AAVE is BOTH bad English, AND a full-fledged language of its own. AAVE is EVEN very bad Yoruba. All three positions are right.
English itself is bad French, as well as bad Old Norse.
As a Language and Literacy student at Harvard, I learned that there was a such thing as African American Vernacular English (AAVE). In a nutshell, the research stated that African Americans especially those who are from the south combine the Southern dialect and African dialect carried from slavery time that translates into everyday speech. Growing up, my mother would call it speaking improper English (or ebonics) and academia would classify it as a colloquial language. It is not language that you would use to write a formal letter or paper, in short this dialect should only be a dialect among peers and familiar friends.
My concern is that this research has given a pass to some educators to not correct this dialect because they dear that they are being insensitive to the African American culture. By not requiring students to enunciate and use the correct verb tenses, they are being…
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oogenhand 