SYNTACTIC VARIATIONS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE) EMPLOYED BY THE MAIN CHARACTER IN HUSTLE & FLOW A THESIS Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of a Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Language & Literature By: DESTYANA PRASTITASARI 07211144026 ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY 2013 MOTTOS Stay focus, work very hard, and do your best. (Farah Quinn) There’s no reason to say ‘I cannot do it’ because ‘I can do it’ I can get the tired and desperate feelings but they cannot occur in more than 24 hours Always smile, greet for everyone, and everything gonna be alright (Mottos of my life) Everybody gotta have a dream (Hustle & Flow) v DEDICATIONS I dedicate this thesis to: My beloved mama (Mrs.Bingartin), My papa (Mr.Sumarno) who always give me love , pray, support and deep understanding, My beloved sweetheart, who always gives me spirit and patience, and My younger brother Ardhi ‘Hwang Kichu’ who always supports and accompanies me in writing this thesis. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Alhamdulillah, all praise be to Allah SWT, the Almighty, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful, without which I would never have finished this thesis. In accomplishing this thesis, I owe to many people for the support, guidance, assistance, and help. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and thanks to RA Rahmi Dipayanti Andayani, M.Pd., my first consultant and Titik Sudartinah, M.A., my second consultant, for their endless support, advice, patience and great guidance in helping me throughout this thesis. My greatest gratitude also goes to Prof. Dr. Zamzani (Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts), Samsul Maarif, M.A. (Head of English Education Department), Paulus Kurnianta, M.Hum. (my academic consultant), and all lecturers in the English Education Department. In this special occasion, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my beloved mama and papa who have for so long encouraged me patiently and also to my brother for his support. I am proud of being a part of this family. My thank is also addressed to my beloved friends: Saptiwi, dik Vanda, dik Dinda, sist Wanty, sist Nyoomie, sist Tita, Ken Lintang, sist Dedes, sist Pippit, sist Fitri, Milly Milo, Tari, Ranny and Ulhy who also supported me to finish this thesis. A million thanks are also devoted to all my beloved friends of Elite 07 Class: Dani, Widdy, Winda, Tata, Arum, Galih, Jihan, Epha, Icha, Lisa, Intan, Iwan, and Banu. vii I also thank those whom I cannot mention one by one for the support and prayer for me in accomplishing this thesis. Finally, I realize that my thesis is far from being perfect. Therefore, I would be glad to get any comments, feedbacks, and suggestions for the betterment of this thesis. Hopefully, this thesis will give some beneficial contributions to the readers. Yogyakarta, 16 May 2013 Destyana Prastitasari viii TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... i APPROVAL ....................................................................................................... ii RATIFICATION ................................................................................................ iii PERNYATAAN ................................................................................................... iv MOTTOS ........................................................................................................... v DEDICATIONS ................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .................................................................. xii ABSTRACT............ ........................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ........................................................................ 1 B. Research Focus ...................................................................................... 3 C. Problem Formulation ............................................................................. 4 D. Objectives of the Study........................................................................ .. 4 E. Significance of the Study ....................................................................... 4 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK A. Literature Review ................................................................................... 6 1. Sociolinguistics .................................................................................. 6 2. Language Variation......................................................... ................... 8 a. Speech Variety.......................................................................... .... 8 1) Standard English.................................................. .................... 10 2) Non-standard English.................. ............................................. 10 b. Vernacular Language...................................................... .............. 11 c. Dialect................................................................... ........................ 12 3. African American Vernacular English (AAVE)................................. 13 a. Types of Syntactic Variation.................................................. ...... 15 ix 1) Verb Inflection........................................................................... 16 a) ‘go’ copula.......................................................................... 16 b) I’ma and gonna.................................................................. 17 c) y’all................ ................................................................... 17 2) Irregular Verb....... .................................................................... 18 3) Double Negative Form........... .................................................. 19 4) Negative Form....... ................................................................... 20 5) Preposition............ ................................................................... 20 b. Functions of Syntactic Variation ........................................... ...... 21 1) Affective Function........ ........................................................... 22 a) Phatic......... .......................................................................... 22 b) Metalinguistic..... ................................................................. 22 c) Poetic... ................................................................................ 23 2) Referential Function... .............................................................. 23 d) Expressive.... ....................................................................... 24 e) Directive.... .......................................................................... 24 f) Referential..... ...................................................................... 24 4. Hustle & Flow .................................................................................... 25 5. Previous Research Findings ............................................................... 27 B. Conceptual Framework .......................................................................... 29 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Type of Research .................................................................................... 32 B. Data and Source of Data ......................................................................... 33 C. Research Instruments ............................................................................ 33 D. Data Collection Techniques ................................................................... 35 E. Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 36 F. Data Trustworthiness ............................................................................. 36 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Findings .................................................................................................. 38 x 1. Types of Syntactic Variations ....................................................... 38 2. Functions of Syntactic Variations ............................................... 41 B. Discussions. ............................................................................................ 43 1. Markers of Syntactic Variations of AAVE a. Verb Inflection............................................................................. 44 1) Deletion of ‘to be’................................................................... 44 2) Misuse of form of ‘verb’......................................................... 45 3) ‘gonna’.................................................................................... 47 4) Misuse of ‘go’ copula.............................................................. 48 5) Singular or plural form of y’all............................................... 49 a) Singular form of y’all......................................................... 49 b) Plural form of y’all .......................................................... 50 b. Misuse of Irregular Verb............................................................... 51 c. Double Negative Form.................................................................