From: Rick McCallister
Message: 63105
Date: 2009-02-18
--- On Wed, 2/18/09, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:
. . .
> > Actually I wasn't recommending or endorsing either
> of them, I
> > mentioned them as an example of humor as a tool for
> lessening tension
> > between groups. In USA black Americans and white
> Americans constitute
> > separate ethnic groups by most anthropological
> definitions, they even
> > speak separate languages.
>
> Yes, but not _all_ black Americans speak a separate variety
> of the
> language. Many speak the standard variety (if one can call
> it
> "standard" - the most usual educated variant).
>
Now most African Americans are middle class and speak US middle class English. I teach at a predominantly African American university and about 60-70% of my students speak standard US middle class English. Many don't even recognize terms or words from AAVE. Those who do use AAVE generally use it only with friends and family but most of my students are unidentifiable by accent.
In the South and in the major cities of the North and Midwest, there is still quite a bit of residential segregation but in suburbia and small towns outside the South, that's not so evident. I live in a town that seems to be thoroughly mixed. In fact, on my street, most of the families are mixed and everyone I know has in-laws or nieces and nephews of a different color.
. . .