African American English (AAVE) was first brought to the attention of linguists when in the 1960s, the government realised that African American (AA) children from urban ghettoes were worse in school than white pupils. To counteract this, it financed compensation programmes in which AA children should be taught Standard English (SE) “by means of structural drills and techniques adopted from foreign language learning”. When this approach failed, linguists suggested that AA children only spoke a different dialect than white children and that consequently, it would be necessary to teach them SE as an additional dialect. However, this approach also failed because the failure of AA children in school seems to be a result of a cultural and social divide between AA and white American society, of which separate dialects of English are only a symptom.
It will therefore be the aims of this paper to prove this belief wrong and prove that AAVE is indeed a rule-governed language, to investigate its origins and its use in Zora Neale Hurston’s most famous novel, Their EyesWereWatching God.
Table of Contents
1 AAVE in public consciousness
2 Definition of AAVE
2.1 Definition
2.2 A note on terms
3 Theories about the origins of AAVE
4 A Comparison of AAVE and SE
4.1 Syntax
4.2 General Remarks
4.2.1 Obvious and camouflaged differences
4.2.2 Negative concord
4.2.3 Negative inversion
4.2.4 Question formation
4.2.5 Tense
4.2.6 Aspect
4.2.7 Structure of the noun phrase
4.2.8 Omission of the copula
4.2.9 The tell-say-construction
4.2.10 Double modals
4.3 Phonology
4.4 Lexicon
5 Social implications of AAVE
5.1 Reasons for the ongoing existence of a separate AA dialect
5.2 Reasons for the further divergence of AAVE and SE
6 Use in Their Eyes Were Watching God
6.1 Zora Neale Hurston’s take on AAVE
6.2 The use of AAVE in Their Eyes
Objectives and Topics
The primary objective of this paper is to challenge the prejudiced perception that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is merely a deficient or incorrect form of Standard English. By conducting a detailed linguistic analysis, the work aims to demonstrate that AAVE is a systematic, rule-governed language with distinct syntactic, phonological, and lexical features, while further exploring its origins and literary application in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.
- The historical development and social origins of AAVE.
- Linguistic comparison between AAVE and Standard English syntax.
- Phonological features and lexical characteristics of the dialect.
- Socio-political implications and the ongoing divergence of AAVE.
- Literary representation and stylistic use of AAVE in African American fiction.
Excerpt from the Book
4.2.2 Negative concord
Negative concord, or multiple negation, is “the use of two or more negative morphemes to communicate a single negation” [MRB98](17) when in SE, a sentence must not contain more than one negative morpheme. However, this does not automatically mean that all negatable forms in that sentence have to be negated.
a) Ain’t nobody gonna spend no time going to no doctor.
b) Nobody is going to spend any time going to a doctor.
Where AAVE in a) permits more than one negative morpheme in one sentence, SE uses at least on negative polarity item (NPI); “a quantifier word or phrase(e.g. any, ever, a bit) that occurs within the ‘scope’ of the negative” [MRB98](18). Negative concord in AAVE should not be confused with logical double negation found in most other dialects. In that case, one negative morpheme undoes the other to form an emphatic positive. Logical double negation sentences can – in speech – be distinguished from negative concord sentences by the stress usually laid on one of the two negative morphemes [MRB98](17-18).
Summary of Chapters
1 AAVE in public consciousness: Provides an overview of the historical stigmatization of AAVE and the legal and educational debates surrounding its recognition as a legitimate language.
2 Definition of AAVE: Defines the scope of the dialect and discusses the historical and academic nomenclature used to label this variety of English.
3 Theories about the origins of AAVE: Examines the primary linguistic debates regarding the origins of AAVE, contrasting the dialectologist and creolist perspectives.
4 A Comparison of AAVE and SE: Offers a comprehensive linguistic analysis of the syntactic, phonological, and lexical properties that distinguish AAVE from Standard English.
5 Social implications of AAVE: Discusses the ecological and ethological factors contributing to the persistence and increasing divergence of AAVE in modern American society.
6 Use in Their Eyes Were Watching God: Analyzes Zora Neale Hurston's philosophical approach to AAVE and her specific stylistic application of the dialect within her seminal novel.
Keywords
African American Vernacular English, AAVE, Standard English, Ebonics, Linguistics, Syntax, Phonology, Lexicon, Negative concord, Language divergence, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dialectology, Creolistics, African American culture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this academic paper?
The paper focuses on African American Vernacular English (AAVE), examining its linguistic structures, its historical origins, and its social implications within the United States.
What are the primary thematic areas covered?
The study covers the definition of the dialect, theories of its origin, a comparative syntactic and phonological analysis against Standard English, and its portrayal in literary works.
What is the central research aim?
The goal is to disprove the common prejudice that AAVE is "broken" English by demonstrating that it is a systematic, rule-governed linguistic variety.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The paper utilizes a comparative linguistic methodology, analyzing academic literature to contrast AAVE features with Standard English and evaluating Zora Neale Hurston's literary techniques.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body details syntactic features (such as negative concord and copula omission), phonological rules, lexical peculiarities, and the social factors driving the divergence of the dialect.
Which keywords define this work?
Key terms include AAVE, linguistics, syntax, negative concord, language divergence, and Zora Neale Hurston.
How does the author define the "tell-say-construction" in AAVE?
It is identified as a serial verb construction that marks the beginning of a quotation, serving as a distinctive feature that differentiates AAVE from other varieties of English.
What does Hurston mean by the "will to adorn" in African American expression?
It refers to the stylistic tendency toward metaphor, simile, and double description, which Hurston identifies as a significant contribution to language.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Leonie Weißweiler (Autor:in), 2014, African American Vernacular English and its Use in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/339740
