Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium

Volume 17 Issue 1 Article 23

3-8-1991

Arsenio Hall at the Crossroads: Uniting Two Speech Communities in One Act

Daniel Harper

Tessa Meyer-Santiago

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Harper, Daniel and Meyer-Santiago, Tessa (1991) "Arsenio Hall at the Crossroads: Uniting Two Speech Communities in One Act," Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium: Vol. 17 : Iss. 1 , Article 23. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/dlls/vol17/iss1/23

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Arsenio Hall at the Crossroads: Uniting Two Speech Communities in One Act

Daniel Harper and Tessa Meyer-Santiago Brigham Young University

RESEARCH QUESTION Catholics, will be able to join hands together and Arsenio Hall is a late-night phenomena, accom­ sing" ... LeVert's "Just Coolin. '" or watch Arsenio plishing the seemingly impossible task of stealing an house Woody Harrison from Cheers like a landlord increasingly larger portion of television viewers in a one-on-one game of basketball. during a timeslot that has been dominated by one But black and white isn't the only line, television show for years. Every weeknight Arsenio Arsenio's tiptoeing along. One moment he's affect­ Hall goes head-to-head with the king of late-night ing the impeccable elocution of a millionaire's son; talk shows-Johnny Carson. the next, he's rolling his shoulders, doing a new Critics wonder why Arsenio is so popular. As jack begging for an autograph: "Hey, boy-es, you Arsenio puts it, "I'm the talkshow host for people large, you large, you so large, Money you Gigantor. who don't have a talkshow host. I am the talkshow My girlee wants an autograph, knowwhatI'msayin', host for the urban contemporary crowd, for the but I told her, 'That's MacGyver, baby, he's too MTV crowd." Arsenio Hall's goal is to bring the dope for that. '" ghetto to the subarbs and the subarbs to the ghetto. "If you're a yuppie, then I'm a buppie." The What first caught our attention as late-night audience hoots "What?" Arsenio shoots back, watchers of Arsenio Hall was how he seem to offended, "I am a buppie." But the crowd won't attempt this difficult multi-cultural task linguistically. budge. They don't care about the side of Arsenio We noticed that he seemed to use Black English Hall that claims a nouveau Aframerican aristocracy. Vernacular (BEV) in certain situations, and that he Despite the vented Ron Rinkes suits with the draped omitted it in others. We wondered what the under­ '30's lapels and the slick TV table manners, they lying principles behind his code switches were; if want Arsenio Hall to remain street forever. And they were systematic or haphazard? every time you see him point to the band and say, "My Posse, let's get busy," or mimic a money­ ARSENIO HALL: PERSONAL NOTES making homeboy talkin' street so dead-on you're We have included these notes to illustrate waiting for hip hop speakologist Big Daddy Kane to Arsenio's use of BEV, and to present both the come out and translate, you know he will. newsmedia's and the audience's reaction to "The A Harlem guy who leaves his buddha-blear Arsenio Hall Show." (reefer) spot exactly at midnight, just to get home Biography: black; Mid-30's-age uncertain; and watch the show, says "A lot of people say he's born and raised in Cleveland's inner city; from a an Uncle Tom but that's just jealousy. The man is lower middle class family, father a preacher; mother funny." divorced father because of abuse. After the commercial, Arsenio says he heard a rumor that Hearns can step off into a funky slide and Excerpts from "Big Daddy Hall's New Jack camel walk just as smoothly as the Godfather of Chit Chat": Soul. Hearn's embarrassment stokes the trouble­ Not only is this an ultrahip Aframerican show, maker in Arsenio. Kicking the plush tweed Ottoman but it's Dr Martin Luther King Jr's dream gone out of the way, Arsenio motions to Michael Wolff Hollywood. "All of God's children; black men and and the Posse-they drop the quick beat of "I Foot white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Good"-and proceeds to good/oat. Arsenio's move ARSENIO HALL AT THE CROSSROADS 187 is not only entertaining for the audience, but it are classified by accent according to class status, speaks sotto voce volumes to Hearns: "Don't be age, gender and ethnic identity. Even though struc­ ashamed my brother. James is our Nijinsky and this turally there may by no discernible difference be­ is our Bolshoi." tween PRE, BEV and SAE, the accent remains as '''Can you say the word 'ass' on television?' he evidence of code-switching. asks innocently. 