Shawnetta is a seven year old, African-American girl who lives in an urban, inner-city neighborhood. She sometimes drops endings (such as the plural "s") from words and uses the infinitival form of be as an auxiliary verb ("He be goin""). We can conclude that Shawnetta:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shawnetta's speech patterns reflect the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a recognized dialect of English that has its own grammatical, phonological, and syntactical rules. This does not indicate a language disorder, a need for special education, or that English is her second language.

Shawnetta Is a Seven Year Old, African-American Girl Who Lives