A Brief History of the Black Dialect
Black American dialects probably come from a creolized form of English spoken at one time on southern plantations by black slaves which seem to be similar to that which is spoken by blacks in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands (Wilson 1978, 145).
Even though African languages survived for some time, Africans captured and brought to the New World were forced to learn English. They had to establish communication with the groups into which they were thrown. Africans had many languages and not one was predominant over the other which helped to spread the pidgin language as a
lingua franca.
Here’s what happened. When the African slaves had their children there was no one African language which those children could use with their peer group. Even though the mothers and fathers spoke African languages and taught them to their kids, the children could only speak English together to communicate because of the wide variation of African lingo. Most times Africans were put together on the plantations with Africans who spoke a different dialect. As a result the children would use a common language, which in many cases was what is called Pidgin English (Wilson 1978, 147).
Each group of Blacks developed a specific language, religion, music, and folklore. For example: West Indians are very British. They were the subjects of the British. New Orleans Blacks are very French because at one time it was a French territory. As a comparison these two groups are both Black, both speak English, but do not speak with the same dialect due to cultural differences. In the United States there is a difference between Blacks from the North and Blacks from the South (Haskins-Butts 1973, 28).
Now this brings us to the racial mixtures that developed because of the slave trade. In New Orleans, groups of slaves were brought to the French territory of Louisiana. They took on the French Language but did not speak it well because the French were prejudiced in thinking that Blacks weren’t capable of speaking their language because of its complexity, and would not take the time to teach the Blacks to speak French properly. However, the slaves had a need to communicate so that they could plan a successful escape. And so arose the Creole. Creole pertains to the partly white, French or Spanish, and partly African and West Indian people.
