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Some African-American perspectives on Black English vernacular1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Barbara L. Speicher  and
Seane M. McMahon
Barbara L. Speicher
Affiliation:
Communication Department, DePaul University, 2323 N. Seminary, Chicago, IL 60614
Seane M. McMahon
Affiliation:
2632 Mapleton Avenue, Boulder CO 80304
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Abstract

Sixteen African Americans affiliated with a university participated in open-ended interviews exploring their experiential, attitudinal, and descriptive responses to Black English Vernacular (BEV). The fields of sociolinguistics and education report complex and contradictory attitudes and research findings regarding this code. In addition, media representations of BEV have been misleading. This article investigates how these sources have influenced the attitudes of these African Americans over the last 20 years. We found few trends and little unanimity among our respondents. This finding is neither problematic nor surprising. African Americans do not comprise a monolithic group, acting, speaking, and thinking as one. The results are summarized, and three issues that emerged from the interviews are discussed: problems with the label, Black English Vernacular; the possibility that BEV was socially constructed; and the perception that BEV is a limited linguistic system. (Sociolinguistics, education, attitudes toward language varieties, Black English Vernacular)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 383 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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