AFS 2010 BLOG #2

Saundra Wells

AFS 2010

Blog #2

 

African Elements in African American English/ Questions Africanisms in African American Names

 

Although Africans were forced to come to America to serve the inadequacy of the early settlers, the traditions instilled within them from their country was not erased from their minds or souls. They were not allowed to practice traditional rituals and or ceremonies that they were accustomed to, they still found ways to communicate and be in touch with their roots. In chapter 3 the author Asante critiques the earlier scholars like Melville Herskovits, Janheinz Jahn not because of the methods they utilized to explain about the African language bit for the interference caused by their methods. The opinion of author Asante was that the African language was misinterpreted because the knowledge of earlier scholars was thorough enough to conclude that the language that Africans spoke here in America was understood enough to the conclusion that they (Africans) were not speaking English.

The misunderstanding of the Gullah language by white American linguists was proved by the study of the language in comparison to their African origin. In chapter 3 Asante highlights the findings of American Linguist Ambrose Gonzales as misunderstanding the Gullah language in his citing that the words spoken by Africans were English words perhaps mispronounced or spelled wrong. These words indeed were of African origin, Gonzales was not familiar with the African language. These findings were pointed out by linguist Lorenzo Turner, who believed after extensive studies of the African language compared to the English language was similar due to Africans not forgetting their roots or cultural in which they were born in. The belief that “no displaced people have ever completely lost the firms of their previous culture”. The basics of speech from the African culture was intertwined with the new world and language they were forced to live in, and with that alterations were made in order to survive.

Although earlier writers preferred African verbal communication in African American language, the communication style is clearly up to the individual and thus verbal expressions may vary. The development of Ebonics was believed to be one’s stress of the past tense verbs. In the videos for instance code switching the verbalizations were noted to be switched as to how you speak with family at home and how your language is changed when you speak out in the public. The idea that the language is modified for many African Americans being what is described a cultural thing. The belief that in order to be taken seriously you would need to adapt to speak properly in a professional atmosphere as opposed to speaking “slang” with your friends, which sometimes is not acceptable in certain social situations. This was in coordination with the adjustment of the atmosphere in which you find yourself in. The slaves found themselves in a new world and changes forced upon them, for example their names were changed primarily because their names given to them in their culture could not be pronounced. The modification of one’s speaking has had history over many decades, the changing of the way a person communicates at one time was “Ebonics” in the 70’s, then “black English” then “African American vernacular English”. In the AA English the topic of Ebonics was one that was analyzed as to who actually taught blacks how to speak from the beginning, this was in conjunction with author Asante statement of how we as blacks modified language of our ancestors and present day blacks. The video Ink spot viewed that the speaking of proper English viewed an African American as speaking like you are white. The influence of Ebonics and or AAV English has had impact on the African American speaking patterns today, just as Asante reflected that the language we speak depends on the area in which we are in. We again tend to modify our language to adapt to the situations we find ourselves in.

In chapter 4 the naming practices of in the African culture was one that had meaning for example: the Africans who arrived in Colonial America especially in the deep South continued to give their children African names, giving the child a sense of their ancestry roots and maintaining their cultural integrity a well as a link to their African roots. The naming of African children was a traditional process, one that appeared to be a simple process, for example a child rather they are male or female was named after the day of the week they were born. The names that were given eventually was translated in to the English language. For example a female child born on a Friday was named “Phibba” which translated into English as Phoebe.

The process of giving a name to a child was of great importance because it was believed that the child’s personality was a result of the name that was given to them at birth. This itself takes a lot of thinking and analyzing of a person to choose the right name to identify how they turn out in life.

The terms on page 93-105 I found to be interesting because of the usage in our language today, for example the term bad-mouth is still used today especially among older adults meaning someone that is not speaking nicely. The term biddy is a word still used to day to describe a small child or very small adult for the most part it is used today as a description of a female. Again the word chick is still synonymous with today’s language, it used to describe a female when a person is speaking slang in today’s language. So the languages that was utilized in our ancestors  native land was thoroughly intertwined with the English language, and with that being said I believe that African Americans are superior as to the development of this country.