african american vernacular language

7/30/2019 African american vernacular language

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LANGUAGE VARIATION

Social Variation and Regional Variation

Sociolinguistics Dialectology


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Ethnicity/race

Age

Social class

Education

Religion

Gender

Family (too little)

Region/Space (notbased on social norms)

Occupation/Hobbies(only lexical differences,and it is the least stable)

Not determiners of sociolects

Sociolect:A dialect or variety based purely

on societal norms (race, social class, etc)


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Important Terms

Dialect (any variety) vs. Accent (pronunciation)

Sociolinguistics vs. Dialectology

Sociolects (basilect, mesolect, acrolect) vs. regional

dialectsHypercorrection ( a standard rule applies in contexts whereits not supposed: idear or warsh?, you & I, he am)

Grammatical vs Lexical variation

Jargon (specific vocabulary) vs. borrowing (from other

languages)Standard vs non-standard

Migration vs. immigration

Linguistic Atlases (maps of regional variations)

Language contact vs. linguistic isolation


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Lexical differences across regions

Northern:

Pail, swill, whiffletree(= a thick quilt)

Johnny cake, salt pork, darning needle(=dragonfly)

Midland: Blinds(roller blades)

Skillet(eaves)

Piece(food taken between meals)

Snake feeder(dragonfly)

Southern:

Lightwood, lighter(kindling)

Hasslet(edible pig inner organs)

Chittlins(small intestines)


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Phonological differences (regions)

Northern:

[o] =/= [] (hoarse =/= horse)

[s] in grease (V) and greasy

Vowel in root and wood are equal

Midland:

Hoarse = horse (??)

Verb rounding (frog, hog, wasp, wash)

Monophthongization (single Verb) of new, due

South: Diphthongization of Tuesday, new, due

Final [z] in Mrs.

Monophthongization of five

Diphthongization of ten


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Morphosyntactic Differences (Regions)

Northern

Double modalshadnt ought

Past tense been see

climbfor climbed(past tense marker lost)

Uninflected be (How be you?)

Midland:

clumfor climbed(irregularization of past tense)

seenfor saw(forms reduction/simplification)

Southern: you all=/= you (second person distinction)

Seed for saw(regularization)

holpfor helped(irregularization)


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Basic Definitions

Standard in the US:

Middle-class Midwesterners vs.

Non-Standard:African-American Vernacular; Latino

English, or Spanglish, Appalachian, Old

poor Southerners, etc.


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Some Fundamentals

Knowing non-standard dialects is helpful forboth teacher & students. In urban ghettos,we find very little adjustment to school forms.

Many bidialectals, when in contact with asuper-ordinate (dominant) dialect, mayreflect their awareness of that dialect asmuch of their own.

Nonstandard dialects should be studied withintheir own system (in their own right), butalso in comparison to other dialects of English(such as Standard English).


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Some Common Non-StandardDialect Features

No [-ed] inflections (past participle, especially)

Double negation (He dont want no trouble)

[i] becomes [e] before m/n

Zero copula (no is, are, am)

Habitual be

Non-redundant pluralization (the boys, but six boy)

Regularization of possessive pronouns (mine, yourn)

Regularization and Non-redundant plural in reflexive pronouns (hisself,theirself vs. himself, themselves)

Object pronouns in subject position (specially in compound subjects)(Us girls)

them as demonstrative adjective (them books)

Adjective = adverbs (goodfor both well/good)

Loss of 3rd person sing. marker(he wantorI has)

[] becomes [n] in word-final position in [-ing] words.


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Black English features(Black English recognized legally in 1979)

zero copula[no is, am, are]

Pre-Verb been

Auxiliary doneDe-fricativization of voiced interdental

Multiple negative

Nos inflection for 3rd person singular

Extend 3rd person to 1st or 2nd.

I has some good friends. He dont be rub methe wrong way. Dem books be boring.


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William Labov (1970)

Non-standard varieties of English are rule-governedsystemsand neither corrupt or inferiorAdvocates understanding of AAVE as ignorance leadsto teacher-student conflictCan not draw on intuitions of children or non-standard speakers as the superordinate variety willbe reflectedIn general, one can say that whenever a speaker ofa nonstandard dialect is in a subordinate position to aspeaker of a standard dialect, the rules of his [sic.]grammar will shift in an unpredictable mannertowards the standard


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Labov, continued

Labov uses systematic analysis to connect themeanings in non-standard and standardvarieties

He states it is important for teachers to beable to understand the intended meaning tobe able to supply the standard equivalentDifferences between the varieties are not as

sharp as they first appearNon-standard varieties are not inferior as ameans of communication contrary to earlybeliefs


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Pinker

Linguists fight the myth that working class people and the lesseducated speak a simpler or coarser languageIt is usually only the refined aspects of language (grammar,pronunciation) that are noticedA language is a dialect with an army and a navy (MaxWeinreich)

Early conclusions that non-standard dialects were grammaticallydeficient were based on subjects shy or sullen reactions to testbatteriesThere are areas where AAVE (BEV) is more precise than thestandard variety: He be working (he generally works, perhaps regularly) He working (he is working at the time of the utterance)

Labovs research showed that AAVE speakers had a vastly higherpercentage of grammatical utterances (within the system of thedialect) than the norm academics had the lowest


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Rachel Jones

Not White, Just RightClaims skills with Standard English opened doors that wouldhave otherwise been unattainable as a poor black girlFrustrations ensue from the idea that black kids believe

speaking accurately is a white traitSuch kids are submitting to the idea that success is a whitethingStates that recognising languages such as Ebonics is adamning commentary on our history of inequality and lack ofaccess to equal educational opportunities in this country

Claims Standard English has empowered herClaims mastery of Standard English is important for any grouphoping to succeed in America


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African American VernacularEnglish (AAVE)

Also known as Black English, Ebonics,AAE

CNN Report on Oakland Ebonics Decision LSA Resolution on the Ebonics Issue

More on AAVE

AAVE
http://www.cnn.com/US/9612/22/black.english/http://www.lsadc.org/resolutions/index.php?aaa=ebonics.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_English_Vernacularhttp://www.une.edu.au/langnet/aave.htmhttp://www.une.edu.au/langnet/aave.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_English_Vernacularhttp://www.lsadc.org/resolutions/index.php?aaa=ebonics.htmhttp://www.cnn.com/US/9612/22/black.english/

african american vernacular language

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