Black Boston Speaks is a linguistics project led by Assistant Professor Monica Nesbitt (Indiana University), a Brockton, MA native. Our scholarship centers diverse Black voices in an effort to dispel monolithic narratives about Black lives and languages.
This website showcases the richly diverse dialects of the Black community in Eastern Massachusetts, a community that was understudied in linguistic research of New England. For this project, Black students conducted hour-long interviews with community members in 2020 and 2021. What began in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic led to our team embracing technology to conduct Zoom interviews and remain connected with the community via Instagram. The intersection of technology and sociolinguistics has served as a pathway for both understanding and connection throughout our research journey.
Here we display a collection of dialect maps, community reports, and selected audio recordings. The reports provide some background about the Boston area Black community. The maps and audio recordings highlight the community's linguistic and cultural richness (some example maps are below). You can find these resources by clicking through the tabs above.
We hope you enjoy this celebration of Black lives as much as we do.