Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on "Ya know what I'm sayin", "Ya feel me", and similar sentences in African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
This post presents my speculations about the history of and reasons for the use of "Ya know what I'm sayin", "Ya feel me", and similar sayings in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). These speculations are supported by some online quotes.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/01/ya-know-what-im-sayin-ya-feel-me-and.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents some examples of "Ya know what I'm sayin", "Ya feel me", and similar sayings in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). A few comments in that post present examples of the use of those sayings or similar sayings in other dialects throughout the world.
All of those comments are from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMS70m-OzXo&t=1s "DIFFERENT AMERICAN HOOD ACCENTS AND DIALECTS" by CharlieBo313, Oct. 14, 2019.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
"Ya know what I'm sayin", "Ya feel me" and other similar sayings are mostly used in spoken communication. Written examples of these sayings are mostly strung together parts of the words that make up those sayings or other approximations of how those words sound together. There's no "correct" way of spelling these sayings in AAVE.
This post refers to the use of these sayings at the end of some African American Vernacular English (AAVE) sentences or used by themselves in AAVE.
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PART I:THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH SAYINGS "YA KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN", "YA FEEL ME" AND SIMILAR SAYINGS
Additions and corrections to this post are very welcome.
I believe that "Ya know what I'm sayin" and similar sayings are updated forms of "Can you dig it?".
"Can you dig it?" and other "dig it" sayings are from African American culture before the 1960s but became known in mainstream American culture in that decade.
Here are some online quotes to support this speculation.
There are multiple theories about the origin of the African American Vernacular English meanings of the word "dig" including Wolof and/or Mandingo West African languages and Gaelic and/oror old European languages. I've decided not to wade in that muddy water but jump to the early uses of that word.
1.from https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/121607/what-is-the-exact-meaning-of-i-dig-it
"OED [Oxford English Dictionary] sense 6c has examples from 1935 to 1969 - it is said to be of US origin.
The term was particularly popular during the 1960s-1970s and is today considered slightly old-fashioned. It seems to be mainly used today in connection with music, perhaps as a deliberate homage to the music and associated culture of that era.
answered Apr 25, 2022 by Astralbee"
-snip-
The shortened form of this saying "Dig it?" was used at the end of sentences or as a stand alone sentence in the 1960s (and to a much lesser extent now in the 2000s). However, I don't know if "dig it?" was used at the end of AAVE sentences as often as "Ya know what I'm saying" and other forms of those sayings are used now.
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3. Another way of saying "Can you dig it?" ("Do you understand what I'm saying?" in the 1960s was "Do you get where I'm coming from?"
"Do you catch my drift" is another way of saying the same thing or a very similar thing that was used in AAVE and elsewhere in the 1960s. Jay Elston, a commenter writing in 2011 in a discussion thread for https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/32530/meaning-and-origin-of-if-you-catch-my-drift shared that "The phrase has been around a long time. Shakespeare uses my drift (meaning my meaning) in a few of his plays. The term predates this usage."
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4. A 1978 New York Times newspaper article indicates that "You know what I'm saying" was a new "in" saying for that year.
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/23/archives/yknow-what-im-saying.html "Y'KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING?" by William Safire, July 23, 1978
."Kid's talk, spread by television, has not been delinquent
in coinages. Cool, that product of the 40's, continues unabated, but dynamite
as an adjective has fizzled, as have beautiful and terrific; the new word for
excellence is, unbelievably, excellent.
The summarized continuation, or indication of a continued
series, has long been a staple of kid's talk: Etcetera etcetera was followed by
blahblah‐blah, and more recently by and all that stuff or and like that; the
current locution is y'know what I'm saying.”
[…]
Clearly, the biggies of the Word Mafia — with their abrasive
lust for megabucks — have been burned by the speedy trivialization of the
language by the glitterati. Only by tracking our bromides can wordaholics
impose any kind of constraints and make our excellent lingo vogueword free.
Y'know what I'm saying. “
-end of article.
Most of the new “in” terms that are mentioned in that 1978 New York Times article have been out of use in
the USA for a long time.
White American writer William Safire defined “Y'know what I'm saying” as another way
of saying something like “etc. etc. etc. or “and so on and so forth.” I disagree with that conclusion*, this article helps document when that saying began to make its way into the consciousness of mainstream (meaning "White") United States culture.
*Read Part II ,Section A of this post.
..."
b) Princetane1976 Creambot, 2023
"
I didn’t really hear it much beyond him until the late 2000s with rappers, Black radio and podcast hosts and Trailer Park Boys, but now its everywhere and seems to be a catchprhrase amongst lower class hip Americans everywhere. Some dudes like Tariq Elite, Tommy Sotomayor, Green Gorilla, Umar Johnson, The Advise show etc - they are always adding “You know what I’m saying” to like EVERY sentence.
