Transcript AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH

SOCIOLINGUISTIC
RESEARCH: AFRICAN
AMERICAN VERNACULAR
ENGLISH
Kliknij, aby dodać tekst
Simply put, the domain of sociolinguistic
research is the relation between language
and society and its nature is heavily
connected to sociology
Sociology as Kliknij,
a science,
deals
with society
aby
dodać
tekst
and its structure, therefore studying
language from the point of view of social
entities shows how speakers using
comparable language systems are able to
produce similar, yet at the same time quite
distinct texts
The social aspect of everyday language aims at
describing connections between language and
society and more specifically, the way one uses
the system in order to act in different social
situations in an everyday context.
The areas of analysis range from register in everyday settings
of social interaction, such as interaction in the workplace or in
the company of good friends, to dialect study of a given
region, with focus on age, sex and educational background
differences. The ideas that are put forward by scholars in this
field involve the assumption that language cannot be studied
independently from the people using it. In other words,
language study must involve social context, as by doing so,
one has the ability to learn about both the linguistic system
itself and the society using it as well.
Kliknij, aby dodać tekst
Society creates culture and language is a
reflection of culture - “language is
acquired in the process of learning the
whole culture, to which the child is born”
“Culture influences the structure and functions of
Kliknij, aby dodać tekst
a group's language, which in turn influences the
individual's interpretations of reality”
“Language reinforces cultural patterns through
semantics, syntax and naming. Grammar and the
forms of words show hierarchical importance of
something to a culture”
Since society can be reflected in
langauge, “social change can produce a
corresponding linguistic change”
(Trudgill, 1974: 28)
Fishman (1972)
argues aby
that sociolinguistics
Kliknij,
dodać tekstis
a means by which “linguistics itself would be
transformed into a general science or
interscience of communication”
Research: “quantitative nature” of reality
(Nisbett, et al., 1987)
Partial screening requires obtaining
samples from only a small portion of a
community or group, and on the basis of
that,
one
formulating
conclusions
concerning the entire group.
Various strategies
representative
Kliknij, used
aby indodać
tekst
sampling in sociolinguistic studies have been
modified over the years in order to suite
developing research. These included random
sampling, quasi-random sampling, the use of
the ethnographic approach and various social
networks. Therefore, arriving at
‘representativeness’ in data collection of the
targeted group would in many cases involve a
merger of various approaches.
Much of the research done by Labov
(1968) was based on the ethnographic
approach to varionationist sociolinguistics,
which involve observation and integration
with a particular community or society as
was done in the study of South Harlem
Such a methodological approach requires the
Kliknij, aby dodać tekst
analyst to study language within its social context
by using observation as a collection technique.
Portions of this study involved such an approach;
however questionnaire distribution did not
conform to either ethnographic or social network
approach. Nevertheless, many problems occur
during random sampling as mentioned by Milroy
(1987), various groups in the context of a large
city will be “geographically and socially distributed
amongst the population in a non-random way”
POSED QUESTIONS




How do we socioliguistically define AAVE –
dialect, sociolect, ethnolect?
How are languages culturally and socially
conditioned?
How do we conventionalize norms?
What are the basic characteristics of AAVE?
THE ASSUMPTION





Language always occurs in context
Language is context sensitive
Language is always communicative
Language is designed for communication
THE MEANING OF A TEXT IS
CONSTRUCTED BY SOCIETY AND THE
WORLD IS CREATED BY HUMAN BEINGS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEANING.
VARIATION

The social class system, which seems to be
one of the causes of communicative deficit is
only one of the many ways in which human
society is stratified.

