Funky Language Monday
Today, we’ll be intermingling history and language a little bit. To understand the meaning and significance of some of the words spoken by the African Americans of today, it is a good idea to take a walk in the past to visit the origins of language.
There are many plausible theories as to why certain African American speech patterns and dialects have emerged. It could be an influence of African languages, remnants from colonial times, or borrowed terms from Caribbean-based languages, such as Gullah or Creole. It could also be none of the above! Your job is to come up with your own answer by defining one form of African American dialect.
Writing Prompt 016
- Step 1: Do basic Internet research on African American speech, words, and dialects. This is an excellent test of your mastery of search engine keywords and basic research skills!
- Step 2: Your Internet research should yield numerous links that identify and define African American dialects in their many forms. Pick one dialect that interests you. Gain a basic understanding of it. Prepare to paraphrase!
- Step 3: Define or explain one form of African American speech. Bonus points if you include a snippet of history in your writing.
- Bonus Step: If you own a blog and wish to share a link to the blog post that contains your response to today’s writing prompt, we welcome your permalink and encourage you to post it as a comment below!
Please be sure to leave your comments about this writing challenge and prompt below. We want to hear from you!
About the Author
Amanda M. Socci, J.D., is a freelance writer with 14 years of experience writing professionally. Socci currently cuts her blogging chops on her personal portfolio blog, the Creative Idea Gal blog, and on an online news site, Mount Vernon Patch. Inspired by Nina Amir’s Write Nonfiction in November writing challenge, she created a unique 10-month training program for Writenonfictionnow.com and Writenonfictioninnovember.com blog visitors.
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