Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic

--- On Wed, 2/18/09, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

> From: Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...>
> Subject: [tied] Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 3:31 PM
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister
> <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 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.
>
> That's interesting to me. May I ask what university do
> you teach at
> (and where is it located)?

Delaware State U in Dover, Delaware, a town of about 50,000

>
> 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.
>
> What does AAVE stand for? African-American Vulgar English?

African-American Vernacular English
It is, to me, a misnomer, because in my experience there are several regional AAVEs

>
> > 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.
> > . . .
>
>
> Yeah, my nephews and nieces are all of a different colour
> from me, and
> from each other (although they all look Caucasian, the
> girls have a
> light brown tinge (Latina-looking) while the boys are light
> and have
> no outward trace of African (they look typically white
> Canadian)). My
> mom and her three sisters are all different colours too,
> ranging from
> European-looking white to medium brown, and some with afro
> hair and
> some with European hair (just as my brother has straight
> European hair
> while I have afro hair). But that's not common in
> Canada like it is
> in your part of the U.S, or in Trinidad.
>
> Andrew

My wife is Salvadoran and has dark skin and straight hair. She's often mistaken for Indian. My Trinidadian friends say she looks very Trinidadian. Her sister is lighter but has afro-hair. They both are constantly asked where they are from in El Salvador, even though most Salvadorans are the same mix --because they happen to be middle class professionals rather than market women or factory workers.