“The fact that many African Americans speak a distinct, Southern-influenced version of English is a plain fact, not to be debated. “
A good deal of black dialect is an archaic form of British English that has died out among whites in both Britain and the United States. It’s a testament to how far back American black culture goes into colonial history. I think David Hackett Fischer discusses this in ‘Albion’s Seed’.
Thank you for the pointer to Albion’s Seed.
A few years back I spent a several hours at Heathrow waiting for a flight. Many individuals there, who probably had spent their entire lives in Great Britain, spoke with accents reminiscent of distinct American regions.
We tend, wrongly I believe, to demonize historical language differences within America and consider them signs of ignorance or lack of education.
On a slightly different subject... I started comparing the Swedish and English translations of popular songs by the Swedish group Sarek, and noted deep language similarities that perhaps are present in some American regional dialects more than in others. I believe, without a lot of proof or study, that the American south (populated by Scots-Irish, closer to Sweden by the way) has been relatively more strongly influenced by Swedish language.