SYNTACTIC VARIATIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE) IN IGGY AZALEA’S SELECTED SONGS

Laksmy Ady Kusumoriny1, Rizki Pratama Ris Hermawan2 Universitas Pamulang [email protected]

Abstract This study concerns on analyzing the syntactic variations of African American Vernacular English in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs, Down South, 1800 Bone, Yo El Rey, Flexin Finessin, and My World. The data were analyzed based on the theory from Wolfram (2004) in order to identify syntactic variations of African American Vernacular English and Miller (2002) in order to compare syntactic variations between African American Vernacular English and Standard English. In conducting the study, the qualitative approach was used where the data and the result of the study were presented descriptively rather than statistically. The purpose of this study was to identify syntactic variations of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), to describe the differences between syntactic variations of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Standard English (SE), and the last, to know which syntactic variations of African American Vernacular English were mostly used in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs. Thus, from the study, there are eight types of syntactic variations of African American Vernacular English, copula absence, Invariant be, remote been, subject-verb-non- agreement, specialized auxiliary (finna), double negations, the use of ain’t for negation, and demonstrative them. The most usage of syntactic variation of African American Vernacular English in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs is Copula absence with 12 data from 37 data. Keywords: African American Vernacular English (aave), Iggy Azalea’s songs, syntactic variations

INTRODUCTION which is different from one particular area to Language is the important tool for human another that makes more variant in language. beings to communicate due to the role as a Sociolinguistics is a study of language that social creature. Human beings use language uses in society. In social contact, the way not only as a communication tool but also human speaks are different from each other share information, gives ideas, and express depends on the contexts that indicate such as feelings. Among many languages in the entire politeness and also depends on speaker’s world, commonly people speak at least one background that indicates who they are and language or two languages called bilingual or where they belong to in a community. Trudgill even more than one. Even though human (1983) claims that Sociolinguistics is an area of beings speak the same language, it may occur study that deals with actually the way human that they speak different language dialect beings apply language in social interaction in daily activity. However, human can adopt

39 what they do not belong to in some conditions and the usage of invariant, “he be here including the way that human beings apply tomorrow” for Standard English “He will be language itself. It is possible to occur due to here tomorrow” (Rickford, 1999). That is why interaction among people in multilingual this dialect is more popular by the circumstances that make people from different sociolinguists due to it is influenced by the background share across their culture historical background of the speaker that make especially in language to each other. Even this dialect has its own syntactic variations. though they share across to each other, it is not totally adopted or shared and also has an In this study, based on the problems can be impact of the speaker itself. proposed as follows: African American Vernacular English 1. What are the syntactic variations of becomes the topic of this study due to this African American Vernacular English (AAVE) dialect is unique with its syntactic variation in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs? that quite different from Standard English and 2. What are the differences between related to the historical background of working syntactic variations of African American black class where this dialect is kind of Vernacular English (AAVE) in Iggy Azalea’s vernacular language in United States. This selected songs and Standard English (SE)? dialect is popular in Sociolinguistics field even 3. What are syntactic variations of African though there is another vernacular language in American Vernacular English mostly used in the United State such as Chicano English but Iggy Azalea’s selected songs? not as popular as African American Vernacular Based on identifying the problems, the English. AAVE itself is associated with social purpose of analyzing African American factors that dominantly spoken by African Vernacular English (AAVE) are as follows: American as an identity as a student was 1. To identify syntactic variations of interviewed by Richford and Richford (2000) African American Vernacular English (AAVE) who states that “it keeps me close to my family in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs. and friends, as well as serving as a living 2. To describe the differences between reminder of my history in this country as a syntactic variations of African American member of a distinctive group.” It seems that Vernacular English (AAVE) in Iggy Azalea’s this dialect reminds this student of his selected songs and Standard English (SE). historical background that shows who they are, 3. To know which syntactic variations of where they belong to and proud to use it even African American Vernacular English are though only the minority group. The existence mostly used in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs. of African American Vernacular English still There are the similarities and the feels today with its syntactic variations but the differences between the previous studies and usage of this English variant only in a specific this study. The similarity is on the focus of area such as at home, with friends in a study where this study and the previous studies community and another informal institution. focus on African American Vernacular English Further, due to its kind of non-Standard and the differences between this study and the English, African American Vernacular English previous studies are in the theory used and the still keeps its authenticity of syntactic object term where the writer uses wolfram’s variations which are different from the theory and Iggy Azalea’s selected songs as the Standard English that has been standardized. object of the study, Giyandari uses Chomsky’s The examples of syntactic variation that theory and The Help movie as the object, originally can be recognized as the syntactic Pratiwi uses theory of Richford and The Help variations of African American Vernacular Novel as the object, and Prastitasari uses English are the copula absence, “she nice” for Chaika’s theory and Hustle & Flow movie as Standard English “She is nice” or “They acting the object. all strange ”for Standard English “They are In society, language takes an important acting all strange” (Wolfarm& Estes, 2006) role due to the usage as a communication tool.

