blaccent

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

blaccent

Alternative forms

blackcent

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “According to PRI's The World[1] coined by John McWhorter, but his may be an independent invention.”

Noun

blaccent (plural blaccents)

(US) An accent characteristic of African-Americans (black Americans).
- 2003 January 5, Eric Stewart, “the people's kitchen”, in misc.activism.progressive (Usenet):
  He's black, but doesn't have a trace of a blaccent.
- 2004 February 19, Ben Zimmer, “Is the slogan grammatical?”, in sci.lang (Usenet):
  Timberlake has long sought to overcome his whiteness to perfect a "blaccent", as the kids call it these days, and the McDonald's ad campaign explicitly relies on a hiphop idiom.
- 2005 November 15, “Eli” of Michigan, “Lord of The Dance”, The Life of a Swordfish, at swordfish22.spaces.live.com [2]
  She spoke with a very thick blaccent...as she screamed "C'mon B!, C'mon B! C'mon B!" (she was quite persistent with this phrase, and used the actual word) "I betta neva see yo A out eating sub sammiches eva again!".
- 2006 February 8, “Drew” of Philadelphia, “The moral's I'm immortal ”, Trapper Juan, at trapperjuan.blogspot.com [3]
  Rothlisberger...speaks with a blaccent, which in reality is not that uncommon. The problem is his inconsistency. Sometimes, he lays it on thicker than J. Will haggling at a swap meet
- 2009, John McWhorter quoted on, The World‎^[4]:
  The sad thing is that for many people, the blaccent connotes lack of intelligence.
- 2016 December 4, Jennifer Schuessler, quoting Edward McClelland, “‘How to Speak Midwestern,’ a Heartland Dialect Guide”, in The New York Times‎^[5], →ISSN:
  (Mr. McClelland notes the existence of various Midwestern “blaccents,” though he doesn’t explore them.)
- 2020 July 21, John McWhorter, “The Biases We Hold Against the Way People Speak”, in The New York Times‎^[6], →ISSN:
  Black earnings decrease to the extent that one has a perceptible “blaccent.”
- 2022 February 8, “What a ‘blaccent’ is, and why it's wrong”, in CNN‎^[7]:
  The term is making headlines this week after comedian, actress and rapper Awkwafina addressed criticism that she’s used a “blaccent,” or Black accent, and other elements of African American language and mannerisms during her career.

Coordinate terms