Differences of B.E. and Standard English, British English and British Black English

 

Black English has features unique to its subsystem as well as features of the general system of English grammar. It has its own rules of grammar and phonology. One dominant characteristic is the amount of fluctuation in forms and constructions. Almost every statement about Black English includes a qualification such as "may occur", "sometimes", "often" or "generally." The same speaker will pronounce a plural ending on one occasion and on another occasion will drop it. One sentence will have ainґt for the past negative and the next didnґt or even ditnґt.

A device called "sweet talk" also appears in Black English. This means that new forms are often created to fit a particular setting or situation. In the rules of Standard English grammar "sweet talk" would be considered bad English because of its ignorance of grammatical rules. In Black English "sweet talk" serves to establish a verbal superiority: he who masters the language can control the communication and will thus also control the personal or group relationships of the situation. It is easy to see the connection between "sweet talk" and the language games often played on street corners by black children or the "rap battles" which are a part of current popular culture.

Another device is known as "eye dialect". This refers to changing the spelling of words without changing their sound, in order to characterize a speaker. For example, "was" can be spelled "wuz", although both are pronounced the same. The "wuz" spelling characterizes one as the speaker of a particular dialect, with its particular social connotations.

-British Black English.

In the 1950s and 1960s people from the Caribbean migrated to Britain in relatively large numbers. Most of these settled in cities, especially in the large English cities, and in most of these communities people from Jamaica were more numerous than people from other parts of the Caribbean. Although the Caribbean is made up of many different islands and mainland territories, including many where an English Creole is not spoken, British Black English is most similar to Jamaican Creole, because of the larger number of Jamaicans who settled in this country.

Linton Kwesi Johnson is probably the best known poet in Britain who is currently using Creole. His verse is spoken against a musical background (dubbing) and distributed on records, tapes and CDs. The poem "Sonny's Lettah", appeared in print in his anthology "Inglan' is a Bitch" (1980) and was recorded on his album Forces of Victory. (34)

“Mama, a jus couldn't stan up an no dhu notin so mi juk one ina im eye an him started to cry mi tump one ina him mouth an him started to shout mi kick one pon him shin an him started to spin mi tump him pon him chin an him drop pon a bin an crash an DEAD. Mama more police man come down an beat mi to di groun' dem charge Jim fi sus dem charge mi fi murder”

Now here is the same passage written in a phonemic orthography devised by Le Page and Cassidy for the Dictionary of Jamaican English (1980):

“Mama a jos kudn stan op an no du notin so mi juk wan ina him ai an him staatid to krai mi tomp wan ina him mout an him staatid tu shout mi kik wan pan him shin an him staatid tu spin mi tomp him pan him chin an him drap pan a bin an krash an DED. Mama Muor pliisman kom doun an biit mi tu di groun dem chaaj Jim fi sos dem chaaj mi fi morda.” (34)

People of Afro‑Caribbean descent who have been born in Britain nearly always learn the local variety of British English as their first language. Usually, they speak and understand Creole as well (though how well they know it varies from person to person) but use it less often than British English. Especially in private, informal conversations, both British English and Creole may be used. When a speaker "switches" from one language variety to another in the course of the same conversation ‑ sometimes even within one sentence ‑ this is called code switching. It is common behaviour among bilinguals of all kinds (though in some communities, it is frowned upon).

The following is an extract from a conversation among some young women in London. Most of the conversation is in British English but the speaker B. switches twice into Creole (underlined):

B it's that same guy that you go back to and have the

    best life cause you know that guy you know [ what

C [ yeah

B  to expect you two can sit down and (.) sort out

     Where you went wrong=

C = yeah that's it, yeah

B an' you might end up marryin' that guy me know who

    me want marry a'ready! [softly] so, you know it's

    just [ * * * [inaudible]

C  [ * * * [inaudible] gonna marry

J   you see this is what I'm saying about Graham right,

    I don't really know but you know when you see

    someone and I tell you I did like Graham from the

    First time I saw him, I mean it does take time

    gettin' to know the right person

B Let me tell you now wiv every guy I've been out wiv,

    it's been a ‑ a ­whole heap o' mont's before I move

    wiv the nex' one!

J   Next one, yeah!

The two switches to Creole by speaker B are both marked by a noticeable change in the pronunciation (not shown in the transcription), for example, "whole" is pronounced /h l/. In the "British English" parts, the speakers have fairly strong London accents (e.g. "with is pronounced" /w v/) but in the "Creole" parts, the phonemes and intonation patterns are pronounced as in Creole.

Linguists have identified many reasons for code switching. One persuasive theory is that in some bilingual communities, the language which has a longer association with the community (in this case Creole, which has its origin in the Caribbean) is used as a sign of solidarity, to signal membership of a group and show closeness to other group members. Research has shown that in the Afro-Caribbean community, Creole is often used to emphasise an important point (only in informal, personal conversations). There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to the question of why a speaker switches at a particular moment (usually they are not aware of switching). If you know any bilingual speakers, you might try recording them in conversation with other bilinguals to see whether, when, and in what ways they code switch. (16. 37)

The following Creole creative writing narrative was written by a London school pupil of Caribbean descent.

