A History of English Language

A history of the english language 362
whether the black and white vernaculars are diverging or converging. 41 From the creole
hypothesis one might expect a steady convergence over the years through the process of
“decreolization.” Recent studies, however, have found features of the vernaculars of both
African Americans and whites in cities such as New York and Philadelphia to be
diverging from those of standard English. The issue has received attention in the press,
partly because of educational policies that may be implied.
Some features of African American Vernacular English (often abbreviated AAVE)
occur also in the Southern white nonstandard English of comparable socioeconomic
levels. However, there are also phonological and morphological features that occur
almost exclusively in AAVE or occur at a significantly higher rate than in other varieties.
The reduction of final consonant clusters (for example, lis’ for list), as we have seen, is a
common feature of the Lower South, as is the loss of postvocalic r (ca’ for car, fo’ for
four), and both of these deletions occur in AAVE. The most usual context for deletion of
such consonants is before a word beginning with a consonant. AAVE differs from other
varieties in having a higher rate of deletion before a vowel (for example, lif’ up for lift
up). AAVE is also characterized by deletion of a word-final single consonant after a
vowel as in ma’ for man, with a nasalized [æ], or boo’ for boot. Both voiced and
voiceless th vary from Standard English in AAVE—for example,[ð] in that realized as
[d], dat; [θ] in thin realized as [t], tin; and [θ] in nothing and mouth realized as [f], nuf’n,
mouf. As in many varieties of English, both standard and nonstandard, the -ing suffix
occurs as [In], singin’.
Among the grammatical features of AAVE, the verbal system is especially interesting
in its systematic differences from Standard English. The verb to be is regularly deleted
both as the linking verb and as the helping verb: for example He tall for Standard English
He is tall, and They runnin’ for They are running. There is a category of verbal aspect
that represents habitual action that may occur over a period of time repeatedly, though
not necessarily continuously; for example, They be runnin’ for Standard English They are
usually running, or They usually run 42 In AAVE this structure contrasts with They
runnin’, cited above, which means They are running right now. Other systematic features
of the verbal system in AAVE include the use of done to emphasize the completed nature
of an action—for example, He done did it for Standard English He’s already done it—
and the absence of third person singular present tense -s, as in He talk for Standard
English He talks.
9. Hispanic American English.
Like African American Vernacular English, Hispanic American English is a social and
ethnic variety, but like the Anglo
41
See the essays by Ralph W.Fasold, William Labov, Fay B.Vaughn-Cooke, Guy Bailey, Walt
Wolfram, A.K.Spears, and John Rickford in American Speech, 62 (1987).
42
In informal discussion of grammar a distinction is often not made between verbal tense and
aspect, though clearly it is necessary to be more precise in describing these categories in AAVE.
Tense refers to the time during which the action of a verb takes place. Aspect refers to the
beginning, duration, completion, or repetition of the action of a verb.