Africanisms in African American Culture

759 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on the impact of african american experience

Africanisms in America are a highly surveyed topic for the black community. Joseph E. Holloway describes Africanisms as “those elements of culture found in the New World that are traceable to an African origin” (Holloway 2). I believe, that africanisms are the traditions and cultural behaviors of African Americans that resemble the some of the same traditions and cultures in Africa. Which makes you ponder about what current elements does our culture use that ties back to Africa. Which in fact there are several africanisms that still exist. African Americans have retained an essence of Africa in their speech, hair care, clothing, preparation of foods, and music by over centuries of separation from the Dark Continent. Speech is a very influenced africanism in America. A word commonly used today by all races in America is the word “okay”, a Mande and Wolf term that means “that’s it” (Holloway 57). Ebonics is often tied back to african roots of west african language. Both lack the sounds and final consonant clusters (e.g. past), and that replacing or simplifying these occurs both in US Ebonics and in West African English varieties spoken in Nigeria and Ghana. Moreover, they argue that the distinction made between completed actions ("He done walked") and habitual actions ("We be walkin") in the Ebonics tense-aspect system reflects their prevalence in West African language systems and that this applies to other aspects of Ebonics sentence structure. Hair Care is another popular africanism present in America for African americans. For african american woman going for a natural hairstyle is quite common. Dating back to pre-colonial africa a natural afro hair style defined status and identity. Different styles indicated certain qualitie... ... middle of paper ... ... and appreciate their ancestors for creating such important and valuable things that are commonly used. Because without them a lot of these things wouldn't be here. Works Cited Brown, Ernest Douglas. "Africanisms in American Culture." JSTOR. University of Illinois Press, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. "Music - Black Music History Timeline | NOW Magazine." Music - Black Music History Timeline | NOW Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. "Nike.com." Nike.com. Nike, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. "Post Navigation." Black Girl with Long Hair. Black Girl Long Hair, 5 Oct. 2011. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. Rickford, John R. "What Is Ebonics (African American English)." What Is Ebonics (African American English)? Linguistic Society of America, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. ""Soul Food" a Brief History." Welcome To The Black Box, Personal Narratives in High Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014

Show More
Related

  • Grammatical Conventions Of Native American English: Lumbee English

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wolfram stated that one unique grammatical convention of Lumbee English is the use of I’m instead of I’ve. Some examples are: “I’m told you all that I know” and “I’m been there before.” Another grammatical convention noted by Wolfram is the use of be instead of is, a grammatical convention similar to African American Vernacular English. One example is “he never bes there,” which means he never is there. Additionally, Wolfram brings to attention that Lumbee English adds a- prefixes to verbs. Some examples of this are “She’s a-fishin,” “She’s a-runnin,” and “He’s a-swimmin” (Wolfram, 2006). Lumbee English also has its own particular vocabulary that includes words like “budges,” which means a nervous irritation, “juvember,” meaning a slingshot, and “ellick,” which is a cup of coffee (Brewer & Reising, 1982). These unique grammatical conventions and vocabulary carry more weight in Lumbee culture than many know, because people of their tribe see Lumbee English as a representation of their history and of

    Read More

  • The Ebonics Controversy

    5587 Words  | 12 Pages

    The term "Ebonics" is the most recently coined name for a speech pattern that has been around for several hundred years. Synonyms for Ebonics include, but are not limited to, Black English, Black Vernacular, African American Vernacular English (AAVE),"Jive," "Rappin," even the derogatory term of "Nigger Talk"(Shabaz).

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Media Coverage Of Ebonics: Incorporating Black English Into The Curriculum

    4963 Words  | 10 Pages

    The term "Ebonics"was first coined in January, 1973 by Dr. Robert Williams, a professor of Psychology at Washington University. The term, which is a compound of "ebonies" and "phonics"(black sounds) refers to the language of West African, Cameroonian, and U.S. slave descendants of Niger-Congo origins. Some linguists disagree about whether Ebonics, or Black English ...

    Read More

  • Ebonics

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ebonics, which stands for Ebony + Phonics is a new term that Linguistics use to describe Black Dialect or Black English or many of the other names that it has been given for more that 350 years.. has been in the news recently but it is definitely not a new topic. Ebonics is a "language" that is a combination of "proper English" and a combination of African languages. Because of this combination a pattern was formed on how certain words are said such as this and that, would be pronounced dis and dat. In all words the "Th." sound sounded like a "D". There was also another pattern formed such as, no tense indicated in the verb, no "r" sound and no consonant pairs.

    Read More

  • Bill Cosby: A Black Perspective on Black Society Today

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are African Americans perpetuating their own stereotypes about their culture? Possibly. African Americans are inherently less wealthy compared to whites and is an important fact to consider about the Black culture. Wealth is an...

    Read More

  • Stuart Hall's What Is This Black In Black Popular Culture?

