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English in South Africa: parallels with African American vernacular English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2002

Liesel Hibbert
Liesel Hibbert
Affiliation:
English Department, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
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Abstract

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A comparison between Black English usage in South Africa and the United States

There has been a long tradition of resistance in South African politics, as there has been for African-Americans in the United States. The historical links between African Americans and their counterparts on the African continent prompt one to draw a comparison between the groups in terms of linguistic and social status. This comparison demonstrates that Black South African English (BSAfE) is a distinctive form with its own stable conventions, as representative in its own context as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is in the United States.

Type
Original Articles
Information
English Today , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 31 - 36
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press