Abonics Colloquial Language

Lemme te’ you abo’ Ebonics fam. If you were able to understand this sentence, you have quite the tongue for Ebonics. Ebonics is a colloquial language that categorizes the language used by African Americans (ebo- meaning ebony/black and -nics meaning phonics/sounds). This term was created in 1973 by black scholars in an attempt to fix the negative connotation to the word “Nonstandard Negro English” that was placed on African American communities (Rickford, 2000). Linguistics claim that determining the accurate amount of people who speak it is extremely difficult to acquire. Jack Sidnell (2012), a student from the University of Hawaii, explained that “speakers may use some distinctive aspects of phonology (pronunciation) and lexis (vocabulary),”

The primary theory that credits Ebonics’ existence is known as the Creole Hypothesis. This hypothesis is supported when two steps are taken. The first is determining the pidgin language. Pidgin languages are created when a language develops from two groups coming into contact and not having any knowledge of the other’s language (Ballister, 2012). Essentially, all the slaves taken from Africa during the slave trade all originated from different regions, all with different languages. As slaves were being sold into America, a new language was created in order to act as a way of communication amongst slaves on plantations. The language is meant to be “broken” and simplistic, but nonetheless, was understood as time progressed. This then continued throughout the years to present day, making the language into a creole, the second step of the Creole Hypothesis. A creole is broadly defined as a pidgin language that is taught to second generation families and so on. This borrowed language was formed by different sources that not only retells history, but became an independent language for African Americans. After many studies, linguistics changed the status of Ebonics from creole language to a separate, independent dialect of

Ebonics holds quite a few phonological qualities, which addresses the sounds that the language makes. Ottoh-Agede and Essein-Eyo (2014), English Professors in Nigeria, explain key linguistic elements that differentiate Ebonics from other dialects including Aphesis, Syncope, and Apocope (p. 733). Aphesis is the deletion of an unstressed vowel or consonant letter usually in the beginning of a word. This loss of the letter makes it easier to vocally pass through words. For example, ‘They ‘bout to go’ is translated into ‘They are about to go.’ The ‘a’ in about is dropped to rid of the stressed syllable to ease the sound of the sentence. The second phonological, Syncope, works in the same way as aphesis, but drops consonant in the middle of a word. A common example is seen with the word ‘supposed.’ In Ebonics, ‘supposed’ is pronounced as ‘sposed’ as in, ‘what am I sposed to do now?’ The purpose is the same in which the sentence is easier to say aloud. The last feature is known as Apocope. Apocope is disregarding the last sound at the end of a word. For example, ‘I got somethin’ to tell you’ really means ‘I have something to tell