I know some guys hear are historians and u/AlfredicEnglishRules is an anthropologist. I was listening to a podcast and someone brought up some groups in America use slang predominately because their biology makes English difficult for them. I'm wondering how biology affects language? Is it just an IQ thing, or are there subtle differences in vocal chords? Or is it bullshit?
I can understand cultural differences shaping languages. And I've heard evolutionary differences, like early men having to increase their vocabularies to include dogs in their hunting.
Ehh... I heavily question the premise, but I'm no historian or biologist or anything so don't expect much academic rigor behind my opinion.
America seems to be an easy place where such observations can be made.
A native Japanese will often have trouble pronouncing the english "L" sound (hence the "Engrish" meme), but an American-born Japanese will rarely have the same kind of issue. People from all kinds of cultures who are born in America can see this effect in action.
A similar phenomenon occurs with accents. Within 1 generation of being born in a different country, most cultures can assimilate and have similar accents to normal people within the country.
I think culture and cultural history has a lot more to do with language than anything else. I think slang is just born out of certain thoughts wanting to be expressed in unique ways. Its made up until the meaning sets, its just another facet of language.
I believe that, if you're referring to American blacks when you say that, its either them wanting to feel "black" and put their own (unfortunate) twist on the language, or otherwise are holdover terms and phrases ingrained in deep southern culture. If you're talking Hispanics its a similar kind of phenomenon, though with more connection to their original languages and hanging out with people of their own culture, creating their own twist on the language to suit them.
Those are the main two groups I've seen which use heavier amounts of slang than others, but I don't really see either groups having actual trouble with the English language (minus the lack of knowledge about vocabulary/definitions, certain grammar rules, or spelling, but that's more a struggle with education than actual comprehension). Reaching a relatively average level of comprehension of English if you're born in America is far from difficult.
The guy was referring to black people. Thanks for the info
Hasn't Thomas Sowell pointed out that black Americans adopted the culture of the poorest whites in the South after emancipation, including elements of their way of speaking. So called black vernacular is essentially the speech pattern of the poor English, Scots and Irish who lived in the South in the Antebellum and Reconstruction era.