'Can you say the word 'ass' for In John Baugh's article "The Situational me? The audience responds like an obscene choir. Dimension of Linguistic Power in Social Context," 'Better yet, say it like the black folks do 'ay-ass'.'" he identifies the trend of the 60's in that television Asked whether he was second-guessing his portrayed the prevailing linguistic attitudes, which own talent: "No ...That kind of second guessing denigrated nonstandard dialects in favor of standard represents fear to me. I don't have time to be scared. English. The implications were that standard English If I allow myself to be frightened, I'll wind up in a is the dialect of the rich and powerful. The question McDonalds in Oeveland with two large cokes in my his observation raises for us is: How do we interpret hands talkin' about 'D'yall need lids on these?'" the rising popularity of black TV sitcoms; how prolific is the use of BEV and what are socio­ REVIEW OF LITERATURE political implications of this rise in popularity? Bonnie Urcioli in her article "Bilingualism as Although this issue is not addressed in this particular Code and Bilingualism as Abstract," in which she study, the implications make this issue suitable for maps the code switching of Puerto Rican further research. Spanish/English bilinguals, identifies a factor of His main thrust though is the situational implica­ great influence on the significance of the code tion of the principle of Linguistic Loyalty in BEV. switch: the contact situation--outer sphere, or inner He cites Ogbu's distinction between "autonomous" sphere. The inner sphere operates under the prin­ and "caste-like" minorities: autonomous are no ciple of shared structural and social conditions; the longer economically or politically subordinate, while outer sphere is marked by a sharp imbalance in class caste-like minorities, which tend to be nonwhite, advantage. Code switches within inner sphere con­ continue to be socially dispossessed, and their lin­ tacts, ego blacks and Puerto Ricans, are not of great guistic differences only serve to heighten this isola­ significance because a mutually intelligible base is tion. However, the irony lies in the fact that, understood. These code switches may be classified although linguistic differences can be overcome with code neutral. On the other hand, code switches be­ a good education, the adoption of the standard tween Puerto Rican and Anglo speakers of English, English is seen as a rejection of the native vernacu­ or BEV and Anglo speakers of English are of great lar, its culture and speakers. The pragmatic response significance because the situation is governed by the to the paradox is that adult BEV speakers tend to understanding that there will be little understanding; shift linguistic styles depending on the circumstance. therefore, every code switch is of linguistic and se­ Although style shifting is a common linguistic oc­ mantic significance in an attempt to increase intelli­ currence, nonstandard speakers evidence a greater gibility. Thus, dependent on the circle, the differ­ tendency to style shifting than standard English ence in form indicates either 1. no change, or 2. speakers, although they tend not to adopt standard significant change. English unless the move contains personal value for Another factor, which is of considerable interest them. in our study, is Urcioli hypothesis that the PRE ac­ Baugh identifies four situational types using cent marks a continuance of sound between PRE language use in different social contexts to measure and PRS. In a sense, PRS is partially phonetically the extent to which Adult BEV style shift: integrated with PRE. The question of borrowing 1. Type 1: speech events with familiar participants here becomes one of degree rather than an absolute. native to the black vernacular culture, sharing a Discernable accent becomes then a code carried over long-term relationship which is close-knit and from one to another and is important because people supportive. 188 DLLS PROCEEDINGS 1991

