AAVE Phonetics, Morphosyntax & Lexicon

Posted on Feb 12, 2026 in English Studies

AAVE Phonetics

  1. Monophthongization: [ai] > [a].
  2. Pin/pen merger: [e] > [i].
  3. Non-rhotic: r-dropping in postvocalic position.
  4. [ju:] > [u:]: (e.g., biutiful > butiful).
  5. Consonant cluster reduction: final consonant disappears (e.g., lift > lif, sand > san, desk > des) (when plural, this does not apply).
  6. Nasal + voiceless stop preservation: with nasal + p, t, k we do not delete anything (e.g., jump, can’t).
  7. [ŋ] > [n]: velar nasal (e.g., -ing) realized as alveolar nasal (e.g., jumping, doing).
  8. L-loss (L-lessness): (e.g., fool > foo, help > hep).
  9. [tr] > [tʃ]: (e.g., true > chew, trial > chil).
  10. [str] > [skr]: (e.g., street > skreet, strong > skron).
  11. Dental stops: [θ] > [t] (e.g., think > tin) and [ð] > [d] (e.g., the > de) → at the start.
  12. Final dentals: [θ] > [f] (e.g., tooth > toof) and [ð] > [v] (e.g., both > bov) → at the end.
  13. Medial dentals: in the middle of the word [ð] > [d] or [v] (e.g., mother > moder or mover).
  14. Change of stress pattern: (e.g., hotel > hotel, guitar > guitar). There is no general rule; any word of at least two syllables may shift stress. Common cases include days of the week, months of the year, and words like “hotel,” “police,” and “guitar.”
  15. Haplogy: reduction of two identical or similar syllables (e.g., Mississippi > Missipi, probably > probly).
  16. Metathesis: [sk]/[sp] reversal > [ks]/[ps] at the end of a word (e.g., ask > aks, grasp > graps, desk > deks).
  17. [ʃr] variations: [ʃr] can surface as [sr], [sw], or [ʃw] (e.g., in words like shrimp, shrill).

AAVE Morphosyntactic Features

  1. Cluster of modal auxiliaries: (e.g., might could).
  2. Existential substitution: there > it in some contexts.
  3. Completive done: marks that an action is completed.
  4. Fixin’ to / finna: future or immediate intention.
  5. “Like to”: colloquial usage for habitual or emphatic action.
  6. Double deixis: use of multiple deictic markers for emphasis or clarity.
  7. Y’all: second-person plural pronoun.
  8. Indistinctive IS/ARE: forms like I’s, they’s used in some varieties.
  9. Zero copula: omission of the verb to be (e.g., she good, they bad).
  10. Invariant/habitual be: marks habitual aspect (e.g., She be dirty).
  11. Ain’t: negative copula or general negative (e.g., I ain’t rich, I ain’t no money).
  12. Lack of -s on Present Simple 3rd person singular: (e.g., he go, she do, it eat).
  13. Double/multiple negation: (e.g., I don’t know nothing).
  14. Remote perfect BIN: distinct past/perfect (e.g., She BIN married).
  15. Use of steady as progressive marker: usually appears with invariant be (e.g., She is/be steady jumping).
  16. Those > Them: demonstrative/pronominal variation.
  17. Past forms as past participles & other alternations: use of -ed for irregular verbs; lack of possessive marking; absence of inversion in questions.
  18. Informal pronominal/emphatic system: use of expressions like “ass” for emphasis in subject or object position (e.g., He fired her > he fired her ass).

AAVE Lexis

  • Bad: sexually naughty.
  • Banana: any kind of fruit.
  • Cat: man.
  • Tote: carry.
  • Yam: sweet potato (batata).
  • Hep / Hip: listen to; pay attention.
  • Hepcat: person who knows everything about a business.
  • Dig: (Wolof) understand.
  • Okra: ingredient of gumbo? (usage/question noted).
  • Zombi: someone coming from Sierra Leone; “dead people beside us” (usage note).
  • Jive: talk in a misleading way.
  • Sock: (Wolof) pestle (palo del mortero) — colloquially used as “to make love”.
  • Hulla-balloon: noise; people leaving/entering, talking.
  • Lush: alcohol / alcoholic person.
  • Knock: to give.
  • Honkie-tonk (honky-tonk): nightclubs thought for white people.
  • Bogus (Sierra Leone): not real; fake.
  • Chick / jigen: girl / woman.
  • Jam (Wolof → Senegal): slave / jamboree = noisy festive celebration = now (usage note).
  • Peppers: eyes.
  • Trap: mouth.
  • Map: face.
  • Grabber: hand.
  • Choppers / Grinders: teeth.
  • Benders: knees.
  • Cool: guay (colloquial: cool/great).
  • Groovy: great but outdated.
  • Mellow: good.
  • Chimer: clock.
  • Slammer: door.
  • Frame: body.
  • Dogs: feet.
  • Sky piece: hat.