Vernacular English Chapter Summary

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In Chapter 1 of Navigating English Grammar, Anne Lobeck and Kristin Denham write that “English (like other languages) is a continuum of (many) different language varieties or dialects” (2). Even though English is spoken all over America, not all Americans speak or sound the same, meaning each American English speaker has a dialect. Some dialects are more noticeable than others. Speakers acquire their dialects from those around them and the social position of the community where they live, were born in, or have moved to. According to “Do You Speak American?”, it is “impossible to count the number of dialects in the United States” (“Do You Speak American?”).
Dr. John Baugh writes about the origin of African American English. The Creole Hypothesis states that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) “is the result of a creole derived from English and various West African Languages. (A creole is a language derived from other languages that becomes the primary language of the people who speak it)” (“Do You Speak American?”). Many slaves from Africa who spoke different West African languages were often placed together during their travels to America. Therefore, this caused the slaves to establish …show more content…
Cajuns are descendants of French settlers and English conquerors. French territories (in what is now Canada) during the 1600s were constantly ceded back and forth between France and England. Because settlers fell between these two nations, they were gifted with the knowledge of two languages. After the settlements officially ended in British control, these settlers also had to pledge allegiance to Britain. If the settlers refused, they were scattered across the coastlines in the American colonies (“Do You Speak American?”). Characteristics of Cajun English include “vowel pronunciation, stress changes, the lack of the /th/ phonemes, non-aspiration of /p/, /t/, /k/, and lexical categories” (“Do You Speak
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