2. Type 2: the participants are not well acquainted 8. "r-Iessness": appearing medially and terminally, but are members of the black vernacular culture. the "r" is reduced to a vowel-like sound or deleted 3. Type 3: participants are well acquainted but the black vernacular culture is not shared; solidarity 9. "l-lessness": reduced to an "uh" sound when may/may not exist between the two. occurring medially or terminally, or deleted altogether 4. Type 4: participants are not familiar nor is BEY common to them. HYPOTHESIS Because the aim of Arsenio Hall's late night In their book Dialect Clash in America, Brandes talkshow is to unite the ghetto and the suburbs in and Brewer deal with what they term Black one speech event, Arsenio will demonstrate linguis­ Amerenglish. Although their studies are not the most tic awareness of the inclusionary or exclusionary recent-the book was published in 1977 and they effects of the use of BEY within the social contexts still subscribe to the isolation theory of African lan­ outlined in Baugh's article. We expect to see a guage influence in the development of BEy-they greater frequency of BEY with intimate BEY native still offer a useful outline of black grammar and code speakers. markers. The features they identified and which we RESEARCH METHODOLOGY looked for as the basis for our analysis are: We performed a case study of Arsenio Hall's use of black vernacular in varying social contexts. GRAMMATICAL FEATURES We videotaped 11 of his nightly talkshows "The Arsenio Hall Show." Using the social contexts out­ 1. deletion of the third person singular, present lined by Baugh, we divided Arsenio's monologue tense marlcer .. -s" and guests into 6 groups and analyzed for the fre­ quency of BEY usage according to the grammatical 2. absence of the possessive suffix "-'s" and phonological markers of BEY found in Brandes and Urcioli. 3 . -ed suffix omission Six Social Contexts for Speech Events 4. the multiple negative I. Black English (BEY) & Black English (BEY): Oose knit, native PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES II. Black English (BEY) & Black English (BEY): 5. reduction of word final-consonant clusters; with Not close, native III. Black English (BEY) & Standard American the subsequent addition of homonyms in BEY (SAE): Shared Acquaintance not found in SE eg.built and bill, coal and cold. IV. Black English (BEY) & Standard American (SAE): No commonality 6. formation of noun plurals from words which Y. Black English (BEY) & Non-native American have undergone consonant deletion; the deletion English (NNAE): No commonality is not haphazard, nor is the formation of the VI. Black English (BEV): Monologue noun plural; ego task .... tas' .... tases.

Arsenio's Guests According to Social Context 7. the pronunciation of "th" initial medial terminal I. Heavy D, Magic Johnson, Sinbad. unvoiced N=/tink/ /f/=!myfrn/ /f/=/b f/ /f/=/frow/ II. Sherman Hemsley, Smokey Robinson, Carol voiced /dI=/dis/ Iv/=/m v r/ /v/=/leyv/ Gidst (Miss USA), Don Cornelius. ARSENIO HALL AT THE CROSSROADS 189

