African American Vernacular English and Rap Music

胡波z

Abstract：African American Vernacular English （AAVE） is the language spoken by almost 20 million speakers all over the world. It is also used frequently in rap lyrics. Studying the origin and grammar rules of AAVE is a very important topic in todays English Language and English Teaching Studies.

Key words：AAVE， Rap music， English Language Teaching

African American Vernacular English （AAVE）， as its literal meaning， is the language spoken by some African American groups. According to Dillard， Black English has been used by 18 to 20 million speakers. These AAVE users are mostly lower level African Americans. （Dillard， 1975）

Linguistics and other researchers who are interested in AAVE hold different point of views of AAVE. Some of them believe that AAVE is an “independent language”. Some refer AAVE as a “l(fā)anguage variety” or a “dialect of Standard English”. Parts of the researchers even claim it as “slang”，” ungrammatical language”， or “a lazy version” of Standard English （SE）”. These kinds of statements had been discredited by most linguistic researches.

AAVE is generally differed from SE on its grammar， phonology， and even semantics. According to Rickford， the use of tense-aspect system （especially the word “be”） between AAVE and SE shows the largest difference in grammar. AAVE often uses the stressed “BIN” to emphasize “the inception of the action or state at a subjectively defined remote point in time” （Rickford， 1996）， "be done" for “resultatives or the future or conditional perfect” （Baugh， 1983， pp.77-80）， and the “invariant habitual ‘be” （Rickford， 1996）. The other AAVE features are absence of copula/auxiliary， multiple negation， negative inversion， absence of possessive -s and plural –s， pronunciation differences， and etc （Rickford， 2001）. Here is an example of AAVE：

AAVE： “She BIN had dat han'-made dress”

（SE： She's had that hand-made dress for a long time， and still does.）

Ⅰ、African American Vernacular English in Rap Music

AAVE is used frequently in rap lyrics in contemporary American culture. Generally speaking， rap as a form of expression of African American culture， had brought AAVE spreading all over the world. Because of the commercial value of rap music， it also helped to brought peoples attention to AAVE， especially in Asian countries. According to Daley， “…rap music became a national， then a trans-national phenomenon fairly quickly” （Delay， 1998）. As mentioned before， both AAVE and rap represent African American culture. In another word， they shared the same African American value， believe， and morality.

Rickford talked about how AAVE had been spread through rap music： “…much of what people know from rap and hip hop and other popular Black culture is slang， young people's vocabulary…becoming almost an icon of youth culture itself” （Rickford， 1996） . The truth is that AAVE and rap music are getting so popular nowadays. Young people from many countries were attracted to this unique， cool， and creativity type of language.

Speaking of AAVE and hip hop elements， a speech event called The Dozens game （very similar to ‘battling in rap） should be one of the major activities. According to Labovs “Rules of Ritual Insult”， the participants of the game are allowed to attack each others appearance， intelligence， even disfigurements， and other personal features by words （Labov， 1997）. These kinds of insult in The Dozens do not really offense the participants， the winner even win respects from other participants. Sealey-Ruiz valued The Dozens in her article as a unique “verbal sparring” speech event usually attract many people in the community which “often played to display the creativity， lyrical prowess， and wit of the persons involved” （Sealey-Ruiz， 2005）. Following are some examples of The Dozens slang from Sealey-Ruiz：

Yo mama so skinny when she turn sideways she disappear

Yo mama so fat she sell shade.

Even AAVE and rap lyrics have so much in common； there are still differences between these two forms of expression. As for the Dozens game， the most important speech event in AAVE weve mentioned above， though it shares the same pronunciation， grammar， semantics， and even culture value with rap lyrics， these two still have small distinguish on several parts.

Ⅱ、Conclusion

In conclusion， AAVE has been developed for over two hundred years， and it has become a “l(fā)anguage”. It has also used in rap lyrics which becomes another form of expression of African American culture. AAVE and rap music are strongly related but still different in parts. As language learners and teachers， we should not avoid the importance of AAVE and rap music in the U.S. culture， no matter commercial or literal value. It is very important for Chinese ESL teacher start paying attention to AAVE learning as a new language and a part of the U.S. culture. All English teachers need to do is to find an effective method to help students to distinguish the differences.

References

[1] Baugh， J. （1983）. Black street speech： its history， structure and survival. Austin： University of Texas Press.

[2] Dillard， J.L. （1975）. General introduction： perspectives on Black English. The Hague： Mouton.

[3] Labov， W. （1997）. Rules for ritual insults. In N. Coupland， & A. Jaworksi （Eds.）， Sociolinguistics： A reader （pp. 472-486）. New York： St. Martin's Press.

[4] Rickford， J. R. （1996）. Ebonics notes and discussion.

[5] Rickford， J. R. （2001）. Regional and social variation. In S. McKay， & N. Hornberger （Eds.）， Sociolinguistics and language teaching （pp. 151-194）. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[6] Sealey-Ruiz， Y. （2005）. Spoken soul： the language of black imagination and reality. The Educational Forum， 70， 37-46.