AAVE: Where all the youth’s ‘slang’ really comes from
Like every other social media site, Tumblr is mostly young people. Now I can’t say I’m really sure how to define young people but I’m mostly talking about teens to 20-somethings who spend most of their time on the internet and are keeping up with the trends that seem so lost on the older generation. Here, it’s easy to keep up. I know how people my age communicate, the words we use; which are in and which are out; ‘bae’ used to be cool thing to call your significant other and now it’s uncool, instead of calling that party last weekend ‘insane’ try saying it was ‘lit’, and instead of telling your friend to become more socially aware, tell them to get ‘woke’
But let’s be real, how aware are we? We barely even know where our ‘slang’ comes from- we don’t even know that calling it slang is harmful to a very marginalized group of people.
‘AAVE’ stands of African-America Vernacular English. It’s not a very commonly known dialect of English as it belongs to a very specific demographic- it belongs to a community of urban African Americans within a community of urban African Americans. But somehow various words and phrases make its way into the mainstream media and are then adopted by- well, literally everyone.
AAVE is a dialect, it has a set of grammatical rules that if they are not followed, you’re speaking incorrectly- AAVE is not spoken to be funny or edgy- it isn’t even spoken exclusively by young people as the dialect first originated when African American slaves tried to learn English (in doing so, created a different language for themselves). This language comes from a place of being ostracized and oppressed, this history is what unifies an entire community. Referring to AAVE as slang and treating it as such is nothing short of erasure.
AAVE has taken on several different names over the course of its existence, ‘ebonics’, ‘blaccent’, ‘ghetto speak’ and even ‘bad english’. These are all obviously controversial and blatantly racist terms as they mock and demean this way of speaking and directly associate it with a lack of education. Despite these criticisms and terms, so much of the language has now been commercialized and used so widely that people who’ve never stepped foot in America or even seen a real black community seem to know terms from AAVE and even understand the linguistic nuances of each word that are somewhat inexplicable to the older generation. The injustice here is that a language when used by its original community, is seen as improper and is often ridiculed, yet as soon as it’s adopted by mostly white youth and is then commercialized world wide, it is seen as trendy and everyone starts using these words with no knowledge whatsoever of it’s roots, the history, the originators. It is seen as completely ‘new’, it’s what all the young kids are using. Another word for this, that is often misunderstood as this generation’s ‘hyper sensitive’ way of looking at things, is called ‘appropriation’; the adoption of specific cultural elements, usually for a humorous or aesthetic purpose, with no regard or understanding of it’s cultural significance or history. This actually a very simple concept to grasp but given our need to constantly take, take and take, maybe we just don’t want to understand it. Not only does this term refer to cultural costumes and decorations but language as well- though language isn’t tangible, it’s certainly easy to profit from.
As an Indian, this actually affects me in no way whatsoever- except when I realized I contribute to the issue greatly. Everything I text and say to my friends comes from this dialect that I knew nothing about till I one day decided to search what the word ‘lit’ meant- where it came from, under the impression that it was an ‘internet’ term. That’s what an entire communities language was reduced to. I borrowed another culture’s language in complete ignorance, and that’s what almost everyone around me seems to be doing. Not only do I simply use words and phrases from AAVE but I also often find myself copying the same register and sometimes- though inadvertently- the same accent and attitude when doing so. In my head it’s humorous and relatable- I should not have the right to use someone else’s entire way of expression and their means of communication to seem ‘funny’ or ‘relatable’. It’s not difficult to put it into more personal terms, its really just a matter of substitution: If Hindi words and phrases suddenly became so popular that the mainstream media, commercial brands, teenagers all across the globe adopted them but simultaneously mocked the Indian accent and gestures, it would be nothing of short of distasteful and jarring. If the words you use everyday, the ones that you’re comfortable with and have been using since you were a child were suddenly seen on the t-shirt of a girl who saw your language as nothing but a funny catchphrase and would grow out of it the second Teen Vogue lists it under, ‘Trends We’re Leaving Behind’ the outrage would make more sense.
Though most people don’t even know what AAVE is, they already love it. The words are relatable, expressive, have certain nuances that you just don’t find in English alone. I can personally tell you that when I say ‘I’m shook’ instead of ‘shocked’, it makes a slight yet significant difference, and that’s the beauty of language. Using AAVE as a foreigner to the black community is not a crime, the same way using French phrases in English isn’t a crime- but it does all come down to respect. Words don’t just appear out of thin air, unassigned to a culture, which is why it’s always important to educate oneself. Be aware, be woke, whatever you want to call it is fine as long as it comes from a place of real understand and respect rather than ignorance and superiority.
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