III. Rob Lowe, Jamie Lee Curtis. ANALYSIS IV. Oliver Stone, Tom Hanks, Gloria Steinam, In Table I, the two most frequently used marlc­ Farah Fawcett, Pierce Brosnan, Phil Donahue, ers of BEV are the phonological voiced th=/d/, and Barbara Quayle, Siskel & Ebert, Glenn Close, the black lexicon. With the /d/, this indicates that Patti Austin, Eric Idle. even though the structural properties of BEV and V. Vlade (Czechoslovakian), Gloria Estafan SAE are the same, the /d/ accent marks the switcher (Cuban). as being based in another code; however, the two VI. Arsenio Hall codes SAE and BEV are mutually intelligible at this juncture. The use of lexicon can be exclusionary but RESULTS often Arsenio begins his show with a definition of a TABLE I BEV term that will be used in the monologue, thus BEV MARKERS USAGE WITHIN SOCIAL creating an inclusionary affect. Accordingly, in all CONTEXTS categories, except the final consonant cluster drop, the highest BEV usage occurs in the monologues I II III N V VI Tot where the exclusionary effect can be more consis­ tently controlled. The majority of the other BEV voiced th=d 20 5 3 8 o 26 62 markers found in the show tend to be phonetic vari­ lexicon 4 1 2 2 o 17 26 ations of SAE rather than grammatical or structural drop fmal cons. cluster 13 1 1 2 0 8 22 "be" verb 5 0 0 0 0 7 12 varieties. "r" lessness 2 1 1 2 0 5 10 In Table II, the results show that the use of BEV unvoiced th=f 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 varies according to social context. Context I showed absence of poss. suffix 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 the highest frequency of BEV with 13.0 (average "got" 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 number of instances of BEV). However, this was "ax" 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 due to Magic Johnson, a black basketball player, "1" Iessness 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 multiple negative 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 who used an unusually high rate of BEV at 48. drop initial vowel 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Other guests that fell into Category I had a frequency rating of 4.5. The category with the next highest rate TABLE II of BEV usage was the monologue with an average FREQUENCY OF USAGE of 6.0 instances per show. This supports our hy­ SOCIAL CONTEXT FREQUENCY pothesis. In his monologue, he is 1. not addressing a specific person, therefore does not have to take I: BEV and BEV: close knit 13.0 into account their familiarity with BEV, and 2. as­ II: BEVand BEV: not close 3.0 sumes more frequently the "new jack chit chat" ill: BEV and SAE: close knit 3.0 street persona, as expected by his audience. The re­ N: BEV and SAE: not close 2.2 V: BEV and NNAE: not close 0.0 maining categories evidence a decrease in the use of VI: BEV: monologue 6.0 BEV according to social context as expected. Interesting to note, is that Categories II and III Method used to determine the frequency of usage: show the same frequency of BEV at 3.0, even Each 60 minute show is divided into three segments: though category II consists of 2 speakers native to monologue, guest, guest. From 11 shows, there BEV though not well acquainted while category III were 22 guests and 11 monologues. We categorized includes a BEV speaker and a well acquainted the instances of BEV into the 6 social contexts (see speaker of SAE but nonnative speaker ofBEV. This Results). The total instances of BEV per category seems to indicate that familiarity between speakers is was divided by the number of guests that fell into as important as a shared linguistic heritage when it that category. For context VI: monologue, seeing as comes to code switching between SAE and BEV. there were no guests, we simply divided by the Also, the absence of BEV in category V indicates number of shows recorded. that competence in SAE by both speakers is required 190 DLLS PROCEEDINGS 1991 before code switching into BEY occurs. This proves formerly been separated by the media, specifically Urcioli's hypothesis that speakers within the outer and society at large. sphere switch only when the switch is needed to in­ The possible weakness of this case study is the crease intelligibility. Any switch that Arsenio would small number of guests analyzed in certain social make would only decrease the intelligibility of their contexts, as well as the uneven distribution of guests exchange. This requirement, while true in the con­ throughout the social contexts. The uneven distribu­ text of a television show, does not necessarily hold tion of guests, predominantly BEY and SAE: not true for daily situations/informal speech events. close, is however, a reflection on our society's prej­ udicial definitions of who's hot and who's not. CONCLUSION Implications for further study: there is an abun­ Because Arsenio Hall's agenda is inclusionary, dance of other BEY markers which have not been bringing the ghetto to the suburbs and the suburbs to analyzed in this particular case study. However, we the ghetto, rather than exclusionary, he uses BEY in doubt further studies in this area would reveal fur­ a way that is mutually intelligible for both guests and ther insight to our hypothesis. We see a need for audience. Thus, our hypothesis is confirmed. further analysis f)f the use or absence of BEY by An interesting example of this is his interview black speakers in the media to determine the reasons with Magic Johnson. As Appendix I indicates, for either the inclusion or exclusion of BEY. ego Magic Johnson had the highest rate of BEY usage Why can a successful black doctor and his family, for any guest and was even higher than Arsenio's portrayed in The Cosby Show, not use BEY at all? monologues. During the interview, the frequency of Or, why does a major manufacturer of athletic BEY increased as the intimate nature of the topic equipment, Nike, use speakers of BEY as their increased ego girlfriends, Friday night on the town. spokespersons? Arsenio would attempt to control the BEY usage by We realize that reading this research without the returning to less intimate and more neutral topics. aid of watching Arsenio Hall in action limits the im­ Arsenio's topic shifts indicate his reluctance to allow pact of his linguistic abilities. We recommend that conversations to become predominantly BEY, to the the readers take some time and watch a few shows exclusion of his white audience. He is always at­ and do their own mini-research. Concentrate on Arsenio's use of BEY and decide for themselves if tempting to create a comfortable balance for both his he succeeds in achieving mutual intelligibility for guest and his audience. He exhibits further linguistic awareness of both speech communities. BEY's exclusionary effects for his guests as evi­ APPENDIX 1 denced by his interviews with Gloria Estefan and Ylade (Laker basketball center), both NNAE speak­ I. BEY and BEY: close knit a. Magic Johnson and Arsenio ers. Arsenio used no BEY as a courtesy to speakers where the SAE is a second language, realising that "peepol" (people) code switching would decrease intelligibility. His "wumon" (woman) socio-political agenda for the show must take into "how mi" account the linguistic competencies of both his audi­ "had da lakes" ence and his guests. "I'm gun lose" "plus you got two frien's der" The phonetic nature of the majority of the BEY "loaned ja" markers adds credence to Arsenio's claim to be play­ "da han" ing to both audiences. Different phonetic pronuncia­ "my actin skill" tions of familiar terms are easier to understand by "wolk dat hard" SAE speakers than actual lexical changes, and also "freepeat" not as likely to be labelled negative or "bad" lan­ "could' a beat dem" "workin on dat emmy" guage. Through language, he is trying to include in "gonna do dat to ya boy" one speech event, two linguistic audiences that have "dis spose ta" ARSENIO HALL AT THE CROSSROADS 191

