[Ads-l] Hip/Hep and "Crying Wolof" (for Horn & Sheidlower)

[Z Rice]

I thought it might be better if I added this to its own dedicated thread,
hopefully that's okay:

Mr. Sheidlower / Mr. Laurence Horn, in my written work I assert that "hip"
is indeed of Wolof origin and I assert that among the native
African-American population, the "p" in the term "hip" is simply a mutation
of the Wolof "w". Thus:

AAV
hip / hep (adj)
fashionable, en vogue, up-to-date in fashion, style, or events; the latest
in fashion or style; the latest thing; what is currently happening (in
events, style, and culture); happening

...comes from:

Wolof
xew (verbal adjective)
1) (to be) fashionable; (to be) en vogue; (to be) up-to-date in fashion or
style; (to be) the latest in fashion or style; (to be) the latest thing;
(to be) trendy; (to be) what's happening

xew (verb)
2) to happen (when speaking of events); 3) to occur (when speaking of
events)

You wrote in the Slate.com "Crying Wolof" article, that Wolof has no "H".
However, american english has no initial "X" (the voiceless back-velar
fricative). The sound that would've been been CLOSEST in the US to that of
the Wolof "x" is the english "h" (this was not mentioned in the Slate
article), and in my work, I assert that "x" obviously mutated to "h"; and
"w" mutated to "p"...since the word-final "w" in Wolof (voiced labio-velar
semi-vowel) is fully articulated unlike the english word-final "w".

w > p mutation is extremely common in linguistics and especially in Africa.
For example: ndap / ndaw  both mean "house" in Cameroon. Likewise, malep
/malew both mean "water" in Cameroon. there are endless examples of this in
African language.

This is what gives us AAV phrases like "a happenin suit"; or "happenin
shoes" which wouldn't make sense otherwise in the english language, but
make complete sense in AAV and definitely in Wolof.

I'd appreciate your response (and by extension, Mr. Laurence Horn's
response) as I believe that the "Cry Wolof" myth has had damaging effects
on the advancement of the study of AAV. I'd appreciate hearing Mr.
Sheidlower's and Mr. Horn's response to this. Thank you.

The above referenced study:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/303169199/Preview-The-Myth-of-Cry-Wolof-and-the-Case-for-Wolof-Etymologies?secret_password=eg99qbL55WOLpO0S8bk7#fullscreen=1

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