African-American Vernacular English
African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the native variety of
the vast majority of working- and middle-class African Americans, particularly in urban areas, with its own unique accent, grammar, and vocabulary features. AAVE is employed as the more informal and casual end of a sociolinguistic continuum; on the formal end of this continuum, middle-class African-Americans switch to more standard English grammar and vocabulary, usually while retaining elements of the nonstandard accent.