7. An unbroken
connection exists between the broken English of the displaced, enslaved African
and the diverse black vernacular speech black folks use today. In both cases,
the rupture of standard English enabled and enables rebellion and resistance.
By transforming the oppressor’s language, making a culture of resistance, black
people created an intimate speech that could say far more than was permissible
within the boundaries of standard English.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorstruck/201009/whats-so-wrong-sounding-black
This article shown here is very similar to the quote from Bell Hooks and matches its significance by saying that Black American Vernacular English has become from the broken English of the displaced enslave Africans to something more developed which is still used today as a form of resistance and rebellion towards the Standard English. AAVE is used to differentiate them from one culture to the next and make their language of the community have deeper meaning and "say far more than was permissible within the boundaries of standard English.
The author of the article describes AAVE as a "distinct cadence and way of pronouncing words", meaning that it is not a broken, incorrect and diction poor filled version of English but just as another distinct way and version of pronunciation. He compares this type of English with other such dialects and accents from around the US which brings u a good point with how AAVE is the one that comes out in the spotlight and looked down upon.
"The change is largely unconscious mimicry, much
like how a New Yorker who now lives in California might find her Brooklyn
accent gets a little stronger when she goes back home; or how my coworker says
her English husband's accent gets stronger when they visit across the
pond.". She states that it is just society that has conformed to the idea
that black accent is somehow less of that of a standard accent. But is there
really a standard accent? and why does the black accent have to be the one to
be judged as the least desirable in United States? "There is
absolutely nothing wrong with having a black accent, except that in a society
where whiteness is normative, a black accent is judged as less
desirable.". A lot of African Americans now have to code switch between
their dialects in order to fit from one culture to another "as a
matter of survival" in the way they would be wary to use their own accent
as they could lose they job or something at a similar risk. “Upwardly mobile
blacks learn to effortlessly code switch, that is unconsciously modify speech
to slip from one culture to another.".
This text therefore connects with the quote as it describes the struggles of code-switching from their own dialect depending on their situation and how they have continued to use AAVE as a form of resistance and to differentiate from the others to make it more into an intimate speech for their community.
