African American English: AAE in literature

Focal point The literary representation of AAE in some authors' works is considered to be an accurate and rich representation of folk speech, while that of others is labeled stereotypical renditions of the shiftless Negro. By manipulating the spoken word, maneuvering the spelling of some and evoking symbolism and imagery, authors are able to mold characters into dialect speakers or make them appear to be dialect speakers. If we are to believe the majority of writers of Negro dialect and burnt-cork artists, Negro speech is a weird thing, full of ‘ams’ and ‘Ises.’ Fortunately, we don't have to believe them. We may go directly to the Negro and let him speak for himself. [Zora Neale Hurston, “Characteristics of Negro Expression”] Introduction Language in literature is used to achieve a number of goals: (1) to connect the character with a particular region, (2) to identify the character as a particular type (e.g., belongs to certain class) (3) to make the character more authentic and more developed, (4) to evoke some feeling within the reader. In addition, as Holloway (1978) notes in her discussion of Zora Neale Hurston's works, language use can indicate that a character is “communicating cultural understanding” (p. 118). By this Holloway means that the more deeply entrenched Hurston's characters are with their language, African American dialect, the more involved and in tune they are with each other.