Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume V
- General Preface
- Abbreviations
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume V
- PART I The United States
- 1 Language Change and the History of American English
- 2 The Dialectology of Anglo-American English
- 3 The Roots and Development of New England English
- 4 The History of the Midland–Northern Boundary
- 5 The Spread of English Westwards
- 6 American English in the City: The Case of Pittsburgh
- 7 New York City and Baltimore
- 8 English in the Southern United States
- 9 Contact Forms of American English
- 10 The Roots of African American English
- 11 The Great Migration and Regional Variation in the Speech of African Americans
- 12 Rural African American English
- 13 Urban African American English
- 14 Puerto Rican English
- 15 The English of Americans of Mexican and Central American Heritage
- PART II Canada
- PART III The Caribbean
- Index
- References
13 - Urban African American English
from PART I - The United States
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2026
Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume V
- General Preface
- Abbreviations
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume V
- PART I The United States
- 1 Language Change and the History of American English
- 2 The Dialectology of Anglo-American English
- 3 The Roots and Development of New England English
- 4 The History of the Midland–Northern Boundary
- 5 The Spread of English Westwards
- 6 American English in the City: The Case of Pittsburgh
- 7 New York City and Baltimore
- 8 English in the Southern United States
- 9 Contact Forms of American English
- 10 The Roots of African American English
- 11 The Great Migration and Regional Variation in the Speech of African Americans
- 12 Rural African American English
- 13 Urban African American English
- 14 Puerto Rican English
- 15 The English of Americans of Mexican and Central American Heritage
- PART II Canada
- PART III The Caribbean
- Index
- References
Summary
African American English (AAE) is arguably the most studied variety of English in sociolinguistics, and much of the formative work on the variety took place in cities, setting the stage for the direction of sociolinguistics in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This chapter provides an overview of the important early work on AAE in urban environments. Alongside a discussion of what we learned about the variety from early studies, the chapter will also explore how methods of study and the variables themselves have evolved. The chapter includes a discussion of differences within AAE that are conditioned not only by region, but also by finer-grained aspects of community and individual identity. The recent focus on a wider scope of variables, as well as speakers who were previously overlooked, has allowed for more detailed discussion of AAE as a flexible, evolving toolkit that speakers may use to construct and perform complex identities.
Keywords
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- Type
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- The New Cambridge History of the English LanguageNorth America and the Caribbean, pp. 393 - 412Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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