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African American Language Key Terms

Features of AAL:
Nonverbal expressions
o May reinforce the verbal message or carry something all together new
o Ex. A head nod to signal whats up
Semantics
o The meaning of words
Phonology
o How words are pronounced in a particular language
o Thang vs. thing
Rhetorical discourse features
o These are things like signifying
Syntax
o The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed
sentences in a language
They be trippin
Verbal tradition
Lexicon
o Vocabulary of a particular language
Zero Copula :
Copula verb is optional and does not have to occur after the subject of a
sentence.
o She running
o She is running
However, this rule does not apply to first person singular verbs
BIN (Been):
Written as BIN among linguists
The stress on the been marks the remote past whose resultant state holds
now
o Depending on the context, it could be 15 minutes or 15 years
We been took the trash out
Habitual Be:
Only used to indicate habitual meaning or a reoccurring state of activity
It suggests that something regularly, usually, or sometimes happens.
The be incorporates past, present, and future activity
Can proceed verbs, adjectives, and nouns
DEN (Done):
Indicates a completed activity whose resultant state holds now
o He done got himself suspended from school for being tardy three days
in a row
MUST proceed a verb
Regularized Agreement:
Permits subject and verb to agree in AAL that would not happen in ISE.
o She have a little sister
Steady:
Doing something non-stop or consistently
o She steady talking after the teacher told everyone to be quiet
Commonly followed by a verb

African American Language Key Terms


Intensive Habitual Progressive:
Describes an event or state that is sustained or habitual
o She be steady talking
o when be steady is used together, it is always the intensive habitual
progressive
Optional Inflectional Suffixes:
In AAL, inflectional suffixes are not required to mark tense, plurality, or
possession
Optional Possessives: It is not necessary to show possession
o We are going to my dad house
Optional tense: The ed inflectional suffix that is used to mark tense in ISE is not
required in AAL
o She walk to the store yesterday
Multiple Negation:
Involves a sentence that involves more than one negative word
o I aint got no friends at this school, and Im fine with that.
Semantics:
Semantic inversion: the reversal meaning of a word
o Her outfit is bad
o That car is sick
Phonology:
How words are pronounced in a particular language
o Thang vs. thing

Rhetorical Discourse Features


Signifyin:
A mode of discourse that has a double meaning and can be used to provide
playful commentary or a serious social critique (Smitherman, 2006).
Ethnolinguistic Idiom:
Use of language that bears particular meaning in African American
communities.
Proverbs, aphorisms, and biblical verses:
Employment of familiar maxims and biblical verses
Cultural Values/ Community Consciousness:
Expressions of concerns for the development of African Americans
Not necessarily a phrase more a concern within a community
Rhythmic, dramatic, evocative language:
Use of metaphors, significations, vivid imagery.
Cultural References:
Reference to cultural items/icons that usually carry symbolic meaning in the
AAL communities.

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