34 The functions of language itself are to express b. Social Dialect feelings, share information, and give ideas. Social dialect is type of dialect variant Language and society are connected to each related to social factors. This type of dialect other and the study of this term called gives a big proportion in considering the sociolinguistics where sociolinguists are background of the speaker and there are some interested in both as Holmes (2013) who states factors of social dialect such as social class, “Sociolinguists are interested in explaining religion, or ethnicity influencing this dialect. why we speak differently in different social Wardhaugh& Fuller (2015), social class, contexts, and they are concerned with religion, and ethnicity are the main factors of identifying the social functions of language and the various factors involved in social dialect the ways it is used to convey social meaning.” that come from among social groups while It seems that human uses language in different regional dialect is based on a geographical ways depends on the contexts and from the item. As Finnegan (2008) who reveals in the language they use it has a function of language United State, Eventhough white American itself such as to express something, to give community and Black American community information, an argument and so on. live in the same city, they may speak different Wardhaugh (2006) defines dialect is a English variety and the same as the speech subordinate language variety, such as Texas characteristics of middle-class and working- English and Swiss German are, respectively, class speaker easily to be distinguished. dialects of English and German. Even though Therefore, social dialect is associated with people speak the same language, dialect makes social factor that affects the way human beings language a bit different in pronunciation, speak. grammatical, or lexical. Mostly dialect is AAVE stands for African American interpreted geographically even though it is not Vernacular English. It is kind of vernacular always considered as a regional factor only due language or treated as non-standard English to dialect also has another factor such as social which is used by Afro-American people factor. Both are connected to each other to dominantly spoken in a specific area in United know who the speaker is and where the speaker State. AAVE is believed as the dialect of belongs, as Finnegan (2008) claims Black slavery that became a working class a thatdialectis associated with the characteristics long time ago in rural south as Wolfram (2007) of the language variety in a particular area or states that Black English Vernacular is social group. Thus, dialect classified into two language variety of working-class Blacks. types, regional dialect, and social dialect. However, the speaker of African American a. Regional Dialect Vernacular English recently is not only related Regional dialect is types of dialect variant to the historical items but it has been adopted spoken in a particular area of a country. Every in some particular area in United State that particular area has its own word that is not influenced to each other. typically the same from one particular area to another particular area and the way they speak Syntactic Variations of AAVE is quite different even though they speak the Syntactically, African American same language that makes language more Vernacular English has its syntactic variations. variant as Holmes (2013) reports some regional Due to it is kind of non-Standard English, this dialects in a real life that are some British English dialect is different from Standard dialects, such as Scouse (Liverpool), Cockney English in United Stated or called as Standard and Geordie have different names that make American English (SAE) especially in them easy to distinguish to another group syntactical elements. significantly. Therefore, regional dialect is 1) Pre-Verbal Marker related to geographical factor that makes each a) Copula Absence particular area has its own dialect that shows b) Invariant be who they are and where they are from. c) Completive Done

