What People Get Wrong About African-American English | Otherwords
What People Get Wrong About African-American English | Otherwords
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It’s one of the most studied — and most controversial — varieties of English. But many people still hold deep misconceptions about African-American English (AAE).
Otherwords is a new PBS web series on Storied that digs deep into this quintessential human trait of…
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Are you sure these were actually made by African Americans? All of these zoomer terms are mixed within random internet lingo that doesn't have an actual demographic variety.
Interesting, but It's kinda hard for someone who isn't a native english speaker like me to not see AAE as "wrong" because when we learn english we're told every rule and all the grammar of MAE, and we're taught that anything that deviates is wrong and grammatically incorrect. Growing up I didn't want it to be obvious I wasn't a native speaker so I took MAE grammar to heart. At first I couldn't understand AAE but at some point my english education became more informal by consuming us media and I got better at understanding it, still believing it was a low education way of speaking (I cringe at my old self).
I know better now, It's hard to unlearn stuff you've always been told but I guess it needs to be done
It's by far the best version of English truth be told.
Dr. Rachael is one fine Woman!!
Fun fact, we were already here with a civilized nation. You guys came over as peasants seeking opportunity set up your own government stole our language and wrote history in your favor😅
Why are these non black women explaining words .. We don’t say DIS and DAT
This is wrong. ABSOLUTELY wrong! Guess who taught the majority of slaves english? Southerners. White men and women did and most still do sound like that down there. "I ain't seen nobody" and tons of other words in this video are NOT AAE, it's uneducated southern talk. Words like fleek, no cap, and homeboy are simply black slang that everyone around the globe copies. There is no thing called AAE. The slaves up north didn't talk like that. Sorry to be the party pooper
Think of AAE as getting to the point, when communicating! Bajan from Barbados!
What's up Dr Rachel?… What's up Dr.Rachel? 😂
Fun fact is a black American myself. I don’t see any of these stupid words. It’s called to get a proper education and don’t live in the ghetto.
I'd like a video on technical language/Organizational or professional culture. ?? I don't even know if that is what it is called. The military, Engineers, Accountants, Medical profession, legal profession, programmers, and Federal/Civil employees perhaps don't use different grammer but we use words in entirely different but often highly specific ways. To the degree that there are policies and instructions written to define words. I encountered this both when I joined the Active Duty Navy and then when I went from the Fleet to the Defense Acquisition Community, and again when I moved to the Financial community.
Theres also a myth that many slang words and AAE phrasing was created by african americans when it wasnt
What a joke
Pretty sure there’s a V in there somewhere. Why are we normalizing this? Speaking the standardized version of a language is racist? Such bullshit.
So basically black Americans are the most studied people in the world 😅
'Aks' and 'ask' were competing spellings and pronunciations of the same word originating from the Old English word, "acsian."
Also, I want to point out that AAE is not the only dialect of English that requires its speakers to code switch. Several other dialects of English are considered lower class and uneducated in both American and England. I'll give my own native dialect as an example, Southern Appalachian English, which also uses double negatives, non-standard pronunciation of certain words (oil and guitar), "ain't" as well as words only found within the dialect ('cooter' for turtle, 'gooch' for tickle, 'goozle' for Adam's apple, etc). I refrain from using my native dialect in my professional life and in most of my interactions with peers outside of Appalachia. I find myself naturally switching to my native dialect when speaking with strangers where I'm trying to be polite or with family.
We need to stop stereotyping people based on the dialect they speak. Maybe then we can reduce the need to code switch.
What is the movie referenced with the "use your white voice"? Thank you
Load of crap ,more excuses to divide people
I expected to roll my eyes but I have to say this was quite enlightening. My parents migrated from the Bronx in the early 80's before I was born. My mom drilled into us that AAE was lazy and unprofessional slang that should never be used. However, the illustration about Japanese really highlights the immediate social connection formed about the foundation that AAE is within a group of people. While I would be proud to have my employer overhear me speaking Spanish with a family member, I hesitate to say the same if they heard me speaking AAE. Definitely some food for thought as to why that is.
9:06 Ironically except for southern whites.
She ain’t speaking black.
imo, this video projects too much morality onto a phenomenon that happens across all kinds of dialects for a number of reasons (you listed several in your video about the disappearing Southern accent for example). I'd say African American English is catching on among white folks for a range of reasons. Just a few not mentioned are
1, There are lot of terms from black English that don't have an equivalent, so people use them for the same reason that authors will borrow French words to put a finer point on things.
2. As a white boi, mainstream American white English just sounds so…fake most of the time. So cheery, conflict avoidant, insincere. Sure, we no one wants any more cash me ousside girls than we already have, but borrowing phrases from black English is almost required to make a more blunt point unless you want to sound like you were born in 1920. ex: there really is no white equivalent to "ain't nobody got time fo dat…"
3. In modern America, a lot of pressure seems to be going the opposite way: people with more erudite or polished speaking styles are pressured to sound more "casual" or "relatable", often to the point where their jobs are at risk if they don't. For this reason, dialects associated with the lower classes are brought in precisely because they are lower class, and the person speaking wants to sound anti-elitist. White people who speak elegantly are viewed as arrogant, black people who speak elegant are viewed as "Uncle Toms" who are self-loathing (you justifiably pointed out the latter).
