A Sociolinguistic Perspective on Linguistic Exclusion, Racial Segregation and Status of African–American Vernacular English

Abstract

The African-Americans have time and again suffered a state of denial from the dominant class. The hegemonic mindset of the Whites had pushed the African-Americans on the periphery and given them a substandard status. Winant (2001). The world is a ghetto: Race and democracy since World War II. New York: Basic Books) says that to be ‘white conferred a deserved advantage on those so identified while a dark skin properly signified inferiority’ This racial discrimination and ‘white supremacy’ have suppressed the voices of the margins for a long time. Not only the African-Americans but their language was also tagged as being substandard by the White Americans. Where on one hand, it is considered to be language marred in its grammar by the non-speakers, on the other, is termed the ‘Language of the Soul’ by the native speakers, Claude Brown being one of them. It was a language that brought the African-Americans together. After the Great Migration, the African-Americans faced segregation at all fronts which included housing as well. This segregation brought severe economic, social and political hardships upon them and resulted in the emergence of ghettos. However, this Ghettoisation had a positive effect as it ‘gave rise to vibrant culture, symbolized by Harlem Renaissance and it also gave rise to language and cultural segregation’ (Massey DS and Denton NA, 1993. American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press). The blacks intentionally developed a language which was distinct from the Standard American English and followed a set grammatical pattern. This paper studies the plight of the African-Americans during slavery; racial segregation post Civil War; the fight for respectable status for themselves and their language; and the problems they are still facing to gain that status. The paper shows that how even after facing constant rejections and marginalisation, the African–Americans take pride in their culture and language.