Annie
Post#1
Hi everyone! As each of you knows my name is Annie and I'm a language student. I am a friendly and shy person but that depends on the situation. My interests revolve around sports, video games, languages and reading. I like learning about new stuff like culture, languages, finding new books to read. The interest of wanting to learn languages come from my mom because when I was little my mom used to watch all the time soap-opera (those from the US) and because I wanted to know what is going to happen in the next episodes. I started to watch them even though I didn't understand what they were saying but at that time these American soap-opera helped me learn some English. Eventually, watching foreign tv series made me want to learn more about the culture and the language that revolves around us. Normally, I am not a creative person but I try to give all when it comes to these things. Right now, I don't have a lot of ideas for the integrative project but I'm thinking about researching gestures and sign language, language history or change or social variation in language. These ideas are subjects to change because I have to see if I can find a lot of information about this but at least I have something that can lead me to find my main subject.
Post#2
Topic Selection
I started doing some preliminary research on one of the subjects that I propose and the subject was the social variation in language. While I was doing my research, I found that it might be too general to just talk about social variation, so I did little of digging and I read the book the study of language. This book helped me find a more precise subject. So my final topic is the social variation in the Africain American English and I was thinking to show the differences in that language versus the standard Americain Language.
Below is some sources that I found that is useful for my research and on the left is the image of the book in which I found my subject.
Post#3
Source #1
In this source, the author gave us a more general look at what is the Africain Americain English (AAE). The author defines that AAE was created in 1973 by a group of black scholars that did not like that people use the term "NonStandard Negro English". There is another term that people can use to identify the AAE and it is ebonics, some linguists prefer to use this term because they want to focus on the African roots to show the connection with the other languages speak elsewhere. Unlike the standard English ebonics have a distinctive pronunciation, for example, we will the omission of the final consonant in some words: (Hand became han') The origin of this type of language created diverse opinions between the linguists, some said that the vocabulary of AAE came from differents dialects of English at the time where English servants and people were interacting with African slaves. Plus with this source we can see that they are different names given to African American Vernacular English. Some people can call it African American English (AAE), Ebonics, Black English.
Source#2
The information contains in this website shows some connection with the first source that I found. It gave more information about the phonology and grammatical aspect of the AAE. In my first source, the author was talking about the origins of AAE, he was saying that some linguists expressed that differents dialects associated with AAE were coming from the time were Africain slaves interact with English people. And on this website, it gave us more precise information about this by giving us three hypotheses of how it developed, The Creole Hypothesis, The English origins hypothesis and The Substrate Hypothesis. Furthermore, the author talked about how social class, age and gender affect the AAE but he talked about these subjects in a more general form so going further in my research, I will have to explore more about this.
Source #3
This third source adds another connection with the other sources. On this website, they talked about another form of AAE, and this one is called African American Vernacular English. It regroups ebonics, AAE, Black English vernacular, the addition of the term vernacular means "common" in the everyday language. Compared to the other sources, here we have some characteristics and differences in AAVE. Along with that, the author gave us more pieces of information about the phonological aspect of AAVE.
Source #4
While analyzing this source, I found that the author gave us a general perspective of what AAE is. Like the other sources, I have additional information about what is ebonics and these pieces of information will help me do my next blog post where I'm going to talk more about Ebonics. Furthermore, the author gives us an example of a linguistic characteristic of the AAEV and shows how the AAVE was recognized by society.
Source#5
This source contains the basis of my research, here the author talked about the AAE and AAVE in a very general form that allows me to do start somewhere in my research. In the book, we have an example of how the structure of how AAVE works, moreover we have a part where the author gives examples of the grammar aspects of the AAVE. Also, in this book, I have more topics research that has a link with the AAE and these topics can help me find the differences between AAE and SAE.
Post#4
Today I had to choose the topic sentences that will allow me to do my outline for my final paper. Like I said in the beginning of my second blog post, my main topic is the African American English. Here is the 3 topic sentences that I found (Ndlr: The topic sentences that I'm posting right now are subject to change)
- Africain Americain English can be recognize because of it's phonological feature that allows this type of english to be distinct from the others
- African American English can be recognize due to the different use the grammar compared to the other types of English
- AAE can acknowledge by how the slang is used in different types of social interaction and how it is separate from the Standard Americain English
Post#5
African American Vernacular English
I found an interesting video that gives explications about the linguistics in AAVE. In the video, they explain how AAVE was mostly in the Southern part of the US but with the Great Migration (1910-1970) that leads African Americans to relocate to the North. With their migration, they took their dialect with them, also they explain that the dialects that slaves used when they came in the US could have influenced the standard American English and create AAVE.
