African American Vernacular English/Grammar
Generally, AAVE is similar to Mainstream American English (MAE), but some grammatical features are unique when compared to the standard. For instance, a double negative (It ain't worth nothing, Now I'm not no professor but I know what you're talking about) does not make a positive, but rather signifies emphasis. Certain prepositions/verbs, e.g. "be", "gonna"(going to) can signify aspect, leading to phrases such as "He be working" that would normally be considered off.
Is AAVE "Bad Grammar"?
[edit | edit source]No. Though its rules differ from those of Standard English, they are internally consistent and one can tell if a grammatical concept is being misused. Though historically its teaching has been met with much controversy, the grammatical features are agreed not to be flaws in the speech of individual speakers.