Do you ever just think about how amazing it is that people have established formal language? Our ability to rattle off meaningful words, generally within five years of life, without hardly sparing a thought is incredible. The sentence "I didn't take his pencil" can mean five totally different things depending on the word that you stress, and the feelings that we experience are so special that every language has words that aren't directly translatable.
I’m very much into linguistics, which led me to declare a Modern Foreign Language major. I remember begging my mom for a beginner's French workbook at the teacher's store when I was younger, determined to teach myself as much as I could. Sometimes, I'd turn to a Spanish language station and try to glean as much as I could. I'd daydream about how people who don't speak English would interpret my speech.
I spend a lot of time these days researching and thinking about the way that spoken and written language has a way of growing and changing through history and philosophy that is as human as those who use it. I realized that this has a very important personal implication for me, as it does for everyone. We all have cultural ties to the way we speak that informs our everyday interactions with one another. I learned a few years ago that I speak several dialects of English, Standard American English (SAE) and African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).
Note: I’m not at all new to AAVE as a language but as a concept. What I mean by that is, I’ve communicated this way all my life, but without the conscious awareness of its place in my larger society. Unfortunately, on a daily basis, I see that my dialect is labelled as illegitimate, specifically in defense of the elusive "proper English." When I was in a predominantly Black elementary school, a Black minister visited to speak to us at assembly and derided the dialect, claiming that it was responsible for keeping people from succeeding, when in reality, prejudice and inaccessible education does that. This is a common phenomenon when it comes to any interest or convention that belongs to a demographic that is viewed as less than. I’m not even aware of it at times because I grew up thinking that it was true.
So, let’s talk legitimization. First, it’s important to recognize the involvement of history, philosophy and identity. Over time, languages grow and change, which makes a purist, strict approach to it pretty silly. Historically, the way the African-Americans have navigated and curated language has experienced—and is still met with—criticism and even discrimination in school and the workplace. It becomes necessary to employ mechanisms like code-switching: applying interactions (i.e. language) according to your environment (explained halfway through this article). The words (e.g. "bougie"), omissions and sentence structures lend insight into developed viewpoints, as is noted in number 30 of this list of cool facts about language. Most importantly, language is a kind of dynamic equilibrium—we create it and it creates us. The dialect continues to expand with more vocabulary and conventions to this day, as we continue to establish a relatively young heritage. African-American Vernacular English is as human as it is complex and formulaic, and should be recognized as such.
The variety of ways that people engage with one another through speech is a testimony to the beauty of human diversity. That should be celebrated and encouraged, not chastised or stigmatized. Certainly, standardized rules of speech and writing are necessary for the sake of efficient business and large-scale communications. Nevertheless, in a country shaped by immigration throughout its history, it makes sense to acknowledge the importance of different manners of speech.
It's important that we stop to ask ourselves if a certain language doesn't seem valid because we're just out of the loop. The way people interact is beautiful! That doesn't change when we're only the spectators—enjoy the view.
