Agenda
• ANNOUNCEMENTS – Workshop tomorrow on “Changing Percep ons of Southerness” and various other sociolinguis c events Ethnolects as Systems of – Did you a end the screening of Talking Black in America? • RECAP OF LAST WEEK: Studying difference of language to address racial injus ce Difference • Today: Ethnolects as systems of difference • Friday: Ethnolectal problems Language and Race • Today’s ques ons Session 4 – Why do we study AAE? What issues of educa on have mo vated its study? 2017 LSA Ins tute – What is AAE? What do linguists agree and disagree that it is? Elaine Chun, University of South Carolina – What are the various views that linguists hold?
Achievement gap: Why study AAE? Reading scores in the US • A cultural and educa onal problem • Problem • Popular ideologies linking AAE to black cogni ve or cultural – Achievement gaps between races in schools deficiency (see 1 998 NYT ad) – It’s a race-class problem: Ins tu ons privilege/reflect both white and middle-class norms • African American low performance in schools as a direct and indirect result of the marginaliza on of AAE. • Reading gap between black and white students – Despite slight decrease in gap as students a end school, a significant – School curriculum built around white middle-class prac ces gap persists – AAE-speaking students placed in classes for students with learning – Gap has not improved over me (1992-2009) disabili es and speech problems – Na onal Center for Educa onal Sta s cs (US Department of Educa on (h p://nces.ed.gov/)
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Black-white student achievement gap Black-white student achievement gap across me across me (age 13 and 17 reading) • Gap narrowed before 1988 but Na onal mostly stopped narrowing a er Assessment of 1988 Educa onal • ETS study found 4 periods Progress (NAEP) is – 1971-1988: Narrowing of an assessment program the gap in reading and math conducted by the – 1988-1999: Hal ng of gap Na onal Center narrowing; gap increase in for Educa on some cases Sta s cs (NCES) – 1999-2004: Some narrowing of the gap, especially reading – 2004-2008: Some but not much narrowing
1 Black-white student achievement gap The Black English Case by school’s racial composi on • 1979 federal court case: Mar n Luther King Junior Elementary School NAEP (Na onal Children et al. v. Ann Arbor School District Assessment of • 15 economically disadvantaged African American children a ending a Educa onal Progress (2015) predominantly white middle-upper class school in “liberal” Ann Arbor • Ini al complaint: Students placed in learning disability and speech pathology courses; students suspended and retained à prevented students form learning Standard English • EEOA (Equal Educa onal Opportunity Act): “No state shall deny equal educa onal opportunity to an individual on account of his or her race, color, sex, or na onal origin, by .. . The failure to overcome language barriers that impede equal par cipa on by its students in its instruc onal programs” • Linguists, educators, reading specialists tes fied • Judge Joiner found Ann Arbor SD in viola on of children’s rights to equal educa onal opportunity
Oakland Ebonics resolu ons The Oakland School Board Resolu on • December 18, 1996: Oakland Unified School District’s “Resolu on on • Oakland Ebonics resolu ons (1996-1997) Ebonics” – Board passed a resolu on claiming that that Ebonics was the • official language spoken by the district’s 28,000 African American WHEREAS, numerous validated scholarly studies demonstrate that African-American students as a part of their culture and history as African students and that it was not gene cally related to English people possess and u lize a language described in various scholarly – Jus fica on to ensure that AAVE-speaking students increase their approaches as "Ebonics" (literally "Black sounds") or "Pan-African Standard English proficiency and academic and professional Communica on Behavior" or "African Language Systems"; and opportuni es • WHEREAS, these studies have also demonstrated that African Language – LSA approved a new resolu on (1997) that clarified the issues Systems are gene cally based and not a dialect of English; and • Popular misunderstandings of original language (see blue) • WHEREAS, these studies demonstrate that such West and Niger-Congo African languages have been officially recognized and addressed in the mainstream public educa onal community as worth of study, understanding or applica on of its principles, laws and structures for the benefit of African-American students both in terms of posi ve apprecia on of the language and these students' acquisi on and mastery 9 of English language skills; and
