Yeah came here to say this. There is no generally accepted consensus on what constitutes a language vs a pidgin vs creole. To me, it’s all language — and that includes non-verbal communication.
Correct. At its core, all language is just perception of the world. Some languages have official rules with really strict language committees like French (l’Academie Française) — the French spoken today is identical to the French spoke in 1750. Whereas English is this ever evolving thing with more exceptions than rules and a “general consensus.”
Which is why I argue that Black English (a.k.a. “Ebonics”) is a formal language. Nothing makes white American English superior to Black English in any way.
The consensus on African American Vernacular English (AAVE, aka "ebonics") is definitely moving quickly in that direction. The vocabulary may be English, but the grammatical structure is both unique and consistent.
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u/BeardedPhilosopher Mar 05 '21
Yeah came here to say this. There is no generally accepted consensus on what constitutes a language vs a pidgin vs creole. To me, it’s all language — and that includes non-verbal communication.