2.4.3 Social Dialects

Social dialects: varieties of a language spoken by people from different socioeconomic, ethnic, age, and gender groups

• Ethnicity: African American Vernacular English (AAVE)/Ebonics, White English, Spanglish

• Age: Youth vs. Older

• Gender: Male, Female (Valley Girl Talk)

• Sexuality: LGBT vs. Straight

• Socioeconomic status: Middle vs. Working class

• Occupation: doctors, engineers, Gangster Talk

African­‐American Vernacular English (AAVE)

• a cover term used by linguists to refer to a continuum of varieties whose features may be very similar to or very different from those of Standard American English.

• The name AAE is used in acknowledgment of the fact that these varieties are spoken primarily by and among African Americans. Community membership, cultural, and historical aspects play a role.

Grammatical Features of AAVE:

1. Use of "be"

• Some of the most noticeable and distinct features of AAVE are the different uses of the verb "be". Standard English speakers frequently mistake use of this perfectly grammatical feature as an attempt to speak standard English that failed. In reality, this usage just follows grammatical rules that are unknown to non-speakers of AAVE.

2. The invariant habitual 'be' is used to show that an action is done frequently.

• Our bus be late every day.

• Ah 'on know what homey be doin'. (I don't know what my friend is usually doing.)

3. "BIN" is a stressed form of been, which signifies that an action began a long time ago.

• She BIN had dat han'-made dress. (She's had that hand-made dress for a long time, and still does.

4. "Be done" functions as a conditional perfect, a hypothetical future statement.

• Befo' you know it, he be done aced de tesses. (Before you know it, he will have already aced the tests.)