“Bull, Babylon, the Wicked

One manin in January me and my spars dem was coming from a club in Dalston. We didn't have no donsi so we a walk go home. De night did cold and di gal dem wi did have wid we couldn't walk fast. Anyway we must have been walking for about fifteen minutes when dis car pull up, it was this youthman ah know and him woman. We see sey a mini cab him inna. Him sey "How far you ah go?”(30,335)

Me sey "Not far, you ketch we too late man”.

Anyway before me could close me mout de two gal dem jump inna de car, bout sey dem nah walk no more. Me an Trevor tell dem fi gwan. And de car pull way.

Next ting me know me is about 50 yards from my yard and is the wicked dem just a come down inna dem can. At first me wanted fi run, but Trevor sey "run what" "After we no just kool". We don't have no weed or money pon us. Dem can't do notin. (30, 336)

Next ting we know dem grab we up anna push we into dem car. Me and Trevor put up a struggle but after a few licks we got pushed in. "Now then you two "Rastas" been ripping off mini cabs haven't you?” "We aren't "Rastas" and we don't know what you are talking about". "Save all that until we get to the station Rastus my son". Den him get pon him radio, and tell the station that him ketch the two responsible for that hold up of the mini cab. Trevor luk pon me I could see that he was worried.”

Thus we define the differences between Creole and British English:

Glossary

manin: morning

spar: friend

donsi: money

gwan: go on

yard: home

weed: marijuana (drug)

Rasta: Rastafarian

 

List 1: sound differences - where the sound of the Creole (as shown by the spelling) is different from the sound you would expect in a British variety of English.

List 2: grammar differences - where the grammar seems to be different from standard.

List 3: vocabulary differences - words which are unfamiliar or which you think are Caribbean in origin.

Here is a list of British English equivalents to the Creole items.

Example:

List 1 (sounds)         deze       these

                                 bes'        best

                                 helt'       health

List 2 (grammar)      dem waak they walked

                                 him belly his belly

                                 mi kick            I kicked

List 3 (vocabulary)            fi            to

                                 pan        for

                                 t'ief        (to) steal

FEEDBACK: Creole is different from British English at these three levels.

BRITISH BLACK ENGLISH.

What is usually referred to as 'Black English' in Britain, is the Jamaican Creole or Patois, which is spoken by the Black Caribbean community living mainly in London, but other parts of GB too, even though the London community are the largest. There are obviously other black ethnic groupings in Britain, but none of the same magnitude. Jamaican Creole – the verb system by Sara Vestman, British Black English by David Sutcliffe, London Jamaican by Mark Sebba and Sociolinguistics – an introduction to language and society by Peter Trudgill. Some features in Jamaican Creole

 1) Personal pronouns 2)  The verb system 3) The negative  4) Tense and aspect 5)  The phonology 6) Stress and tone

For a long time, JC and other Creoles have been regarded as non-standard varieties inferior to Standard British English and the question of whether JC is a dialect or in fact a language, still has not been resolved. Regardless of that, JC has been recognised as an independent variety with its own grammar-system and vocabulary – as systematic and rule-governed as any other language – joined with SE by means of a dialect continuum.

The discussion about how to classify JC may seem to be of little importance, but if it were to be regarded as an English dialect comparable to Cockney or any other variety of English, it would be difficult to claim its relevancy as a school subject, since no other dialects are being taught in British schools. However, the situation for JC speakers seems to be rather different than that of 'normal' dialect speakers. JC speakers experience more difficulties in code switching, thus are more inclined to make mistakes in writing and speaking SE. JC should be regarded as a language rather than a dialect, since the JC structure is so prominent that it becomes an obstruction to its speakers' use of SE. Sutcliffe claims that the degree of intelligibility between JC and SE is more comparable to that of Swiss German vs. Standard German and Catalan vs. Castilian Spanish, than to that of SE and even the broadest Scottish dialect. (39)

Seeing how great the diversity between JC and SE is, it would be of great importance to JC speakers to be able to learn their mother-tongue in school, alongside with SE. by learning JC in a similar way that they learn SE, the pupils would become better at distinguishing between the two, and thus the code-switching would come more natural to them.

One problem (amongst many) which is still to be solved is the fact that there is no accepted written standard. Attempts have been made to change this, and it is my beliefs that but still, the JC writings differ greatly with regards to spelling.

Another problem that must be overcome is the fact that the whole state education system is predicated on British SE. As I mentioned earlier, non-standard varieties of English have traditionally been regarded as inferior, and the school has disregarded and even penalised non-standard usage. This is slowly beginning to change, and with a newly awakened awareness of the important role that JC – as well as other language varieties – play in the maintaining of a child's identity, the demand for a curriculum that includes JC has been put forward. (39)