Social class distinction
Gender distinction
Educational distinction
Ethnic distinction




There exists a powerful two way relation
between language and social structure” and
“linguistic resources are a means which
serves people to establish and perpetuate
their social identity.
DIGLOSSIA

This is a situation where, in a given society,
there are two (often closely-related)
languages, one of high prestige, which is
generally used by the government and in
formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is
usually the spoken vernacular tongue.
FERGUSON’S DIGLOSSIA



DIGLOSSIA is a relatively stable language
situation in which, in addition to the primary
dialects of the language (which may include a
standard or regional standards), there is a
very divergent, highly codified (often
grammatically more complex) superposed
variety
R.P. English – Cockney English
American English – African American?
FISHMAN’S DIGLOSSIA

Diglossia could be extended to situations
found in many societies where forms of two
genetically unrelated (or at least historically
distant ) languages occupy the H and L
niches, such that one of the languages is
used for religious, educational, literacy and
other such prestigious domains, while
another language is rarely used for such
purposes, being only employed for more
informal, primarily spoken domains.
The Vernacular

Vernacular refers to the native language of a
country or a locality. In general linguistics, it
is used to describe local languages as
opposed to linguae francae, official standards
or global languages. It is sometimes applied
to nonstandard dialects of a global language.

Within the subcategory of
sociolinguistics, the term vernacular has
been applied to several concepts,
leading to confusion among scholars
regarding what is actually being referred
to. This term had not been heard in the
western world until the late 1800s. One
use of the term, as exemplified by
Poplack (1993) and Labov (1972),
defines vernacular varieties as casual
varieties used spontaneously rather than
self-consciously.

Wolfram and Schilling-Estes (1998) on
the other hand define vernacular
varieties as nonstandard, local dialects,
particularly because of the nonstandard
grammatical features that they contain.
They also state that there is a
continuum between the vernacular and
the standard.

Similar approaches have been made to
define vernacular culture: Cheshire
(1982) sees vernacular culture as a nonstandard or counter culture that is
expressed through participation in
particular activities or clothing styles,
whereas Edwards (1992) defines it as a
local culture determined by the
connectedness to a certain
neighbourhood.
SPEECH COMMUNITY

Speech community is a concept in
sociolinguistics that describes a more or less
discrete group of people who use language in
a unique and mutually accepted way among
themselves

Exactly how to define speech community
is debated in the literature. Definitions of
speech community tend to involve
varying degrees of emphasis on the
following:


Shared community membership
Shared linguistic communication

The underlying concern is that
members of the same speech
community should share linguistic
norms. That is, they share
understanding, values and attitudes
about language varieties present in
their community. While the exact
definition of speech community is
debated, there is a broad consensus
that the concept is immensely useful, if
not crucial, for the study of language
variation and change.

Labov (1972) claims that it is not defined by
any marked agreement in the use of
language elements, so much as by
participation in a set of shared norms CONVENTIONS
DIALECTOLOGY

As defined by Ferguson and Gumprez “those
varieties that initially and basically represent
divergent geographic origins are known as
dialects”
DIALECT
a) variety of a language that is characteristic of
a particular group of the language's speakers
b) regional speech patterns, but a dialect may
also be defined by other factors, such as
social class or age – Social Dialects or
Sociolects

Standard Dialect:
a dialect that is supported by institutions and
documented (published grammars,
dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a
"correct" form).
BASIC CONCEPTS



Ethnolect is a variety of a language spoken
by a certain ethnic/cultural subgroup and
serves as a distinguishing mark of social
identity.
Idiolect is the language or speech of one
individual at a particular period in life
Jargon is professional vocabulary, words
used by a specific group or profession




Slang is colloquial language peculiar to a
particular group or class.
Creole is a language derived from other
existing languages that becomes the primary
language of the people who speak it.
Pidgin is a language composed of two or
more languages created for the purpose of
communication, usually around trade centers,
between people who do not speak a common
language. It is never a person's primary
language
Regionalism is a linguistic term for a word,
expression, or pronunciation favored by
speakers in a particular geographic area
EBONICS



Originally intended to refer to the language of
all people descended from enslaved Black
Africans.
In the 1990’s it began to be used in reference
to AAVE asserting its independence from
English
Linguistics prefers the term: Afro American
Vernacular English
ROBERT WILLIAMS