35 d) Sequential be Done or bigger phrases, and how clauses are e) Remote Been arranged to build sentences. Syntax discusses f) Simple past had + verb about the structure of sentence that human g) Specialized auxiliaries makes all day which is how a sentence is h) Irregular verb constructed. i) Subject-verb non-agreement In answering the problem statements, the writer used the theory of Wolfram (2004) 2) Negation which highlights four syntactic variations of a) The use of ain’t African American Vernacular English, b) Negative concord preverbal marker, negation, nominal and question form used in purpose to help in 3) Nominal analyzing the syntactic variations of African a) The absence of suffix –s in inflectional American Vernacular English in Iggy Azalea’s possessive and plurals song. In addition, the theory of Miller (2002) b) Pronominal is used to compare syntactic variations between c) The use of y’all African American Vernacular English and Standard English. 4) Question formation In every English-speaking country has its METHOD Standard English. Literarily, Standard English The primary data sources were taken from is English that has been standardized. Iggy Azalea’s song, Down South, 1800 Bone, According to Wardhaugh (2006), the process Yo El Rey, FlexinFinessin, and My World and where a language has been codified in some the secondary data sources were taken from way called standardization. For instance, In journal articles and books. UK they have their Standard English called as There are some steps to collect the data British English (BE), in Australian they have from Iggy Azalea’s song, Down South, 1800 their Standard English called as Standard Bone, Yo El Rey, FlexinFinessin and My Australian English (SAE) and in US they have World. Firstly, the writer listened to Iggy their Standard English called as Standard Azalea songs, Down South, 1800 Bone, Yo El America English (SAE). Those are mostly Rey, FlexinFinessin, and My World one by one used in a formal institution such as education, repeatedly and carefully. Secondly, the writer government and so on. Yule (2006), Standard underlined the syntactic variations of African English is easier to explain in terms of the American Vernacular English found in Iggy written language rather than the spoken Azalea’s song. The last, the writer noted the language such as vocabulary, pronunciation, syntactic variations of African American and grammar which is obviously related to Vernacular English as the data found in her education and broadcasting in public contexts. song. Those are mostly used in a formal institution After finding and collecting the data from such as education, government and so on in Iggy Azalea’s song, the writer arranged some order to use the language properly. steps in analyzing the data. First, the writer The language that human builds needing a classified the data based on types of syntactic process to make a sentence and the process variations of African American Vernacular itself is not as simple as human beings speak. English. Next, the data put on a table based on To make a complete sentence, it needs a the types of syntactic variations of African process started from a word into a complete American Vernacular English. The last, sentence associated with grammatical system analyzed syntactic variations of African which studied in Linguistics field especially in American Vernacular English by using Syntax as Miller (2002) states Syntax deals Wolfram theory (2004) and compared to with how words are arranged to build phrases, Standard English by using Miller theory (2002) and how phrases are arranged to build clauses descriptively.

36 Vernacular English which each specialized DISCUSSION auxiliary has its own function. For example, Analysis of Syntactic Variations of AAVE come indicates indignation state, steady 1. Copula absence indicates activity that occurs continuously, and One of the syntactic variations of African finna indicates immediate future or planned American Vernacular English is the absence of event. As the writer found one of specialized copula, is & are. In Standard English, the auxiliary in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs. subject must be followed by copula (she is, he is, you are, they are, & we are) when it is in 6. Negative concord non-verbal sentences, progressive sentences, Negative concord or double negation is and passive sentences while for African commonly used by many African American American Vernacular Language, the copula Vernacular English Speakers in their daily commonly will be dropped after the subject. As communication which put double negation in a the writer found some copula absence in Iggy sentence to indicate negative sentence. In Azalea’s selected songs. addition, it is also possible for Standard 2. Invariant be English has two negations in a sentence For African American Vernacular English, however double negations for Standard English invariant be indicates habitual aspect and indicating positive sentence rather than future continuous tense while in Standard negative sentence. As the writer found English “be” depends on the subject (I am, he negative concord in Iggy Azalea’s song. is, she is, it is, you are, we are, and they are) 7. Use of ain’t for negation followed by habitual “usually” + verb (ing) and African American Vernacular English will + be + verb (ing) indicate future speakers use ain’t to indicate negation in a continuous tense. As the writer found some sentence. While Standard English has the invariant be in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs. pattern to be+not as I am not, He/She/It is not, 3. Remote been and You/We/They are not to indicate negation, For African American Vernacular English, the speaker of African American Vernacular remote been indicates the action happens in a English put ain’t only to indicate negation such long time ago which is the same as present as I/You/We/They/He/She/It ain’t. Here the perfect with the pattern have/has + been. writer found the usage of ain’t in Iggy Azalea’s However, in African American Vernacular song. As the writer found the use of ain’t for English, the auxiliary verb “have/has” will be negation in Iggy Azalea’s song. eliminated. As the writer found some remote 8. Demonstrative them been in Iggy Azalea’s selected songs. For African American Vernacular English, 4. Subject verb non-agreement them is commonly used as demonstrative In agreement rule, the verb should be which is for Standard English it should be the, followed by suffix –s/es to indicate subject- this, that, those, and these. As the writer found verb agreement which depends on the subject. the usage of them as demonstrative in Iggy When the subject is third singular person (he, Azalea’s selected songs. she, and it), it needs suffix –s/es after the verb that indicates the verb is an agreement to the CONCLUSIONS subject. However, the inflectional suffix –s/es Based on the study that the writer has been to indicate subject verb agreement will be conducted from Iggy Azalea’s selected songs dropped in African American Vernacular (Down South, 1800 Bone, Yo El Rey, English. As the writer found some subject verb FlexinFinessin, and My World), the writer non-agreement in Iggy Azalea’s selected found and recognized eight types of syntactic songs. variations of African American Vernacular 5. Specialized auxiliaries English from thirty-seven data. The eighth of Come, steady, and finna are the syntactic variations of African American specialized auxiliary of African American Vernacular English found in Iggy Azalea’s

