Transcript Features of AAVE as Features of PPE: A Study of

features of AAVE as features of PPE: a
study of adolescents in philadelphia
paper by:
tonya wolford
keelan evanini
presentation by:
anthony so
background
 puerto ricans found to adopt aspects
of AAE
 effects of direct contact with AAE
 grammatical - uninflected be
 phonological - (th) pronounced as [f]
research project
 determine if puerto ricans still pick up
AAE through contact or if aspects have
already become integrated into PRE
 studies conducted in north philadelphia
 local grade school - 4th grade class
 interviews, reading passages and word
lists
 results based on 18 subjects, aged 1017
uninflected be (habitual be)
 well documented grammatical aspect
of AAE
 used to indicate habitual nature of a
predicate
 grammaticalization - less common
among older AA adults
 usage in AAE governed by 5
properties
results - habitual be
 each recorded instance agreed with
the 5 properties
 be + verb_ing was most common
 be + adverb/ prepositional phrase,
adjective, past participle and noun
phrase also observed
 distribution and use of uninflected be
in young puerto ricans comparable to
those in AAE
pronunciation of (th) as [f]
 well documented phonological aspect
of AAE
 positioning - initial (never), medial
(seldom), final (variably)
 style-shifting - situational use of [f]
and [θ]
 [θ] for word list, both for reading
passage, [f] for spontaneous speech
results - positioning
 initial - [t], [θ]
 medial - [t], [θ], others
 final - [f], null, [θ], others
results - style-shifting
 significant difference in use of [θ] and [f]
between groups
 style shifters likely to use less [θ] in speech
 no observable relationship between level of
[f] use and amount of aa contact
 possible internal PRE development
sociolinguistic setting
 few african american families living in
studied area (70% pr, 25% aa)
 elementary school children surveyed to
determine level of aa contact
 majority have casual contact - enough to
support phonological variables but not
grammatical ones
level of c ontac t yes
direc t
c as ual
media
no
40%
63%
38%
60%
37%
62%
final conclusions
 uninflected be transferred to young pr
by older siblings and adults becoming integral part of PRE
 style-shifting of [f] for (th) attributed
to internal PRE constraints
 pr with limited aa contact might be
adopting speech from pr that do have
extensive aa contact - high prestige
of AAE in the inner city