The tense and time of verbs in Black English or Ebonics is not the same as in Standard English. As Toni Morrison pointed out:
It’s terrible to think that a child with five different tenses comes to school to be faced with books that are less than his own language.
Maybe the number is not five, but it is something like that. The sense of time built into the grammar of Black English is different, it is not what comes with Standard English.
Many think Black English is a bad copy of Standard English, something that shows up particularly in getting the forms of the verb “to be” all wrong.
But that is not what is going on. It seems messed up only because it is being used differently – because the sense of time is different. In fact, it is the clearest proof that Black English is not improper English but a form of English in its own right.
For example, if you say:
Julian BEEN married.
with the stress on “been”, most black Americans will tell you that Julian is still married and has been married for a long time. Whites, on the other hand, will tell you that Julian is no longer married: because they see the BEEN as a mistake for “has been”. They assume Black English is a bad copy of White English.
Here are some of the ways you can talk about walking:
- He walk - an action without regard to time
- He is walkin’ - an action in the present
- He walkin’ - also an action in the present. Same as “he is walkin’”. The “is” can be dropped.
- He be walkin’ - an action that is done all the time or over and over again
- He been walkin’ – an action in the past that took some time
- He BEEN walkin’ – an action that has been going on a long time and is still going on. The “been” is stressed.
- He done walked – an action completed in the past
- He finna walk – an action in the near future
- He’ll be done walked - an action completed in the future
In old Hollywood films you will also hear:
- I’se be walkin’
As far as we know, that one was made up by white script writers. In fact, when people who do not know Black English try to copy it, they tend to overuse “be” and use it the wrong way.
Where did all this come from? Black English did not grow out of White English: it grew out of Creole English, the kind you can still hear in Jamaica. It uses English words but with a different grammar.
So who talks like this? Here is who said “He walk” in black Detroit in 1969:
- 1% upper middle-class
- 10% white collar
- 57% skilled labour
- 71% unskilled labour
Even Oprah will talk this way sometimes. One day she ran into a man looking for her house. He asked her, “Don’t she have a house down there?”. Oprah answered, “I believe she do”.
See also:
Your entries are amazing. I learn something new and gain a deeper appreciation of black culture every week from your blog. I just wanted to write and say Thank You! Keep it up!
McWhorter’s “Word on the Street” is a wonderful discussion of this rich topic. The reality is that the “standard” version of any language is an arbitrary choice of one among many variants. Well, not so arbitrary, really — generally the “standard” version is the one used by the wealthy or the majority.
I grew up in a remote, sparsely settled part of the country with its own strong local vernacular, strong enough that when I went away to college in the big city people there wondered if I was from a foreign country. Even now when I return home I find myself code switching back into my vernacular. There is a comfort in it just the same as the comfort of the aroma of mom’s home cooking.
Interestingly, what we call “Ebonics” (when I was in college it was “Black English Vernacular”) is not as far removed from our standard American English as many commonly used European dialects are from their root standard languages.
Great post.
Interesting, informative, loved it
I forgot to mention that I happen to love the diversity of regional and cultural dialects in this country, just as I love regional foods, architecture, dress styles, etc. I think that this heterogeneity add something unique to America that makes this nation great. Unfortunately, due largely to the heavy influence of electronic media, this heterogeneity is disappearing. Just and many languages are dying on a global scale, so are regional dialects, dress styles, cuisine and culture dying all across American, being replaced by a bland shopping mall sameness that is soul-crushing in its withering ennui.
I completely agree with that. Growing up I was afraid that the whole world would become like New Jersey (a very bad thing to a New York mind), though now it seems it will become like some yet-to-built suburb of Shanghai.
Blanc2, thanks for the McWhorter reference. I am not surprised he wrote about it, but I did not know where.
I guess. I was always told that it was just ghetto and bad grammer. But each it’s own. It still sounds ugly and makes the girls sound like men to me. I’m not used to it, but alot of friends and my boyfriend talks like that, so meh. I still wouldn’t teach my children to speak “black” english because it won’t get you a job and there are many more ways to express your culture than talking like some stupid hick.
@abagond
I greatly enjoyed this post.
I wish you would cite your sources more, especially when you give statistics.
I was intrigued by “In old Hollywood films you will also hear: I’se be walkin’.” It brought to mind a number of questions: Does the structure in question pre-date Hollywood? Did it ever occur in blackface minstrel shows? Did blackface performances by African-Americans and coon songs written by African-Americans represent contemporaneous African-American Vernacular English more accurately than those by whites?
I do not see myself as a scholar: if I know something as a layman then I assume it cannot be that hard to find out.
Coon English is my name for the fake Ebonics that white script writers put in the mouths of black actors. It is not how black people talked – it is how white people think they talk. One of the biggest giveaway is the improper overuse of the word “be”. White people hear black people using the word “be” more than they do and so they think they are using it indiscriminately when in fact it has a particular meaning – just like any other word.
You hear stories of black actors going to Hollywood and LEARNING from white people how to talk like (a white person’s idea of) a black person.
In that vein I find it curious how white people seem to have this imitation black person act that they have apparently been practising.
Black parodies of white (Hollywood) ideas of acting black:
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/black-acting-school/
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/aisha-muharrar-black-best-friend/
Coon English does go back to the minstrel shows of the 1800s. Not sure if black-written material was more “accurate” when the whole thing was done for the benefit of white people.
coon English example
@abagond
You’ve referred to the incorrect overuse of the form “be” as a common mistake made by whites when imitating African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). It seems that mistakes with the verb “be” are common among non-native speakers, regardless of race. On video John McWhorter explains when AAVE permits the deletion of the equative forms of the verb “be” and apparently refers to African-American author Cora Daniels’s use of “I be Ghetto!” which he identifies as a mistake in AAVE (cf. http://www.aei.org/files/2007/11/14/20071114_20071114McWhorter.pdf):
http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/3124?in=19:59&out=24:26
RE: …I find it curious how white people seem to have this imitation black person act that they have apparently been practising.
The Wikipedia article “Cakewalk” suggests slaves had an imitation white people act, with which some entertained their masters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk). If this is correct, white performances of cakewalks in minstrel shows were a white imitation of blacks acting like whites.
RE: Not sure if black-written material was more “accurate” when the whole thing was done for the benefit of white people.
I’m not sure if it’s accurate to say “the whole thing was done for the benefit of white people.” All black minstrel shows enjoyed popularity with many blacks. I’d imagine the performances were segregated and performances before black audience were at least partially tailored to the audience.
I wonder how capable early minstrel performers, white or black, were of accuracy or authenticity. Weren’t they mostly Northerners with little firsthand knowledge of the slave culture in the South?
I just saw this post. Thank you! I’ve been saying this for years!
I majored in English, taught English, and am a stickler for grammar. My family scoffs when I proclaim that I plan to raise my kids speaking Ebonics as well as standard American English (even though I grew up speaking it at home). Why? I’ve always argued that it allows for subtle differences in time that Standard American English doesn’t! It is a valid English dialect and not a misuse of “the English language.”
It’s sadly ironic that writers, who usually spend copious amounts of time, energy, and money researching for their books, scripts, etc., get this so obviously horribly wrong. All they have to do is spend quality time with people in their local community. I find it offensive because it shows a disregard, a lack of respect for a people, my people.