| Summary: | Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explain pragmatics from the cultural perspective of African American English speakers by reviewing current research and providing examples of a variety of pragmatic and social communication forms. Understanding pragmatics and social communication from a cultural perspective is necessary when supporting language and literacy development. Conclusions: Speakers of African American English use a variety of culturally specific forms of pragmatics and social communication, such as those identified in the cultural framework developed by the authors. However, limited research on this topic is available in the extant literature. Thus, Hyter, DeJarnette, and Rivers provide the model for an emic or culturally specific approach to identify the pragmatic and social communication skills of African American English speakers. It is imperative that speech-language professionals and educators utilize an emic approach to these pragmatic and social communication forms to support language and literacy development, as well as to devise appropriate and effective language and literacy assessment and intervention when ne
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