Transcript of 'Black English': How AAVE Developed From Slave Resistance & African Dialects | The Breakdown

[Music] peace and welcome to the breakdown i'm your host clary now whether we call it african-american vernacular english black english ebonics or just the way black folks talk the cadences phrases and expressions birth within african-american culture demonstrate a unique approach to the english language with a special history view of study today we're going to take a look a deeper look at the african influence on this english language and the origins of the unique ability african-americans have to turn a phrase express a sentiment and merge an african sense of grammar and vocabulary with the english language we gonna get into all of that and more right now on the breakdown the breakdown [Music] language is the primary means human beings use to share ideas with one another and if you were to ask the average scholar they might describe the origins of the english language as mostly german with major influence from the various latin languages whether we know it or not we use english words rooted in german french or spanish all the time hamburger bouquet taco but what about the commonly used english words that came from africa the african influence on the english language is a topic often ignored in academic circles there are quite a few words that are african and origin that are now commonly accepted english words in senegalese languages wow or or something very similar to that is the word for yes um and we say wow of course all the time as a word of affirmation now also words like yam gumbo okra words like that oftentimes we've been able to associate those back to african groups the black folk who learned to speak english learned to speak it from english people who were ignorant themselves and so the odds and the dims and the does was how uh the british people from from the british isles from ireland from scotland spoke when they came to america it was the poor folk who were the overseers on the concentration camps that they call plantations it wasn't the highly educated but even within us adapting this foreign language this oppressive language there were methods of speaking and communicating that were part of the african culture that we use to dress up this language right to give feeling and soul to this language it is because of the energy that emanates from the body that gives life to the words that transforms the consciousness of the people hearing those words that's soul communication brothers and sisters that's what we have and we have it better than anybody else in the 17th century when masses of africans were brought to the americas on slave ships they were forbidden from doing anything that might be considered a threat to european control it was a long list that included anything from wearing african clothes to playing african drums to practicing african religion and one of the most crippling restrictions was forbidding enslaved africans to speak their own languages which hindered their ability to conspire for escape or counter-attack as a result out of necessity and ingenuity black people in north america developed their own style of speaking a seamless blend of english and african languages and often wrapped in code the water [Music] coded language that is language that the enslaved would use to communicate with each other so that their masters the white community their mistresses the overseers would not be able to readily tell what they were saying or the messages that they were giving to one another oftentimes they would be ways that they may want to communicate just to have some privacy because so much of their lives as enslaved people was dictated to them and to be able to have some agency and some control over their communication that was something that they were very ingenious about and so some examples that we have would be the negro spirituals time he be going to the store he'd be getting the same thing the indefinite continual or occasional tense is an african grammar device that is often applied to english it is a tense that does not exist within traditional english grammar rules [Applause] but it does exist within the grammar rules of certain african languages and its usage in english is practiced almost exclusively by descendants of enslaved africans throughout the diaspora nowadays we hear quite a few people they'll use the expressions he be going to the store all the time the you have the subject with the verb to be they oftentimes would incorporate those vocabulary words into their existing grammar structures shawn they be tripping and you speak this language and you were listening to me you understand that i mean suwandei tripping right now he was tripping the last time i saw him it's a perennial situation with him etc so that's three different time tenses every time he be going to the stove he'd be forgetting what i asked him for so then he'd be calling me asking me what i'd be wanting another way african thinking is often applied to the english language is in the usage of opposites as emphasis yo you heard that new verse by pusha t crazy stupid yo lebron skills are dumb dumb foolish we'll say you know that's a bad coat or you're a bad brother and we don't mean that in the negative we mean that very positively and so we have taken that colorful use of language and we're still coding our language but now it is not because we are shielding from an oppressor it is because we have reappropriated a tactic a strategy that was used 400 years ago yo she bad bad what's so bad about that not bad meaning bad bad meaning good oh so bad mean good are you stupid man i'm stupid oh that's a good thing right oh no no no no that's not good that's oh now you think no not stupid good stupid bad bad stupid wait this stupid equals bad it's the language of the barbershop the beauty shop it's the language of that you sing your praises to god in right and i don't know you know no black person who won't know what i'm saying if i say don't nobody don't know jesus can't tell me nothing about him they know what i've said and they understand that there's a bunch of double negatives in there which is a hallmark of the language today more african americans are coming to understand these grammar rules differently than they did in the past rather than avoiding black english for fear of appearing uneducated or denouncing it as ignorant many now see it as an important link to the african-american ancestors who built this nation and the african linguistic roots so many thought were cut off forever if you have not learned the language of the classroom that is not an indictment against you that's an indictment against the classroom and if you come to that classroom speaking that language and you're discouraged from speaking it so that you are muted and you get disinterested in education that's also an indictment against that classroom a language was born and it's the language that we speak to each other in and it's the language that we innately i think understand i'm not speaking improper anything i'm speaking proper spoken soul now as we enter to this new era of african pride and black power it is more important now than ever before that african americans really understand the full story of who we are and what our contribution has been to the world by recognizing and celebrating common heritage shared by black people in america africa and throughout the entire diaspora we can work together to create a better world for us all that's it for now i'm clarity and i will see you next time on the breakdown peace the breakdown