• WHEREAS, such recogni on by scholars has given rise over the past fi een • WHEREAS, the interests of the Oakland Unified School District in providing equal years to legisla on passed by the State of California recognizing the opportuni es for all of its students dictate limited English proficient educa onal unique language stature of descendants of slaves, with such legisla on programs recognizing the English language acquisi on and improvement skills of being prejudicially and uncons tu onally vetoed repeatedly by various African-American students are as fundamental as is applica on of bilingual California state governors; and educa on principles for others whose primary languages are other than English; and • WHEREAS, judicial cases in states other than California have recognized the unique language stature of African-American pupils, and such • WHEREAS, the standardized tests and grade scores of African-American students in reading and language arts skills measuring their applica on of English skills are recogni on by courts has resulted in court-mandated educa onal substan ally below state and na onal norms and that such deficiencies will be programs which have substan ally benefited African American children in remedied by applica on of a program featuring African Language Systems the interest of vindica ng their equal protec on of the law rights under principles in instruc ng African-American children both in their primary language the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Cons tu on; and and in English; and
• WHEREAS, the Federal Bilingual Educa on Act (20 U.S.C. 1402 et seq) • WHEREAS, standardized tests and grade scores will be remedied by applica on of mandates that local educa onal agencies "build their capaci es to a program with teachers and aides who are cer fied in the methodology of establish, implement and sustain programs of instruc on for children and featuring African Language Systems principles in instruc ng African-American youth of limited English proficiency; and children both in their primary language and in English. The cer fied teachers of these students will be provided incen ves including, but not limited to salary differen als.
2 • NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Educa on officially recognizes the existence, and the cultural and historic bases of West and Niger- Linguis c Society of America (LSA) Congo African Language Systems, and each language as the predominantly primary language of African-American students; and resolu on (1997) • BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Educa on hereby adopts the report recommenda ons and a ached Policy Statement of the District's African- • a. The variety known as "Ebonics," "African American Task Force on language stature of African-American speech; and American Vernacular English" (AAVE), and • BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Superintendent in conjunc on with her staff "Vernacular Black English" and by other names is shall immediately devise and implement the best possible academic program for systematic and rule-governed like all natural impar ng instruc on to African-American students in their primary language for speech varieties. In fact, all human linguistic the combined purposes of maintaining the legi macy and richness of such systems—spoken, signed, and written—are language whether it is known as "Ebonics," "African Language Systems," "Pan- fundamentally regular. The systematic and African Communica on Behaviors" or other descrip on, and to facilitate their expressive nature of the grammar and pronunciation acquisi on and mastery of English language skills; and patterns of the African American vernacular has • BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Educa on hereby commits to earmark been established by numerous scientific studies District general and special funding as is reasonably necessary and appropriate to over the past thirty years. Characterizations of enable the Superintendent and her staff to accomplish the foregoing; and Ebonics as "slang," "mutant," " lazy," • BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Superintendent and her staff shall u lize the "defective," "ungrammatical," or "broken English" input of the en re Oakland educa onal community as well as state and federal scholarly and educa onal input in devising such a program: and are incorrect and demeaning.! • BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that periodic reports on the progress of the crea on ! and implementa on of such an educa onal program shall be made to the Board at least once per month commencing at the Board mee ng of December 18, 1996.
• b. The distinction between "languages" and • c. As affirmed in the LSA Statement of Language "dialects" is usually made more on social and Rights (June 1996), there are individual and group political grounds than on purely linguistic ones. benefits to maintaining vernacular speech For example, different varieties of Chinese are varieties and there are scientific and human popularly regarded as "dialects," though their advantages to linguistic diversity. For those speakers cannot understand each other, but living in the United States there are also speakers of Swedish and Norwegian, which are benefits in acquiring Standard English and regarded as separate "languages," generally resources should be made available to all who understand each other. What is important from a aspire to mastery of Standard English. The Oakland linguistic and educational point of view is not School Board's commitment to helping students whether AAVE is called a "language" or a "dialect" master Standard English is commendable.! but rather that its systematicity be recognized.! !
