Linguistics and Cultural Appropriation:

Linguistics or the study of languages has always explained multilingualism as beneficial to the human mind. With progress and development, the intermingling of languages and evolutions in the use of the colloquial terminology is not a new issue. More than often, we have adopted terms used by other cultures, hoping for an altruistic viewpoint only to realise that it has been termed as cultural misappropriation. Similarly, in recent days too, a lot of cultural appropriation debates have been fuelled by the overuse of African-American terms and drag and LGBTQ+ terms. Linguist Michael Adams told Insider that some stan culture slang is tailor-made for the internet, and some of it even "challenges the very nature of English."

Let’s first focus on the black slang terms that have swiftly been integrated into our Internet vocabulary. Thanks to stan culture devoted to intense adoration of certain celebrities and artists, internet slang terminology went mainstream in 2019 alongside the rise of the VSCO girl band, associated with phrases like "sksksk" and "and I oop." From "the bomb" to "holla" to the very short-lived "YOLO”, black colloquial terms on the internet have been used more than often by people of other cultures . Black slang and AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) have long been considered inferior to so-called "standard" English, yet for the sake of being “cool”, whites and other cultures adopted the same terms they had scorned upon not a few years ago. While the most infamous “Periodt” has been the gasoline that led to the most angst among the blacks, the terms “fleeks”, “basic”, “bae” and “ghetto” are the most popular AAVE terms that have found their way into everyone’s Instagram captions. This is nothing but a grossly disrespectful behaviour as it offends the already oppressed African Americans and jeopardises multicultural sentiments.

Additionally, trans slurs and drag terms have also been used by a significant number of people on social networking sites. From “throwing shade” to “busted”, the use of these terms has increased significantly among the people, even in journalism and gossip magazines. What most don’t know is that these terms are derived from the drag culture, which has once again been looked down upon by posh Americans for years. “Spilling the tea” and “painting our faces” are drag slangs that have been adopted by netizens since the 2010s.Much of our everyday language has roots in subcultures. With the rise of social media, the lines between subculture and mainstream are starting to blur further, as mainstream slang has absorbed many popular words and phrases from outlying communities.Thanks to the popularity of shows like Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Queer Eye, LGBT slang isn’t just for ‘queers and queens’ anymore. However this has offended them, more so because cisgender individuals are using these terms in colloquial language, which dilutes the drag race and culture.

Ultimately, the careless manner in which white speakers appropriate AAVE jeopardises the cultural significance of the language form. As digital technology and social media culture keep on altering the common English vernaculars, the views towards non-standard English varieties must change. Although it may be unrealistic to demand that AAVE be used only by African American speakers, at the very least, AAVE should be respected as a legitimate language form by white speakers. Furthermore,we should be conscious of the cultural origins of AAVE and treat the dialect with respect, without trying to claim ownership over it. There is a fine line between appreciation and appropriation, and it appears that in the case of AAVE, that line has been crossed.

Colloquialism of languages and dialects are age-old issues that have always been present, but our duty is to make sure that the appropriate respect be given to the original and native speakers. There’s a fine line between diaspora studies and language learning, cultural appreciation and the heedless use of foreign terms, cultural misappropriation. It’s not about being cool. It’s about being respectful and decent!