African American English Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is African American English?

African American English (AAE) is a dialect of English natively spoken by African Americans. This dialect has been in existence since the days of slavery in the United States and has evolved over time to become its own unique dialect. It is now considered to be a legitimate part of American culture and language, with distinct features such as its pronunciation, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. One distinctive feature of AAE is its pronunciation. For example, words like ask are pronounced as aks and words like house can be pronounced as hows instead of the more traditional pronunciation. In addition, African American English sentences often lack a subject-verb agreement; for example, someone speaking AAE may say He don’t know nothing instead of the more traditional He doesn’t know anything. This lack of subject-verb agreement reflects an influence from West African languages on AAE grammar rules. AAE also has a distinct vocabulary which is not found in other dialects of English; for example, words like juke or bustin’ are used by African Americans to describe dance moves or parties respectively but are not commonly used by others who do not speak this dialect.