In the press Approaches to AAE as an ethnolect
• 1997: William Labov tes fies to a US Senate Commi ee • Linguists have expressed varied opinions about – h ps://www.c-span.org/video/?c4460330/labov-us-senate-hearing- • What it should be called ebonics-educa on • What it’s origins are • 1998: An an -Ebonics ad in the NYT • How dis nc ve it is from other varie es of English • How homogenous its rules are among speakers • Who speaks it
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3 What should we call it? Naming an ethnolect
From Green (2002) • Reflects norms at the me of naming (Negro • We use labels even if we don’t know precisely what the referent is vs. African American) (Mufwene 2001 ci ng Kripke’s work on naming) • Highlights historical connec ons and linguis c – Do you know what “fruit” refers to? Do you know what a “beech tree” is? rela onship with other varie es (English vs. • Labels create the significance of objects in our world; they are never Language) purely objec ve descrip ons of the world • Smitherman (2015: 3) in her introduc on to – Where one object begins and ends (how reality is parsed) the OHAAL: “Our preference to use AAL, as – What set it belongs to or is connected to opposed to AAE, is to bypass some of the problema c implica ons of “English” within – What cultural value it has (e.g. connota ons carried by terms) the socioculture and history of African slave • Labels serve academic, poli cal, cultural purposes descendants in the United States and the – There is nothing inherently wrong with labels; they can o en be helpful but contested connec ons of their language we should be wary of their limits and their consequences variety to the motherland and coloniza on and encompass rhetorical and pragma c strategies that might not be associated with English. In other words, the use of the term AAL is more neutral and, therefore, less marked.” Ebonics??? 19 20
Contras ve analysis: Bringing AAE is a rule-governed system knowledge of rules into the classroom • A rule-governed system – There IS a wrong and right way to speak AAE • QUESTION: How does this differ from prescrip vism? – Not just a list of features but a system with interlocking components • The value of “rules” – Gives symbolic value to speakers; disrupts stereotypes of “bad” English and “unintelligent” speakers – Helps educators iden fy ways of improving African American status
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Dis nc veness Dis nc veness
• Dis nc on is always rela onal • What then does it mean for an AAE feature (e.g., copula absence) to be – “AAE is dis nct” (from a Standard English norm) dis nc ve? Some possibili es: – QUESTION: What problem do you see in descrip ons of features such as – EXCLUSIVITY?: AAE speakers don’t use copulas; non-AAE speakers do “copula dele on” or “metathesis”? – GREATER FREQUENCY?: AAE speakers use copulas less o en than non-AAE • AAE is o en described as the “marked/different” variety from a standard speakers do English norm – SPECIALIZED USE: AAE speakers use aux “come” differently from non-AAE speakers (She come ac ng like she was mad) – No ethnolect exists in a vacuum – PERCEPTION AS AFAM: When AAE speakers don’t use copulas, they are perceived by others as “black”
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4 Commonly described dis nc ve AAE phonological and gramma cal features Phonological features of AAE
• See a more comprehensive list in the supplement: Rickford, John. 1999. African American • Reduc on of word-final consonant clusters, especially ending in t or d Vernacular English : Features, evolu on, educa onal implica ons. Malden, MA: Blackwell. – han’ for SE “hand” [NOTE: apostrophes are in original text, for a non-lx audience] – des’ for SE “desk” • Dis nc vely Black gramma cal features (DGBF) (Spears) – pos’ for SE “post” – pass’ for SE “passed” • Facts to keep in mind • Devoicing of word-final voiced stops a er a vowel – Not all African Americans use these features – [b] as [p] – Some non-African Americans use these features – [d] as [t]: [bæt] for SE “bad” – No African American uses all of these features all of the me – [g] as [k]: [pɪk] for SE “pig” – Final ng as n in gerunds:. walkin’ for SE “walking.” • Ques ons to consider • Interdental frica ve fron ng or for on – Voiceless th [θ] as t or f, as in n for SE “thin and baf for SE “bath.” – How does this descrip on legi mate AAE as a “real” dialect? – Voiced th [ð] as d or v, as in den for SE “then,” and bruvver for SE “brother.” – What are some problems with lis ng “features” as such? Are there • Dele on or vocaliza on of post-vocalic l be er ways to describe the whole system of AAE? – he’p for SE “help,” toah for SE “toll.”
