African American Vernacular English: phonology Conclusion

The sound system of AAVE is similar to other English varieties in the United States. However, many of the phonemes of AAVE obey different phonetic rules than other American English systems. These differences are systematic and are part of the linguistic continuum that exists for each individual AAVE speaker, making many of these rules “optional” depending on sociolinguistic context. This entry summarized the basic phonological system of the variety and some of the better known phonetic principles that distinguish the AAVE variety from other dialects. Much work remains to be done on AAVE phonology, including work on prosody and intonation.