African Americans are largely the descendants of slaves. They are people who were brought from their African homelands by force to work in America. They had limited rights, and they were long denied from any progress in the United States. They share a history of enslavement and racial oppression. Therefore, it gives relevance to the initial bond of African heritage. There is an African American culture in America, and this culture is unique one. Culture interprets our surroundings for us and gives them meaning and allows us to express ourselves. Thus, we cannot express ourselves without a way of communication. I think language is the best way of communication. African Americans began to learn English as they born in America. But their English has some unique features from the Standard English according to The Oakland school board, In spite of having its unique systematic rules, African American Vernacular English suffers from stigma due to the history of race in America.
AAVE came from south of America, and shares many features with Southern American English. It is apparent that African American English is closer to southern dialect of American English than other dialects. There are two theories about the linguistic origins of AAVE. These two theories are not fully proved by linguists. These two theories are just hypotheses because the history of the America has blocked the origins of the African dialect completely. Because of historical racism, we are left with hypotheses instead of documentation and proved theories.
The two hypotheses are Pidgin, and the Dialect Divergence Hypothesis (language in society p.427). The first is that contact between English speakers and among speakers of other languages led to the formation of pidgin language. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, Africans who spoke by the different language were grouped together to opposes enslavement. In order to communicate, the slaves were agreed to use the one way of language all had access to. This language is English. They make a simple form form of English which is called pidgin .The second hypothesis is dialect of Southern American English which started to diverge in the 1700s and 1800s.The theory suggests that African American English acquired the language when African slaves learned English from their native American masters as a second language. Despite of the basic grammar was learned, many surfaces differences continued, which were appeared in grammar that put up by the children of the slaves, who heard a different form of English from their parents. Logically, if the children grew and speak Standard American English, they will speak the same way of language. On the other hand, if the children have been exposed to speak by southern dialect, the southern dialect will reflect and grew in their speaking because social and racial barriers blacks in America.
The African American dialect is the dialect spoken by the African American people. However, its speakers are not limited to the African Americans. Not all black Americans speak it. However, there are many non-African Americans speaks African American English. Many of them who speak it are adept at code-switching. They have the ability to switch between African American dialect and any other dialect. Also, it is important to notice that many critics believe that African American English is not spoken the same way everywhere, which I believe is true because of the regional variation in pronunciation. However, other critics oppose this belief. This issue is very complicated.