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I think there are some wide misconceptions about the dialect termed Black American/African-American Vernacular English. The existence of this dialect DOES NOT mean that all Black Americans have the same accent. The idea that all blacks sound the same is the equivalent of "all blacks look the same" or "all blacks think the same." Some AfAms do not speak AAVE at all, depending on class, education, where they grew up, or the how they were raised. Others can ONLY speak AAVE due to a lack of education. The majority of Black Americans are able to "code switch" depending on the situation--even if they do it unconsciously. In relaxed settings among other AfAms, they may revert to some level of AAVE; but in professional or business situations they automatically switch to the standard dialect of their region.
Black Americans can easily tell the differences between each other's accents by city and definitely by region. The AAVE dialect only points to certain grammatical traits and/or tendencies (NOT ACCENT) that originated in the South and survived in Black populations in regions outside of the South after the Great Migration. These grammatical traits survived even when the accents changed to become more similar to the surrounding accents of their new regions. Some quick examples of these grammatical traits are things such as:
The tendency to replace "have" with "done." Like, "things done changed around here." The frequent tendency to replace didn't, isn't, don't, am not, etc. with "ain't." Like, "I ain't got nothing to do with that." "I ain't going to school tomorrow." "I ain't go to the store yet." The greater use of "y'all" rather than youse, you guys, you, or whatever other term is more prevalent outside of the South. There are many other traits besides these, but this is just to give the basic idea. But even when these grammatical traits survived, the actual "accent"--meaning the sound of the Black Americans' speech and the way words are pronounced--took on the character of the accents of their new regions.
Another point: "African Americans" aren't the only ones who speak some version of AAVE. Some of the early studies of the dialect suggested that groups living in close proximity to large Black American populations also took on the characteristics of AAVE--especially when English or "American English" wasn't the first language of these groups. For instance, some of the early studies in the 60s and 70s noted that a large portion of the Puerto Rican population in NYC were speakers of AAVE--even though they had no roots in the South. But they converged on the city during the same years that there was heavy Black migration from the South, and they often shared the same neighborhoods with these African Americans. The first form of English many of them learned was a form of AAVE--although with a New York accent. There are many people who speak forms of AAVE and don't even know it.
Yeah, at second listen I realize there do exist Southernisms in NYC speech in Blacks. Some of the vowels aren't Northeastern. It is less pronounced in Blacks that have grown up around Whites (like Spike Lee who sounds VERY Northeastern).
In my opinion, a good example of a true hybrid would be Beanie Sigel (Philadelphia). His seems to be very 50/50.
I understand what you're trying to say, but I don't think Spike Lee is a good example. Spike Lee did not grow up around "Whites." He grew up in a middle-class Black American household in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn--which was definitely a Black neighborhood when he was growing up. His family were Black Americans from Georgia, and Spike himself was actually born in Atlanta although he grew up in Brooklyn. He sounds like a regular Black New Yorker from Brooklyn.
Here is a good doc by Spike Lee which has him speaking in the background to Black Philadelphians. Spike has a Black Brooklyn accent, the others have Black Philly accents. The girl Mone' is developing a more neutral sounding accent, but her mom sounds like the typical Black Philly chick from around the way.
Wait, if you don't think he's a good example, why do you say this later?
Aren't we saying the same thing?
I probably misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were saying that Spike Lee had less "southernisms" in his speech because he grew up around White New Yorkers. I was just noting that he grew up around other blacks in an overwhelmingly Black neighborhood, in a family with Black southern roots, and he also attended an HBCU (Morehouse)--so his earliest formative environment were largely "Black."
Location: Bmore, The cursed land of -> Hotlanta -> Charlotte
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All I ever hear frm my family is that because most Blacks were concentrated in the South during the early days, and picked up the Accents from the Southern.... people.... and it stuck ever since. So even when they left the South, they kept talking that way.
Totally disagree! People in Baltimore or DC don't sound southern right off the bat. Saying someone from DC sounds like someone from NC is a joke at best. DC and Baltimore are the heart of the MidAtlantic region and the accent reflects this as well. It's a 70/30 mix of north & south. The accent depends on the words they are choosing. In DC and Baltimore, they say Brova for brother which is decidedly northeast. In DC, they say baby farva for baby father which is northeast. But then there are certain words that they say which sound southern for instance like Murland for Maryland or eerrybody for everybody. NYC and Boston are the only two major cities that do not have any southern sounding regional dialect. Philly has a southern twang it but it is slight. The white people that are from DC do not have any traces of a southern accent. But the white people from Baltimore sound weird with all that "Hon" talk.
You realize "th" fronting is not an actual Northeast trait???
Saying "th" like "f" or "v" is unheard of in White populations in the NE.
Blacks in the Mid-Atlantic have a diluted Piedmont accent for the most part.
Out here in California. Blacks tend to speak in a flatter type of accent compared to Blacks in other parts of the country. My family members down south say I sound "proper" because of my rhoticism. Which isn't common in most Black American accents.
Antonio Pierce has the diluted Cali accent with some Southern influences.
Totally disagree! People in Baltimore or DC don't sound southern right off the bat. Saying someone from DC sounds like someone from NC is a joke at best. DC and Baltimore are the heart of the MidAtlantic region and the accent reflects this as well. It's a 70/30 mix of north & south. The accent depends on the words they are choosing. In DC and Baltimore, they say Brova for brother which is decidedly northeast. In DC, they say baby farva for baby father which is northeast. But then there are certain words that they say which sound southern for instance like Murland for Maryland or eerrybody for everybody. NYC and Boston are the only two major cities that do not have any southern sounding regional dialect. Philly has a southern twang it but it is slight. The white people that are from DC do not have any traces of a southern accent. But the white people from Baltimore sound weird with all that "Hon" talk.
Agreed.
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