Linguistic Profiling, AfricanAmerican English Origin, Gullah

[HoneiiDiiva]

I was raised in the hood, but I speak eloquently!

[honeegrrl]

I'm black and I have been told I speak like a "white" girl (whatever that means) but when they see me they can't seem to match my face with my voice.

[nigelholland3]

@nockuout1 Aww shut the fuck. I typed it as I talk you dumb ass. Apparently you are afraid of what I might say sense you blocked me you dumb cracka. Ebonics is is not slang if thats the case this whole country full of dumb ass. Ignorant people like are the ones who will never go no where in life. It must sucks not knowing that your existence was a waste.

[nigelholland3]

@nockuout1 Using ebonics have nothing to do with you being dumb, you ignorant son of a bitch. -_____-

[lilpoindexter]

I can't understand this goddamn ebonics

[nigelholland3]

@lilpoindexter Lol if you were raised around black people you would. Its very easy if you understand what the words mean.

[charlottegoodenow]

How do I cite this??

[royalearth]

@charlottegoodenow - rather than cite this, you should read some of dr. baugh's work - specifically the data analysis from his housing study.

[blackprince206]

This guy offers his services as an expert witness in discrimination cases. 

[XcobibX]

OH WHITE PEOPLE GO AWAY! WE SPEAK LIKE THIS DAMN NO WONDER YOU WHITE PEOPLE GET SHOT AND STABBED EVERYWERE YOUR SO DAMN FUCKING NOSEY....THIS IS WHY I DONT CHILL WITH THESE BITCHNIGGAS BECAUSE THEY SNITCH ON YOU

[Americcan]

For forty years now we have been listening to academics trying to piss on our heads and tell us it's raining when it comes to black english. Isn't it interesting that they claim black people, rural or urban, are somehow engaging in a deep and rich cultural tradition, but hillbillies, poor white trash, guidoes, and assorted other lower class white accents are simply ignorant?

[chicacanella]

@Americcan

I don't know if you are in some type of delusion, but I've always heard descriptivists give equal recognition to various cultural dialects, regardless of the ethnic group.

You sound as if you somehow believe you are superior to say, white Americans who speak Alabama White English (AWE). What sense does it make to argue that rare, atypical American dialects spoken by white Americans are worth a certain recognition and in the same sentence, refer to HUMAN BEINGS as trash and lower clas

[Americcan]

@chicacanella

"but I've always heard descriptivists give equal recognition to various cultural dialects, regardless of the ethnic group."

Then you have had a very narrow exposure to a very few "descriptivists". It's quite common (in both senses) for so-called academics to be throughly disrespectful of dialects associated with lower class whites ("rednecks, bubbas, etc..." or those who "cling to their bibles and guns") while consistently promoting a wistful narrative about others.

[Ichigo114]

I thought it was considered a vernacular?

[Ahsayo]

Interesting to see but something many of us have known a long time.

[tigera10030]

Before you make a comment. Think to yourself, is the fact that these people speak this way hindering my life at all. If the answer is yes, you need to reevaluate your life.

[jabootyqueen010]

@psyjunta Being clear isn't an issue if you're speaking with you peers who will understand you either way. The issue is when your speech doesn't translate to other, besides you peers. The way I speak to my parent, teachers, friends, almost never changes. Accent aside if an American (specifically a 'ghetto Black American' )were to go to England or which ever country and speak they should be understood. Being clear doesn't help you if you you don't use proper speech.

[jabootyqueen010]

@jabootyqueen010 Forgive the mistypes.

[jabootyqueen010]

Even though I'm black this technically doesn't really apply to me. I'm an English major(Linguistics minor), raised in a prominently white town, I have a 'white sounding' name and was taught by my parents to speak properly and well. Most of these studies involve upbringing and class(social standings).

[TheFreedomly]

The need for a world language is urgent. The problem with artificial language is that nobody ever learns them. We need a more practical solution. English is the most widespread language in the history of the planet. But its complex pronunciation, spelling and idiom make it hard to learn and hard to use accurately. So why don't we make english easier? Since the advent of the european union and the internet, this notion first proposed before world war II is coming back into fashion.

