Distinctive features Phonology

• Word-final devoicing of /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/, whereby for example cub sounds like cup.

• Reduction of certain diphthong forms to monophthongs, in particular, /aɪ/ is monophthongized to [aː] (this is also a feature of many Southern American English dialects). The vowel sound in boil (/ɔɪ/ in Standard English) is also monophthongized, especially before /l/, making it indistinguishable from ball.

• AAVE speakers may not use the dental fricatives [θ] (the th in thin) and [ð] (the th of then) that are present in SE. The actual alternative phonem used depends on the sound's position in a word:

  • Word-initially, /θ/ is normally the same as in SE (so thin is [θɪn]).

  • Word-initially, /ð/ is [d] (so this is [dɪs]).

  • Word-medially and -finally, /θ/ is realized as either [f] or [t] (so [mʌmf] or [mʌnt] for month); /ð/ as either [v] or [d] (so [smuːv] for smooth).

• Realization of final ng /ŋ/, the velar nasal, as the alveolar nasal [n] in function morphemes and content morphemes with two syllables like -ing, e.g. tripping is pronounced as trippin. This change does not occur in one-syllable content morphemes such as sing, which is [sɪŋ] and not *[sɪn]. However, singing is [sɪŋɪn]. Other examples include wedding → [wɛɾɪn], morning → [mɔɹnɪn], nothing → [ˈnλfin]. Realization of /ŋ/ as [n] in these contexts is commonly found in many other English dialects. Such substitutions are so common throughout the American South that, for example, a sign urging customers to enter a store in Greenville, Texas, was printed, "Don't just be setten, come on in!" (1985).

• A marked feature of AAVE is final consonant cluster reduction. There are several phenomena that are similar but are governed by different grammatical rules.

  • Homorganic final consonant clusters (that is, word-final clusters of consonants that have the same place of articulation) that share the same laryngeal settings are reduced. E.g. test is pronounced [tes] since /t/ and /s/ are both voiceless; hand is pronounced [hæn], since /n/ and /d/ are both voiced; but pant is unchanged, as it contains both a voiced and a voiceless consonant in the cluster. Note also that it is the plosive (/t/ and /d/) in these examples that is lost rather than the fricative or nasal.

  • More often, word-final /sp/, /st/, and /sk/ are reduced, again with the final element being deleted rather than the former.

  • Clusters ending in /s/ or /z/ exhibit variation in whether the first or second element is deleted.

• Similarly, final consonants may be deleted (although there is a great deal of variation between speakers in this regard). Most often, /t/ and /d/ are deleted. As with other dialects of English, final /t/ and /k/ may reduce to a glottal stop.

• Use of metathesised forms like aks for "ask" or graps for "grasp".

• AAVE is non-rhotic, so the rhotic consonant /r/ is usually dropped if not followed by a vowel. Intervocalic /r/ may also be dropped, e.g. SE story ([stori]) can be pronounced [sto.i]. /r/ may also be deleted between a consonant and a back rounded vowel, especially in words like throw, throat, and through.

• /l/ is often deleted in patterns similar to that of /r/ and, in combination with cluster simplification (see above), can make homophones of toll and toe, fault and fought, and tool and too.

• Dropping of word initial /d/, /b/ in tense-aspect markers, e.g., the pronunciation of don't as own.