[SR28429]

I’m taking a linguistics class this semester. We spent a good deal of time learning about African American Vernacular English (AAVE), which is derived from various African languages, particularly one called Gullah. I’ve heard some people say that blacks ‘mispronounce’ words out of laziness, but I don’t believe that. It’s just a different vernacular. The British have viewed American English with contempt for centuries, but does that make our language any less valid? I don’t think so. How do you pronounce ‘aunt’? If you say ‘ont,’ does that make it lazy or wrong to say ‘ant’? People generally speak the way their parents speak, and the parents of the parents (and so on) of most black people can be traced back to Africa. My linguistics professor (a white man) told us that he considers the syntax of AAVE more expressive, technically speaking. Pronunciation, unless it interferes with communication (and people often unwittingly do let it color their perceptions of others, unfortunately), is actually pretty arbitrary.

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Name : SR28429, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 21, City : Austin, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : student, 

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