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African American Vernacular English, or AAVE, is the term used by scholars for the widespread and varied African American usages of the English Language, also called Ebonics, Afro-American English, American Black English, Black English, Black English Vernacular, and Black Vernacular English. Originating in the pidgin of the slave trade and Plantation Creole in the U.S. Southern states, African American Vernacular English considerably influenced U.S. Southern English and, in the late 19th and the 20th centuries, spread by migration through much of the nation. It therefore has both rural and urban components. It has also come to be associated with the language of blues, jazz, and rap music.
As with African English, African American Vernacular English does not pronounce r in words such as art, door, and worker. Other characteristics, some going back to similar features of African languages, are: (1) the use of d and t instead of th, as in dem for them and tree for three; (2) the dropping of l, as in hep for help, sef for self, and too for tool; (3) consonant reduction at the ends of some words (including tense endings), as in wha for what, jus for just, and pas for past; (4) use of -n for -ing, as in runnin for running; (5) multiple negatives, as in no way nobody can do it; (6) verb aspects marked for intermittent, momentary, or continuous action rather than tense per se, the tense time being apparent from the contexts, as in he be laughin for he is always laughing and he run for he runs; and (7) dropping of the verb in some constructions, as in she sick and he gone for she is sick and he has gone.
African American Vernacular English expressions have contributed to the rich texture of American English, these terms being typical: yam (sweet potato), goober (peanut), okra, gumbo (the soup and the river mud), tote (carry), juke, mumbo jumbo, hep/hip, and boogie woogie. All these are rooted in African languages. In its more urban settings, African American Vernacular English's contributions are also many, these few examples making the point: dis (to disrespect), igg (to ignore), chill out (to stop behaving stupidly), 'tude (attitude), the Man (the police), hang-up (a problem), rap (to talk), make it (succeed), kicks (pleasure), and the sense of bad meaning variously "good," "extraordinary," and "beautiful."
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