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African American Vernacular English

[ af-ri-kuhn uh-mer-i-kuhn ver-nak-yuh-ler ing-glish ]

noun

  1. a dialect of American English characterized by pronunciations, syntactic structures, and vocabulary associated with and used by some North American Black people and exhibiting a wide variety and range of forms varying in the extent to which they differ from Standard American English. : AAVE


African-American Vernacular English

noun

  1. a dialect of English typically spoken by working-class African-Americans AAVE Also calledebonics
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of African American Vernacular English1

First recorded in 1990–95

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African American EnglishAfrican bush elephant