Of course I am in New Zealand, so are not exactly on the
pulse of American colloquialisms, but it sure makes me laugh and me doing it
when I was drunk recently had everyone laughing. I do this like “Pookie and Ray
Ray thing” - Black culture is popular amongst Maoris and Islanders here, so now
you hear “You know what I’m saying” more than “Give them the bash”.
Seriously I guess I doubt its roots would go back further
than the jive talk era of the very late 60s and 1970s stuff like “You dig”,
“Jive Turkey” etc."
-snip-
I don't agree with everything this commenter wrote, but visitors to pancocojams probably know this without me adding this disclaimer.
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6. Additional Notes:
The saying "Do you feel me" (meaning "Do you understand me"?) became commonly used in some forms of AAVE because of its use in certain Hip Hop/Rap songs such as
-Scarface - "Now I Feel Ya" from the album 'The World
Is Yours' (1993) [Number 19 Peak position on Billboard Hot Rap songs. https://www.billboard.com/artist/scarface/chart-history/rap/
-Naughty By Nature, 1995 Hip Hop Rap song "Feel Me Flow" [lyric excerpt: "Holla if ya hear me though, come and feel me flow."
-Dru Down's 1996 album/single "Can You Feel Me" [quote: "Its lead single reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart."] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_You_Feel_Me
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PART II -WHY DO PEOPLE USE THESE TYPES OF SAYINGS IN AAVE?
A. MY SPECULATIONS
1. In order for there to be true communication, people need to know that listeners hear and really understand what is being said. In African American Vernacular English, the expectation is that call and response interactions would take place between the speaker and the listener. The speaker's words are "the call" and the listener's body motions (nodding his or her head) and saying "um hum" or some other sounds/words are the "response" or "responses".
One meaning of the now largely outdated terms "Word" and "Word up" is "I understand you and I agree". Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_Up!_(song) for information about Funk group Cameo's 1986 megahit record "Word up!"
Also, click https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-term-word-up-mean for a discussion about the meanings of the term "Word up" /"Word".
Here's another online excerpt about the term "Word up":
From https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/word-up/
" The exact origin of word up is unknown. The earliest prominent usage of the phrase comes from the song “Word Up” (1986) by American funk band Cameo. In the song, the phrase is used as an enthusiastic term of agreement. Since that time, word up has been used to express agreement, approval, or general enthusiasm."
**
2. These sayings are used in African American Vernacular English as a way of documenting that certain things have been said. As such, the New Orleans, Louisiana (and other Louisiana) saying "You heard me" (given in standard English) is a shortened form of something like "Now you heard what I said so deal with it." This form of "Ya know what I'm saying" can be a shortened form of the African American children's saying "I said it. I meant it. And I'm here to represent it" (meaning what I said is on the record (I'm documenting it). I stand by what I've said and i'll back up what I said with my fist (or other aggression) if I have to.
**
3. These sayings are added to the end of most sentences in some forms of AAVE as unconscious habit without the speakers being consciously aware of it (without realizing that they are saying it). The speaker isn't really asking a question and doesn't wait for any acknowledgement from the listener that he or she "knows or understands (feels) what was said". Instead, the speaker continues talking until the end of another sentence where he or she is likely to repeat that same saying and this (I believe by force of habit) occurs again and again and again.
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B. ONLINE QUOTES
1. from https://www.quora.com/Why-did-people-start-saying-you-know-what-Im-saying-Is-there-any-history-behind-this-expression-or-did-it-just-come-out-naturally-and-become-a-phrase-we-use-now-days-without-knowing-its-history
Amar Jondhalekar, 2023
"The origin of the phrase "you know what I'm
saying" is unclear, but it likely evolved as a way for speakers to check
if their audience is following along with what they're saying or to emphasize
their point. It's often used as a conversational filler, allowing the speaker
to pause briefly while still keeping the flow of the conversation going."
-snip-
I agree with the first two points but mostly disagree that these sayings are used in AAVE as "conversation fillers". Here's some information about "conversation fillers" from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/filler-word
… "What are filler words?
Filler words, or discourse markers, are words, phrases or
sounds that fill up space in writing or conversation without adding substance.
Here are some common types of filler words:
Filler words in speaking
Filler words allow speakers time to pause and consider what
to say next. Used as an alternative to silence, filler words let the listener
know that you have more to say, even if you need a moment before you continue.
Often, speakers develop habits of using the same filler words when they need to
organize their thoughts.”…
-snip-
Most examples of filler words in this article occur at the beginning of a
sentence or in the middle of a sentence (words such as "ah", "like", okay"). However, that article gives one example of "You know" and "right" that are used at the end of a sentence. Here's the
The example for "you know" -"I always save everything just in case, you know?"...
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