„Ebonics: The true language of black folks”
"the linguistic and paralinguistic features which on a
concentric continuum represent the communicative
competence of the West African, Caribbean, and
United States slave descendant of African origin. It
includes the various idioms, idiolects, and social
dialects of black people" especially those who have
adapted to colonial circumstances. Ebonics derives
its form from ebony (black) and phonics (sound, the
study of sound) and refers to the study of the
language of black people in all its cultural
uniqueness
THE CONTREVERSY




Oakland Ebonics controversy - school board passed
a controversial resolution recognizing the legitimacy
of Ebonics as a language.
Ebonics is treated as an African language.
Speakers of Ebonics should qualify for federallyfunded programs traditionally restricted to bilingual
populations
RESULT: The African American language systems
"have origins in West and Niger-Congo languages
and are not merely dialects of English.
THE RESPONSE

"The systematic and expressive nature of the grammar and
pronunciation patterns of the African American vernacular has
been established by numerous scientific studies over the past
thirty years. Characterizations of Ebonics as 'slang,' 'mutant,'
'lazy,' 'defective,' 'ungrammatical,' or 'broken English' are
incorrect and demeaning" "There is evidence from Sweden, the
U.S., and other countries that speakers of other varieties can be
aided in their learning of the standard variety by pedagogical
approaches which recognize the legitimacy of the other varieties
of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School
Board's decision to recognize the vernacular of African American
students in teaching them Standard English is linguistically and
pedagogically sound"
-the Linguistic Society of America
ORIGINS OF AAVE

Dialect Hypothesis
the idea that modern AAVE is derived from
incorrectly learned English

Creole Hypothesis
the idea that modern AAVE derived from a
hybrid of English and West African languages
DIALECT HYPOTHESIS

African slaves, upon arriving in the United
States, picked up English very slowly and
learned it incorrectly, and that these mistakes
have been passed down through generations
CREOLE HYPOTHESIS

Modern AAVE is the result of a creole derived
from English and various West African
Languages. Slaves, who spoke many
different West African languages. To be able
to communicate they developed a pidgin by
applying English and some West African

This pidgin was passed on to future
generations, and as soon as it became the
primary language of it's speakers it is
classified as a creole. Over the years
AAVE has gone through the process of
decreolization and is beginning to sound
more like Standard English.
LINGUISTS ON AAVE

"In line with evolving trends within the larger
community, linguists use 'African American English'
instead of 'Black English' for the English of African
Americans, a continuum of varieties ranging from
the most mainstream or standard speech to the
most vernacular or non-mainstream variety.

Labov (1972) first started referring to it as 'Black
English vernacular.' African American Vernacular
English is simply the most recent variety of that
term, the one most widely used among linguists . .
.."
WILLIAM LABOV (1998)

"It is proposed that AAVE consists of two distinct components:
the General English [GE] component, which is similar to the
grammar of OAD [Other American Dialects], and the AfricanAmerican [AA] component. These two components are not tightly
integrated with each other, but follow internal patterns of strict cooccurrence. . . . The AA component is not a complete grammar,
but a subset of grammatical and lexical forms that are used in
combination with much but not all of the grammatical inventory of
GE."

William Labov, "Coexistent Systems in African-American
English," in The Structure of African-American English, ed. by S.
Mufwene et al., Routledge, 1998
PATOIS
(1) An informal term for a dialect, especially
one that is considered to have a low status in
relation to a standard variety of a language.
(2) The slang or jargon of a particular social
group.
ARGOT



‘Secret’ languages used by certain social
groups, originally to prevent outsiders from
understanding their conversations.
The term derives from the 1600s les
argotiers, given to a group of thieves at that
time.
Argots are mainly versions of other
languages with a part of its vocabulary
replaced by words unknown to the larger
public.
VOCABULARY

AAVE does not have a vocabulary separate
from other varieties of English. However
AAVE speakers do use some words which
are not found in other varieties and
furthermore use some English words in ways
that differ from the standard dialects.

