The Globalization of African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

African American Vernacular English is an American lingua franca that is mostly used by the Black American working class, bi-dialectal Black Americans middle class and most recently - multicultural youth from various parts of the world. The roots of the language were established in the rural south, while its development and rave is linked to prominent use in non southern urban cities. Throughout its history, AAVE has been known to reflect changing socio-political conditions and is in constant flux. The dialect is constantly under scrutiny for not being “proper” in comparison to standard english and how the public feels about a language is often how it feels about its speakers. However, through the mass exporting of american media and culture, most people around the world are unknowingly incorporating AAVE lingo into their lexicon. African American vernacular english is constantly used as the basis for colloquial language worldwide without reaping any of the ‘benefits’ that standard languages do. This literature review highlights African American Vernacular English and its role in global culture discussed in five articles: “African American Vernacular English (AAVE) Used by Rich Brian: A Sociolinguistic Investigation.” by Inan Tia Ajeng Aryani, “The Construction of White, Black, and Korean American Identities through African American Vernacular English.” by Elaine Chun, “Language, Race, and White Public Space.” by Jane Hill, “The New Black Youth Culture: The Emergence of the Hip-Hop Generation." by Bakari Kitwana and “Theorizing the Postcoloniality of African American English.” by Mary Zeigler and Viktor Osinubi.

In their article “(AAVE) Used by Rich Brian: A Sociolinguistic Investigation.” Aryani investigates the use of AAVE by indo-chinese american immigrant, Brian who is also a rapper. The text focuses on his song lyrics and analyzes them by the standard of AAVE’s 13 grammatical features. It also explores how Brian’s surroundings- upbringing in a multicultural neighborhood, access to internet culture and american media- played a role in his performance of black american culture and led him to obtain a native like control on the dialect. Aryani states that “In 2010, 11-year-old Brian Imanuel began to be exposed to American culture. He studied English by watching Youtube videos and listen- ing to songs from rap singers such as Childish Gambino, 2 Chainz, Macklemore, and Tyler. In particular, they often use African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in their song lyrics. (Staehr & Madsen, 2015). Moreover, in 11, Brian has already acquired AAVE as a linguistic style associated with hip hop. It could be seen in 2015, he tried to adopt the Hip-Hop style and named himself as Rich Chigga.”(Aryani, 67) Aryani makes it clear that even before Brian’s move to the United States he equated learning about American popular culture to media such as rap videos, hip hop/rap artists and tried and succeeded in incorporating them into his view of what it meant to be American. Brian even went as far as naming himself  “rich chigga” a play on black american colloquial term N*gga which is used in addressing others of the same racial community. “Such an interaction has drawn along young folks from quite diverse backgrounds in the world and made everyone re- alize as if they are somehow part of a collabora- tive, politically involved youth community.”(Aryani, 69)

Elaine Chun also touches on this idea of a collaborative global community in “The Construction of White, Black, and Korean American Identities through African American Vernacular English.”. Here she gives readers an insight into the Korean American youth community, their relationship with white standard English and AAVE and how their use of both gives them a unique and overlooked identity. Chun’s research focuses on the day to day speech of three young korean-american men in their early twenties, who are “given the curious location of Asian Americans in popular discourses as "model minorities,, who are clearly "nonwhite" but are also granted the status of honorary, or "surrogate," whiteness” (Chun, 53) Though they are minorities they are also privileged enough to be able to overlook the origins of some of the terms that are common in what Chun calls “Mainstream American English (MAE)” signifying that while they do have proximity to whiteness they are still not fully white. Chun introduces a term “Imagined African American English” to us in the text which is defined as a “particularly dynamic site of meaning making by various ethnic groups in the united states”(Chun, 54) what this means is slang derived from AAVE were borrowed and are appropriated by MAE speakers through popular culture, specifically hip hop. “Most likely Jin learned these AAVE elements through his participation in and observance of mainstream institutions and during his childhood in ethnically diverse parts of Chicago that he referred to as “the ghetto”, consequently his borrowings from AAVE also consisted of terms that where less common in MAE because of their inherently racial references to non european americans as victims of th white man society.”(Chun, 55)

In “Language, Race, and White Public Space.” Jane Hill discusses the “white normalcy” of language focusing particularly on the hispanic and black community to understand how their spoken languages mean different things in their respective communities versus in white spaces.”Boundaries and order are everything, the pressure from interlocutors to keep the two languages in order is so severe that people who function as fluent bilinguals become so anxious that they cannot speak at all”(Hill, 681) I was not surprised to learn that the pressure to conform in white spaces inhibits speakers from performing their best when it comes to speaking their languages. However when this situation is reversed and white people are forced to learn languages beyond their standard english, all and any knowledge of the language is welcomed with open arms despite “accents”, or worries of conforming. The main point is that there is a racialization of language which also leads back to AAVE. The racialization of AAVE despite popular culture means that when the global (non black) youth step into spaces deemed professional, this caricature of American pop culture talk slips away. Which allows for the questions; is the appropriation of this language purposeful? Is the naivety of who the language belongs to purposeful if it isn't seen as worthy enough to be spoken beyond the realms of pop culture? Why do the global youth not hold on to the colloquialisms AAVE offers after a certain age and what does that say about the racialization of AAVE.