– Why do some features make it onto this list and why don’t others? 25 • Dele on or vocaliza on of post-vocalic r 26 – sistuh for SE “sister” or fouh for SE “four.”
Gramma cal features of AAE: Phonological features of AAE Progressives • Pitch varia on • Rickford’s study among 31 students at Stanford: “She BIN married” – “higher pitch range and more rising and level final contours” than other American – QUESTION: Is she s ll married? English varie es. – Blacks (23, or 92%) whites (8, or 32%) gave the correct answer (YES) • Ini al stress – pólice instead of SE políce • Present progressive – hótel instead of SE hotél. – He Ø runnin (=SE "He is running" or "He's running") • Metathesis • Present habitual progressive – aks for SE “ask”, waps for SE “wasp.” – He be runnin (=SE "He is usually running") • Merger of [ɪ] and [ɛ] before nasals • Present intensive habitual progressive – [pɪn] for SE “pin” and “pen.” – He be steady runnin (=SE "He is usually running in an intensive, sustained manner.”) • Vowel-lowering before velar nasal • Present perfect progressive – He bin runnin (=SE "He has been running") – “ing” as “ang” and “ink” as “ank” – thang for SE “thing,” sang for SE “sing,” and drank for SE “drink.” • Present perfect progressive with remote incep on: – He BIN runnin (=SE "He has been running for a long me, and s ll is")
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Habitual ‘Be’ Gramma cal features of AAE
• Absence of copula/auxiliary for present tense states and ac ons • Which of these are ungramma cal? – “He ∅ tall” for SE “He’s tall” or “They ∅ running” for SE “They are running.” 1. They usually be red when they come home. • Use of done to emphasize the completed nature of an ac on 2. James always be coming to school. • “He done did it” for SE “He’s already done it”
3. They be red right now. • Done can co-occur with been, as in “By the me I got there, he been done gone” 4. Some mes my ears be itching. • Use of be done for resulta ves or the future/condi onal perfect
5. My ankle be broken from the fall. • “She be done had her baby” for SE “She will have had her baby.” 6. Linguists always be asking silly ques ons about language. • Use of finna to mark the immediate future • “He finna go” for SE “He’s about to go.” • Use of come to express the speaker’s indigna on about an ac on or event • “He come walkin in here like he owned the damn place” (Spears 1982: 852). • Use of double modals • may can, might can, and might could (common in Southern White vernaculars) for SE “might be able to” or must don’t (more unique to AAVE) for SE “must not.” (See Labov et al. 1968: 260-3, Labov 1972c: 57-9).
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5 Verb tense-marking Nouns and pronouns
• Absence of third person singular present tense s • Absence of possessive –s – “He walk∅” for SE “He walks.” – “John∅ house” for SE “John’s house.” – Use of don’t instead of “doesn’t”: “He don’t sing” • Absence of plural –s – Use of have instead of “has,” as in “She have it” – “two boy∅” • Generaliza on of is and was to use with plural and second person subjects • Apposi ve or pleonas c pronouns – “They is some crazy folk” for SE “They are crazy folk” – “That teacher, she yell at the kids” for SE “That teacher ∅ yells at the kids.” – “We was there” for SE “We were there” (Wolfram 1993: 14). • Use of y’all and they to mark second person plural and third plural • Use of past tense or preterite form (V-ed) as past par ciple (V-en) possessive – “He had bit” for SE “He had bi en” – “lt’s y’all ball” and “It’s they house” – “She has ran” for SE “She has run.” (See Fasold and Wolfram 1970: 62 Rickford and Théberge: 1996: 232-3). • Use of object pronouns (me, him, and so on) a er a verb as personal da ves – “Ahma git me a gig” for SE “I’m going to get myself some support” (Gumperz 1982b: 31, • Use of past par ciple form (V-en) as past tense or preterite form (V-ed) Wolfram 1993) – “She seen him yesterday” for SE “She saw him yesterday” (Wolfram 1993: 12). • Absence of rela ve pronoun (who, which, what or that) • Reduplica on of a past tense or past par ciple suffix (“double tense marking”) – “That’s the man ∅ come here” for SE “That’s the man who came here.” – likeded [laikdɪd] for SE “liked” and light-skinded for SE “light skinned.” Only applies to a small set of verbs (including liked, looked, skinned), and more common in adolescent speech (see 31 32 Wolfram 1993: 14).