A discussion of AAVE vocabulary might
proceed by noting that words can be
seen to be composed of a form (a sound
signal) and a meaning. In some cases
both the form and the meaning are taken
from West African sources. In other case
the form is from English but the meaning
appears to be derived from West African
sources.
EXAMPLES








West African Form + West African Meaning:
bogus 'fake/fraudulent' cf. Hausa boko, or boko-boko 'deceit,
fraud'.
hep, hip 'well informed, up-to-date' cf. Wolof hepi, hipi 'to open
one's eyes, be aware of what is going on'.
English Form + West African Meaning:
cat 'a friend, a fellow, etc.' cf. Wolof -kat (a suffix denoting a
person)
cool 'calm, controlled' cf. Mandingo suma 'slow' (literally 'cool')
dig 'to understand, appreciate, pay attention' cf. Wolof deg,
dega 'to understand, appreciate'
bad 'really good'
LOAN TRANSLATIONS



Another interesting set of vocabulary items are
called loan translations or "calques". In such cases
a complex idea is expressed in some West African
language by a combination of two words. In AAVE
these African words appear to have been directly
translated and the same concept is expressed by
the combination of the equivalent English items
bad-eye 'nasty look', cf. Mandingo, nyE-jugu
'hateful glance' (lit. 'bad-eye')
big-eye 'greedy', cf. Ibo. anya uku 'covetous'
(literally 'big-eye').
PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES







Consonant Cluster Simplification, or
Reduction
Final Consonant Simplification, or Deletion
Final and Post-vocalic -r Variation
[ð] > [f] in Word/Syllable-final Position
[ð] > [d] in Word/Syllable-inital Position
[ð] > [v] in Word/Syllable-medial Position
-l Deletion or Reduction, in Word/Syllablemedial or Word/Syllable-final Position
THE DENTAL FRICATIVE




de, dey and dat – the, they that
tin, tink – thin, think
froat, souf – throat, south
bruvah - brother
The sound l and r

When they do not occur at the beginning of a word l
and r often undergo a process known as
"vocalization" and are pronounced as uh. This is
most apparent in a post-vocalic position (after a
vowel). For instance 'steal', 'sister', 'nickel' become
steauh, sistuh, nickuh. In some varieties of AAVE
(e.g. in the Southern US), r is not pronounced after
the vowels o and u. The words door and doe, four
and foe, and sure and show can be pronounced
alike.
Nasalized vowels:

When a nasal (n or m) follows a vowel, AAVE
speakers sometimes delete the nasal
consonant and nasalize the vowel. This
nasalization is written with a tilde ( ~ ) above
the vowel. So 'man' becomes mã.
STRESS

AAVE s from some other varieties in the
placement of stress in a word. So, where
words like police, hotel and July are
pronounced with stress on the last syllable in
standard English, in AAVE they may have
stress placed on the first syllable so that you
get po-lice, ho-tel and Ju-ly.
SYNTACTIC FEATURES










Copula Deletion, or Variation
They Possessive
It Expletive
Multiple Negation
Aspectual Verb -s Suffix
Pronominal Apposition
Perfective done
Stressed, or Remotive, been
Aspectual be
Future be
THE VERB BE

Standard English uses a conjugated be verb
(called a copula) in a number of different
sentences. (This may occur as is, 's, are, 're,
etc.) In AAVE this verb is often not included.
The frequency of inclusion has been shown
to depend on a variety of factors
EXAMPLES

In future sentences with gonna or gon:
I don't care what he say, you __ gon laugh.
...as long as i's kids around he's gon play rough or however
they're playing.

Before verbs with the -ing or -in ending(progressive):
I tell him to be quiet because he don't know what he __ talking
about.
I mean, he may say something's out of place but he __ cleaning
up behind it and you can't get mad at him.

Before adjectives and expressions of
location:
He __ all right.
And Alvin, he __ kind of big, you know?
She __ at home. The club __ on one
corner, the Bock is on the other.