Kitwana’s “The New Black Youth Culture: The Emergence of the Hip-Hop Generation.” gives us a deep dive into the history of black youth culture and how it became the phenomenon that still controls language global to this very day. “Today the influence of these traditional purveyors of Black culture have largely diminished in the face of powerful and pervasive technological advances and corporate growth. Now media and entertainment such as pop music, film, and fashion are among the major forces transmitting culture to this generation of Black Americans. At the same time, the new Black youth culture cuts across class lines, so that whether one is middle class, coming of age in a suburban or rural setting, college-bound, or a street-wise urban dweller, what it means to be young and Black has been similarly redefined. “(Kitwana, 20) Kitwana explains that while black youth culture can be traced as far back into the 1920’s the cut across class lines propelled the culture into a new meaning. Now instead of one definition of what blackness meant there are; middle class definitions, working class definitions, college definitions, alternative definitions and with a range of definitions comes a range of ways the media is able to tell the stories of black life. This visibility is then represented through clothing, music, attitudes, faces and bodies, then commercialized into brands like Nike, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Reebok and are sold to the highest bidder. “We live in an age where corporate mergers, particularly in media and entertainment, have redefined public space. Within this largely expanded public space, the viewing public is constantly bombarded by visual images that have become central to the identity of an entire generation. Within the arena of popular culture, rap music more than anything else has helped shape the new Black youth culture.” (Kitwana, 23) With this extensive commercialization of black culture, white youth both women and men emulate styles, expressions and attitudes from the back of these brands without the reality or even knowledge of what it means to be black. “Whereas previously the voices of young Blacks had been locked out of the global age's public square, the mainstreaming of rap music now gave Black youth more visibility and a broader platform than we had ever enjoyed before. At the same time, it gave young Blacks across the country who identified with it and were informed by it a medium through which to share a national culture. In the process, rap artists became the dominant public voice of this generation.” (Kitwana, 25)

Zeigler and Osinubi write about “Theorizing the Postcoloniality of African American English” which is a text imperative to my topic. They discuss language and power, more specifically who has power to decide what is “good” language versus what isn't. In a world that sees AAVE as second class, yet wraps it’s entire identity around it, it only makes sense that African Americans do not feel as though they have a “place” in the world. Place in this context represents a proven identity and unlike other marginalized communities is unique in its own right. “African American English is a product of  disaporation and the latter is a product of colonialism”(Zeigler, Osinubu, 591)

“Postcolonialism is a manifestation of that colonial diasporation. They are aware that they are in a far away place from an original homeland with language and culture online their own, the colonized people incorporate the norms of their pre colonial culture and languages into their new colonial, cultural and linguistic place”(Zeigler, Osinubu, 594) Which explains to us how new diasporan communities are built. Not less than the african communities or less than the colonizers communities, but in a cross cultural way bring the best of both to create their own identity.

Throughout all my research I’ve learned an abundance about the distinct history, culture and preservation of AAVE and have found respect for the resilience of those in the community. To build entire communities after being stripped of your own, then have a process of commercialization, structural racism and more deny you of rights to claim that language that has been created as a response to such trauma is astounding. Every one of my research backed up the validity of AAVE, the way it is spoken, created and even spreaded. AAVE is the current backbone behind much of American popular culture and much of the inspiration behind global youth culture and that is something deserving of praise and accolades.

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Works Cited

Aryani, Intan Tia Ajeng. “African American Vernacular English (AAVE) Used by Rich Brian: A Sociolinguistic Investigation.” Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 2020, pp. 67–72., doi:10.15294/lc.v15i1.25965.

Chun, Elaine W. “The Construction of White, Black, and Korean American Identities through African American Vernacular English.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. 11, no. 1, 2001, pp. 52–64. JSTOR,

Hill, Jane H. “Language, Race, and White Public Space.” American Anthropologist, vol. 100, no. 3, 1998, pp. 680–689. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/682046. Accessed 13 May 2021.

Kitwana, Bakari. "Chapter 1: The New Black Youth Culture: The Emergence of the Hip-Hop Generation." The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic, 2002. 17-39. Black Thought and Culture Database. Web. 

Zeigler, Mary B., and Viktor Osinubi. “Theorizing the Postcoloniality of African American English.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 32, no. 5, 2002, pp. 588–609. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3180954. Accessed 13 May 2021.