Nega on Ques ons
• Use of ain’(t) as a general preverbal negator • Non-inversion for ques ons, usually with rising intona on • SE “am not,” “isn’t,” “aren’t,” “hasn’t,” “haven’t” and “didn’t” – “Why I can’t play?” for SE “Why can’t I play?” “He ain’ here” for SE “He isn’t here” – “They didn’t take it?” for SE “Didn’t they take it?” • “He ain’ do it” for SE “He didn’t do it.” • Auxiliary verb inversion in embedded ques ons (without if or whether) • Mul ple nega on or nega ve concord – “I asked him could he go with me” for SE “I asked him if he could go with me.” • “He don’ do nothin” for SE “He doesn’t do anything” (Labov 1972a, 1972c; 130-96). • Nega ve inversion • “Can’t nobody say nothin” (inverted from “Nobody can’t say nothin”) for SE “Nobody can say anything” • “Ain’t nobody home” (from “Nobody ain’t home” for SE “Nobody is home” (Sells, Rickford and Wasow 1996a, b). • Use of ain’t but and don’t but for “only” • “He ain’t but fourteen years old” for SE “He’s only fourteen years old” • “They didn’t take but three dollars” for “They only took three dollars” (Wolfram et al. 1993: 14). 33 34
Existen al and loca ve Lexical elements
• Use of existen al instead of there • A few from Green (2004): – “It’s a school up there” for SE “There’s a school up there” (Labov et al. 1968: 301-3). – My legs are ashy • Use of existen al they got instead of there are – He call hisself cooking. – “They got some hungry women here” (line from a Nina Simone song) for “There are some hungry women here” (Labov et al. 1968: 303). – The students tried to get over on the teacher – She is downright sadi y – Those boys are mannish – Your niece is so womanish
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6 African American discourse style: Style Beyond linguis c structure • Mitchell-Kernan (1972) • Style (ar s c form—the way things are said) of a speech act • African American communica ve strategies reflects communica ve competence – Signifying • Pragma c act (what speakers are doing) is primary to sound/ – Marking grammar (what form is used) • Folklore perspec ve – Black dialect forms can be explained by the speech acts performed – Divergence from dialectologist view – Language as verbal skill – Formal (e.g., phonological, morphosyntac c) features signal culturally based communica ve strategies “which reflect the Afro-American concern with speaking as a skill and an art” (Gumperz and Hymes intro)
Signifying Signifying
• “encoding messages or meanings in natural conversa ons • Advantages which involves, in most cases, an element of – Par es can avoid confronta on – Never clear exposes the speaker’s intent; can insist on harmless indirec on” (165) interpreta on • Clever way of conveying message • Examples – “selected for its ar s c merit” (165) – [Husband does not normally wear suits to work.] • Implicit content obscured by surface content Wife signifies that – Ambiguity of message, address, speaker intent he is not going to work [having an – Shared cultural knowledge: To “decode”. . . “one must voyage [into a] affair] social world and discover the social types referred to and the cultural values and a tudes toward them” – [Male boss’s hand touches secretary’s knee] • O en (but not always) nega ve import for the addressee – SECRETARY: Oh, excuse me, Mr. Smith, I didn’t mean to get my knee in • Some mes cued with AAE elements your way.
