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It appears that the present-day form of African American English is not the inheritance of the period of slavery, but the creation of the second half of the 20th century.

William Labov

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William Labov
Age: 96
Born: 1927
Born: December 4
Dialectologist
Linguist
Professor
Sociolinguist
Sociologist
University Teacher
American
Slavery
Half
Period
Form
English
Periods
Creation
Second
Inheritance
Present
Appears
Century
African

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However, research in the years that followed found that in many of its important features, African American Vernacular English was becoming not less, but more different from other dialects.
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