BLACK ENGLISH

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BLACK ENGLISH. A controversial term for the English of people of African origin or for English in Black Africa. In the US, the term generally refers to the VERNACULARS of descendants of slaves, some called dialects, some creoles. In the UK, the term generally refers to the usage of West Indian immigrant communities. The term white English has occasionally been used in contrast: ‘local “white” English, BBC English’ ( David Sutcliffe, ‘British Black English and West Indian Creoles’, in P. Trudgill (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 1984). See AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH.

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