Some of the deviations that recur in Monster
 
 
Some examples quotated from Monster that underline the differences between Standard English and Black English
 
 
- double negation:
75/5 I didn’t do nothing. I didn’t do anything.
77/2 I didn’t see no woman. I didn’t see a woman.
95/18 You don’t have to be no Einstein. You don’t have to be Einstein.
113/18 He didn’t say nothing. He didn’t say anything.
114/14 I said I didn’t know nothing. I said I didn’t know anything.
116/23 I didn’t have nothing. I didn’t have anything to eat all the day.
119/2 King said he didn’t have no gun. King said he didn’t have a gun.
119/26 You can’t rely on nobody. You can’t rely on anybody.

- absence of 3rd-person singular forms
young don’t count young doesn’t count
He don’t have no choice. He doesn’t have a choice.

- omission of the copula(to be)
76/18 Trevor said he dead. Trevor said he is dead.
77/4 I don’t think he married. I don’t think he is married.
137/5 They looking

- omission of the auxiliary
73/8 You playing football. You were playing football.
95/10 What you guessing about when. What are you guessing about when ...
109/9 I been knowing King all my life. I have been knowing King all my life.
109/27 I been arrested for ... I have been arrested for ...

- past participle of strong verb denotes past tense
110/17 and we done it and we did it
122/22 I didn’t know what King done. I didn’t know what King did.
159/25 he got you he will get you

by ChrisN + FloW

http://duermueller.tripod.com/black.html
Here you can find more examples for Black English. Its a story told by a 14-year-old girl from Memphis.

Black English Vocabulary
 
 
to cop = to steal
dude = guy
get over = chance for a robbery
score = hold up
the deal goes down = the crime is comitted
to cut s.o. = to hurt s.o. with a knife
hood = ghetto neighborhood
to be down = to be willing to join
badge = policeman
to cop some z’s = to secretly take a nap
to diss = to insult
a heavy = a 10 year prison term
to take a hit on = to take a certain amount of s.th.
crank = drugs
beef =quarrel
to light s.o up = to shoot s.o.
to muscle = to attack
to drop a dime on s.o.= to report s.o. to the police
to get busted on a humble = to be arrestet on a small charge
to cop rocks = to bye cocaine
bourgie = middle-classe
crack = a type of cocain
crap = nonsense
to be cooked = to have no chance
joit = prison

by Kathi