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    African American Vernacular Language

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    Simao Bougama
    This document discusses language variation and key concepts in sociolinguistics and dialectology. It covers social and regional variations in language, important terms, and differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar across regions. Some key points include: sociolects are dialects based on social norms like race, class, gender; dialects vary regionally with differences in lexicon, phonology, and morphology between northern, midland, and southern US; non-standard dialects like African American Vernacular English are rule-governed systems and not inferior to the standard.

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    African American Vernacular Language

    Uploaded by

    Simao Bougama
    202 views15 pages
    This document discusses language variation and key concepts in sociolinguistics and dialectology. It covers social and regional variations in language, important terms, and differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar across regions. Some key points include: sociolects are dialects based on social norms like race, class, gender; dialects vary regionally with differences in lexicon, phonology, and morphology between northern, midland, and southern US; non-standard dialects like African American Vernacular English are rule-governed systems and not inferior to the standard.

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    African american vernacular language

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    African american vernacular language

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    This document discusses language variation and key concepts in sociolinguistics and dialectology. It covers social and regional variations in language, important terms, and differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar across regions. Some key points include: sociolects are dialects based on social norms like race, class, gender; dialects vary regionally with differences in lexicon, phonology, and morphology between northern, midland, and southern US; non-standard dialects like African American Vernacular English are rule-governed systems and not inferior to the standard.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    202 views15 pages

    African American Vernacular Language

    Uploaded by

    Simao Bougama
    This document discusses language variation and key concepts in sociolinguistics and dialectology. It covers social and regional variations in language, important terms, and differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar across regions. Some key points include: sociolects are dialects based on social norms like race, class, gender; dialects vary regionally with differences in lexicon, phonology, and morphology between northern, midland, and southern US; non-standard dialects like African American Vernacular English are rule-governed systems and not inferior to the standard.

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    of 15

    LANGUAGE VARIATION

    Social Variation and Regional Variation

    Sociolinguistics

    Dialectology

    Not determiners of sociolects


    Ethnicity/race Age Social class

    Family (too little) Region/Space (not based on social norms) Occupation/Hobbies (only lexical differences, and it is the least stable)

    Education
    Religion

    Gender

    Sociolect: A dialect or variety based purely

    on societal norms (race, social class, etc)

    Important Terms
    Dialect (any variety) vs. Accent (pronunciation) Sociolinguistics vs. Dialectology Sociolects (basilect, mesolect, acrolect) vs. regional dialects Hypercorrection ( a standard rule applies in contexts where
    its 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

    Lexical differences across regions


    Northern:

    Pail, swill, whiffletree (= a thick quilt) Johnny cake, salt pork, darning needle (=dragonfly) Blinds (roller blades) Skillet (eaves) Piece (food taken between meals) Snake feeder (dragonfly) Lightwood, lighter (kindling) Hasslet (edible pig inner organs) Chittlins (small intestines)

    Midland:

    Southern:

    Phonological differences (regions)


    Northern:

    [o] =/= [] (hoarse =/= horse) [s] in grease (V) and greasy Vowel in root and wood are equal Hoarse = horse (??) Verb rounding (frog, hog, wasp, wash) Monophthongization (single Verb) of new, due
    Diphthongization of Tuesday, new, due Final [z] in Mrs. Monophthongization of five Diphthongization of ten

    Midland:

    South:

    Morphosyntactic Differences (Regions)


    Northern

    Double modals hadnt ought Past tense been see climb for climbed (past tense marker lost) Uninflected be (How be you?)

    Midland:

    clum for climbed (irregularization of past tense) seen for saw (forms reduction/simplification) you all =/= you (second person distinction) Seed for saw (regularization) holp for helped (irregularization)

    Southern:

    Basic Definitions
    Standard in the US:

    Middle-class Midwesterners vs.

    Non-Standard:

    African-American Vernacular; Latino English, or Spanglish, Appalachian, Old poor Southerners, etc.

    Some Fundamentals
    Knowing non-standard dialects is helpful for both teacher & students. In urban ghettos, we find very little adjustment to school forms. Many bidialectals, when in contact with a super-ordinate (dominant) dialect, may reflect their awareness of that dialect as much of their own. Nonstandard dialects should be studied within their own system (in their own right), but also in comparison to other dialects of English (such as Standard English).

    Some Common Non-Standard Dialect 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 (good for both well/good) Loss of 3rd person sing. marker(he want or I has) [] becomes [n] in word-final position in [-ing] words.

    Black English features

    (Black English recognized legally in 1979)

    zero copula [no is, am, are] Pre-Verb been Auxiliary done De-fricativization of voiced interdental Multiple negative No s inflection for 3rd person singular Extend 3rd person to 1st or 2nd.
    I has some good friends. He dont be rub me the wrong way. Dem books be boring.

    William Labov (1970)


    Non-standard varieties of English are rule-governed systems and neither corrupt or inferior Advocates understanding of AAVE as ignorance leads to teacher-student conflict Can not draw on intuitions of children or nonstandard speakers as the superordinate variety will be reflected In general, one can say that whenever a speaker of a nonstandard dialect is in a subordinate position to a speaker of a standard dialect, the rules of his [sic.] grammar will shift in an unpredictable manner towards the standard

    Labov, continued
    Labov uses systematic analysis to connect the meanings in non-standard and standard varieties He states it is important for teachers to be able to understand the intended meaning to be able to supply the standard equivalent Differences between the varieties are not as sharp as they first appear Non-standard varieties are not inferior as a means of communication contrary to early beliefs

    Pinker
    Linguists fight the myth that working class people and the less educated speak a simpler or coarser language It is usually only the refined aspects of language (grammar, pronunciation) that are noticed A language is a dialect with an army and a navy (Max Weinreich) Early conclusions that non-standard dialects were grammatically deficient were based on subjects shy or sullen reactions to test batteries There are areas where AAVE (BEV) is more precise than the standard 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 higher percentage of grammatical utterances (within the system of the dialect) than the norm academics had the lowest

    Rachel Jones
    Not White, Just Right Claims skills with Standard English opened doors that would have otherwise been unattainable as a poor black girl Frustrations ensue from the idea that black kids believe speaking accurately is a white trait Such kids are submitting to the idea that success is a white thing States that recognising languages such as Ebonics is a damning commentary on our history of inequality and lack of access to equal educational opportunities in this country Claims Standard English has empowered her Claims mastery of Standard English is important for any group hoping to succeed in America

    African American Vernacular English (AAVE)


    Also known as Black English, Ebonics, AAE

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

    AAVE

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