[sholoms]

@TheFreedomly

As far as anyone knows, there hasn't been a widely used spoken & written human language--let alone a regionally or globally dominant one--that didn't begin as a natural language. How could that change now?

[TheFreedomly]

@sholoms All of us know languages are always and all the time changing, i mean turning into, so take a lookinto their meanings, or investigate them, you will break them through their cognitive ways, too many words are in danger of dyingout, linguistic researchers care about this stuff.

[pocketmarrow]

Is the audio not synched correctly or is it just my computer?

[flumbahz]

Gullah isn't a dialect of English. It's considered its own language. And the similarities that it shares with English are mainly vocabulary related. Gullah grammar is chiefly African in nature.

[behindthehaze]

@flumbahz yea gullah sounds a lot like sierra leonean krio

[sholoms]

@flumbahz

Practically stated, a language is a dialect with armed forces & postage stamps.

A "rule of tongue" for telling dialects from languages is: if neither of two monolingual speakers in conversation can understand each other, they speak different languages; while if both understand, they speak the same. However, when only one speaker understands, the one who does usually speaks a marginal dialect, while the one who is understood but can't understand probably speaks the standard.

[Synesthesias]

The translation was hilarious. This is a pseudo-science.

They were speaking English to me, not Gullah.

[aeseeke]

@Synesthesias From what I heard I agree with you, it sounded English to me. Yeah there was an accent in there that sounded African in root but it was English.

[Flemtar]

Linguistic profiling is not something unique to the USA. It happens all the time in Canada too - in both English and French. In English Canada, Newfoundland and Maritime English is made fun of and stigmatized as being incorrect or even "ridiculous" sounding. Quebec French is stereotyped by European French people as being incorrect...and Acadian French in the Maritimes is looked upon with scorn by both Quebeckers and Frenchmen.

[pixiepetite]

If what you're not from the time you're born is Ebonics, that is they way you're going to talk. It's not a matter of purposely speaking against General American. It's a dialect like any other. Are Southerners purposely speaking horrible English? Are New Yorkers purposely speaking horrible English?

[ZilliaZ]

thank u shakaama

[instagasm]

this doesnt make sense to me because i have heard AA people speak VERY clear and correct english. its the same for country people who talk slang, if they want to talk correctly they can.its like saying yeah instead of yes.we all know how to speak correctly but most choose not to.

[Frostystraidlazed]

I see that we have a prescriptivist in our midst. :) I personally dislike some dialects because they sound wrong or ungrammatical to me (simply because they're not my local variation) but I still recognise that they're living dialects spoken by many people. "Correct" English, however, is simply a dialect that was chosen as a normative standard.

[instagasm]

lol oh, no it doesnt really bother me. im just confused is all.

[lmarr07]

@instagasm Good point and there is nothing wrong with speaking in a different way other that "perfect" or correct "english". Jamaicans can speak like me but they choose not to. My dad speaks, "correctly most of the time, but there are times when he speaks the way he feels comfortable.

[ChuckMartel]

I know upper-class white people over the age of sixty in the Low Country of South Carolina who speak English influence by Gullah.

[shakaama]

It is displeasing to speak with people who feel that they, although uneducated and without money, feel somehow superior to Black people, who know more about this country and the actual English language than they do.

At the end of the day, the "haves" laugh more at the ignorant racists bastards than they do at Black people. Because, after all, there are quite a few Black people who are in the "haves" category.

Continue with your KKK you'll look up in hell and wonder why you did it.

[wingate11234]

everyone hate what they can't understand

[sholoms]

@wingate11234

Maybe everyone except linguists...

[hisboo911]

that wasnt no damn african american accent. wtf? this is a dumb ass "experiment." on top of all of that, why didnt he break of some ebonics in the process?

[Grendelwolfx]

I respect the history of African so each. On the flip side, you were born in America, you are not the first,third, or even fourth generation of African American.Hence forth you should not be speaking Ebonics. There is a difference between having a dialect and butchering a language.

Ebonics is an abomination of the English language. My great grandfather from Italy spoke English better than people who speak Ebonics. And he was born in Italy and learned English in his 20s.

