Language in African American Communities Language in African American Communities is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the language, culture, and sociohistorical contexts of African American communities. It will also benefit those with a general interest in language and culture, language and language users, and language and identity. This book includes discussions of traditional and non-traditional topics regarding linguistic explorations of African American communities that include difficult conversations around race and racism. Language in African American Communities provides: • an introduction to the sociolinguistic and paralinguistic aspects of language use in African American communities; sociocultural and historical contexts and development; notions about grammar and discourse; the significance of naming and the pall of race and racism in discussions and research of language variation and change; • activities and discussion questions which invite readers to consider their own perspectives on language use in African American communities and how it manifests in their own lives and communities; and • links to relevant videos, stories, music, and digital media that represent language use in African American communities. Written in an approachable, conversational style that uses the author’s native African American (Women’s) Language, this book is aimed at college students and others with little or no prior knowledge of linguistics. Sonja Lanehart is Professor of Linguistics; Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies; and Africana Studies at the University of Arizona, USA. Her scholarship focuses on language and education in African American and Black communities; language and identity; sociolinguistics; raciolinguistics; and critical sociolinguistics from Black feminisms, critical race theory, critical discourse analysis, and intersectionality perspectives. She is particularly interested in African American Women’s Language and pushing the boundaries of research in sociolinguistics, language variation, and education to be anti-racist, inclusive, diverse, and equitable in the fight for social and linguistic justice. Her publications include Sista, Speak! Black Women Kinfolk Talk about Language and Literacy (2002); African American Women’s Language: Discourse, Education, and Identity (ed., 2009); and The Oxford Handbook of African American Language (ed., 2015). Routledge Guides to Linguistics Series Editor: Betty J. Birner is a Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science in the Department of English at Northern Illinois University. Routledge Guides to Linguistics are a set of concise and acces- sible guidebooks which provide an overview of the fundamental principles of a subject area in a jargon-free and undaunting for- mat. Designed for students of Linguistics who are approaching a particular topic for the first time, or students who are considering studying linguistics and are eager to find out more about it, these books will both introduce the essentials of a subject and provide an ideal springboard for further study. This series is published in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America. Founded in 1924 to advance the scientific study of language, the LSA plays a critical role in supporting and disseminating linguistic scholarship both to professional linguists and to the general public. Titles in this series: Bilingualism Shahrzad Mahootian Language in African American Communities Sonja Lanehart More information about this series can be found at www. routledge.com/Routledge-Guides-to-Linguistics/book-series/RGL Language in African American Communities Sonja Lanehart First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Sonja Lanehart The right of Sonja Lanehart to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lanehart, Sonja L., author. Title: Language in African American communities / Sonja Lanehart. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge guides to linguistics | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022017051 (print) | LCCN 2022017052 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138189690 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138189706 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003204756 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Black English—United States. | English language—Variation—United States. | English language— Social aspects—United States. | African Americans— Intellectual life. | African Americans—Communication. Classification: LCC PE3102.B54 L36 2023 (print) | LCC PE3102.B54 (ebook) | DDC 427/.97308996073—dc23/eng/20220803 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017051 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017052 ISBN: 978-1-138-18969-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-18970-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-20475-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003204756 Typeset in Times New Roman and Gill Sans by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents Acknowledgments x International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for English in the Continental U.S. xii 1 Talkin and Testifyin 1 Introduction: My Subjectivities and Positionalities 1 Name a Thing a Thing: About Definitions and Naming 9 What to Expect 11 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 15 References 15 Filmography 16 Discography 17 Digital Media 17 2 A Seat at the Table: What Are You Bringing to the Table Before We Even Get Started? 