African-American English

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Heidelberg, language: English, abstract: This essay shall introduce the reader to African-American English (AAE). This term is used in this text for a wide range of language varieties used by Black people in the United States of America. That means that AAE is to be regarded as a dialect of this ethnic group and not as an independent language. While most speakers of this variety (80 to 90 percent) use some form of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), there are some areas where parts of the Black population speak a semi-creole, like Gullah, which is spoken in rural areas of South Carolina and Georgia. This text, however, will only deal with AAE in general, starting with the development of this variety. After that, the main and most wide-spread linguistic features will discussed. The essay will end with the description of recent issues concerning AAE and Afro-American culture in U.S. society as a conclusion.