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I have a few relatives who came from Ethiopia that live in the U.S. and most of their kids the same age as me (in their 20s) have accents that sound more African American despite living in a pretty Asian/Mexican suburb of California with few AA's.
Is it a cultural thing? I know accent isn't biological but I do wonder why people say African Americans and Black Americans seem in a large part to retain their accents.
Even thinking of the "whitest sounding" newscaster, George Howell on CNN local in Atlanta...there's still a hint of non-neutrality that you can hear.
Everyone in America has an accent depending on the geographic location where they live.
And all newscasters change their voices to sound like the same old dull, boring newscaster voice IMO. Not sure what you mean by "non-neutrality."
This girl mentions my alma mater and apparently they are still having a lot of accent conversations lol. She is from Detroit and most people from Detroit speak like how she is speaking throughout.
Black New Yorkers speak with a NYC accent. Black Californians, depending on the city they are from all speak like they are from California.
Black people from New Orleans, I love their accents once you get used to them.
ETA: I always think its' interesting, that I am from NW OH not too far from Detroit like the young lady in the second video is from, yet we still have quite a few differences in the way we speak versus Detroiters. The girl in the video said that she calls a shopping cart/grocery cart a "buggy" and all black people I know from where I'm from, call it a "grocery cart." My spouse is from Chicago and he had never heard of the phrase "running the sweeper" for "vacuuming" which is something that is common in the Midwest to say by all people. He also had never heard of "gutters" being called an "eaves trough" which is what I call them (and my parents/grandparents, etc.) Both of us are black lol. So we don't all speak the same. There are different lingos in different geographic areas. Accents are also very different.
I have a few relatives who came from Ethiopia that live in the U.S. and most of their kids the same age as me (in their 20s) have accents that sound more African American despite living in a pretty Asian/Mexican suburb of California with few AA's.
Is it a cultural thing? I know accent isn't biological but I do wonder why people say African Americans and Black Americans seem in a large part to retain their accents.
Even thinking of the "whitest sounding" newscaster, George Howell on CNN local in Atlanta...there's still a hint of non-neutrality that you can hear.
Probably because it leads to fewer questions of them.
They aren't accused of "acting white" or putting on airs by other African Americans, and white folk don't make it awkward either. Makes it simpler to check out at the grocery store. If I had to guess.
I have a few relatives who came from Ethiopia that live in the U.S. and most of their kids the same age as me (in their 20s) have accents that sound more African American despite living in a pretty Asian/Mexican suburb of California with few AA's.
There must be something that you are not aware of. I remember going to a party where virtually everyone at the party was from Ghana, and everyone spoke with a British accent.
The logical point is accents come from the people around you. Your Ethiopian relatives must have some AA influence on them to learn to speak AAVE.
AAVE is very closely related to Southern English common before the civil war.
Probably because it leads to fewer questions of them.
They aren't accused of "acting white" or putting on airs by other African Americans, and white folk don't make it awkward either. Makes it simpler to check out at the grocery store. If I had to guess.
In my experience as a black person, most times when a black person is accused of "acting" or "talking/speaking" white, it is from a white person, not a black person. The only person who ever told me I "spoke like a white girl" and had a "white girl name" was a white teacher. And please note I grew up in what would be considered "the ghetto." I was also an honors student and in gifted programs through 12th grade. Other black students did not ridicule me for being smart. They'd rather I do their homework/work for them lol, the ones who weren't very good students.
It is a myth that other black Americans abuse/tease other black people for "acting white" in regards to speaking standard English. Nearly all of us speak standard English and just code switch to BVE/AAVE when appropriate.
There must be something that you are not aware of. I remember going to a party where virtually everyone at the party was from Ghana, and everyone spoke with a British accent.
The logical point is accents come from the people around you. Your Ethiopian relatives must have some AA influence on them to learn to speak AAVE.
AAVE is very closely related to Southern English common before the civil war.
AAVE/BVE was spoken in northern areas prior to the civil war, particularly in Mid-Atlantic regions within free black communities, such as those in Philadelphia as well. Many linguists believe that it has its roots in a pidgin/creole language that was common the Caribbean and in sea island communities of the south, which are similar to each other. Many free blacks in 18th century PA and other northern communities had roots from the Caribbean since the West Indies was a primary source of slave labor. PA like many other northern states had a "gradual emancipation" of slavery after the Revolution and during that time period, AAVE/BVE was noted in newspapers in northern communities.
I remember in college my professor felt that people believe it is "southern" only because a majority of black Americans lived and still live in the south. But the pervasiveness of BVE in northern communities prior to the Civil War and the Great Migration give credence to the idea that it is not "southern" historically and is more likely rooted in creolization of dialects in the West Indies.
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