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In:World Englishes on the Web: The Nigerian diaspora in the USA
Mirka Honkanen
[Varieties of English Around the World G63] 2020
► pp. 91–228

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Chapter 6
African-American linguistic resources in diasporic Nigerian repertoires

Published online: 11 August 2020

https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g63.c6

Article outline

6.1User types
- 6.1.1User type I: Consistent experts
- 6.1.2User type II: Inconsistent experts
- 6.1.3User type III: Occasional users
- 6.1.4User type IV: Minimal users
- 6.1.5User type V: Non-users
6.2AAVE features and practices
- 6.2.1Authenticity issues
  - 6.2.1.1Controversial identities: “Reppin where am from faithfully”
  - 6.2.1.2Reactions to expert usage of AAVE: “We NIGERIANS don’t talk street”
- 6.2.2Styleshifting into AAVE
  - 6.2.2.1Rap battling: “The music of hope. .and by the way its black”
  - 6.2.2.2Accommodation to one’s interlocutors: “Whatcha been up to homie?”
  - 6.2.2.3Fictional narratives: “Shes Ghetto and She’s got it all!”
- 6.2.3Verbal markers
  - 6.2.3.1Habitual or iterative invariant be
  - 6.2.3.2Perfect done
  - 6.2.3.3Remote past been
  - 6.2.3.4Futurate finna
  - 6.2.3.5Futurate I’ma
- 6.2.4Lexical and orthographic AAVE features
  - 6.2.4.1Spelling: “They call each others Doggs .. or is it dawgs?”
  - 6.2.4.2Lexis: “This is not hate! This is Real Talk!”
- 6.2.5Practices of minimal usage: “Like my African american brothers go say”
- 6.2.6Highly popular features
  - 6.2.6.1Ain’t and other issues of negation: “I use the word ‘aint’ because i can”
  - 6.2.6.2Second-person plural pronoun y’all: “t’sup y’all?”
  - 6.2.6.3Augmentation with ass: “Is their sacral bone fractured or what?”
Notes