like Mount Rushmore or some other immovable rock. In truth, and known among better-educated / informed people, language is constantly changing and evolving. Also, unfortunately, there are many fascist-minded mentally diseased petty people who haven't the character to focus their bitter minds on anything but inane issues, such as language, in the mealy-mouthed desperations and flailings about of their morbid delusions of "superiority". They hunker down behind all sorts of conjured-up sides and polarized issues and other such cultural perversions and then hold their "side" or their race or gender or sexuality or age or nation or mustache or language or dialect or accent or pronunciation to be "superior" over all other less "pure" people's ways. It's quite pathetic, wouldn't you agree, to be so feeble-minded and unrefined as that?

Answer 6

I once had a conversation with a woman on the phone from a business. When I asked her what part of the country she was from, she said she was from "Memis". I didn't understand. She told me I didn't understand her "conversating" with me. I laughed and said, "oh, you must be related to Mr. George Bush."

I'm sure she didn't get it, but I am sure you do.

I work with students of color. I relayed the same tale to them. Everyone of them, who understood the humor of the situation, simutaneously asked, "was she black?" Now, I can't tell you because she was on the phone. I do know that she had poor English and I don't believe she should have a job in marketing if her English is so poor. The fact that my students of color asked if she was black proves that many think that black people do have problems with English.

Answer 7

Get real. They are NOT struggling. They are trying to differentiate themselves from whites by creating a different language a lot of whites can't even understand. They could speak English properly, if they wanted to.

Answer 8

...and you...speak perfect english? Hmmm let's ask those from the United Kingdom ? Everyone's language is influenced by society, culture environment, etc. I'm sure you're aware those from New England speak very differently from those in the deep South, Westerners, speak differently from those in NYC, etc..

Answer 9

Umm... have you ever heard anyone speak from the south? Why aren't you calling out people like me... who are white but from the south? I do believe that the majority of us do not speak proper English.

Answer 10

Not all African Americans "struggle" with english.
Not all European Americans speak english well, after all this time.
What do African Americans and your racist ideas about their speech have to do with Women's Studies?