"dis spose be a coach" "jus lookin hansum" "I forgot bout dat" "how you feel" "heps high school students" "backbitin and phonin" "have da grades" "nut a lick" "awl da proceeds" "this brother will do it to ya" "jus a ho" "we still frien's" "Arsenio be coaching" "I know whatcha doin man" "las year" "who don' have tickets" III. BEV and SAE: shared acquaintance "you dog me out" "what was dat about" "use" (you is) "what was on yo mine when you was opposite "different people houses" Snow White" "I take Arsenio" "don't dat itch" "Everyone from Michigan are here" "I check you out" "den" "I been wid a lotta dancers" "I be the owner" "I've not tal into it" "hafta" "I done ever" IV. BEVand SAE: no commonality "here it go" "let's git right to it" "jus hangin" "heavy" "that's heavy" "go dat route" "kick it" "pushin dat book" "one of them Ronald Reagan answers" "dis society "do summin" "dat was some nice spots you did" "he so tacky" (BEV woman) "he got to go" "I saw dat playboy issue wid russian women" "sign my boy" (homeboy) "Arsenio like to shake foo" "you know you got a woman in your arms" "sty" (style) "did you ax for an explanation" "ya know I'm yo boy" "what may you do this" "was dat bout" "he even tol you not to do it" "you know sumpum I don' know" "one oar in da water" "da league" "home girl is gone" "so fresh, so fly" "you all did" "was up" b. Sinbad and Arsenio "what's dat all about" "I need dis gig" "boy can sing" "what dat was" "he can throw down" "it want in yo body" "them folks col" "be like Johnny, dat's my thang" "please don' wear dem earings on national TV" "it can mess up yo whole day" "a white suit that poly and ester wouldn wear" "he ain't dat fine" "he ain't dat fine either" c. Heavy D and Arsenio V. BEV and NNAE: no commonality "I'm having problems wid im" "I gotcha" VI. BEV: monologue "this heavy brother" (be deletion) "STUPID: to begin the fun-filled festivities." "dat chew" "LARGE: greater than average in scope. A succesful and extraordinary talent." II. BEV and BEV: not close knit "HYPE: to rouse excitability. Exhilirating. "dat" Stimulating. Spectacular." "Lufur" (Luther) "posse" "somefm" (something) "they large" "he large" "Oliver Stone is "ain't dat a kick in da head" large"(when talking about a speaker of SAE, "I sure would like to go on da road wich jew" uses "be" verb) (homeboy) "ya understand what I'm sayin" 192 DLLS PROCEEDINGS 1991