I am so confused. If I want to learn AAE as a non native English person, a lot of Black people in the comments will seem to get offended by it.. I understand the feeling of mockery, but should it always feel that way? It's like be perfect, or it's going to be cringy and we'll hate you for imitating us.. I don't want to offend, but I get that vibe a LOT from the people here, and even from the last clip in the video.. It's a completely different story in my country where whenever a foreigner tries to speak the native language, we appreciate and applaud the effort, even if it is broken.. In America, it seems like actually doing an effort to connect is looked down upon and will get you a side eye 😏.
The world is already aware of AAE and Black culture.. Interest in it will only continue to expand and grow with social media.. And I am glad to know MORE about AAE through channels like these..
Ebonics is a certain diction. Slang spoken in Ebonics is something different. For instance, an elderly Black person who doesn't use slang can still be speaking in Ebonics. Just like a young person of another race can use slang but can't deliver it in Ebonics. There's a difference. What im saying is it ain't what you say but how you say it. Nice try tho smh..
I think it's ultimately damaging to people to think of any speech pattern in any language as "correct" or "incorrect." RP is thought of as "proper" British English perhaps because it's associated with British elites. "Proper" American English is unsurprisingly associated with white people. I remember one linguist pointing out that there really isn't "good" and "bad" language—it's just language.
That said, there are some pronunciations of words that bug me. I'm slowly getting used to "nucular" instead of nuclear. What really get to me are some British pronunciations. When I hear some Brits say "sam-you-rai" or "Nicara-gyu-wa" it rubs me the wrong way. But that's me. Maybe the Japanese and Spanish pronunciations aren't terribly important.
I have seen instances of Pakistanis using the n-word thinking it's cool to use it. In one instance a Pakistani used it for a Pakistani rapper who is of African ethnicity (born and raised in Pakistan, child of Pakistani parents). Other more-learned Pakistanis had to politely admonish him for using the word and pointed out its negative connotations.
I always thought "finna" was variation of gonna, but affected by typo as it relates to the placement on the keyboard. "G" is next to "F" and "I" is next to "O".
There is no shame in code switching. Everyone who knows how to does it depending on the audience.
If I am talking to scientists or Europeans I will speak in metric units. Same as with dialects. Same as with using slang. If I am talking to a doctor I won’t use slang like I would to a friend.
As an immigrant from Eastern Europe to an English speaking country, a lot of the ways AAE is put together is also present in poor level English where I’m from. To me, the socio-dialect sounds like the speaker is either deliberately or unknowingly using the language wrong. To them I also look like an oppressor even though the history of my people is nothing but people oppressed. So can we teach everyone everything or should we all conform to the norm of the majority? Discuss.
They like our language, our music, our hairstyles…but they don't like us.
Lol what? This videocis completely bull. We got our dialect and accents from southern "white" "english" 😅. And we arent african nor is our speech of african grammar. Africans dont sound like us, wven when they speak English. So much misinformation, smh
I find it ironic that this fascinating presentation was given in academic MAE instead of the language it is describing…
You made a good case that it isn’t just improper English but is a dialect. That being said, all dialects – even for white Bostonians or southerners, are going to sound provincial.
Black people are too cool and White people want to own every culture, especially in America
Informative however my only opposition with the video is that people have an issue with others using AAE if its such a rich and diverse language how all of a sudden is it racist if someone uses it I'm just looking at things from different angles here coming from someone who grew up with a family that speaks multiple languages (Farsi, Dari, Pashto) we find it to be a sign of endearment when outsiders take the time to learn our languages even if its just hi how are you? I'm starting to believe Americans are too sensitive and possessive but hey what do I know
Nuclear-nucular and ask-aks are just annoying to my ears.
Ain't nuffin be wrong with Plantation English, yo!
I know what is frustrating me about this video and the other video on southern accents. Cultural and people groups are not a monolith and while there are patterns that exist among certain groups of people, I feel like this overly simplifies an entire group of people into one category, so how is that different from stereotyping? This feels like soft racism.
As a African-American woman who has two black parents, and is actually living, a black lived experience in America, African-American vernacular. English does not have any rules. The only rule that we have is say what you saying don’t add all of these fluffy and exaggerated terms to get to the point it’s a very clear and communicative Communicative way of speaking. It’s getting your point across with truth and facts and without narcissism debate or fluff.
"this is a legitimate language" says erica brozovsky and adam dylewski ……….. i feel like neo gaining full powers over the matrix
I’ve taken influence from this in my fictional universe. The Anlai language has pidgins with SAE, AAE, United States Spanish, Hebrew, and Japanese. As in one theory of AAE, immigrants to Anlia start out writing in their native language and switching to Anlai only to report their sins to Anlia’s automated state sorter, but gradually pick up conversational Anlai and insert it into their normal speech until their vocabulary is mostly Anlai.
All black people aren’t from Africa many of us were already here! We are the real Native American Indians. Research …. And our history didn’t start with slavery ….
Why did I have to double check those phrases but with the dialect? Some of them sounded way different without a dialect
As a black foreigner speaking English as a second language, I am confused when black Americans speak AAE to me. I struggle a bit to understand AAE. But black Americans often don't ever try to speak in a way outsiders can understand.
I read in the comments that some of them do code switching. I wonder if because I'm black they don't feel necessary to switch with me.
Before I hit play, I’m preparing for racist victimization and shaming white people. Hope I’m wrong. .
Edit: knew it. Speaking properly is racist and speaking improperly is racist. Got it.