Moughtbeun's Semi-blog

I don't like segregation. This applies to language use as well. I believe that if a person is respectfully trying to learn and use a language, they should be allowed to, regardless of race. Therefore I do not think black folks should gatekeep AAVE. But there are some things that must be known before you use it. For all of those who use race to make judgements about a person, I am a white Appalachian. I grew up "poor," if you believe in such materialism.

First off, AAVE speakers have actively been disparaged through out their history. They have been mocked constantly for their speech, and wrong considered to be of lower intelligence simply for it. If you will use AAVE, keep this in mind. It has a long history of being disrespected, and this mainstream appeal has only come recently. You should consider why you are using AAVE, and consider if your reason is disrespectful.

Second, please for the love of all that is good, do not misuse AAVE. There are many intricate layers of meanings to the words. I am not black, but I do know some AAVE due to interaction with the hiphop music community, and every time people misuse it, it makes me cringe in horror, and I can not imagine how that affects a native speaker. Look up the definitions on urbandictionary, or just don't use words you don't know how to use.

Another thing, not all African-Americans use AAVE, and not all native AAVE speakers are African-Americans. Indeed, many Latines and Whites living in AAVE communities have grown accustomed to the dialect. And many African-Americans, especially since the Civil Rights movement, are integrating themselves well into suburban white communities, and many of them do not grow up speaking AAVE.

You should also know that AAVE has its own subdialects (or, for those who are for the theory that AAVE is its own language, dialects). Californian blacks speak differently in certain ways than New York blacks, black folks from Alabama speak with "country" inflections in their speech, such as a-prefixing. Older dialects may use features differently, such as "be's" for the copula.

When I use AAVE, it gives me the ability to use Appalachian dialect features that would normally be looked down upon in the same social context, such as perfective "done" and "them" for "those." Many things are simply easier to express in AAVE, and I don't feel that I disrespect it. I don't feel that many white AAVE speakers are trying to disrespect AAVE, but some do misuse and abuse it. If you, an AAVE speaker, want people to stop messing it up, then you should educate them on it. You can't stop people from using it, you can only stop people from misusing it.

¹ Gin plinny a body's undertuik ta wraat down a ordly count o the ee-vyints as have bin fułfeelt among ussins, ² jist so as 'ey war a-handed on ta ussins bah thim hew frum the begyinnin war ah-wyitnisses an sarvints o the wurd, ³ Ah tew cuncluded, atter investygatin everthang kerefuł-laak frum the vary furstest, fur ta wraat a ordly count fur ye, Mister Thee-o-phillus, ⁴ So as ye maht cuid knowe the honisty cuncernin the thangs boutn which ye've bin a-larned.

⁵ Indurin them days o Kang Herod o Judea, they've a praist as całt Zechariah, hew belonged ta the praistly order o Abijah. His ole wummern war kin ta Aaron, an her name war Elizabeth. ⁶ The both o thim war raashiss afore God, livin thout faułt owin ta ał the laws and regulashins o the Lawd. ⁷ But they had nare youngins, fur Elizabeth war barren, an the both war a-gittin olde.

Set something on fire!

Tax dollars laid to waste,

countless crimes against the human race.

Their merciless actions will not be forgotten.

May a brave new world be begotten.

A cruel and unforgivable state,

Needs met with a cruelest fate.

Mothers crying and children dying,

Is it not obvious they are lying?

Make for yourselves no mistake,

Our enemy is of course, the state.

It's time for a revolution,

the only sound resolution.

Their hours are slowly starving,

May their houses be afire.

A sight to behold,

A sight to inspire.

Only together can we uproot the weeds,

Those which strangle us so.

Together we can do it!

We shall eliminate our foe!

Those wretched politicians will beg for mercy,

From the world screams will be heard.

Between our wish and theirs,

Which should be preferred?

So I ask of you to arm yourself,

Grab every gun you can find.

Walk down to Washington,

and lose your fucking mind.

No longer shall we suffer,

March on to punish every sin.

Prepare yourselves duly,

Chad Appalachian English’s ways of saying Virgin Standard English’s ‘it’s not’/’it isn’t’:

Hit ain’t, Hit idn’t, Hit bei’nt. Hit aren’t

It ain’t, it idn’t, it bein’t, it aren’t

Hit is not, hit be not, hit are not

It is not, it be not, it are not

§ 1.0 Phonology § 1.1 Merged Sounds ❖In Appalachian English, /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ merge before /n/ and /m/. This occurs in Southern American English and Lowland Scots as well. This sound change is called the pin-pen merger. ❖In Appalachian English, tense and lax vowels merge before /l/. This makes 'full' sound like /fɜl/, 'fill' like /fi:l/, and 'fell' like /feɪl./

§ 1.2 Lenition and Suppletion ❖Lenition often occurs in Appalachian English. /ð/ disappears often, as in /æt/ 'that.' /w/ also disappears, although this is more dialectal, producing /ɜmɚn/ for 'woman.' I say /leɪŋgidʒ/ for 'language'. ❖In some dialects a /j/ is placed before <ear>, so that ear, earth, and earn become /ji:ɹ/, /jɚθ/ and /jɚn/. I believe I've heard this some in Eastern Kentucky, though my Grandmother hasn't. ❖/ŋ/ becomes /n/ at the end of words, producing /si:lɪn/ for <ceiling>, /sɛɪŋgɪn/ for <singing>. ❖/aʊ/ collapses into /ɑ:w/ before /l/ and /ɹ/, as in /flɑ:r/ <flower>, /tɑ:wl/ <towel>. ❖/d/ sometimes disappears after /t/ as changed into it, so that <bottle> becomes /bɑḷ/, <butter> becomes /bɜɚ/.

