Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 17:16:43 CST

From: salikoko mufwene mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU

Subject: Re: VBE and 60 Minutes



In Message Tue, 7 Mar 1995 14:05:43 -0500,

Mark S Kuhn mskuhn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hopper.unh.edu writes:



Norma LaMoyne (sic?), an educator, claims that the simplification of

consonant clusters such as "tests" to "tes" by VBE speakers is a direct

influence of a Nigerian tribal language.

I was startled by the claim, mostly by the assurance projected by the

author of the claim. It is true that sevral African languages lack word-final

consonant clusters; and those that allow word-final closed syllables allow

typically (some) nasals and liquids (some Africanist should double-check

this claim!). It is also likely that several of these languages would have

favored cluster simplification in the development of AAVE and English

creoles. However, I doubt that this was the exclusive factor in this

development (which I do not consider categorical anyway). The claim on the

60-Minutes segment amused me more because of the specific reference to

Nigeria. This is not without antecedent, however. You may want to check the

chapters by Charles DeBose and Nicholas Faraclas and by Selase Williams in

AFRICANISMS IN AFRO-AMERICAN LANGUAGE VARIETIES, ed. by Salikoko Mufwene

(1993), U. of Georgia Press.

I hope this short intervention helps.

Sali.

Salikoko S. Mufwene

University of Chicago

Dept. of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861