Figure 10.1 U.S. population by race, 2007 (N = 301,237,703)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Various authors have put the number of AAVE speakers between 80 and
90 percent of the African American population (Baugh 1983; Rickford
2000). What can be said with more certainty is that AAVE speakers come
from all socioeconomic backgrounds and circumstances. Further, while
not all persons of African ancestry speak AAVE, the language is spoken by
people who are not African American. Children and adolescents learn the
language they hear around them, regardless of race or ethnicity. A blond,
blue-eyed child raised with African American playmates in an African
American community where AAVE predominates will in fact, learn AAVE
- though she may also learn other varieties of English at the same time.