African American vernacular/accent

I was wondering about the black American dialect – why is it so different from standard American English and where does it stem from? Does it come from mixing with West African languages or is it a version of the southern accent? Has it always sounded like it sounds today? Why is the pronounciation so different (like not pronouncing the Rs, D instead of T, etc) – is it because of your biological features or is it just the custom? How come some blacks speak with the standard accent (like Obama and Condoleeza Rice)?

 

Blacks who speak with the notorious jargon appropriately labelled ebonics, which is setting their race back hundreds of years, are mostly ignorant and linguistically incapable of fluidly pronouncing most standard English words. Their lack of correct verbal interpretation results in as you noticed the replacement of "d" for "th" such as "dat and dere" and the unnecessary elongation of a tone when stating words like "who" for "whooo" or "where" "whey" and "shit" for "sheeeet". It is very important not to misconstrue these blatant flaws in simple enunciantion for an "accent" as many blacks who speak like this are prone to do. On the other hand many highly educated blacks do speak with a NATURAL African/Jamaican accent which is perfectly normal and should not be considered anomalous.

I'm black and my diction changes in accordance with my audience. For instance, I won't speak to black youths hanging about the liquor store at noon with the same tone as I would with say a black entrepreneur.

 

Now I am going to speak on this and say most of the blacks I know speak proper English, I don't know how many black people you know or have met on your internet trolling(I can tell by your posts)but you need to lay off the rap videos.

 

It's a sub-cultural phenomenom based in my opinion on some poor education and also southern dialects. The problem is that it is seen as kind of cool to speak ebonics in the hood, and some blacks continue to speak that way even though they know better because they don't want to be accused of talking like a white person. For example, in my own family, we were raised by two black parents to speak proper english, but one of my sisters (who is an accountant) lives in a community with a lot of black friends and she speaks ebonics. When I talk with her on the phone or at a reunion I look at her as if to say, "what house were you raised in?"

Most blacks in professional circles speak proper english like Condi and Obama.

Ironically, many white kids in the US who like hip-hop speak ebonics too.

 

Yea, I've heard white kids speak ebonic, it's silly. I like ebonics though, as long as you can switch back to regular language.

 

Which Baltic state are you from? If you don't mind telling, that is.

 

This.

It's really just an issue of how/where you are raised. Unfortunately, many black youths in particular spread the chain of gibberish because they tell each other that it is THEIRS, something that the white man can't take and think it's cool. I remember when I was younger how I had a friend that spoke proper english but then he moved to a mostly black area and was converted by the black youth there just for the reason above. I refused to convert to that crap! They may call it theirs but it sounds and makes them look just like how most people like to see us - as stupid, uneducated ghetto thugs.

 

Wow, you were addressing me? I don't know where you live but I know what you posted was complete frog shit because firstly I was differentiating between ebonics and accent and I meant to infer that one is unproper and the other is perfectly fine. I'm black myself, I live in a middle-class black neighborhood and interact with black people on a daily basis so I don't need you to start preaching to me about racial enlightenment. The majority of the blacks in my neighborhood and within a 30 mile radius of my community speak ebonics. As for "most blacks I know speak proper English", you must be referring to women because the majority of blacks who speak proper English are women and that is patent when you go to your local bookstore or college/university library. SURE, there are a couple black guys here and there that speak impeccable English, but to claim that MOST do is shit dude... I was forced to admit that embarrassing fact a long time ago.

 

I didn't actually mean the "ebonics", I meant the accent.

 

Maroon, I think that is a combo of the things you mentioned: physical make-up, genetics, southern influences, and style that is a part of the african-american sub culture.

I detect uniqueness in other cultures' accents too because of the exposure to other nations my job gives me. I now can quickly discern between accents (when they speak english) of Germans, Poles, Dutch, Swedes, Danes, Fins, Portuguese and Spaniards.

 

Yea, me too because I love languages and different accents.

 

You would not like me much if you heard me speak. I have been told many times that I have no accent whatsoever.

 

I've got nothing against people who speak ebonics, hell my late father spoke ebonics. I just get a little pissed when people confuse ebonics with a an African's/Haitian's/Jamaican's accent because ironically, it's RACIST.

 

E be like say I suppose dey yan correct english oooo!

 

Dude.. That ain't what I meant.

I mean the way Will Smith and Chris Brown talk. And that's not ebonics. Just a specific pronunciation with a couple of distinct words/phrases thrown in.

 

No I was not addressing you man.

 

I grew up in a very bad neighborhood in the ghetto, and everyone who lived in this neighborhood spoke ebonics/slang, except for me and my brothers and sisters. I don't think that was a coincidence. I think the reason why all of my family members were able to grow up in the ghetto and not speak in ebonics is because my mom never dared speak it. I attribute white kids speaking in slang to the whole hip-hop boom around the world, but as far as black kids speaking it, i could be wrong, but i think a lot of it has to do with their parents. If your parents don't dare speak it, i think the black child is less likely to do so as well. Like i said, i could be wrong though, because peer pressure definitely plays a factor.

By the way, i don't even mind when somebody speaks in ebonics, but when they turn around and criticize me for not speaking it as well, that's when i begin to have a problem. It's hypocrisy at it's finest.

 

Thanks, Bryant.

Everyone in the ghetto spoke ebonics? Wow. But I guess that's not what my question was anyway, I figure ebonics is a combination of a certain accent and vocabulary. I'm more interested in the spoken accent itself - like, why isn't the r pronounced in words like "hard", "cars". And with words like "style" - they go "staaahl". And instead of sing its "seng". That's what I mean. I wonder whether that's racial or because of the Southern accent or whatever.
And that has nothin' to do with ebonics, cuz as far as I figure ebonics implies just certain types of phrases and wording, like, "who dat?" or "wassaap!!".

 

Okay, i think i get your drift. Actually, it all depends on location. In New York, the vocabulary might sound much, much different from the vocabulary in Chicago, or the vocabulary down south in the ATL. It's all ebonics, but the actual pronunciation of the words are going to vary from state to state most likely.

 

Ok, just tell me - the way, for ex., Will Smith speaks - is that considered ebonics or just African American English?