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African American English Research Paper

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Contrary to what many people believe, there is no official language in the United States. There are several dialects of English spoken in the United States, yet none of those dialects are considered to be official. African American English (AAE) is just one of many dialects spoken in America, yet it can be argued that African American English is the most stigmatized language in this country. The assumption that African Americans are lazy and illiterate stems from their language being branded as “broken” English. Unfortunately, it has been instilled in society that this “standard” is better and it is implied that African Americans are not educated enough to learn how to correctly speak this “standard.” African American English has similarities with other languages, such as Arabic and …show more content…
Primary research was conducted to compare the amount of negative versus positive comments regarding the use of African American English. The data collected comes from comments from readers of two articles written on Rachel Jeantel’s testimony during the George Zimmerman trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin. The two articles utilized were “Language On Trial: Rachel Jeantel” written by Jeremy Hobson and Robin Young, and “What [Blank] Folks Don’t Understand About Rachel Jeantel” written by Shereen Merisol Meraji. Both articles were found on NPR affiliated news sources.
During her hour-long testimony, Jeantel applied features of African American English. Consequently, Jeantel’s intelligence was targeted due to her use of the language she is accustomed to. The following chart compares the amount of negative comments found versus the amount of positive comments found strictly related only to Jeantel’s language. Of the comments found, the 39 collected related only to Jeantel’s language rather than other aspects and opinions of the

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