Ethnic dialect

Key terms

Ethnic dialect

The distinct form of a language spoken by members of a particular ethnic group

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

A distinct variety of American English spoken in many African American communities. Some characteristics are the absence of copula verb be, the use of habitual aspect be, and absence of possessive s. There are also distinctive phonological and lexical features.

AAVE features pronunciation

• Final consonant deletion

• th-stopping

• [r] deletion; (guard - [god] )

• [l] deletion; (help - [hep] )

• consonant cluster reduction; (messed up - [mɛs ʌp] )

• ing forms; (working - [wəkɪn] )

• word initial; (/ð/ > /d/ — that day - [dæt de] )

• other positions;

AAVE features grammar

— The use of habitual "be" (he be running every morning)

— Double negatives (I ain't got no money)

— Variable subject-verb agreement ("The dog eat" instead of "The dog eats")

AAVE features vocabulary

AAVE has a distinctive vocabulary, with words and phrases that are not commonly used in Standard English. For example, "yo" instead of "your," "finna" instead of "going to," and "chillin'" instead of "relaxing."

AAVE features syntax

AAVE has unique sentence structures, such as the use of "done" to indicate completed actions (e.g., "I done ate already") and the use of "them" as a gender-neutral pronoun (e.g., "Them folks over there").

AAVE features discourse

AAVE has its own patterns of discourse, including the use of call-and-response, improvisation, and storytelling.

British Black English (BBE)

British Black English (BBE), also known as Multicultural London English (MLE), is a dialect of English that is spoken by some young people of Black and Asian heritage in urban areas of the United Kingdom.

British Black English features pronunciation

BBE has distinctive pronunciation features, such as

• Glottal stops ("bu'er" instead of "butter")

• th-fronting ("fink" instead of "think")

• Non-rhoticity ("pa'k" instead of "park").

British Black English features grammar

BBE has unique grammatical features, such as

• The use of "ain't" ("I ain't got no money")

• Variable subject-verb agreement ("The team is/are winning")

• The use of "man" as a pronoun ("Man's got a new car").

British Black English features vocabulary

BBE has a distinctive vocabulary, with words and phrases that are not commonly used in Standard English. For example,

• "bare" instead of "a lot of,"

• "peng" instead of "attractive,"

• "wagwan" instead of "what's going on?"

British Black English features syntax

BBE has unique sentence structures, such as

• The use of "done" to indicate completed actions ("I done my homework")

• The use of double negatives for emphasis ("I don't need no help").

British Black English features discourse

BBE has its own patterns of discourse, including the use of slang, the repetition of key words for emphasis, and the use of call-and-response.