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Stuart Hall’s “What is This “Black” in Black Popular Culture?” the historical implication of popular culture in the U.S is examined and the influence that blackness has in it is deconstructed. According to the text, the departure of European concepts of culture after WWII sparked a hegemonic shift as the United States emerged as a world power. Due to this, the U.S. became the epicenter of global culture production. However, since America has always had a large ethnic population due to slavery, the true face of American popular culture was black American vernacular traditions. Even today, slang that emerge from black ghettos and communities become highly popular with people of other races. In fact, much of black culture is not just our culture,

    Read More

  • Cultural Appropriation Of African American Culture

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever taken offense when you saw someone dressed in traditional garments from your culture? In America, this happens quite often. Some people may not recognize it and some refuse to acknowledge that it even exists. Cultural appropriation is a situation in which a dominant culture steals aspects of a minority culture’s, such as hair, clothing styles, and music.

    Read More

  • African American Slang

    3507 Words  | 8 Pages

    The African influence of American English can be found as far back as the Seventeenth century. Although its influence may have began that far back, the influence of African American slang has arguably reached its peak (so far) in the last half on the 20th century. Evidence of this can be seen in magazines, music, television, and films. Perhaps more importantly, evidence can be seen in the way that people of ethnic groups, other than African American, have changed their speech due to this influence. The Equal Rights Movement lead to a paradigm shift in African American linguistic consciousness due to Black intellectuals, scholars, activists, artists, and writers deliberately engaging in a search for a way to express Black identity and the particular circumstances of African American life. Although there had been strides in Black pride in the past, this was the first one to call for linguistic Black p...

    Read More

  • Black in America

    1820 Words  | 4 Pages

    African American religious culture is a distinct custom in America. The distinct identity of African-American culture is deeply rooted in the historical experience of the African-America...

    Read More

  • History Of African American Vernacular English

    1748 Words  | 4 Pages

    African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known as Ebonics or Black English, is the language spoken by many residents of the United States who are African American. The dialect is not one that is based in a certain region, like many dialects of English that exist in the United States, but rather is one that is culturally bound. This dialect of English varies quite markedly from that of the spoken standard in America. Because of this difference, many conflicts arise over the usage of AAVE by many Americans. One of the areas of greatest concern regarding AAVE is education. Many African American school districts and schools see low student performance. In fact, in the State of Michigan, of the 49 traditional high schools that are

    Read More

  • Ebonics is Not a Seperate Language but Improper Form of English

    2951 Words  | 6 Pages

    However, there has been a "language" use among African American students; "language" that has not been examined closely nor acknowledged until recently. Ebonics is classified as "Black English" or "Black sounds", or "Pan African Communication Behavior" or "African Language systems" which originates from the West African languages such as Ibo, Yoruba, and Hausa (Amended Resolution of the Board of Education, 1997. P. 1)." During the times of slavery, ebonics was also spoken as Gullah, which is a combination of West African languages, and English. Ebonics is a term coined by psychologist Robert Williams, resulting from the combination of two words, "ebony" and "phonics" in order to describe its dialect (The Daily O'Collegian Editorial Board. 1997. P. 1). The controversy behind ebonics is whether or not it is actually a language or and should it be instructed as a foreign language.

    Read More

  • Comparsion Of Kincaid's Girl And Walker's Everyday Use

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics of their own inherited culture. Therefore, in an African American society, a search for self identity is a pervasive theme.

    Read More

  • Hair Discrimination Essay

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    Almost 250 years of slavery and anti-blackness within the United States has created a divide in what type of hair is acceptable. According to Cynthia L. Robinson, “Black hair texture is graded” (Robinson 2011). Precisely, this means that a Black woman has either good hair or bad hair. Good hair has a resemblance of European hair texture, meaning straight and wavy curls. Good hair also diminishes the look of African ancestry. Bad is the complete opposite. The texture is kinky, coiled, and thick, giving the appearance of short hair (Robinson 2011). Hair that bears a resemblance to Eurocentric beauty standards is more beautiful and makes the individual with that hair type more beautiful as well (Robinson

    Read More

  • Copula Variation Across Two Decades of Hip Hop Nation Language

    3128 Words  | 7 Pages

    Rickford, John R. (1998). The creole origins of African American vernacular English: Evidence from copula absence. In s. Mufwene et al. African American English: Structure, history and use. London: Routledge.

    Read More

  • Ebonics In African American Culture

    274 Words  | 1 Pages

    African Americans have been known to speak with a certain type of slang for a number of years. The definition of slang is known as a type of language that consist of words and phrase that are typically known as informal. During the mid-1900’s the term Ebonics was coined from Ebony and is now known as the language of the African Diaspora. A common misconception of Ebonics is that it is broken or sloppy English, these are certainly not true. Ebonics is contributed to certain patterns and practices due to the native tongue of African Americans.

    Read More

More about Africanisms in African American Culture

Open Document