[pepjrp]

You make total sense and this portion of the documentry is not surprising as these are made by the far-left political groups and must have a bad whitey section in them to keep with their skewed sense of fairness. Never are Whites given the same respect and courtesy by being referred to as Eureopan Americans but of course we get plenty of African American put in our face. This blatant form of racism is very common and perhaps surprising sinse it is other Whites doing it but politics trumps race

[Fuzzbabby]

really? lol if whit people wanted to be called euro American they would have they control the racial categories they put people into or at least controlled. lol bad whitey? what about this documentary was false so typical have nothing to say so you make it a left right issue. what does this have to do with fairness its just history. exaclty how is this racism?

" we get plenty of african american put in our face"

what is wrong with you?

[pepjrp]

Most don't know about European American because the media prevents it from being given the same air time as A.A. is given for a various amount of reasons, but mostly because they are scared of the race card and only a tiny amount of Blacks originally ever wanted African American used, but the scared media again was afraid of the race card, so they promoted and used it at every turn. It caught on as European American would have, had it not been for racism.

[alisadm]

Oh please! All you "European Americans" can associate your heritage and culture to a specific country or two. Black people are the ONLY people brought here against their will, with little to no ability to trace back their heritage. We don't know where we're from in Africa. The blacks here who don't trace their heritage back to American slavery call themselves Jamaican, Dominican, West Indian, etc., NOT African-American.

[alisadm]

It is only us Black americans who associate back to slavery (and aren't lucky enough to be from the Gullah areas and maintain our culture) who get lumped in the category African-American. We are the only ethnic group IN THIS COUNTRY that doesn't have a tradition. As soon as you start calling yourself "American" and not Italian-American, Irish-American, etc. maybe we'll start doing the same.

[pepjrp]

You are correct on the slavery issue and i feel bad about that for you. But an individual person may be called Irish or German-American for a specific reason, but other wise all the other times, we are just "White" a color and you are an ethnicity. That was my point.

[Nihilanthic]

Hey I didn't want to get born in the USA, I'd much rather be back in europe.

white as hell, thanks!

[Dramactica]

@pepjrp

shut up. why white people blame politics? stop using the politics card. it's getting old.

[skymon3k]

There is no standard for spoken English. The AAVE dialect is as legitimate as the Southern dialect, the British dialect, the American dialect. There is no way to "abominate" a language. The only language that has any form of standards is the written word.

[bintabimur]

I definitely agree with you

[Fuzzbabby]

you're being ridiculous ebonics is just a slang period, why dont you get on southern hillbillies case

[thismanonfire]

ebonics is just a dialect. all languages are equal in difficulty.

[tigera10030]

This is America. This is part of the country's history. If you want only to hear English go to England. Seriously, why are people threatened by difference. Black people are not stupid nor are any other people just because of the way they speak. That's foolish and dangerous to think that way.

[duvexy]

@tigera10030 Why is it foolish and dangerous to thing that way?  Because you said so?

[tigera10030]

@duvexy It is dangerous, because most negative generalization about another group of people usually leads to their subjugation. Also, when you undermind a group of people because of how they speak - you are creating a safe haven for ignorance, which in and of itself is dangerous enough. If I have to explain why it's foolish, that would be wasted breath.

[fromdixiewithlove]

I completely agree!!

[emekonen]

i think the main reason this type of speaking comes forth is their desire to be as different as whites as possible, not in a negative way in more of a subconscience way, as carter woodson details in his writings. early in their history they were seperated from their culture, so they create their own. speak it how you want, as long as we can communicate there is no problem in my eyes.

[desilowryda]

so ur telling me that the valley girl that says like every 2nd word, the southern hilbilly who sounds like croakin frog, the cali surfer man who sounds stoned, and all the other white accents in ameriKKKa get a pass but the way africans talk is "lazy, obnoxious, etc" sounds like some of the stereotypes put on cuz

Call a spade a spade there's not "netural" english accent thats just assumed when in fact it aint true and never was even england has dif accents for dif regions...

