African American Influence: Shaping the English Language

            Although the English language was first spoken by white families in Britain and the United States, it contains many words and terms that come from African Americans. The narrator depicted that New York “embraced the migrating Black culture in music, in dance, and in language” (The Story of English). I found it very interesting to observe how it was not only the verbal conversational language that came along, but the music and their way of living was also introduced into the American lifestyle. Their forms of the language were expressed through their dances and other arts, where they could freely talk with their slang and colloquialisms. However, there are some people who believe there should not be generalizations when regarding how African Americans speak. Mark Pontius comments: “But I do find it offensive that fellow blacks call those who speak proper "white" English Uncle Toms'” in video clip six of the episode. This reflects the thoughts of liberty and freedom not only of speech, but the way in which you speak.

            Music needs to be emphasized in this part of the evolution of English, since it was one of the main manners which people got to listen and appreciate the different “types” of English surrounding them. To exemplify this point, the narrator declares, “The musicians who migrated here introduced the wealth of black jargon into the heart of American and world English, from Jazz to jam session” (The Story of English). Many of the genres of music and terms we commonly use today come from African American dialects. In fact, English without the valuable influence of this ethnic group would have been very different, since it would contain fewer mixtures. From this point on, the English language would not only be a combination of languages from its conquistadors, but also a result of the blends of the dialects within a same region.