Signifying Signifying (as verbal dueling)
!"#!"#"$% &'()%(*+%,-.%/-01/%)-%2-%3().*2(,4%&055%,-.%6+%-7+*%'+*+4% #$% 8%2-19)%:1-;<% • A man coming from the bathroom forgot to zip his pants. An unescorted !"#!"#"$% &+55=%0>%,-.9*+%1-)%/-01/%)-%6+%2-01/%(1,)'01/=%?-@+%6,<%89@%%/-01/%)-%?--:% party of women kept watching him and laughing among themselves. The A-@+%?'0)9501A<%B#()'+*%C-:01/5,D%E*%!"#$%&'$&(#$&)$*+&,#$-#.",$/+&$ man's friends hip (inform) him to what's going on. He approaches one 0&(1*$#!*$2+3*143(,5% woman-"Hey, baby, did you see that big Cadillac with the full res, ready F"#G$% B81)+*C+?)01/%0120/1(1)5,D%H'()9A%(55%8%'+(*%5()+5,IA-.5%>--2=%%A-.5%>--2<%8>%,-.% to roll in ac on just for you?” She answers, "No, mother-fucker, but I saw A(,%,-.%2-19)%+()%0)%,-.%/+)%(??.A+2%->%6+01/%%A(20)),%B(>>+?)+2=%?-1A02+*01/% a li le gray Volkswagen with two flat res" (Kochman 1969:27). M interprets -1+A+5>%A.J+*0-*D<% – Man’s metaphor implies power and elite class % B’s BF())+*%->%>(?)8,D%&+55=%8%()+%+1-./'%65(?:I+,+2%J+(A%(12%1+?:I%6-1+A% – Woman builds on but reverses man’s metaphor and "caps" him ambiguous 2.*01/%)'+%2+J*+AA0-1%)'()%8%?(19)%/+)%)--%+K?0)+2%-7+*%0)<%6$#!*$7"38#$"39$ – Black English used conveying a “black speech act” act as addressed !(0$:;9&(#$9#2!',#$6$43<#$*&=$(&*$9#2!',#$618$*"%3(.$*&$9#$/+3*#>$ towards M as B301?+*+5,D%L+/*-+A%(*+%?-1A)(1)5,%)*,01/%)-%>012%A-@+%;(,%)-%20A?*0@01()+% a cri que of (/(01A)%+(?'%-)'+*<%8>%)'+,%?-.52%-1?+%/+)%0)%01%)'+0*%'+(2A%)'()%;+%(*+%(55%01% her a empt )'0A%)-/+)'+*%@(,6+%;+%?-.52%/+)%A-@+;'+*+%01%)'0A%6())5+%(/(01A)%)'+% to be white @(1<% % BF(*,%5+(7+A
7 B implicitly depicts figure as an Uncle Tom (African Marking American who has sold out) Marking
• “The characteriza on of individuals according to the way they !"# $%&'#()(#%*#+&,-# speak is, of course not peculiar to black people, although the ."# #/01&23)456#7*#+&)(8#9!"#$%&'('('%")**+%,'%-.%"./.%,'0)+1%23/&,%'4%)556%)"%7)8,% ,'%,")89%)55%+':%;''0%7"3,.%4'59&%4'/%.&%?:)5343.0%7.% specific social types may be more elaborated than ;'8%-.%43@38%':/%)**53<),3'8&1%A)#5=%0'8.%0'8.%7"),%7.%-..8%7)3,38;%4'/%)%5'8;% elsewhere” (176) ,3$.1%A)#5=%0'8.%;3>.%)%<'5'/.0%$)8%)%;''0%B'-%73,"%,".%<'$*)8,:9# – Parody/caricature depicts character is being in some class !"# 0)(#%*#1*&33,#+&,#'%&'-# ;"# <14#%=8#,*+#%*#+&)(#)':#>)138#2%*1*#%&?*#,@A#B**4:#/CA'#(@24#B,#)4')=&')45#!# – Markers assumes hearers can interpret the metaphoric 2&+#B*)45#3)'*1&36# communica on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
African American English GE Labov (1998) (Green 2002) OAD • GE and AA as different but interdependent/”coexistent” • “AAE [is] a linguis c system of communica on governed by well defined components/systems rules and used by some African Americans (thought not all) across GE different geographic regions of the USA and across a full range of age • Cogni ve model (in the tradi on of formal lx) groups” (Green 2004: 77) – What do speakers know? AA • Strengths of this model (Green 2001) • Knowledge of a system: “So when speakers know AAE, they know a – Shows dis nc ve features of AAE (primarily in the tense-aspect system) system of sounds, word, and sentence structure, meaning ,and structural – Shows similari es with other AE dialects organiza on of vocabulary items and other informa on” – Describes AAE as a “system” with rules that func on together rather than as a • Local/insider knowledge: “the data he used were taken from speakers list who par cipated in that culture” • Possible cri ques • Not just urban: “the features he dis nguished are also used by speakers of – Erases historical connec ons with non-English languages AAE in small towns in which there are no inner ci es and certainly no – Norma ve status of OAD thriving street culture”
