African American English

1
African American English

• ? Phonology
• ? Syntax
• ? Vocabulary NOT in FRH

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 442-446.
2
AAE Phonology 1

• ? r-deletion (not unique to AAE)
• guard god
• sore saw

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 443-444.
3
AAE Phonology 2

• ? l-deletion (some speakers)
• all awe
• help hep
• ? Consonant cluster simplification (not unique)
• passed pass
• meant men

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 444.
4
AAE Phonology 3

• ? Neutralization of ? and ? before nasals
  (not unique)
• pin pen
• tin ten
• ? Loss of interdental fricatives (not unique)
• thing ? fing
• this, that, these, those ? d

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 444.
5
AAE Syntax 1

• ? Multiple negatives (not unique to AAE)
• He dont know nothing.
• ? Deletion of the verb be
• SAE AAE
• He is nice / He nice
• Hes nice

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 445.
6
AAE Syntax 2

• ? Habitual be
• John be happy. John is always happy.
• John happy. John is happy now.
• He be late. He is habitually late.
• He late. He is late this time.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 445-446.
7
AAE Vocabulary

• Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams do not discuss this
  at all.

8
Lakoffs Womens Language

• ? More hedges
• I suppose, I would imagine, This is
• probably wrong but
• ? More tag questions
• Hes not a very good actor, is he?
• ? Words showing politeness
• please, thank you
• ? Intensifying adjectives
• really, so

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 449.
9
Labovs Department Store Study

• ? Saks High end
• ? Macys In the middle
• ? Kleins Low end

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pP. 450-451.
10
Lingua Francas around the World

• ? Mediterranean (Historically)
• Greek
• Latin
• Provencal/Italian original Lingua Franca
• ? East Africa
• Swahili
• ? West Africa
• Hausa
• ? India
• Hindi / English
• ? China
• Mandarin (also Standard)

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 453-454.
11
Pidgin

• A pidgin languageis a lingua franca which
  has no native speakers.

Peter Trudgill. Sociolinguistics An
Introduction to Language and Society, third
edition. London Penguin Books, 1995, p. 157.
12
Creole

• When a pidgin comes to be adopted by a
  community as its native tongue, and children
  learn it as a first language, that language is
  called a creole the pidgin has become
  creolized.

Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman. An
Introduction to Language, sixth edition. Forth
Worth Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998,
p. 425.
13
Shakespeare in Pidgin/CreoleJulius Caesar (Act
III, Scene 2)

• Friends, Romans, countrymen,
• lend me your ears.
• I come to bury Caesar,
• not to praise him.
• Krio
• Padi dem, kohntri, una ohl wey dey na Rom.
• Meyk una ohl kak una yeys.
• A kam ber Siza,
• a noh kam preyz am.
• Tok Pisin
• Pren, man bolong Rom,
• Wantok, harim nau.
• Mi kam tasol long plantim Kaesar.
• Mi noken beiten longen.

David Crystal. 1987. The Cambridge Encyclopedia
of Language. Cambridge Cambridge University
Press, p. 335.
14
Code switching

• ? Sometimes Ill start a sentence in English and
  termino en español.
• ? I mean, cest un idiot, ce mec-là.
• ? Johan hat mir gesagt that you were going to
  leave.
• ? ???????movie was really amazing.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 461-462.
15
Styles

• Most speakers of a language speak one way
  with friends, another on a job interview or
  presenting a report in class, another talking to
  small children, another with their parents, and
  so on. These situation dialects are called
  styles or registers.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 469.
16
Slang

• Slang is something that nearly everyone uses and
  recognizes, but nobody can define precisely.
• It is more metaphorical, playful, elliptical,
  vivid, and shorter-lived than ordinary language.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 470.
17
Slang

• freshman older slang, now general
• mob ditto
• fan more recent slang, now general
• phone ditto
• TV ditto
• barf fairly recent slang
• space out ditto
• rip-off ditto
• beat it still slang (since Shakespeare)

Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman. An
Introduction to Language, sixth edition. Forth
Worth Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998,
p. 427.
18
Taboo Words / Topics

• ? Sex
• ? Religion
• ? Bodily functions
• ? Race
• ? Death

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 471-473.
19
Language Changes Depending on Social Factors

• Where talk takes place (Physical setting)
• Who you talk to (Interlocutors)
• What you talk about (Register)
• Medium used
• Level of formality (Style)

20
Social Context Factors

• ? Social background
• ? Ethnic group
• ? Gender
• ? Age
• ? Educational background
• ? Formality

21
Differences in Language

• ? Different languages
• ? Different dialects (AAE)
• ? Lingua Franca
• ? Pidgins and Creoles
• ? Styles
• ? Slang
• ? Jargon and Argot (Register)
• ? Taboo words
• ? Euphemisms