Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English (review)

This is a compilation of papers from a 1988 conference at the University of Georgia. In the introduction, Lanehart frames a question that, though frequently asked, has not been adequately answered: What is African American English (AAE)? Answering entails addressing a wide range of issues, including the relationship of AAE to other varieties of English, and examining often underappreciated forums of expression such as Hip Hop and ‘shoutin’. Salikoko Mufwene focuses on the difficulty of defining AAE and points out that neither defining it nor focusing on the variation among its speakers is any more relevant than for other languages.

In the second section, Guy Bailey looks at the diachronic and synchronic relationships between AAE and Southern White Vernacular English (SWVE). He details the post-Civil-War period during which there was a rise in the number of black and white tenant farmers sharing an economic class that engendered social contact. Patricia Cukor-Avila compares grammatical features of AAE and SWVE. David Sutcliffe takes a new look at ex-slave recordings that he believes were improperly transcribed and argues that evidence for an early creole-like grammar for AAE, outside of traditional Gullah areas, was missed.

Mary B. Zeigler’s work on language use elaborates the speech act of ‘shoutin’—verbal expressions of ‘unspeakable joy’ often accompanied by foot stomping and clapping—and includes an analysis of the Isley Brothers’ song ‘Shout!’. Marcyliena Morgan describes the speech communities that encompass Hip Hop culture. According to Morgan, speakers are consciously manipulating language for political and social expression. She provides a fascinating description of Hip Hop word formation processes.

Denise Troutman addresses the lack of studies of African American women’s speech, a gap that leads to the erroneous belief that AAE is the speech of young urban males. She also finds that although African American women share communication strategies with other women, there are important differences as well, including the use of culturally toned diminutives, latching, and smart talk.

Arthur Spears’s chapter on directness provides a careful examination of AAE speech acts including trash talk, the dozens, napping, and getting real. He asserts that these speech acts need to be linguistically analyzed because of misperceptions by the dominant culture as to their function and appropriateness within African American culture.

The final chapters focus on how a better understanding of AAE can contribute to educational success for AAE-speaking students. Toya A. Wyatt discusses ways the community can participate in raising educational levels. Michelle Foster asserts that because most academic studies of and workshops on AAE have been exercises in contrastive analysis, we have missed opportunities to help teachers promote linguistic resources available to its speakers. William Labov’s study focuses on programs for improving reading skills in inner city schools through raising phonemic awareness, programs which are having measurable successes. Teaching parents to become effective advocates for children and helping teachers value linguistic diversity are the subjects of John Baugh’s contribution.

In the final chapter, Walt Wolfram provides a thoughtful review of past decades of intense research on AAE and suggests directions for research focusing on synchronic issues, history and development, and the practical application of research.