African American English, Black ASL are stigmatized. Experts say they deserve recognition

For as long as she can remember, Sonja Lanehart has been fascinated by how people speak. In particular, she was interested in the differences she noticed between how white people spoke, when compared to the Black people she grew up around.

As a result, Lanehart said she, like others, began to believe the way Black people spoke was wrong and this language barrier was preventing them from accessing certain resources.

“When I went to college, I originally started off as a speech pathologist because I wanted to fix how Black people spoke,” said Lanehart, a linguistics professor at the University of Arizona. “And as I took more courses and learned more about language, I understood that Black people weren't broken, that Black people spoke differently, just like everybody else did.”

In part due to the legacy of slavery and segregation in the United States, African Americans have developed their own distinct varieties of language, including African American English and Black American Sign Language. While some parts of Black language have been appropriated and exploited, Black people still face discrimination based on how they communicate, and researchers and native speakers across the country are working to reduce this stigma by studying, highlighting and preserving these languages.

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