Salikoko S. Mufwene is the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the founding editor of Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact.John R. Rickford is the J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus, at Stanford University. He is Past President of the Linguistic Society of America, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Guy Bailey is a sociolinguist and the first president of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. John Baugh is the Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and president-elect of the Linguistic Society of America.

• List of figures and tables List of contributors ForewordAcknowledgementsIntroduction PART I: Structure 1 The sentence in African-American vernacular English 2 Aspect and predicate phrases in African-American vernacular English 3 The structure of the noun phrase in African-American vernacular English PART II: History 4 Some aspects of African-American vernacular English phonology 5 Co-existent systems in African-American vernacular English 6 The creole origins of African-American vernacular English: Evidence from copula absence PART III: Use 7 Word from the hood: The lexicon of African-American vernacular English8 African-American language use: Ideology and so-called obscenity 9 More than a mood or an attitude: Discourse and verbal genres in African-American culture 10 Linguistics, education, and the law: Educational reform for African-American language minority students Subject index Name index

"Long before #BlackLivesMatter was a hashtag, the contributors to this volume understood, in the 1990s already, that linguistic discrimination against African-American English is one key component in structural violence aka systemic racism against Blacks in the U.S. Each chapter exquisitely documents a particular linguistic, historical or social dimension that makes African-American English a treasure for its speakers and for the community at large. The book as a whole is a roadmap for honoring African Americans and their language—thus honoring the very dignity of our lives and our future. Indeed our Black lives cannot matter if our languages do not matter."Michel DeGraff, MIT Linguistics, Haiti"As a scholar of African American English, I keep this book within arm’s reach at all times! With contributions from some of the central researchers in the field, this book remains a definitive text on the structure, history, and use of African American language. It deserves to be recognized for the classic that it is!"Tracey L. Weldon, The University of South Carolina, USA