37 selected songs are Copula absence, Invariant African American Vernacular English is be, remote been, subject-verb-non-agreement, part of Sociolinguistics which an interesting specialized auxiliary, negative concord, the use topic to be analyzed where the syntactic of ain’t for negation, and demonstrative them variations of African American Vernacular where those are syntactically different from English became the limitation focus of the Standard English. writer’s study in Iggy Azalea’s song. The The differences between African further study can analyze other interesting American Vernacular English and Standard aspects of African American Vernacular English are the absence of copula forms of is English phonologically or semantically by &are which Standard English uses it as using the other experts and objects in order to auxiliary verb, invariant be for habitual aspect enlarge knowledge. which Standard English uses “is/am/are”, remote been to indicate specific aspectual REFERENCES action in the distant past which Standard Finegan, E. (2008). Language Its and Use 4rt English added have/has before been, subject Ed. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth. verb non-agreement for there is no agreement Retrivied on Juli 27th 2018 between verb and subject, specialized auxiliary http://staffnew.uny.ac.id/upload/132107 finna to indicate an immediate future or 096/pendidikan/Book%2Bone%2Bfor planned event which Standard English uses %2BInt.pdf pattern be about to, double negations for Giyandari, K. (2014). Features of African negative sentence which Standard English only American Vernacular English with uses one negation, the use of ain’t for negation Generative Transformational which Standard English uses pattern be + not Grammar. Jakarta: Universitas Islam and demonstrative them which Standard Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. English uses these/those. Next, based on the eighth types of Holmes, J. (2013). An Introduction to syntactic variations of African American Sociolinguistics. New York: Routledge. th Vernacular English that is used by Iggy Azalea Retrivied on Juli 27 2018 in her selected songs, the usage of eight types https://abudira.files.wordpress.com/201 of syntactic variations is different from each 7/04/janet_holmes.pdf other, where the copula absence is the most Labov, W. (2010). Unendangered Dialect, used by Iggy Azalea about 12 data from 37 Endangered People: The Case of data. The second is subject-verb-non- African American Vernacular English. agreement about 6 data from 37 data. The TRAA, 15-28. Retrivied on January 11th third is negative concord about 5 data from 37 2018 data. The fourth is the use of ain’t for negation https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wlabov/P about 4 data from 37 data, and demonstrative apers/ them about 4 data from 37 data. The fifth is invariant be about 3 data from 37 data. The Miller, J. (2002). An Introduction to English sixth is remote been about 2 data from 37 data. Syntax. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Retrivied on The last is specialized auxiliary about 1 data th from 37 data. Thus, copula absence as syntactic August 10 2018 variation of African American Vernacular http://devinta.lecture.ub.ac.id/files/2012 English are mostly used in Iggy Azalea’s /02/Miller-An-introduction-to-English- selected songs about 12 data from 37 data due syntax.pdf to copula absence (is & are) mostly appears in Mack,W.Woodsong, C. MacQueen, K.M. adjective form, verb (ing) and refers to the Guest, G. &Namey, E. (2011). social factors of African American Vernacular Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Englishitsel Collector’s Field Guide. North Carolina: Family Health International.

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