The Relation between Black and White Speech in the South

The theory that significant differences exist between the speech of black & white people in the South is examined. Some differences are attributed to a dialect of the antebellum South called "Plantation Creole." Shared features of Vernacular Black English (VBE) & Standard English are presented, eg, adjs are placed before the Ns they modify in both VBE & Standard Eng; when a relative pronoun functions as the subject of a subordinate clause it is deleted; & postvocalic [r] is vocalized or deleted; & differences in VBE in the areas of segmental phonology, morphology, & syntax are cited, eg, final stops devoiced in stressed syllables in VBE & the absense of the possessive suffix. It is concluded that the differences between the two dialects are not as great as they seem. 6 Tables. L. Laughlin