§ 1.3 Exagerration ❖Many sound changes in this category are a result of the southern drawl, I've heard a few Appalachians deny its existence but it is most strong here and in west Texan English. ❖'Cat' becomes pronounced like 'cayit,' /kejɪt/. 'Pit' becomes pronounced like 'piyut,' /piɪt/. 'Catch' becomes pronounced like 'cayutch,' /keɪətʃ/. ❖'Thing' becomes pronounced like 'thang,' /θeɪŋ/. This type of sound change is more extreme before /ŋ/, and it sounds more like /ɛɪ/ in 'green' /gɹɛɪn/. ❖/ʊ/ becomes more fronted than in General American, so 'took' becomes much like its Scots equivalent. ❖/u:/ is also more fronted, being pronounced in my ears like /øu/. ❖The first part of /aɪ/, as in /paɪ/ <pie>, becomes drawn out to /a:/. This is found in AAVE, but it seems the tongue is at a higher point in the mouth for AAVE. ❖The first part of /ɔɪ/, as in /bɔɪ/ <boy>, becomes drawn out to /ɔ:/. This is also found in some dialects of AAVE.

§ 1.4 Retention ❖Appalachian English retains the /ʍ/ sound, like in Lowland Scots. So <what> sounds like /ʍɜt/, <where> is /ʍɑɹ/ or /ʍeɪɹ/, <why> like /ʍa:/. ❖Appalachian English retains the /h/ where in English it is silent, this can either be a result of people reading the words and then saying them, or true retention from the original Old French. ❖'sure' is pronounced like /ʃɔɹ/, 'shore', I do not know if this is retention or mutation.

§ 1.5 General Mutation ❖/eɪɹ/ becomes pronounced like /i:ɹ/, as in 'keer' /ki:ɹ/. /ɑ/ becomes /ɑɹ/ before /ʃ/, as in 'warsh' /wɑɹʃ/. ❖/ɔɹ/ can become /ɔ/, it depends on dialect, and social situation, and this vowel can vary in rhoticization (mine is never a completely clear /ɔ/ sound.) My grandmother pronounces /ɔɹ/ like /oʊ/ sometimes, saying fo’ sho’ for ‘for sure,’ I don’t know if she’s picked this up from AAVE, but she’s pretty conservative so I find it unlikely. My idiolect is mostly rhotic. ❖/ʌ/, as in California English, becomes more like /ɜ/, which is the RP pronunciation of <ur> in <further>. ❖/ə/ may become /i/ at the end of words, especially when written as <a>, as in /oʊkɹi/ 'okra', /oʊpɹi/ 'opera.' Occassionally it becomes /ɪ/, as in circus /sɚkɪs/. ❖/oʊ/ at the end of words becomes /ɚ/ or /ə/, in my Grandmother's dialect it is mainly /ə/, in mine /ɚ/, but this varies. Tornader, holler, and mader can be heard because of this. ❖/ɹə/ collapses into /ɚ/ in unstressed positions, so <microphone> becomes pronounced like /ma:kɚfoʊn/. ❖/s/ becomes /z/ intervocalically, so <greasy> becomes /gɹi:zi/.

§ 1.6 A New Orthography ❖Seeing as Appalachian English has a multitude of sound differences from English, it seems fit to write it in a different way. So I created a new orthography, one based off of spelling phonetically. /ɪ/ <i> /i:/ <ee> <e_e> /iɪ/ <iu> /i/ <y> /a:/ <à> /eɪ/ <ai> <a_e> /ejɜ/ <ae> /æ/ <a> /ɑ:ɹ/ <àur>/ɜ/ <u> /ɑɹ/ <ar> /ɚ/ <er> /ə/ <a, o, e> /eɪə/ <eu> /ʊ/ <ui> /øu/ <ue> /ɔ(ɹ)/ <aù> /ɑ:/ <a> /oʊ/ <oa> <o_e> /ɛ/ <e> /aʊ/ <ou> <ow>

/b/ <b> /d/ <d> /f/ <f> /g/ <g> /h/ <h> /dʒ/ <j> /k/ <k> /l/ <l> /m/ <m> /n/ <n> /p/ <p> /ɹ/ <r> /s/ <s> /t/ <t> /v/ <v> /w/ <w> /ʍ/ <hw> /j/ <y> /z/ <z> /tʃ/ <ch> /ʃ/ <sh> /θ/ <th> /ð/ <th> /ŋ/ <ng> /ʒ/ <zh>

So, the post’s title would be: