AAE Linguistics Exam 1
James Baldwin
"If Black English Isn't a Language, then Tell Me What IS?" "it is not the black child's language that is despised: It is his experience." "Language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power." "A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experiences." "I do not know what white Americans would sound like if there had never been any black people in the US." Language is born of survival, hardship. Cannot teach if repudiating the background Limbo - no longer black but cannot become white
Changes in progress
/r/ lessness in Boston/NYC
Variationist Method
1) Count all tokens of variable 2) Exclude Invariant Cases places where it never happens Copula - 1st pers sing, IT/that/what/where subjects, past tense ING - mono morphemic words, grammaticalized forms 3) Code each for value (nul/prez or ing/in) 4) Code for internal factors a) preceding phono environment cons/vowel b) subject pronoun/noun c) following gramm envi't gonna, v=ing, adj, noun phrase d) following phono envi't cons/vowel 5) Code for external factors race, gender, age, social class, region
Zero/nul Copula
Copula = verb "to be" (I am, You are, He was) She ? funny They ? taking too long to finish. We ? in the same grade. In other languages also (Hebrew, Arabic, Russian) MUST HAVE COPULA WHEN... Subject is "I" Subject is "IT" Past tense is used CANNOT DROP 'S Tell me where she's. Cannot say that in SAE so option not available in AAE NUL COPULA USE OVER GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS noun (he a teacher) 10%-40% adjective (She happy) 30%-50% gonna (they gonna leave soon) 60% - 100%
Meanings of n word J Raman
Core meaning = survival Solidarity rooted in Blackness and Black experience close friend used with the possessive my Opprobrious layer of disapproval conforming to neg stereotypes inappropriate behavior that N***a ***ALSO - black speaker referring to the a$$holes with tiki torches at Charlottesville calls them n****as spouting nonsense Hip hop meaning independent proactive identity person rooted in hiphop regardless of race culture of survival
Style Shifting - Speaker Design
Current approach - speaker design language = acts of identity users manipulate for their varied purposes Style = multidimensional includes: personal identity reaction to audience formality of context
Style Shifting
process of automatically adjusting from one speech style to another variation f(social class, age, gender, race, ethnicity) what does this tell us about the social meaning of these language forms Earliest Model: Attention to Speech Labov 1972?? range: Casual (more vernacular) Formal Passage reading Word list Later Model: Audience Design: Bell 1984??? Speakers design their speech based on who they are talking to range: SPeaker Addressee Auditor Overhearer Eavesdropper Example - Foxy Boston Drops copula and s twice as much with AA's as whites Example - Bilal college student zero copula goes from 0 (White female) to 90% (peers - other students) next step down are BM/F who know hip hop
Proverbs serve as...
signal group membership evaluative/didactic marking mirrors of cultural values symbolic value making a way out of no way MLK hard head ,makes a sore butt one money don't stop no show every shuteye ain't sleep blacker the berry, sweeter th juice
seditty/saditty
snooty/uppity
Innovative forms in AAE
social conditions led to innovations within AAE Great Migration Settled in urban centers with whites Around other white immigrant communities White flight Whites migrate Community distills and word develops Sabriya Fischer refers to this as being part of the spread of then devel't of ain't residential segregation concomitant with linguistic segregation forms not influenced by White regional speech White and Black vernaculars diverge from one another Oppositional identity Ripe for linguistic feature devel't AA's/Whites in South together Language patterns similar Later? diverge
Metathesis
switching of the order of two sounds, each taking the place of the other ask - aks wasp - waps perscription nukular str becomes skr skreet skrawberry deskroy skruggle Common linguistic action
AAE phonology
system = regular features = normal linguistic process not all speakers use all features so spkr uses all features all the time
tense vs aspect
tense = time present, past, future He went to the store. past tense marked on verb aspect = whether it is finite or continuous/nature of action He was going to the store. past on auxiliary, progressive aspect on main verb
Diphthongs
two vowels to make another sound, oe in "shoe" can be monophthongized AAE - eye sound becomes ah LENGTH OF THE VOWEL STAYS Tie - tah Child - Chah'd Retired - Retah'd WHAT IS IT MISSING? Does not happen before voiceless consonants Ethnolinguistic distinction Southern white - whayat AA - white Identity marker in the NOrth - whites do not use it
Allophone
variants of one phoneme /t/ [t}{flap}etc Theoretical sound (phoneme) Allophone = phonetic realization Every time p, t, k - in front of a stressed syllable it is aspirated Unconscious - never know this is what you do Between two vowels and second = unstressed? FLAP
Stable variation
variation without change; when multiple variants survive for a long period, without one replacing the other walking vs walkin' stable and walkin does not take over
cut-eye
visual put down, hostile glare relexified and added to ENglish indication in Africa cameroon, swahili
Zero Copula Studies, Eberhardt and ???
Full - your heart is glowing contracted - My baby's fly zero - Yonce filling out this skirt. ???Exclude the cases that do not count (against the rules) Following It, I, WHat 459 tokens (absent)/(full+contracted+absent) 28% zero is 43% zero are 36.8% combined Factors: preceds vowel 42.2% precedes consonant 27.8% follows v+ing 61.4% locative 57.4% adjective 27.4% Noun phrase 14.9% following vowel 49.4% following consonant 33.7% Goes from probability of early album of 25% to 80% in Lemonade Noun phrase - began at .05 Lemonade at .55 Album 5 Locative shoots to the top from past .3 and .2 Copula absence - B mobilizes her message Projects her performance persona
Zero Copula Studies, Alim 2004
Great for style shifting studies well defined variable frequent use across communities and speakers showcase variable extensively studied TuPac Speech less of zero copula, future gonna, ain't than hiphop Poetry - virtually nonexistent usage Eve and Juvenile Juvenile - lyrics and interviews about same zero copula (75% vs 55%) Eve - 55 lyrics, 5% interviews This shows style shifting occurs naturally as a function of context. "Strategic construction of a street-concious identity."
Three Ways to Mark aspect in AAE
Habitual Completed Remote Past
Variable vs. Variant
ING = Variable ING and IN = variants COPULA = variable present and nul = variants
BITCH test
In response to Ebonics Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity, an intelligence test based on the language, attitudes, and life-styles African Americans. Whites tend to perform more poorly on this test than blacks, suggesting that there are important dissimilarities in the cultural backgrounds of blacks and whites blood (brother of color) to hot comb HNIC (head N in charge) playing the dozens (insulting a person's parents
Sabriya Fischer - Ain't
Innovation of the 20th century Not from enslavement Very few/none examples of preterite ain't Contemporary ain;t - age stratification More prevalent in certain age groups than others Here? In younger speakers In Philly? More prevalent with AA w/limited to 0 contact with whites Ripe conditions for innovations to thrive Does the past ain't follow patterns of other innovative forms? Early 1980's data _ UMLC - Urban Minorities on Linguistic Change Not too old - would like more recent Still comparable to far past Split for age: below/above 30 Not super spread out Gender imbalance Born in Philly vs born in SOuth Why regional origins? N vs S Isolated North vs integrated South Linguistic forms less/more fluid Bill Labov - UPenn, lots of data from his North Philly student In group perspective Labov - variationist method inventor Sabriya Fischer was at Penn 888 tokens of past tense negation Past ain't / (all past tense) FINDINGS X axis = age, y = 5 ain't past Clear increase across time of ain't for didn't Each dot = spkr, larger dot = says it more Getting younge, more people,saying it more often Gender? Not a specific effect Social class neither AGE Solid = Philly South = dotted Solid increasing South = flat — not an increase in the use among speakers born in the SOuth NOT A PIECE OF GRAMMAR ACQUIRED IN BORN IN SOUTH Happened in the NOrth post 40's That is where we see those speakers AAE innovations = in the North Linguistic segregation PAST TENSE AINT VS OTHER AINT TENSES Q: Is there change in ain't in general or just past? A: Ain't is other contexts = stable Those came in migration Only this context changes Adolescents not changing use in other areas - just this Ain't as a whole does not show higher rates of other speakers (refutes age grading) Ain't in non past context - it is not age grading, something that disappears when get older THIS IS A CHANGE NON PAST GRAMM CONTEXT Over /under 30 - same behavior for non past ain't Women use ain't less frequently than men Overall, women use more prestigious/standard variant Men = higher users of other variants/vernacular Men higher walkin Women = walking Why do we have gender effect in non past context BUT NO GENDER EFFECT IN PAST AIN't? THat tells us women might be the agents of change Variables are innovators? Maybe women high BROADLY? Not yet settled into stability There is no gender effect yet Strict socio-econ status has not yet happened This points to this being an innovation
Nul Copula and Habitual Be Cardi B
LYRICS COPULA Do not count You know where I'm at (rule says not after I so exclude) Do count You're in the club - present They tired of me - non-present She gonna do - non present HAB BE You know where I be (hab be) I be in and out of them banks (hab be) SENTENCES NO: That baby be pretty. - not HAB BE state of affairs not changing OK: That baby be laughing and playing. in the moment - not HAB BE OK: It be hot in this room. NO: It hot in this room; No nul cop after I
Ebonics
Language of all people descended from West African slaves
AIN'T Uses
NEGATIVE COPULA am not, are not, is not She ain't really sick. They ain't here right now. I ain't talking to you. We ain't gonna do it. NEGATIVE PERFECT have not, has not He ain't seen it yet. She ain't cleaned her room for weeks. I ain't been there lately. NEGATIVE PRETERITE did not I ain't tell you to do that. She ain't do nothing wrong. They ain't go to the movies last night. ERROR Where is Susan? She ain't ride the bus. She doesn't ride the bus. She DO be riding the bus. She did not ride the bus. -student She never rides the bus - tchr But she regularly rides the bus - student
Negative Inversion
Negative auxiliary and Negative Noun phrase are switched Couldn't nobody beat 'em vs. Nobody could beat them. MUST HAVE negative auxiliary indefinite negative noun phrase
Unstressed Been
No element of completeness Indicates unfinished I been playing her for a long time Equal to = I have been playing cards for a long time Johnny been knowing her for a long time Johnny has been... Auxiliary/Helping Verb Missing like nul copula Can add a time element (unstressed been - time element is implied) Trump and his dumb shit been getting on my nerves We been the guys throwing the rocks at the tanks Never been the type that had beef and tried to settle shit Bitch should have BIN deflated
Syntax and Variation
Not all AAE use, not all the time Rules exist
AAE lexicon
Per Lisa Green: Two parts 1) general words and phrases common across age, social, geography; language difference 2) slang changes very fast
Phonology
Phonetics - phys properties of speech (IPA) Phonology organization of sounds How do sounds relate to each other Sounds combined = phonemes Meaningful units Abstract unit to take and build larger meaningful units Minimal pairs - bat and bet
two types of linguistic approach
Prescriptive Descriptive
Five Present tenses of AAE
Present progressive : She running Nul copula She BIN running : BIN stative Started running a long time ago Still running now She be running: habitual She runs often She steady running: intensiveness of her running Maybe long, fast, committed rain or shine She been running - unstressed X minutes From the past from until now
Extended lexicon
Proverbs/rhetoric African words/gestures relexifications - taking word from one language and repurposing yet it retains same meaning
Linguistic Push-Pull Syndrome
Smitherman defines linguistic push-pull as a love/hate relationship toward Black Talk: "Black folk loving, embracing, using Black Talk, while simultaneously rejecting and hatin on it—the linguistic contradiction is manifest in both Black and White America" (6).
Final Consonants in AAE
Sometimes second c in CC# environment drop (cc becomes c) voicing of final 2 c's must match to drop cold = col jump = jump only More common when following sound (next syllable/word) = consonant the {laes} time I saw you I won't eksep this # +LESS LIKELY Say the laes answer again. This is not eksepebl. Root words are more likely to go under reduction than -ed. Guest = more likely = gues Guessed = # If you the morpho allophonic piece - ok Lose information (that this is a past tense word) Reduction of semantic content
Pluralization after dropping C
Step 1) Drop second consonant Step 2) add plural using regular rules Desk becomes des Des becomes dresses Text becomes tex Tex becomes texes
Examples
They singing - nul copula/are singing right now They be singing - habitually singing - maybe singing this monet, maybe not They done left - not necessarily just happened - time unspecific - completed They BIN left - a long time ago left They be done ate - Every time I see them, they have already eaten They BIN ate - They ate a while ago - not habituality Terrible to think a child with 5 different present tenses comes to school to be faced with
semantic inversion
To take words and concepts and either reverse their meanings or impose entirely different meanings upon them gestures and words had different meanings amongst slave vs slaveholders
Mergers
Two or more sounds become a single sound Phonemes merging - one fewer phoneme AAE - pin - pen merger feel - fill merger
Existential IT
Used to indicate something exists In lieu of There is... It was always something to do. It's kids out a little bit. It ain't nothin' to do. (Pittsburgh is boring Present and past Can be with habitual Cannot have zero copula (just like other kind of it) It's just too many people down there now. It's a working place. (1 = habitual; 2 = not existential-descriptive)
Preterite HAD
Used to mark the simple past Yesterday, I had went to the store. I had took the bus because she said she couldn't make it. He had grabbed it (he grabbed it) She had just came (She came) She had threw water (She threw water.) Different from past perfect which would be "I had already gone to the store by the time she called." Growth over time 20% pre world war 2 98% 1996 Clear linear movement up of preterite had I had took the laundry out of the washer Often used for narrative structure Clear linear movement Not in ex slave Not before WWI Starting before WWII Rises (Springville TX)
-S
Verbal/3SG She like Chinese food. As long as my number come up Genitive I'll go to my mother house. Why don't they mind they own business? His son birthday on 6/15. I like my baby hair with baby hair I like my negro nose with JAX 5 nostrils Plural She had fifty cent.
THink/broTHer - th vs th voiced
Voiceless TH = final syllable? can become [f} or [t] f: south = souf f: bathroom = bafroom t: with you- wit ju t: tenth = tent VOICELESS TH - CANNOT CHANGE AT BEGINNING OF THE WORD Voiced TH = first syllable can become [d] (beginning) or [v} (middle) d: them = dem v: mother = muva bathe = bave VOICED TH - CANNOT BE CHANGED AT THE END OF THE WORD
Arthur Spears, Howard Beach trial
What's up, N*****R? Bashed in head Defense = used a form not r
Fischer study point
Who Cares? 20th century innovation Ongoing change in progress No gender Lends support to the Divergence Hypothesis Black and white vernaculars are moving away from each other linguistically Grammars different today S vs N More separate language mean more separate peoples
Coates/N word
Why do so many whites not want to walk away from this word? Whites have right to do/be anything. Blacks always watch those doing things not for them.
Preverbal Markers
Words that Come Before the Main Verb Give special meaning to the sentence FINNA indicates an action that will happen in the imminent future precedes non-finite verb (infinitive) You finna eat? She was finna move the mattress by herself when I got there. STEADY intensive consistent manner indicates an action carried out in an intense, consistent, and continuous manner precedes a progressive verb (v + ing) She steady running her mouth. They be steady trying to make a buck.. They be steady - indicates habitualness COME expressive speaker indignation precedes progressive verb (v + ing) He come walking in her like he owned the place. Don't come acting like you don't know what happened when you started the whole thing.
Linguistic variable
a linguistic item which has identifiable variants (e.g. -ing as in running) Can occur at any level of grammar phono lexical morphosyntactic
Minimal pairs
a pair of words that differ by only 1 phoneme (dog/bog)
slang
bougie, busting out, freak, fresh, homie, jones
N word
core meaning is related to the culture of survival Can you teach it without experience coming into play? "Dis n*****s too cute for em did time" JayZ
suck teeth
draw air in - expresses anger, impatience, exasperation n, annoyance indication in Africa igbo, Cameroon
ashy
dry skin that is seen as being country bumpkin
kitchen
hair at the nape of the neck, most curly, hardest part of hair to keep from going back after straightening
stay
live in a place/frequent a place
Lexicon
mental dictionary of words
What makes AAE different
morphosyntax, phonetics, phonology, lexicon, discourse, paralinguistic
social judgment vs linguistic fact
one lang/dialect can be more prestigious than another; judgment is a power grab linguistic fact - diff't scenarios where one is more viable than another;
AAE legit language
own grammatical rules that speakers follow Own terms - ashy, kitchen, sadetty
Negation Patterns
AIN'T MULTIPLE NEGATION NEGATIVE INVERSION
Completed Done
Action marked as completed in the past Unstressed always You done changed. She done threw it out.
Age grading
Adolescents use it heavily but it falls off after adolescence Repeats from generation to genereation
Aspectual Be
An action is usually done or state is usually observed She be telling people she 28. My phone bill be high. They be sagging their pants. They be corny. There be 30 bitches at them registers. It be always cold in here. BUT: Where are K and L? *They be in the hall making noise. PUNCTUAL QUESTION NEEDS PUNCTUAL ANSWER They in the hall. Most common error I be your teacher today. EX ERROR What does your mother do everyday. She be at home. She is at home No she not 'cause she had to take grandma to the doctor. You are supposed to say "She is at home" not "She be at home." Why you tryin to make me lie? *** He is using Habitual Be whereas present SAE contradicts the fact his mother NOW is at the doctor.
Hiram Smith N word article
1099 tokens Distribution Coded for modifier (demons/poss, other) vocative (yes/no) race of speaker gender of speaker semantics (+, -, neutral) reference (1st, 2nd, 3rd, impersonal) ALL Positive = 30% Negative 33% Neutral 38% BLACK Pos - 25% Neg - 32% Neutral - 42% WHITES Pos - 38% Neg - 35% Neutral - 27% MALES Pos - 34% Neg - 26% Neutral - 39% FEMALES Pos - 24% Neg - 40% Neutral - 36% MEANINGS F(FACTOR) POSITIVE ADJECTIVE possessive 94% other 59% demonstrative 41% GENDER male 59% female 41% SPEAKER RACE nonblack 57% black 46% GENRE FB 54% Twitter 51% Ex slave recordings 20% POSSESIVE = N***a positive metaphorical meaning over time formerly ownership higher rates of whites than black using (not necc positive) OVERALL CLAIM not restricted to term of endearment neutral most frequent, positive under 33% time whites higher than blacks with positive NOT a recent reclaiming HISTORICALLY? expressed multiple meanings NO STRONG EVIDENCE that it is a resemanticization Maybe reclaimed BUT NOT reappropriated/neutral still most common in black communities positive meaning are the least frequent, mostly white Why perception? Whites changing so slur diluting?
Multiple Negation
AAE allows for more than one negative marker
Remote past BIN
BEEN or BIN or BIN with stress Action or state situated in the far past Three types STRESSED BIN COMP = completed one event situated in the past is now completed She BIN moved out. He BIN graduated. You could BIN came and had your TV back. STAT = stative *an action/state situated in the far past and still holds (state) *beginning of state started in past I BIN had this. She BIN in the kitchen. She BIN married. Atlanta BIN the place to go. I BIN had Polo. HAB = habitual *action or state situated in the far past *action started a long time ago and continues to happen (from time to time) repetition She BEEN paying his phone bill. He BEEN acting the fool. Examples: Bruce BIN playing basketball. stative - playing earlier/still on court habitual - played for yrs/still goes each Thurs Faith's BIN running for 15 minutes Habitual - increments she runs in - 15 mins/day = OK Stative - ungrammatical She been in the kitchen all morning/15 mins Going on for a long time already in Bin stative Adverbial phrase makes it ungrammatical
Apparent time hypothesis
Based on the assumption that people's basic grammar changes very little during adulthood, apparent time studies compare speakers of different ages in a particular community and use this information to describe change over time. Thus, if older speakers are different from younger speakers, it is assumed that this is because change has taken place in the community. DIffs among difft generations = actual developments in language
Combinations
Be Done Marker shows Habitual with completed action He be done ate every time I visit him. They be done spent my money before I even get a look at it. BEEN Done Completed/Emphasizes time You shoulda BEEN done called me. He BEEN done put that there.
Change in apparent time
Children acquired diff't set of grammatical rules Individual language then stays relatively stable
Consonant vs vowel
Definition - consonant and vowel Consonants usually have air restriction Voicing distinction Vowels = always voiced
Examples of Errors
Each sentence contains an error in AAE - what is the error? Why is it ungrammatical? How can it be fixed? I wish I had brought my sweater today; it be cold in here! Today vs habitual be Joanne living in New York before she moved to Chicago. Habitual be conflicts with the fact she is now in Chicago Mike not picking up his phone because he be driving to work. Habitual be implied but this is a moment Driving now is not habitual Jack steady knowing French and Portuguese. Steady = habitual and repeatedly and intensively Steady learning, studying - active Or Jack Bin knowing F and P 5 Lisa done go to the movies every month. Done = completed - conflicts with habitual be of every month Lisa done went - she did it in the past Tony ain't work there anymore. Ain't does not replace "does not" Am not present Did not preterite Have not perfect It a cold and sunny day. No nul copula after "it" Mary not here - do you know where she today? Need the is You cannot say in SAE "where she's today" Carlos finna retire in ten years. Finna = immediate — conflicts with ten years Can't Brenda tell us what to do. (not a question) Cannot invert if definite subject OR Can't no one tell us what to do. QUESTION? Can't Brenda tell us what to do? OR Brenda can't tell us what to do. Alex BIN married two times - but he been single for three years now. This should be unstressed been Two times is not something that continues on and on Joyce BIN working here for a long time. Cannot have time element in remote past when stative (completed) Preterite HAD and Habitual BE - both rising among younger af am speakers Had Mark the simple past Yesterday I had went to the store
Competing constraints on Language
Ease of Articulation Ease of Perception