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Black Street Speech (Baugh 1983) Rickford (2004)
• Not spoken by all African Americans • Black English/African American English (AAE) • Func onally different from standard English; used in different domains – Dis nc ve speech of African Americans • Style-shi ing: Among those who speak it, not spoken all of the me • African American Vernacular English (AAVE) • Dependent on contact/context – Dis nc ve speech of African Americans that this doesn't include the – Con nuum of use according to speaker, class, context (as well as social network, standard English usage of African Americans iden ty, gender, among other social factors) (Source: Baugh, John. 1983. Black Street Speech: Its history, structure, and survival. Aus n: University of Texas Press. )
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8 African-American English African American English (Spears 1998) (Morgan 1994) • Mul ple varie es: “AAE comprises not one but a number of related standard • Community membership and nonstandard varie es” – “the language varie es used by people in the United States whose • Inclusive of standard major socializa on has been with US residents of African descent” – “cover term for Standard African-American Englishes (SAAE) and African- American Vernacular Englishes (AAVE), both of which are in turn the cover • Cultural and historical terms for the collec on of standard and nonstandard varie es of AAE – “speakers are of African descent and connects US speakers with those respec vely.” (See also Tracey Weldon’s work on MCAAE) in the African diaspora in general and the English-speaking diaspora in • Dis nc veness (but not non-standardness necessarily) the Americas in par cular” – “AAE may have dis nc vely African American traits while having none of the features widely agreed upon as being nonstandard, e.g., the use of ain't and mul ple nega ves within a sentence.” – “The dis nc vely African-American features of SAAE have to do primarily, but not solely, with prosody and language use.” – “AAE : any variety of American English having a core of DBGFs [dis nc ve black gramma cal features]. Some DBGFs are found in virtually all AAE varie es, others in only a few” (Spears & Hinton 2010) 49 50
African American English African American Language (Mufwene 2001) Wolfram (2015) • Inclusive of all African American Englishes • AAL is a sociolinguist’s construc on – “English as it is spoken by or among African Americans” (Mufwene – Created to debunk widespread myths 2001) • AAL exhibits great variability within and between regional and • No objec ve defini on class communi es – “There is probably no way of defining AAE—if a language variety can • Style varia on is not switching between discrete AAL and be defined at all—that does not reflect a par cular bias, and this problem is true of any language variety in the world” MAE systems • Emic perspec ve: Conforms to lay understandings • AAL does not have a unified history of development (no – “Many lay persons rank phonological and lexical features about common origin and path of change) anything else in iden fying the speech of African Americans as AAE . . . • AAE speakers do not have a single trajectory of use over the there are seldom imita ons of AAE that are based primarily on lifespan gramma cal features which are also a ested in other nonstandard varie es”
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