Language of the African-Americans in Southern American Literature

Every culture has its own properties ranging from dance, rituals and music to children’s tales, language and dialect. In the context of dialect, some cultures go so far as to create their own grammatical rules and sometimes even come up with alternative spellings of the words they use. These words help us discern the culture of the individual even when reading about these people in books and stories. Most common dialect we encounter in southern American literature is the dialect used by the African-Americans. Flannery O’Connor is only one of many authors that use this dialect to reflect the cultures of the characters in their fiction. The dialect both gives a sense of reality to the characters and allows the author to tell us about the character without the use of excessive words.

One reality is that Negroes, or “niggers” as O’Connor calls them, have had certain stereotypes associated with them throughout history. Some saw them as uneducated and some others thought they were worth less as humans. They have been looked down upon and discriminated by the white folk in southern America. Their dialect is thought to be unsophisticated and unstructured. What most people did not understand then, and many still don’t, is that the African-Americans had their own structure of language and their own way of communicating. This dialect was neither less sophisticated nor unstructured. Rather, only once they were able to speak and understand this dialect did people discern its nature. It is a matter of being able to understand the grammatical structure and the usage of the dialect in daily life. The grammatical errors were not results of ignorance or a lack of education. The stories written in the 1930s do reflect some aspects of this discrimination with the language used in their contexts, a degradation of African-Americans seen easily through the characters’ interactions.

The use of language in O’Connor’s stories start with the inclusion of the word “nigger.” This tells us quite a lot about the way southern Americans view African-Americans. Now considered an insult, the word “nigger” was used widely in the 1930s USA. It reflects the way African-Americans were condescended at the time, seen as less educated and of little value to the Americans. In her story, “The Displaced Person,” O’Connor also includes different spelling of certain words. Instead of “Sure is,” she uses “Sho is” which demonstrates the way many African-Americans speak. This use of language reflects the ways in which the “niggers” in the story and in southern America use American English. O’Connor also presents the use of some sentences that are flawed grammatically. The comment made by a “nigger” right after “Sho is,” is “They there.” This short sentence portrays the grammatical errors the African-Americans are thought to make during this time. What is not understood by many others is that speech has both a surface and a deep structure. While the surface structure is what spoken, the deep structure is what is meant. In the sentence “They there” a large chunk of information is given with the use of less words. So in this case, it could even be said that this is a sign of intelligence. But since no one is able to understand this distinction, the example of the “nigger” using this sentence instead of saying “They are there.” shows the common notion their inferiority in the 1930s society.
“Niggers” did play a huge role in 1930s. No matter how they were treated or how they were viewed, Negroes played essential roles in the 1930s southern American society; as gardeners, laborers, convicts or businessmen. Whatever role the character may play, it is easy to stereotype it and carve it into default shapes for the author by the usage of typical language. The language through which culture is revealed impacts the audience and informs the reader without having to use excessive words.