1. Indicating habitual action through verb structure, notably using the form 'be' as a verb. This use of 'be' derives from an aspectual verb system that is also found in many African languages. Its use conveys the speaker's meaning with reference to the qualitative character and distribution of an action overtime.
'He be hollering at us', 'I like the way he be psyching people out'
2. Indicating remote past through verb structure, notably using 'been' with stress.
'She been gone'
3. Predication with optional copula. The sense of complete predication conveyed by a noun followed by an adjective, adverb, verb, noun, or prepositional phrase. This is common in many West African languages, (e.g. in Kimbundu, Ene macamba, literrally 'they friends')
'He real little', 'They in the house', 'My momma name Joyce'
4. Semantic Inversion, turning a word into its opposite. This feature is familiar in Mandingo, a ka nyi ko-jugu, literally, 'it is goodbadly', or 'it is so good that it's bad'.
5. Appropriating and secularizing church terms. Some terms are derived from the Traditional Black Church.
'On T', 'Testify'
6. Pronominal apposition, repeating the subject for emphasis. This feature is common in Yoruba, Eya me, ot cu, literally, 'My mother, she has died'
7. Use of speech acts, that are either not in White English at all or are not used according to the same set of social rules of speaking.
Signifyin' - the verbal art of insult
Dozens - a form of signfication where one signifies on anothers kinfolk.
Use of Proverbs - 'What goes around, comes around', 'A hard head makes a soft behind'
8. Signaling of possession by context and/or juxtaposition. No use of inflection -z (written as apostrophe s)
'My daddy name John'
9. Tonal Semantics. The use of voice and rhythm and vocal inflection to convey meaning. This gives Black speech its songified or musical quality. Both Black rappers and preachers use word sound to communicate at deeper levels to which words alone cannot convey. Examples include shouting, intonational contouring, use of rhyme, repetition and alliterative word-play.
From a strictly linguistic view, Smitherman (1995) indicates that West African languages are tone languages. The speakers of these languages rely on the tone with which they pronounce syllables, sounds, and words to convey their meaning.
Specific Examples of Grammar and Structure Rule in West African Languages
repetition of noun subject with pronoun - May father he work hard
question patterns without do - what it come to
same form of noun for singular and plural - one boy; five boy
no tense indicated in verb: emphasis on manner or character of action - I know it good when he ask me
same verb for all subjects - I know; you know; he know; we know; they know
Exampes of Sound Rule in West African Languages
No consonant pairs - jus (just) tes (test)
Few long vowels or two part vowels - rat or raht (right), tahm (time)
No /r/ sound - mow (more) , dough (door), flow (floor)
No /th/ sound - substitutes d or f for th (souf-south, mouf-mouth, norf-north; dis-this, dat-that, dem-them)
Vowel plus /ng/ rendered as /ang/ - thang, sang, rang
Contraction of going rendered as gon - he was gon tell but changed he mind
Content
Factsheet
Development of Gullah
Learning Gullah
Black English
Sea Island Culture
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Reference