Post#6
More in details
This source is confirming the pieces of information that I found on the other website. This source gives the multiple names that people can to identify AAVE, it also confirms that AAVE was created with the arrival of slaves in the Southern US in the middle of the 19th century. The author explains that the migration of the slaves in the southern US leads to the birth of different linguistics norms. Furthermore, the author gives examples of how some words are pronounced in the AAVE. For example, the final syllable /n/ will replace the "ing" in some words like coming will become "comin". For the grammar part, the word "be" will always be used to specify the habitual occurrence. "He be laughing" or "He be drinking" Not only that the author gives some vocabulary and slang example and he shows the expression are used in the AAVE. I think the source useful because it supports the information that I found in the other sources.
Some website explains that the Great Migration is one the factor that ensures the apparition of AAVE. Well, the Great Migration happened in 1916-1970, a lot of African Americans migrated from the South of the US to multiple locations around the territory. In the previous post, I show a video where they explain a little bit what is African American Vernacular English, in that same video they explain how African Americans brought AAVE with them when they left South. Depending on which region they are, it might have been some changes in the language but in a way, AAVE stay the same.
Phonology
I came across this during my research, it is interesting because it show us some characteristic of the phonological aspect of AAVE.
Post#7
Thought.co: Definition and Examples of Standard American English (SAE)
This website gives us the definition of SAE but what I don't like about this website is the author is giving his observation about SAE and some social characteristics. I wish that the author could give us more examples of SAE on how to use it and when to use it. Instead, the author put a little list of subjects that have a direct link with the main topic of the website. Another thing that I don't like about this website is how little the information is but there's enough for me to search. There is an information that I found interesting on the website. The author tells us that some American speaker from some regions in the US is using their social power to make their English more sophisticated than the others. I feel that having this kind of thought could bring some conflicts among some cultural groups because of how people in the social class are bashing those who don't the same standard of the English language
Post#8
While I was doing my research, I found a website well it looks more like a blog, I know that I can't use for source but I feel that it might be useful for me. The author talks about the origins of AAVE, where it comes from, how it's different from the other languages. He gave us a list of what are these differences and their explication. For example, he said that in the AAVE there is always the negation "He ain't never without a job" The author explains which group will usually use and talk the AAVE, he says that most of African American will use it but some white American may use it because of how they were influenced by this culture.
Post#9
Doing my research made me realize how much I like the topic but there is something that is bothering. I feel that the more I'm doing my research the less information I'm finding. I'm saying this because on every source that I found (which I will post eventually) there's isn't new information, I do find some new information but it somewhat doesn't give me enough because to access some information on my subject I have to buy the book or the article to be able to read it and this gave me a lot of trouble. When this happens to me I feel a little bit discouraged and that gave me a lot of trouble when I had to write my outline. I hope that I will be able to go through this without other difficulties.
Attitude toward AAVE
I found this video really interesting because this shows us how AAVE is perceived by others. For some of them, AAVE is considered a controversial dialect because it doesn't contain the same characteristic of SAE. Also, in the video, there is a teacher that is explaining his experience with aave. He explains that teachers always have to correct him when he speaks English. It only in college that he truly understands that he has to use code-switching when he speaks to someone. Moreover, there is a professor that explains that a lack of recognition of aave could lead to some problems especially for children that use AAVE is a regular basis. If they don't understand the concept of code-switching they could have some difficulties at school. That is why principals in some American school are trying to make teachers understand that not acknowledging children's words use in their lifestyle can only decrease their cultural identity
Controversy: Oakland school board (1966)
In December 1996, the school board from Oakland, California, declared that African American Vernacular English is not an English dialect but a legitimate language. They stated that AAVE(ebonics could become an official language because of its own grammatical structure and because they want a language that establishes who they really are. This controversy creates a different reaction from the public, some people find this idea of AAVE becoming a language stupid and ridicule. With this reaction, the school board was not able to make AAVE recognize as an official language because is not all of African American that uses the dialects of AAVE
Ted Talk: African American Vernacular English by Morgan Gill
In this video, Morgan Gill shows a map that represents the repartition of African American that speaks AAVE in the U.S. This repartition happened during The Great Migration. She explains and gave some examples of the phonetic feature of AAVE, she also explains that we can see the features of AAVE in some Artists' music. Through the whole video, she gives examples in which situations people use AAVE and she also explains the tense aspect of AAVE. I found this video interesting because it seems that the pieces of information that Morgan Gill is giving, confirm that the information that I found makes sense and that they are not fake information. However, I can't use this video because it is a ted talks but it gives the feeling that I'm on the right track.
Some Slang words use by speakers of AAVE
- Gucci → "I'm feeling gucci"(meaning: I'm feeling good)
- Yeet → "Just yeet that into the trash" (meaning: throw that in the trash. It can be for a celebration also
- Bless up → "I finished the project for you. Bless up" (Meaning: showing appreciation for something or being grateful towards someone
- I'm weak → " Did you see that video of the cat failling off the table? I'm weak!" (meaning: when something is amusing, can be considered as a deviation of the term "LOL"
or
- Had me rolling → "That text had me rolling!" (meaning: when something is funny or amusing, this expression is a methapho that implies that you're rolling on the floor)
- Extra→ "This girl is so extra" (meaning: someone who's trying too hard, over the top).