"was up" x2 "this line is bad" "jus keep yo ass in the house" "even white people mad cuz he bad" "do dis" "have you ever looked at MC Hammer shoe" "ya'lllying" "tow up all kinda cars hit a pole" "you hard" "she know what I'm sayin" "id be" "sick of dese tests" "she looking at you" "you engaged now" APPENDIX 2 "let's get busy" x6 "give somma dat to my posse" This is an interesting example of the favoring of "I would never learn da language" the oral tradtion in the black culture: . "I didn' learn da rest of da letters" story about a girl he went out with: "she went "dis will be real cool" off: "who are you, Mr. Blackwell to tell. me my "wid sauce" earings are too large." "I don't think I'm Mr. "I don' even need jew here" "you tum" (your tum) Blackwell, I just thought you might want to rethink "you fine" (your fine) those Angela Davis, hoolahoop size earrings or buy "you damn right" a S1. Bernard. light em on fire and have him jump "give it up for him" thru it" "da group" "ginune a beat" BIBLIOGRAPHY "i jus had to do dat" "jus to mess wi somebody Baugh, John. "The Situational Dimension of "you gonna eat dat sandwich?" Linguistic Power in Social Context," Language Arts. 64 (Feb. 1987), 234-240. "I feelluv in da room, let's share dat luv wid celibate prostitutes" Brandes, Paul D. and Jeutonne Brewer. Dialect "like everybudy else in da neighborhood" Clash in America. New Jersey: Scarecrow, "you can't put Flipper in da ca" 1977. "bring yo ass in da water" "if da wails could talk" Cooper, Barry Michael. "Big Daddy Hall's New "I co~d give a damn about someone do a Jack Chit Chat," The Village Voice. March 23 chicken" 1989,27-31. "Oh, Lawd" "we havta call de guy in" Goldstein, Patrick. "Arsenio Hall," Rolling Stone. Nov. 2 1989,62+. "I forgot to ax him" "and dese ribs don have no bones, ribs got Urcioli, Bonnie. "Bilingualism as Code and some bones" Bilingualism as Practise," Anthropological "dentist office" Linguistics. 27 (1985), 363-379. "dose 01 magazines, you pick it up an da cover fall off' "nunna da good Jackson's were there" Daniel Harper and Tessa Meyer-Santiago: Graduate "get ready do" Students in the English M.A. program at BYU. Daniel "a hundred percent a men rap to a woman" Harper. 28. of Upland. California. recieved his B.A. from "you know you don' know nuttin 'bout no UCLA in world literature. Tessa Meyer-Santiago. 25. of backrub" Cape Town. South Africa, recieved her B.A. from BYU in English. They both plan to teach in the fall before going on "how do dey know" to doctorate programs. The Arsenio Hall research was "when it's dat col usuaily you nose is runnin" originally conducted as a project for Dr. Bill Eggington's "and don't dat sign stuck in da grass ruin da "Varities of English" course. grass" "removed wid a laser" "he got a hickup" "all kinda products" "don't even do nothin fo us" "tiles" (towels) "I stole ya one of yo towels" "I don know what dat's about"