Representations of Black English in the 19th Century and Its Influences

Representations of Black English in the 19th Century and Its Influences

Representations of Black English in the 19th Century and its Influences
The establishment and development of a distinct American English could first be seen in the nineteenth century, as regional differences in speech were recognized and used openly in writing. American writers focused not only on what they perceived to be the grammatical idiosyncrasies of the different ways of speech, but also the varying pronunciation of the many racial, regional, and social dialects. A growing trend of dialect-speaking characters in literature was seen. In many cases, however, the dialect used was severely exaggerated and portrayed the speaker as having a degree of inferiority (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not so much). Though often intended to have a humorous tone, pronounced tensions and internal conflicts about things like social class and ethnic identity came through in this new style of writing. With the tremendous African-American population and racial tensions in the United States at that time, it comes as no surprise that blacks were all too frequently the victims of such linguistic caricatures. Despite being a constant target for criticism and contempt, AAVE had a lasting effect on Standard English and its African roots are presently traceable through the established creole, Gullah.
Using older literary representations of dialect to understand linguistic history has always been tricky. The author’s agenda determined whether the writing was an accurate representation of the speaker or a pejorative mockery, and representations of AAVE were intensely fueled by racist ideologies. These authors sought to justify the brutal marginalization of African-Americans by portraying linguistic ineptitude as an implication of their educational, racial and (in the worst of cases) biological inferiority. Such a mindset could be seen in the wildly inaccurate yet enormously popular representation of black English spoken by nineteenth and early-twentieth-century...

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