- Salty→ "He's feeling salty because his girlfriend humiliated him in front of his friends." (meaning: bitter/annoyed by the situation
- Snatched→ "Her eyebrows looked snatched!" (meaning: someone looks good)
- Take an L → "Take the L, girl, he's not that into you" (meaning: accept the loss of something, failling an test or losing a game.)
To add a little bit to this....
These types of slang are normaly use by african american but they are not the only one. Some americans and sometimes some canadians can use these slang when they are in a informal conversation. Also, these slang can be found on social media like Twitter for example. There are a lot of memes or GIFs that uses the slang that can relate sometimes to people.
American Africain Vernacular English vs Standard American English
American African Vernacular English Phonology
Characteristics:
- Substitution of the voiced dental fricative /ð/ for the voiced aveolar /d/
The speakers of AAVE have the tendency of using the /ð/ sound at the beginning of word but they will replace with the /d/.
example:
These [ði ̆z] = dese [di ̆z]
Those [ðoʊz] = dose [doʊz]
- Lost of the final consonant in some words
example:
-Lost [lɔst] → Los_ [lɔs]
-Cold [koʊld] → Col_ [koʊl]
-Fact [fækt] → Fac_ [fæk]
-Gift [gɪft] → Gif_ [gɪf]
-Hand [hænd] → Han_ [hæn]
-Risk [rɪsk] → Ris_ [rɪs]
There are some vowel difference in AAVE
- /ɛ/ and /ɪ/ will merge to become the sound [ɪ] and this will occur before a nasal consonants.
example:
-pen [pɛn] → pin [pɪn]
- The ending sound -ing /ŋ/ will be replaced by /n/
example:
-Having → Havin'
-Morning → Morinin'
-Everything→ Everythin'
-Something→Somethin'
in addition to this, some words in AAVE
will remove the consonant "R". Like the
word four will be pronounced instead
as "fou" It is the older speakers of
AAVE that will have the tendency of
removing the "R" in some words,
nowadays the younger speakers of
AAVE will include the "r" in the words.
Standard American English
Characteristics:
- /i:/ is considered as a front vow and will be observed in the end of a word.
example:
-see [si]
-City [ˈsɪti]
- /ε/ will be used with 'r' so this will become a combination of vowel + r instead of using /i:/
example:
-Carry [ˈkæri]
-Merry [ˈmɛri]
- /u/ is use as a back vowel, meaning that we will find this sound near the center of a word.
example:
-Pull [pʊl]
- The diphthong /au/ is a characterics typical for the Americans. It is pronounced at the beginning of some words.
example:
-House [haʊs]
-Loud [laʊd]
Negation in AAVE
The negation in aave is different from the normal negation in SAE. The different elements of aave leads t some speculation of what are the real origin.
In the negation form aave, there is the "ain't" form, people can use instead of those form of verb like have + not, be+not, do+not.
Examples:
Ain't →Have+ not
"I'm real sorry we ain't had a chance to chill lately"
"I ain't never been to jail...I ain't never ran, never will..."
Ain't → be+not
"This treadmill lifestyle ain't workin' for me"
"This ain't the life for me"
"It really ain't no time for disscussion"
or
Ain't →be+not→past tense
"She ain't born in Washington"
" I tell you it ain't right, what I seen. It ain't right at all"
Ain't → do+not→present tense
"I ain't want some more"
"All I gets is pounds, you ain't want none of this"
or
Ain't→do+not→past tense
" I ain't know it was that serious man"
That's not all the "ain't" form can be used to replace "didn't".
example:
"I didn't see nothing → I ain't see nothing"
"He didn't give the man nothing → he ain't give the man nothing.
Singers, Rappers and even actors use this kind of in their lyrics or script.
About the utilisation of "be"
The utilisation of "be" can be interpreted in another way in African American Vernacular English. It can be use as "Habitual be" and this can express the state or activity in a sentence.
Examples:
- He busy = the current state of the person
- He be playing ball = means that the person often play basketball
- He bin playin ball = this express the past so it means that the person used to play basketball.
Hypothesis concering the origins of AAVE
During my research I found some sources about the origins of AAVE. However, the sources did not give a clear explanation about the real origins, some sources states that the question of knowing the real roots of aave leads to some debate between linguists. There are four hypothesis that are in the middle of the deabte.
i) Neo-Anglicist: People that support this hypothesis maintains that AAVE is linked to the early British dialect.
ii)Substrate: This hypothesis maintains that some characteristic from regional english may have been incorporated in AAVE.
iii) Creolist: Linguist that support this idea suggests that AAVE was developed due to the early contact between Afrcain and Europeans.
iv) Anglicist: This hypothesis claims that AAVE was developed with the arrival of black slaves in southern america.