[emekonen]

Read Carter Woodson, who is black, as he details about how african-americans have developed their own culture, as they were seperated from theirs, to seperate themselves from the culture associated with the white man. I clearly stated that it doesnt matter how it is spoken, to me, as long as everyone can communicate properly. If you are upset then blame it on Carter Woodson a black man you should know about.

[desilowryda]

I know Im agreein with u and I dont need to read a book I can see today why we still need a dif culture than the white man's.

Because we are exluced and demonized in the white man's culture, its really that simple. I dont need to read a book to tell me about my life expierience or of those around me that book may give me a historical insight but even then I already seen a lot of it Ill checc it out but do u c where Im going?

Why should I anotha brotha when they came to us and fucced wit us?

[emekonen]

This is exactly the mentality we were warned about. "They" came to us and messed with us? Who is "They"? All white people today are responsible for the slave trade?

[tigera10030]

@emekonen That's a little offensive to think a people speak a different dialect just to be different from white people. As if there skin color wasn't a large enough marker. Some people definitely choose not to code switch because of that social tension. But to assume the creation of centuries old dialect is nothing more than a fashion statement is silly at best.

[emekonen]

@tigera10030 This is from Carter Woodson, a black writer. The whole of the "african-american" culture was sub-consciencly created because they had no culture. They were stripped of their culture. So in opposition to the white man AND to fill the void of not having, or not knowing, their roots they created their own culture. Why is that offensive? It has happened in other countries, a bit differently but none the less it happened.

[tigera10030]

@emekonen Please give me a direct quote where Carter Woodson said that black people have no culture so they created their own subconciously. I find that hard to believe that a man quote as saying "If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated". If he believed this to be his own people why would he do so much for them. Please explain.

[sholoms]

@tigera10030

David Hackett Fischer offers evidence that, contrary to the video, most AA dialect grammar & vocabulary does not come from West African pidgin, altho Geechee & Gullah do, but from the Sussex dialect of Brit English. Why? Because this was the standard dialect of white slaves; aka servants or bond servants, while whites were dominant among the servant/slave class in the South; i.e until about 1725. Not till then did Africans became the slave majority in mainland Brit colonies...

[tigera10030]

I didn't say there wasn't ANY influence from British English dialects. You can go to the Carribean and find that, not to mention those creoles/patois have much more similarities to West African Pidgin English than does AAVE. It is my personal belief that a lot of AAVE is heavily influenced by Native Languages as well. Because before the 1660's, they made up a significant portion of the slave population. Fischer's theory is pretty cool, though.

[Dramactica]

@Grendelwolfx

that's because he's white.

[netaddict6989]

Actually the lingua franca Krio is the language of the Creole peole of Sierra Leone....

[jtvols16]

Considering I live on Hilton Head Island, full time and was born there and lived there my whole life, and Gullah Culture is strong here, I can attest to the language as being unique, but I can understand it fairly easily with a bit of use

[infidelguy]

In my immediate experience, being a southerner, there is a direct correlation with one's level of intellect vs the way they speak. He should do some research about that to be fair. We make too many excuses to remain "ignorant" sounding. Let's master the neutral American English language so that we can then begin to change the rules. At least know how to code switch. Accents are one thing. Seriously poor grammar and having the inability to articulate one's self is another.

[n0rTH3rnTRAPstar]

great vid

[PeriodinstrumentfaN]

very informative... enlightening... :>

[tumadrelanieves]

I agree with sebinooof. Linguistics has nothing to do with that stuff. Thanks for the video anyways""

[kmm0010]

That's not strictly true. Some sociolinguistics are also social activitists, just as some sociologists are.

[Laddre]

i live in a town that has like 100 thausand people and the things that define us is not racial its class. lower class like me have a special dialect

[sebinooof]

I think we should make everybody take a course in linguistics at some point so they wouldn't get into these stereotypes. Still, misconceptions die hard so it's unlikely we'll ever get rid of baseless opinions. Anyway, great vid.

[philanati]

My Great Gradmother spoke exactly like that.

Her whole Family was from Georgia.

Mi lub ta hea huh sing eh mownin.

[kmm0010]

That's cool. Hopefully, someone made recordings because these languages/dialects (like many indigenous languages) are dying out in North America.