Content
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………...3
2. The roots of African American English……………………………………..3
3. Features……………………………………………………………………….5
3.1Phonetics……………………………………………………………………5
3.1.1.The “th” in AAE………………………………………………...5
3.1.2The Consonant Cluster education(CCR)…………...………..….7
3.2AAE as a non-rhotic dialect………..…………………………………...…9
3.3 Grammatical Features…………………………………………………......10
3.3.1Negation……………………………………………………...…10
3.3.2Time Reference……………………………………...…………11
3.4 BIN………………………………………………………………………12
4. Conclusion
5. Works cited
6. Appendix
2. The roots of African American English
Geneva Smitherman answers the question where the “black language and style” came from with the beginning of slavery in Colonial America. In 1619 a Dutch vessel brought with a cargo twenty Africans to Jamestown, Virginia to work there as “indentured servants”.
The blacks where mostly brought from countries of the African West Coast over the so called “West passage” to the Colonies in America. They were forced to work on the cash crop plantations, harvesting tobacco, cotton, Sugar and coffee.
Because there is, of course, no tape recordings of the language the slaves spoke, linguists have “to rely on reconstructions of black talk based on indirect evidence […] written reproductions of the dialect in Journals, letters and diaries by whites […].
African slaves developed a pidgin, what Smitherman calls a “language of transaction” used to communicate between themselves and the whites. This pidgin developed over the years as a widespread Creole among slaves. It consisted of the West-African words which were substituted little by little by English words but with the same basic language structures of West- African Languages. These Languages for example allow sentence constructions without the verb to be. According to that, sentences like “He going” still occur today in African American Vernacular English environments.
Because the American settlers did not speak Standard British English as they came from Ireland, Scotland, and Germany etc. the slaves adopted certain features of the pidgin the settlers spoke to their Creole. Especially in the South, where a lot of Irish settled, a typical feature of Irish phonology is wide spread.
Words like red and hat are pronounced with diphthongs, as “reɑd” and “həat”, respectively, which the blacks adopted to their language.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The roots of African American English
3. Features
3.1Phonetics
3.1.1.The “th” in AAE
3.1.2The Consonant Cluster education(CCR)
3.2AAE as a non-rhotic dialect
3.3 Grammatical Features
3.3.1Negation
3.3.2Time Reference
3.4 BIN
4. Conclusion
Objectives & Core Themes
This paper examines the linguistic properties and historical development of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), focusing on phonetic patterns and specific grammatical structures that distinguish it from Standard American English.
- Historical origins of AAVE in Colonial America
- Phonetic characteristics including interdental fricatives and consonant cluster reduction
- Non-rhotic nature of the dialect
- Grammatical features such as double negation and complex time-reference markers
Excerpt from the Book
3.1.2 The Consonant Cluster Simplification or Consonant Cluster Reduction
According to Bailey and Thomas some phonological features “such as final consonant cluster reduction […] occur in all or most varieties of African American English or to occur in a wider range of contexts.”
The consonant cluster basically means that speakers especially of AAVE leave out the consonant in final word position, but only in postconsonantical position. That means, words like desk, test, first or wasp become in AAVE des, tes, firs and was, respectively.
In phrases where the consonant is followed by an obstruent with the same place of articulation, the final consonant is lost, but only if there’s a cluster of two consonants.
In a phrase like worst thing the final consonant /t/ would be lost, because the last and first letter /t/ has the same place of articulation (alveolar oral stop). So the last consonant /t/ of worst is lost, which leads to the phonological phrase “wors thing”
The consonant cluster reduction can be explained by the voicing generalisation. The voicing generalisation is an articulatory feature to describe consonant sounds. It is used to describe the state of the glottis, the opening of the vocal folds while producing consonant sounds.
A final consonant cluster (e.g. as in mist or desk) is reduced by deleting the final member of the cluster if the two consonants forming the cluster have the same voicing value, in which both are [+voice] (voiced) or [-voice] (voiceless).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: The author outlines the scope of the paper, defining AAVE and explaining the focus on phonetic and grammatical features.
2. The roots of African American English: This chapter covers the historical emergence of AAVE from pidgin and Creole varieties during the colonial period.
3. Features: This section provides a detailed linguistic analysis of specific AAVE characteristics, categorized by phonetics and grammar.
3.1Phonetics: An exploration of variable absence of interdental fricatives and consonant cluster reduction patterns.
3.1.1.The “th” in AAE: Discusses the substitution of /t, d, f, v/ for interdental fricatives.
3.1.2The Consonant Cluster education(CCR): Analyzes the rules governing the reduction of final consonant clusters.
3.2AAE as a non-rhotic dialect: Examines the vocalization of /r/ in word-final and preconsonantal positions.
3.3 Grammatical Features: Discusses syntactic variations, specifically focusing on negation and time reference.
3.3.1Negation: Explores the use of multiple negations or "negative concord".
3.3.2Time Reference: Distinguishes between realis and irealis tenses in AAVE.
3.4 BIN: Explains the function of BIN as a remote time marker.
4. Conclusion: Summarizes the research findings, emphasizing the historical depth and cultural richness of African American Language.
Keywords
African American Vernacular English, AAVE, Phonetics, Consonant Cluster Reduction, Negation, Non-rhotic, Syntax, Linguistics, Creole, Pidgin, Dialectology, Time Reference, BIN, Morphology, Black English
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this paper?
The paper explores the structural, phonetic, and grammatical features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and its historical roots.
What are the central themes discussed in the text?
The central themes include the development of AAVE from colonial pidgins, the analysis of specific phonetic behaviors like r-lessness, and grammatical structures like multiple negation.
What is the main research question of the work?
The work aims to explain how AAVE functions as a distinct, rich, and diverse dialect through specific linguistic markers and historical evolution.
Which scientific methods does the author apply?
The author relies on sociolinguistic and historical research, utilizing existing academic literature and reconstructions of linguistic development in the absence of original recordings.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section details phonetic phenomena, such as the absence of interdental fricatives and consonant cluster reduction, and grammatical features including tense markers and negation.
Which keywords characterize this work?
The work is characterized by terms like AAVE, consonant cluster reduction, negative concord, non-rhoticity, and remote time markers.
How is the "BIN" construction defined in the text?
BIN is identified as a remote time marker that indicates an action or state that occurred in the distant past or has been in effect for a long time.
How does the author explain the existence of "double negation" in AAVE?
The author describes it as "negative concord," where multiple negative elements are used in a single sentence to emphasize the negative state, often following distinct social and linguistic rules.
What is the significance of the "non-rhotic" characteristic mentioned?
The non-rhotic nature of AAVE, referring to the omission of the written /r/ in specific positions, connects the dialect to broader southern American speech patterns and historical phonological developments.
Does the author suggest that AAVE features are random?
No, the author emphasizes that these features follow consistent grammatical and linguistic rules rather than being random variations.
- Quote paper
- Florian Paulus (Author), 2008, African American English - properties and features, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/90179