The sources about the hypothesis of the real origins keep changing one source from another, it keeps giving more pieces of information without contradicting each other which in my opinion is good. Furthermore, I had some trouble during my research the more I dig in the more wall I found. I found multiple sources that had a good abstract that have a link with my subject but I couldn't read them because I had to buy them and that was so unfortunate.
Also, what I found interesting is that people are using words/slang in the social media world which is normally used by Africain Americans who used AAVE. However, the emergence of AAVE didn't bring the best reaction from the population and I found this ironic how people critic AAVE when they are using the words/slang/expression in their daily life.
Personal Reflections
I'm happy that I chose this topic but I wish that I have done the research process differently. For me, the process was really difficult because I had trouble managing my time and finding information about my topic. Some of the sources that I found gave me a little piece of information but I have to pay if I want to read all the information. Even though I found this topic interesting, I thought several times during the process to change my topic because I thought that I may not be able to find all the information that I needed. But the biggest problem that I had during this process was motivation. I had a lot of difficulties in finding the motivation to continue the research and being quarantined did not help at all. Now that we're at the end of this project I think that I could have done a better job with my blog. I looked over the other blogs and I found that some of them are way better than mine so I feel that I've could put a little bit effort into the visual of my blog. If I am given the opportunity to change something about the project, I think I will change the aesthetics of my blog and try a different approach on how to put the information that I'm giving so that the person that is going to read it will understand it all.
Sources
Rickford, John R. “What Is Ebonics ?” Linguistic Society of America, www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english.
Kendall, Tyler, Jason McLarty, and Brooke Josler. 2018. ORAAL: Online Resources for African American Language: AAL Facts. Eugene, OR: The Online Resources for African American Language Project. https://oraal.uoregon.edu/facts
“African American Vernacular English (AAVE).” Portland State University, www.pdx.edu/multicultural-topics-communication-sciences-disorders/african-american-vernacular-english-aave.
African American English. revistas.utp.edu.co/index.php/chumanas/article/viewFile/881/453.
Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
“AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH.” Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language, Encyclopedia.com, www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/african-american-vernacular-english.
Nordquist, Richard. “What Is Standard American English?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019, www.thoughtco.com/standard-american-english-1692134.
Jones, Taylor. “What Is AAVE?” Language Jones, Language Jones, 19 Sept. 2014, www.languagejones.com/blog-1/2014/6/8/what-is-aave.
Shakeri, Sima. “These Were 2018's Hottest Slang Words - But Should You Use Them?” HuffPost Canada, HuffPost Canada, 31 Dec. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/12/30/2018-slang-words-appropriation_a_23629985/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAaEjHMOEQ9G0a-UtshzwexXDIS6XlSOL0DPQHQHibiQWKbrwRI-WmaJti-pXCGr1P416xR5Qcz-WdSrXGysMcQDG-odFYmCj5pRtTTqLwgubsqXBa4ZX11fc7LWAk3IMuzF6EMdDW7uOCzxbV-gaqz51cREhyPaywKpU-dkRdLZ.
Howe, Darin. Negation in African American Vernacular English. www.ucalgary.ca/dflynn/files/dflynn/Howe2005.pdf.
“Yale Grammatical Diversity Project English in North America .” Invariant Be | Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America, ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/invariant-be.
“African-American Vernacular English.” World Englishes in Asian Contexts, by Yamuna Kachru and Cecil L. Nelson, Hong Kong University Press, 2006, pp. 211–222. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jbztz.24.
Montgomery, Michael, and Johnson, Ellen. editors. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 5: Language. University of North Carolina Press, 2007. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469616629_montgomery. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.
Mufwene, Salikoko S. The English Origins of African American Vernacular English. John Benjamins, 2014, http://mufwene.uchicago.edu/publications/ENGLISH ORIGINS OF AAE - FEST FOR EDGAR SCHNEIDER 2014.pdf. Thomas, Erik. (2007). Phonological and phonetic characteristics of AAVE. Language and Linguistics Compass.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227605544_Phonological_and_phonetic_characteristics_of_AAVE
Wolfram, Walt, and Schilling-Estes, Natalie. American English: Dialects and Variation. pdf, Blackwell, 2006.
Wolfram, Walt. “The Grammar of Urban African American Vernacular English.” http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/ENGL507/assignments/WolframUrban_AAE.pdf.
Zughoul, Rula & Abu-Melhim, Abdel-Rahman. (2016). Exploring Salient Socio-Linguistic Features of African-American English Vernacular. English Linguistics Research. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298329937_Exploring_Salient_Socio-Linguistic_Features_of_African-American_English_Vernacular