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I am unconvinced. His interpretation seems to require assuming a morphological error. The contrary hypothesis assumes an odd word choice. Among native speakers,

I am unconvinced. His interpretation seems to require assuming a morphological error. The contrary hypothesis assumes an odd word choice. Among native speakers, odd word choices are far more common than morphological errors. (Note: I only have a BA in linguistics and only took one class on American dialects. Unlike the OP, I am not an expert in AAVE.) We are given the choice between two phrases that most seem to fit the audio. Both phrases are marked, i.e., not particularly common, and potentially indicative of an idiolect. - I ate too many drugs. - I ain't do any drugs. "I ate too many drugs" is only marked in terms of word choice, not grammar. A different verb (e.g., "took") would be perfectly acceptable across a wide array of dialects. A further problem with OP's objection here is that people do sometimes use the verb "to eat" with regard to drugs. On the other hand, I believe "I ain't do any drugs" is ungrammatical in AAVE, which requires negating both the verb and the noun phrase (cf. "I ain't do nothin" rather than "I ain't do anything"). So what's more plausible? That Floyd used a word in a way the OP is unfamiliar with? Or that Floyd - a native AAVE speaker - uttered a linear, clear, yet ungrammatical sentence?

Cederfjard 6y ago
You say > On the other hand, I believe "I ain't do any drugs" is ungrammatical in AAVE But the OP says > "I ain't do any drugs" is a normal, grammatical sentence in AAE And you concede that the OP is an expert and you are not. For what it’s worth, and it’s not much because I’m neither a linguist nor a native speaker of any kind of English, I consume a lot of content made in AAE and have friends who speak it, and I would not bat an eye at seeing or hearing ”I ain’t do any drugs”. I think your interpretation of the grammar is too strict.
- deleted 6y ago
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- luckylion 6y ago
  Not proof either way, but searching for "I ain't do any drugs" and excluding floyd and chauvin gives like two dozen results on Google. Doing the same with "I ain't do no drugs" gives a few thousands, including song lyrics and memes.
sudosteph 6y ago
My family speaks a related dialect (Southern Appalachian) , and I grew up in an area where many of my neighbors, teachers, and peers spoke AAVE (Charlotte). I can confidently say that you're misunderstanding the concept of double negation in dialects related to southern english. Specifically: Double negation is not mandatory, it's emphatic. There is nothing ungrammatical or confusing about saying "any" instead of "no" in that sentence. There is a slight difference in emphasis conveyed ("no drugs" emphasizes that the amount is none, and "any drugs" emphasizes the subject of "drugs"). It's also possible he just chose the the word "any" because he was trying to tailor his speech to a particular audience. Another similar example from my family's dialect would be the use of "might could" in place of "could" to convey uncertainty. It's commonly used, it adds additional context, but it would not be incorrect, weird, or misunderstood to just say "could".
pessimizer 6y ago
This is my natural manner of speech, and both sentences sound weird to me. The first, "I ate too many drugs," even sounds weird in standard English, situationally, because that would imply that there were a lot of different types of drugs eaten. I'd say "I ate too much drugs." The second one of course sounds weird because the natural way to say it is "I ain't do no drugs." But the situation I could imagine saying it in is in reply to someone who just asked me if I had taken any drugs or if I were on any drugs. I might say "I ain't do any drugs" to be compliant, submissive, and clear - mirroring the words in the question. This is the weirdest blog I've ever read, it makes sense that it's a relic from a stupid twitter war.

Cederfjard 6y ago

You say > On the other hand, I believe "I ain't do any drugs" is ungrammatical in AAVE But the OP says > "I ain't do any drugs" is a normal, grammatical sentence in AAE And you concede that the OP is an expert and you are not. For what it’s worth, and it’s not much because I’m neither a linguist nor a native speaker of any kind of English, I consume a lot of content made in AAE and have friends who speak it, and I would not bat an eye at seeing or hearing ”I ain’t do any drugs”. I think your interpretation of the grammar is too strict.

deleted 6y ago
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luckylion 6y ago
Not proof either way, but searching for "I ain't do any drugs" and excluding floyd and chauvin gives like two dozen results on Google. Doing the same with "I ain't do no drugs" gives a few thousands, including song lyrics and memes.

sudosteph 6y ago

My family speaks a related dialect (Southern Appalachian) , and I grew up in an area where many of my neighbors, teachers, and peers spoke AAVE (Charlotte). I can confidently say that you're misunderstanding the concept of double negation in dialects related to southern english. Specifically: Double negation is not mandatory, it's emphatic. There is nothing ungrammatical or confusing about saying "any" instead of "no" in that sentence. There is a slight difference in emphasis conveyed ("no drugs" emphasizes that the amount is none, and "any drugs" emphasizes the subject of "drugs"). It's also possible he just chose the the word "any" because he was trying to tailor his speech to a particular audience. Another similar example from my family's dialect would be the use of "might could" in place of "could" to convey uncertainty. It's commonly used, it adds additional context, but it would not be incorrect, weird, or misunderstood to just say "could".

pessimizer 6y ago

This is my natural manner of speech, and both sentences sound weird to me. The first, "I ate too many drugs," even sounds weird in standard English, situationally, because that would imply that there were a lot of different types of drugs eaten. I'd say "I ate too much drugs." The second one of course sounds weird because the natural way to say it is "I ain't do no drugs." But the situation I could imagine saying it in is in reply to someone who just asked me if I had taken any drugs or if I were on any drugs. I might say "I ain't do any drugs" to be compliant, submissive, and clear - mirroring the words in the question. This is the weirdest blog I've ever read, it makes sense that it's a relic from a stupid twitter war.