I chose an episode from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It was the first episode aired, during this episode Will Smith moved in with his aunt. Originally he had lived in an urban city in Philadelphia, so it was a very different experience. He spoke very different from his family and often made fun of the way they spoke. Some of the words used during the episode were "Stupid" meaning "Good" and "Bad" meaning "Attractive". Will wasn't used to the way they spoke there and insulted them several times. Since Will didn't speak like them he thought it was weird, but to others they spoke proper English. Who has the right to say what proper English is? Doesn't speech vary within communities? The video is a little long, but the example I'm using will begin at 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Throughout the video you can hear code-switching and the difference in dialects as they speak to each other. It's obvious that Will shared the same speech patterns with his friends back at home, but it wasn't so common in Bel Air.
First, I must say I love the Fresh Prince of Belaire!
ReplyDeleteI remember in a previous communication class we discussed AAVE (african american vernacular english) and standard english. One of the most noticeable characteristics of AAVE is how quickly it changes and progresses. It is one of the few or possibly only dialects that changes so dramatically. Some linguist even recognize it as a language in its own right. I have heard before that the FBI is looking to hire people in people who can specialize in AAVE to work with them in the streets in fighting crime. It is changing so quickly that agents have trouble keeping up with it and need to be able to communicate with those in the "streets" to get into the drug and crime industry. People within this language community use words in creative ways to transform their meanings. A later example in this clip is when Will says his cousins is "deaf." He means that she is very good and the cousin thinks the literal meaning of deaf. "Standard English" is really english that is spoken in the midwest. A video I saw in a previous course explained why this is understood as professional or why it is on most telephone recordings and news cast have this dialect. It is considered the dialect with the least amount of accent and has been accepted as the dialect that is the easiest to understand.
Though the video did not play for me, I am a HUGE Fresh Prince of Bel Air fan and I remember almost every episode, including this one. This scene in general is very common in families that may come from different backgrounds and even different generations. In my mother's generation it was okay to call each other "heffers" and "hoes" similar to how my generation plays with the word "bitch". I would be offended to be called a heffer but my mother and her friends think it's harmless. The slang and language on the Fresh Prince is always interesting to hear.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great clip and a great show (I still watch re-runs :)). This video is a great example of code-switching. For example, similar to what Nyzuria said above, within my group of friends it is totally acceptable to call each other "bitch", "whore", "slut"... of course only when it is out of a joking, loving manner (come to think of it, it's a little sad that those words are referred to terms of endearment). But if I were to use that language in school, or around my family, it would be totally unacceptable. The language, slang, and code-switching within Fresh Prince is a great example of how language is so diversely used; and more importantly, it shows the differences between African-American Vernacular English, and Standard American English.
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