18 Introduction: Real Talk 18 Linguistic Prejudice 19 Linguistic Shame and Denial 23 Linguistic Pride and Acceptance 25 Contradictions and All 26 vi Contents What You’re Not Going to Do: Definitions, Naming, and Pet Peeves 27 To HEL—or HEC—and Back: The Messiness of Having the Army and the Navy 28 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 36 References 38 Filmography 39 Discography 40 Digital Media 40 3 “Put Some Respeck on My Name!”: Language and Uses of Identity in African American Communities 41 Introduction: How We Gon Play This? 41 Who Do People Say That I Am? 43 A Word on Ebonics 44 What Does It Feel Like to Be a Problem? 46 Say My Name! 52 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 54 References 54 Filmography 57 Digital Media 57 4 “Where Your People From?”: Problematizing Origins and Development 58 Introduction: Controversial History, Development, and Contested Origins 58 The Deficit Hypothesis 59 (Neo-)Anglicist and (Neo-)Creolist Origins Hypotheses 61 Consensus Hypotheses: Substratist, Restructuralist, and Ecological 67 The Divergence/Convergence Hypothesis 69 My Conclusion: Periodt! 70 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 71 References 71 Contents vii Filmography 74 Discography 74 5 What’s Good?: A Concise Descriptivist Meta-Grammar of Language Use in African American Communities 75 Introduction: We Bout to Ride Up on This Elephant 75 Why Y’all so Interested in Language Use in African American Communities? 78 Patterns, Systems, and Structure, Oh My! 103 Lexical Level: Word Classes and Word Formation 104 Syntactic Level, Part 1: Verbal Markers 104 Syntactic Level, Part 2: From Multiple Negation to Patterns in Question Formation 109 Morphosyntactic Level: Inflections 111 Phonological Level 111 Speech Events, Discourse, Pragmatics, Nonverbal, and Paralinguistic Levels 113 Where Does This Leave Us? 115 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 117 References 117 Digital Media 121 6 Where Your People At?: Regional and Geographic Variation 122 Introduction: A New Day Is Dawning 122 Gullah Geechee 126 Urban and Rural 127 CORAAL, et al. 131 From Regional to Social Variation 133 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 134 References 134 Filmography 138 Digital Media 138 viii Contents 7 Where My Shawtys At?: Social and Gendered Variation 139 Introduction: It’s About to Be Lit Up in Here 139 Black American Sign Language, or Black ASL 140 Standards in Language Use in African American Communities 141 Middle-Class Language Use in African American Communities 148 African American Women’s Language, or AAWL 152 Hip Hop Nation Language, or HHNL 158 Sexuality and Gendered Identity in Language Use in African American Communities 164 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 166 References 167 Filmography 174 Discography 175 Digital Media 175 8 This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Pop Culture, Social Media, and Digital Media 177 Introduction: Whatcha Know Good? 177 Afrofuturism and Ebonics 178 Ya Man, Steve Harvey: Blacktainment Extraordinaire 181 The Queen of Soul to Spoken Soul 184 Black Twitter and Language Use in African American Communities 186 Digital Media and the Performance of Language Use in African American Communities 187 I Refuse to Eat the Cake 189 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 189 References 190 Filmography 191 Discography 192 Digital Media 192 Contents ix 9 It’s Not the Shoes, Bruh! You Black!: African American Language Use in AmeriKKKa’s Educational ApparatU.S. 194 Introduction: That’s the Way of the World 194 How and When We Enter White Educational Spaces . . .and Some Definitions 196 We Ain’t Havin It!: Let’s Get on the Good Foot 201 We Come From a Remarkable People 204 The Research: Language and Linguistic Justice for Black Children 207 Language of Black America on Trial: The Ann Arbor “Black English” Trial and the Oakland Ebonics Controversy 211 As My Dad Would Say, “Stop Pussyfootin Roun the Issue:” Because Racism 214 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 216 References 217 Filmography 221 Discography 221 Digital Media 222 10 “If You Don’t Know Me by Now . . .” 223 Introduction: “You Cain’t Do Wrong and Get By” 223 Things I Didn’t Discuss That You Might Consider 225 “Whatcha Know Good?”: What I Hope You Did, Learned, and Hope to Do 227 Questions, Discussion, and Further Inquiry 227 Reference 228 Discography 228 AAL and Black culture words and phrases 229 Index 233