It seems like the last section was forever ago! We discussed the language change survey that our class conducted; we also looked at Eisikovits' study on language change in Australian teens across genders.

This week, we are talking about AAVE's lack of legal recognition in court. While we have discussed the "markedness" and racial stereotypes that go along with AAVE, we haven't seen how much it impacts certain issues like the justice system.

Professor John R. Rickford (also the author of Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English) gave our class a guest lecture on AAVE in legal courts. Because of his in-depth studies of AAVE and various Creole languages, he knew how crucial language is to the way we treat other human beings.

Vernacular languages are systematic, meaning they are governed by a consistent set of grammar rules. They are also rooted in history: a large part of African American identity lies in African American Vernacular English. Sadly, vernacular dialects are discriminated against because they are different from Standard American English. Studies show that people who speak AAVE get fewer callbacks in job interviews over the phone, and landlords are less likely to rent out housing to them. AAVE speaking children are seen as "lazy" in schools, because white administration doesn't understand the vernacular dialect.

An even more severe discrimination lies in the justice system. On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman -- a white man -- shot and killed black teenager, Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was put on trial, and the star witness on Martin's side was his friend Rachel Jeantel (who was on the phone with Martin as he was being chased and shot). Because of Jeantel's African American Vernacular English, her testimony was disregarded by the jury, and Zimmerman was ultimately declared not guilty.

The defense attorney, Don West, asked Jeantel if she didn't understand English. What he didn't realize was that Jeantel understood English extremely well -- it's just that she understood a different dialect of English than he did. Jeantel responded by saying she understood English; she just didn't understand him. The nation ridiculed Jeantel on all forms of media, and Jeantel was put under harsh scrutiny. She was only trying to bring about justice for her friend!

This kind of language discrimination is not uncommon in American courts. Because AAVE isn't recognized as a distinct language, witnesses speaking AAVE do not receive a translator or interpreter for their testimony. If they had been speaking, say, Chinese, they would receive a translator, and their meaning would come across crystal clear. Instead, AAVE speakers are seen as "incoherent," "lazy," and "incompetent" in their testimonies, and their words are often ignored or criticized.

People don't realize that AAVE is a complex language with its own grammar system. AAVE has many rules that are followed just as strictly as Standard American English grammar. You can do poetry in AAVE, you can learn to cuss out someone's mama, you can learn to praise her -- everything you can do with another respected language, you can do in vernacular languages as well.

If someone asked you, is it "I ain't be listening" or "I don't be listening," what would you say? You might think that it doesn't matter, but it does. The right answer is "I don't be listening," and if you said "ain't" to any fluent AAVE speaker, they would see right through you.

AAVE uses a zero copula in the spot of the word "is" at times. For example, they say "the coffee cold" instead of "the coffee IS cold." Just because Standard American English has no zero copula, doesn't mean that it's not a valid part of grammar. Bengali, Turkish, Japanese, Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Arabic, and many other languages have a zero copula -- and no one is calling those languages "invalid."

Another unique feature of AAVE is the habitual "be." "He running" and "He BE running" mean two different things. The habitual "be" means that the action occurs regularly, or on a habitual basis. "He be running" means that he has run for a long time, and he runs consistently. The "be" tells you the time course of events; to bring back the coffee example, "the coffee cold" means that the coffee is cold this one time. "The coffee BE cold" means that the coffee is usually always cold. "He BEEN married" means that yes, he is married, but he also has been married for a long time.

I once heard that "whether or not something is understood is a function of both the speaker and the listener." Whether we, as a society, will finally come to recognize vernacular dialects as valid depends on if we are open to accepting differences in people.

Stay tuned for part 6!