78 - Hiram Smith

Personal Background and Education

• Hiram Smith was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and grew up in Lawton, Oklahoma, in a military community. He describes “military brat” life as involving frequent moves and friendships that could be temporary, but also exposure to people from many backgrounds.
• His family has roots across several parts of the United States. Smith identifies strongly with Oklahoma and Southern culture, including its food, expressions, storytelling, and African-American English.
• Although he was a strong student, Smith did not initially attend college. He described growing up in poverty, later experiencing homelessness and hitchhiking, and eventually returning to school at age 31 while raising three children.
• His high-school Spanish teacher, Scottie Simpson, mentored him and helped inspire his later studies. Smith went on to earn a PhD in Spanish and Linguistics at Penn State and became a professor at Bucknell University.
• Smith and the host also discuss his positive experiences living in central Pennsylvania, despite its long winters and limited local activities.

African-American English (AAE)

Smith explains that AAE is a systematic language variety—not simply an accent, “slang,” or a collection of grammatical errors. It has regional variation and a history shaped by the experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants, as well as by influences from other English varieties and African languages.

He gives two examples of grammatical patterns:

• Variable omission of “be”: In some contexts, AAE speakers may omit the copula, as in “Doug crazy.”
• Habitual “be”: An invariant “be” can indicate that something happens regularly or habitually. “Doug be hosting that podcast” means he hosts it habitually, not necessarily that he is hosting it at that moment.

Smith emphasizes that these features follow rules. For example, habitual “be” cannot simply replace “is” in any sentence. Misunderstanding the distinction can change the meaning of what someone says.

Stigma and Real-World Consequences

Smith says AAE is heavily stigmatized and often wrongly treated as evidence of poor education or deficient language ability.

• In schools, students who speak AAE may be corrected or disproportionately placed in speech therapy or special-education programs. Smith warns that this can foster shame about their speech and their families’ language.
• Misunderstanding AAE can also have serious consequences in legal settings. Smith discusses cases in which testimony or recorded speech was interpreted differently because listeners did not understand AAE grammar or pronunciation.
• He also cites research suggesting that Philadelphia court reporters were substantially less accurate when transcribing AAE.
• Smith notes that claims of not understanding a speaker may reflect bias as well as genuine unfamiliarity with a dialect.

The Oxford Dictionary Project

Smith describes an Oxford initiative to revisit dictionary entries and develop an Oxford Dictionary of African-American English. He is involved in the project as a lexicographer.

The project aims to review existing entries, address complaints about inaccurate definitions or pronunciations, and consider words that have not yet been adequately documented.

The N-Word: History, Context, and Usage

Smith discusses his research and forthcoming book on the history and use of the N-word. He argues that discussion of the word requires historical context, rather than only present-day assumptions about who uses it and why.

• According to Smith, African Americans have used the word among themselves since at least the early 19th century. He points to an 1825 discussion in Freedom’s Journal.
• He says its use has never been exclusively friendly or affectionate; its meaning has varied by context.
• Smith suggests that many white listeners first became familiar with Black people using the word through comedians such as Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor, and later through hip-hop. That visibility can obscure the word’s longer history within Black communities.
• He also discusses historical instances of white people using the word in familiar or affiliative settings. His point is that its history and social meaning are more complicated than a simple account of recent cultural appropriation.
• On whether usage will change, Smith notes that language changes continually. He cites his 2019 research, which found that white men in the study used the word in positive or endearing senses more often than the other groups examined.
• He also refers to research showing that white “hip-hoppers” did not use AAE in the same systematic way as either their parents or their Black peers.

Smith’s overall position is that the word’s history, context, speaker, and audience all matter. Its use as a racial slur has caused serious harm, but that is not its only historical use.

History, Ancestry, and Representation

In a discussion of films about slavery, Smith says he would rather see history represented accurately than softened or sanitized. He describes anger as an understandable response to the subject.

The conversation also turns to ancestry research and the difficulty many African Americans face in tracing family histories through records. Smith explains that formerly enslaved people are often absent from earlier census records as named individuals, while records after 1870 show many newly recorded names.

He reflects on the broader impact of historical erasure: people want to know where they came from, but Black families may have limited access to names, records, and African history that other communities can preserve and pass down.

Personal Preferences

In the closing questions, Smith shares that he:

• Names Duke Ellington as a go-to musical artist and enjoys old black-and-white films.
• Prefers the beach to hiking and likes Southern cooking and barbecue.
• Says a food truck would be his ideal alternative career.
• Mentions upcoming travel to Antigua and Germany, including a desire to see Stuttgart, where he was born.

Speakers and Sources Featured

Speakers

• Doug Madenford — Podcast host; also introduces the rebroadcast.
• Hiram Smith — Guest; professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Bucknell University.

Sources, Researchers, and Works Discussed

• William Labov — Linguist whose research on African-American English is mentioned.
• Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford Dictionary of African-American English project — Dictionary work discussed by Smith.
• Taylor Jones and coauthors — Cited for research on Philadelphia court reporters’ transcription accuracy.
• Greg Guy and Cecilia Cutler — Cited for research on white hip-hop speakers and language patterns.
• Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor — Comedians discussed in relation to public exposure to Black use of the N-word.
• Malcolm X and Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X — Referenced for an anecdote about a white woman in Harlem.
• Maya Angelou — Quoted by Smith in the discussion of anger at slavery and historical injustice.
• Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Finding Your Roots — Discussed in connection with ancestry research.
• George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and Rachel Jeantel — Mentioned in examples concerning the interpretation of AAE in public and legal contexts.