Before nouns (or phrases with nouns)
He __ the one who had to go try to pick
up the peacock.
I say, you __ the one jumping up to
leave, not me.
TENSE



Some past events are conveyed by placing
been before the verb.
Sentences equivalent to standard English
perfects may be conveyed by the use of
done
Events that occur habitually or repeatedly are
often marked by be
EXAMPLES



He been married.
He done eat his dinner.
In Ricky Bell be steady steppin in them
number nines.
NEGATIVES


AAVE has a number of ways of marking
negation. Like a number of other varieties of
English, AAVE uses ain't to negate the verb
in a simple sentence. In common with other
nonstandard dialects of English, AAVE uses
ain't in standard English sentences which
use "haven't".
Negative inversion
EXAMPLES








I ain't step on no line.
I said, "I ain't run the stop sign," and he said,
"you ran it!"
I ain't believe you that day, man.
Ain't no white cop gonna put his hands on me.
Can't nobody beat 'em
Can't nobody say nothin' to dem peoples!
Don' nobody say nothing after that.
Wasn't nobody in there but me an' him
SOCIAL IMPACT

Bryan McLucas (1996)
I believe that this idea illustrates the rift that exists between black culture and white
America. Each side believes that the other is excluding it. From a linguistic
standpoint, whites are excluded -- for the most part -- from AAVE. This is good for
African-Americans because it creates a culture for them with which they can identify.
African-Americans also want for their culture to be accepted by mainstream society,
but unfortunately, whites don't usually get a chance to immerse themselves in that
culture to study it in the same way that Irving studied the German culture. Without
first-hand exposure, whites, to some degree, are going to be uncomfortable around
this culture and be less willing to accept it. There is a continual push-pull among
African-Americans who want to belong to both the smaller group and at the same
time be accepted in the larger. This idea not exclusively a group goal, but is even
expressed on the individual level as shown in this interview. The language that the
individual associates him or herself with seems to play a key role as to which group
the individual wishes to belong. Speakers of SE identify with mainstream America,
speakers of AAVE with the black culture created in opposition of the mainstream
culture. Bi-dialectal people, like Irving, identify with the black culture almost
exclusively, but seem to use SE as a tool or "weapon" within the mainstream society.
Irving doesn't seem to accept standard English as anything other than a necessity.
He doesn't believe that SE is an integral part of himself, but rather an extension of his
ability to communicate with others. Standard English really is a weapon to Irving, and
a weapon that he wields proficiently.
OUTCOME




Linguists maintain that there is nothing intrinsically
wrong with AAVE as a variety since, like all dialects,
AAVE shows consistent internal logic and is used
earnestly to express thoughts and ideas
Linnes (1988) talks of the diglossic situation
Labov - distinct variety of English spoken by African
Americans
Farrison (1970) argued that there were really no
substantial vocabulary or grammatical differences
between the speech of blacks and that of other
English dialects
CAN YOU UNDERSTAND
AAVE?

Yo, watup dawg! He John homeboy, nome
sayin', yo?...an' he be flickin cuz he so g'd up
an' I ain't takin it little, yo. He be straigh'
frontin' an' he be lunchin' lately so I gotsta
regulate his ass, yo. Man, I ain' outta dis
game, cuz dayam, dat bitch be hella thick,
yo. But I'm stayin shy, nome sayin, cuz I
ain't neva did ax 'er she be his bitch. Man,
dat g be thumpin! We rollin'. You down
widit, yo?

Foo, she ain't nuttin but a g'd up rat, aw 'ite,
yo? Shiiee, dawg,,,He got nuttin' on you fo
sho but dat nigga twis' yo punk ass up and
fill it wif holes den he be lunchin' YO,
dawg. Less roll, yo.
TRANSLATION

Hi, what's up? That guy is John's friend, and
he's looking very fashionable and cool, but he
is a faker and his behavior has been out of
control lately, so I really need to set him
straight. I'm not afraid of competing with him
because the girl I like is really cute, so I think
she's worth it. I'm being a little reserved,
though, because I haven't asked her if she is
his girlfriend. Your car is really cool. Let's
go!

You are crazy because that girl is nothing
more than a dolled up whore from the
hood. He doesn't have anything on you, but
he will kick your ass and then shoot
you. Let's go.
Reading

John R. Rickford (1999) „African American
Vernacular English”. Blackwell Publishers
Inc.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION