Phonemic systems of AAVE

African-American Vernacular English differs from other English dialects in grammar and morphology as well as in phonology. To some extent, phonological characteristics are intertwined with morphological ones, so we shall characterize AAVE through a “bottom-up” description, beginning with a phonemic inventory and individual phonotactic features and ending with a brief discussion of how these phonological characteristics influence the surface morphology of AAVE. We will refer to phonological characteristics in terms of a typological comparison with StAmE. This in no way implies that AAVE is a less legitimate, logical, or systematic language variety. Therefore, terms such as “consonant cluster simplification” or “deletion” of certain phonemes should be thought of as relative to the American idealized language type, rather than the simplification or deletion of sounds that should exist. The sound system of AAVE in many cases does not require the same sounds in the same contexts that StAmE does.

The basic phonemic span of AAVE is much the same as in other varieties in English. Table 1 charts the vowels of AAVE according to their place of articulation. Table 2 shows the consonants of AAVE listed according to their articulatory features. (Voiced consonants are in italic type.)