Black English 149as -st, -sk, -ft , and -ld are reduced to a single consonant such
as tes’(test), des’ (desk), lef ’ (left ), and col’ (cold); changes
to “th” sounds, where words with a medial or fi nal “th” are
produced as the “v” or “f ” sounds, as in “birfday” (birth-
day); changes to the “r” sound, where the “r” is not present
aft er “o” and “u,” as in “foe” (four) and “doe” (door), or is ab-
sent aft er consonants, as in “th’ough” (through); changes to
str- words (string, street), which may become skr-words
(skring, skreet); and metathesis, where the order of sounds
in words is changed as in “aksed” (asked).
Some morphosyntactic features of Black English in-
clude the following: changes in tense, including the past
tense, where the -ed at the end of regular verbs is not pro-
duced (“she fi nish_ eating fast”), or where the -ed is added
to irregular verbs (“he drinked it all”); remote time con-
struction of “been,” where “been” represents an action in
the distant past (“I been had one of those”); invariant use
of “be,” where “be” is used for “is,” “are,” and “am” (“he be
busy all the time”); subject-verb agreement, where the sub-
ject and verb are non-complimentary (“they was walking
home together”); and variable use of the copula (is/are),
“they happy.”
Th e use of dialects, including Black English, is infl u-
enced by a number of diff erent variables. Black English is
developmental. Younger and older speakers diff er in the
types (features) and amount (density) of dialect used, with
both features and density decreasing with age and educa-
tion. Th e exception to this observation is among adolescent
males, who tend to demonstrate an increase in use of the
dialect. Black English use varies between speakers from low
socioeconomic and more affl uent environments, with speak-
ers from less affl uent communities using a greater variety
of features and more frequently. Linguistic context aff ects
Black English use. Features are produced more frequently
in natural discourse settings such as conversation than in
more formal or structured contexts such as oral reading or
delivering a speech. Th e features of Black English are not
obligatory. Speakers may or may not use Black English fea-
tures all the time. Features may be variable, including based
on the setting (formal versus informal) and conversational
partner (peer versus non-peer). Code-switching is the abil-
ity to switch between language variations, such as between
Black English and more standard forms (those spoken by
the majority). Some Black English speakers are more fl uent
at code-switching than others. Greater contact with other
varieties of English, usually through school experience andBlack English
Black English is a dialect or language variety of American
English. Also known as Black Vernacular English (BVE),
African American English (AAE), African American Ver-
nacular English (AAVE), and Ebonics, Black English is spo-
ken by many but not all African Americans. Approximately
80–90 percent of African Americans speak Black English
as least some of the time. Because of the social nature of
language development and use, Black English is also spo-
ken by many non-African Americans who live among or
identify with speakers of Black English.
Th ere are several theories posited about the origins of
Black English. One of the most widely accepted theories
is the creolist theory. Th is theory maintains that modern
Black English is the result of a hybrid derived from contact
between speakers of European languages and various West
African languages. Slaves came in contact with Europeans,
and needing to fi nd ways to communicate, they developed
an informal, simplistic way of communicating called a pid-
gin. Th is pidgin eventually became a Creole when it was the
primary language of a future generation. Over time, Black
English has gone through the process of decreolization,
with the features of the dialect moving toward the standard
form (the form used by the majority population or the pop-
ulation of power).
Th e English language includes many variations, in-
cluding American dialects (varieties) such as Black Eng-
lish, Appalachian English, and Southern English. Th ese
dialects, including Black English, are systematically gov-
erned by linguistic rules that cross all language parameters,
including the rules governing the form of language—
phonology (speech sounds), morphology (word structure),
and syntax (sentence structure); the rules governing word
meaning—semantics (vocabulary/lexicon); and the rules
governing language use—pragmatics (social rules). Each
of these dialects has its own set of distinguishing features
and patterns. However, a majority of the linguistic features
of English are common among each of the varieties.
Common features of Black English are generally de-
scribed based on phonology (those aff ecting pronuncia-
tion) and morphosyntax (those aff ecting grammar). Some
phonological features of Black English include the follow-
ing: changes to consonant clusters, most oft en seen in the
fi nal position of words, where fi nal consonant blends such