Comparing nineteenth century literature portrayals of AAVE by black and white authors

Comparing nineteenth century literature portrayals of AAVE by black and white authors

Sam M

Research concerning African American English in general is not common and even less common is the study of the dialect in written form. Thus, this paper asks a unique question – is there a difference in how black and white writers portrayed black speakers of AAVE in literature? I examine four nineteenth-century literary works dating from 1852-1888 for uses of double negation in both white and black characters and compare them for frequency of use. I find that there is indeed a difference in how these writers portrayed black characters speech. African American writers used fewer AAVE constructions than white writers. I think these findings demonstrate to us possible attitudes of white writers toward African Americans, and black writers toward themselves. Future research on this issue could reveal more systematic difference in portrayals of black characters and could provide further insight into the attitudes toward African Americans at the time.