31. The Impact of African American English

This lecture explores some of the key features of the impact of the speech of AfricanAmericans on the American language generally. Linguists have long debated the nature and status of AfricanAmerican English, noting features of its history, its regional varieties, and its associations with perceived levels of class and education. Although there are many approaches to this subject and the subject itself is not without controversy, it is the purpose of this lecture to present AfricanAmerican English as a language with grammatical rules and categories and with a precise history coming out of the contact with nonEnglish languages (such as the African languages and the Caribbean creoles), as well as a language with a rich and vital literature.