经济与社会科学2016web.stanford.edu
非裔美国人白话英语并非带有错误的标准英语
African American Vernacular English Is Not Standard English with Mistakes (1999)
入门 · 约 45 分钟读完前置知识：基础语言学概念（如方言与语域）、英语语法基础
导读
这篇论文（Geoffrey Pullum 撰写）论证非裔美国人白话英语（AAVE）并非“带错误的标准英语”，而是一套规则严密、结构复杂的独立方言，无法通过简化标准英语得到，必须像其他方言一样学习。文章指出精英阶层对 AAVE 的普遍贬低在语言学上站不住脚，其许多特征（如双重否定）在其他高地位语言中是主流现象。
HN 关注点：是因为它以严谨的语言学分析挑战了关于 AAVE 的政治化争论，讨论焦点集中在方言与语言的地位、规定主义与描写主义之争，以及“标准英语”这一概念本身的正当性。
后来怎么样
这篇论文成为语言学界反驳 AAVE 贬低论的经典文献，在 1990 年代美国 Ebonics 争论中被广泛引用，至今仍是描写语言学教学的常用读物。
HN 评论精选
这几条评论里：支持 1 补充 2 亲历 1
支持力荐此文：AAVE 是规则严密的方言而非错误英语，精英的贬低在语言学上站不住脚
这是一篇极好的文章，如果把它当成政治争论而跳过，你就错过了好东西。Geoffrey Pullum 是专门研究英语描述的研究教授，也是 Language Log 的撰稿人，堪称“互联网语言学超级英雄”。这是你所能读到的关于非裔美国方言最极客也最有趣的文章。核心论点是：精英们把 AAVE 贬为简化或“街头英语”，但它并非如此——它的规则严密而精巧，你无法通过简化标准英语得到 AAVE，必须像学其他方言一样去学它。它的一些规则与其他方言（如伦敦东区腔）共享，一些独特规则（如双重否定）在其他高地位语言中是主流特征。无论政治立场如何，读完很难不认为 AAVE 应与其他公认的英语方言享有同等地位。
tptacek查看英文原文
This is a fantastic essay, and you're cheating yourself out of a great read if you dismiss it as a political argument. Geoffrey Pullum is a research professor specializing in the description of English and a contributor to the always-excellent Language Log. He is, as a friend of mine described him, an "Internet Linguistics Super Hero". This is the nerdiest and most interesting piece on African-American dialect you will ever read. Every Standard-English-speaking elite with an opinion on AAVE is wrong about it! And when they're wrong about it, they're wrong in funny ways! The payoff towards the end with William Raspberry trying to mimic AAVE is worth all the build-up --- not that it needs to be, since I couldn't stop reading that build-up either. The central thesis of the essay is this: elites dismiss AAVE as simplified or "street-talk" English. But it isn't: its rules are rigorous and intricate. You can't simply simplify Standard English and arrive at AAVE. You have to learn it, like any other dialect. Some of AAVE's rules are shared with other dialects, like Cockney. Some of its more idiosyncratic rules, like double-negatives, are mainstream features of other high-status languages. Whatever your political affiliation is, it's hard to read this piece and come away thinking anything other than AAVE should should take its place among all the other well-accepted English dialects. Having read the whole thread here, I'll take a second to point out what the essay is not about: * It's not about "teaching AAVE at school". The only case it makes for AAVE's role in education is to suggest that AAVE-aware instruction will improve outcomes for learning Standard English. * It's not about whether we should take special efforts to preserve AAVE, which makes about as much sense as contriving a long argument about whether we should preserve Cockney or Quebecois. * It's not about whether AAVE speakers should speak only AAVE. In fact, the essay heavily implies the opposite. Had it not been written before the mainstreaming of the term "code-switching", I imagine code-switching would factor heavily in the essay.
亲历亲历：AAVE 特征在南方农村白人口音中同样存在，方言切换是无意识的
作为一个在南方农村长大的人，维基百科上列出的 AAVE 大多数特征，在我和家乡（阿肯色州）的人说话时都会出现，而且基本是无意识的。如果我在孟菲斯街头有人向我讨零钱，我大概会说 "I ain't got none"；在里士满则会说 "I don't have any"。我很快学会了“标准”英语，因为家里的方言与它相差不远，因此语法学习比同龄人轻松得多，在网上与更广泛受众交流也更顺畅。
LyndsySimon查看英文原文
As someone who grew up in the rural South, most of the distinguishing characteristics of AAVE listed on Wiki are present in my speech when I'm speaking to people who live where I grew up (Arkansas). It's mostly unconscious. If I'm in Memphis, TN and someone on the street asks for me change, I'd probably respond "I ain't got none." If I were in Richmond, VA and someone asks me for change, I'd probably respond "I don't have any." I learned "proper" English quickly because the dialect spoken in my home wasn't far removed from it, and a result I had a much easier time with grammar than my peers. I also have far less trouble communicating with a broader audience online.
补充方言与语言的界限本就模糊，对 AAVE 的排斥源于种族傲慢，“标准英语”概念本身也可疑
问题在于方言与语言之间那条脆弱的界线。方言可以浓重到听起来像另一种语言——普通人根本听不懂利物浦腔、AAVE、美国南方腔、Geordie、伦敦东区腔、爱尔兰英语等，我看《浴血黑帮》都得倒回去重听。人们对 AAVE 有意见的唯一原因是某种种族上的傲慢。甚至“标准英语”这个说法本身就很傲慢——对谁而言是标准？英国人和美国人对“标准英语”的理解显然不同。
Throwaway23412查看英文原文
I think the problem is the flimsy line between dialect and language. I remember getting into an argument years ago about this, that dialects can be so thick that you might as well as be listening to someone speaking another language. A friend argued that it's still the same language, so you can understand what others are saying even with a different dialect. Please. The average person can't understand all of Scouse, AAVE, Southern American, Geordie, cockney, Hiberno‐English, etc. I still find myself rewinding dialogue in shows like Peaky Blinders. The only reason people have a problem with AAVE is some sort of racial pretentiousness. Even the use of the phrase "Standard English" in this article is pretentious. Standard to whom? Brits certainly have a different perspective of what "Standard English" is from Americans.
补充补充资料：即使承认方言平等，标准书面英语在现实中仍是必要的沟通工具
推荐阅读《Authority and American Usage》，一篇关于规定主义与描写主义、语法与阶级/权力关系的文章。其中一章讲到作者教补习英语班时，总是先声明学生自己的方言没有任何错误，但事实是（无论他们愿不愿意）标准书面英语是唯一能在公平竞技场上交流的方式，而且如果想改变这个事实，他们首先也得用标准书面英语来论证自己的观点才会被认真对待。
clentaminator查看英文原文
The essay "Authority and American Usage" [1] is an essay concerning prescriptivism vs. descriptivism and the relations between grammar and class/power which (somewhat) masquerades as a review of Bryan Garner's A Dictionary of Modern American Usage [2]. This topic naturally includes discussion about the use of Standard Written English (SWE) at university/college level. In one chapter the author talks about how he teaches a remedial English class to instruct students in Standard Written English (SWE), and always begins by stating that while there is nothing incorrect about their own dialects, the fact is (and whether they are happy about it or not) SWE is the only way to communicate on a level playing field, and if they were even to consider trying to change this fact they'd have to argue their points through SWE in the first place in order to be taken seriously. [1] http://wilson.med.harvard.edu/nb204/AuthorityAndAmericanUsage.pdf [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garner%27s_Modern_English_Usage
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- 2016Hacker News 讨论帖156 分 · 249 评
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