aged African American woman in conflict with her adult
children. Note how AAVE is used for the dialog of some
characters but not others. Bambara is a native AAVE
speaker, and made those decisions consciously.
(a) Given the overall theme of the story, how does the
variable use of AAVE serve to illustrate the conflict?
(b) How many features of AAVE described in this chapter
can you identify in “My Man Bovanne?” Are there other
features that are not described here?Notes
1 African American scholars who study AAVE across types of language
communities tend to use the term “Black Language” rather than “Black
English” (the term used in the first edition of this chapter). Alim
(2004a: 17) uses the term Black Language “to denote both language
structure and language use. Viewing Language this way allows us to
conceptualize BL as a distinct set of structural features and
communicative norms and practices.”
2 Suggestions on where to start if you are interested in learning more
about the history and grammar of AAVE follow at the end of the
chapter.
3 This subject will come up again in a later chapter with the discussion
of Baugh’s work on linguistic profiling in the housing industry (2000).
4 Other varieties of American English have distinct intonation patterns.
See Dumas (1999) on stress patterns in Southern Mountain English.
5 There is a complicated relationship between AAVE and other varieties
of U.S. English, few aspects of which can be explored here. One
important and divisive issue is the selective appropriation of AAVE
lexical items into other varieties of English. Appropriation and its
counterpart, supportive assimilation, are subjects which need to be
explored systematically and objectively. This subject was raised also in
the discussion of African Americans and linguistic profiling in
animated film.