Myth and Reality: The Nature of Language and Linguistic Variation

Myth: Other people speak dialects.

Reality: Everyone who speaks a language speaks some kind of dialect.

Myth: Dialects always have very distinctive features that set them apart.

Reality: Some dialects get more attention than others; only public comment and perception confer status or stigma on dialects.

Myth and Reality: The Nature of Language and linguistic Variation

Myth: Dialects are ungrammatical; they deviate from “normal” speech.Reality: Dialects are systematic and rule-governed—they can be described with the same precision and analysis as standard varieties.

Myth: Dialects inherently carry negative social connotations.Reality: Social connotations are derived strictly from the social position of the speech community that utilizes a given dialect.

Speech Varieties

register idiolect sociolect regional dialect standard

formal individual gender geographical superposed

informal SE class

technical ethnicity

etc. etc.

Speech varieties interact—each type is conditioned by all the other types.

Speech varieties and speech events

Overt prestige—norms associated with either the standard or some other equally prestigious variety

In America now: regionally, socially unmarked speech

In America in the past: so called r-less variety

In Britain: regional dialect of London-Cambridge-Oxford known as Received Pronunciation (RP)

Speech varieties and speech events

Covert prestige—norms associated with regionally or socially local patterns

In America now, so-called r-less speech has covert prestige in some locales (New York, Boston, Charleston, SC, etc.), while r-ful speech has overt prestige generally in America.

an r-ful pronunciation: New York

the general ("Midwestern") prestige pattern

an r-less pronunciation: New Yawk

the more local (New England) prestige pattern

“African American English” (AAE) is generally a sociolect, but its use is conditioned by register, idiolect, geography, and Standard American English (SAE).

• ca. 10 % of the US population is African American, but not all speak AAE• many different varieties of AAE:

due to geographical and sociological differences (north ~ south, rural ~ urban, female~ male, social class, neighborhoods,professions etc.)

•William Labov, University of Pennsylvania, is usually credited with initiating the scholarly study of AAE.

•1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

•1972. Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

The study of AAE is currently one of the most vigorous areas of sociolinguistic research.

•Actually, Lorenzo Dow Turner (1895-1972), the first formally trained African American linguist, produced the first scholarly analysis of African American speech.

•1949. Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect.

Changing terminology reflects the advance of research:

•Negro English

•Black English

•Black English Vernacular (BEV)

•Afro-American English

•African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

“African American English” is now generally accepted.

History of AAE

•Languages and language varieties are “born,” develop, change, and (sometimes) die over time—How did AAE begin? How has it changed? What are its characteristics today?

•How does AAE relate to early Modern English (ca. 1500-1800)?

•How does AAE relate to other varieties of present-day English?

•How does AAE relate to African languages?

• Most modern linguists have noticed striking similarities between AAE and the languages known as Hamito-Bantu, which are spoken in an area known as Niger-Congo and includes the Ivory Coast where much of the slave trade found port.

Bantu Place Names in South Carolina Place Name

Origin Meanings

Alcolu Alakana hope for; long for; desire exceedingly

Ampezan Ampeje let him give to me

Ashepoo Ashipe let him kill

Attakulla Atuakuile let him intercede for us, speak on our behalf

Becca Beka exaggerate; go beyond the bounds

Beetaw Bita handcuffs; manacles; shackles used in slavery

Boyano Mbuy’enu your friend

Boo-Boo Mbubu imbecile; a stupid person

Booshopee

Bushipi murder; killing

Bossis Botshisha be beaten down, trampled upon

Canehoy Kenahu he isn’t here

Calwasie Kaluatshi short battlefront; line formed for the chase

Caneache

Kenaku he isn’t here (at this spot)

Cashua Neck

Kashia river eel

Chachan Tshiatshiakana

not know what to do, where to turn for help

Chebash Tshibasu chieftain’s seat (symbolic block of wood on which chief sits)

Cheeha Tshipa make a vow; curse

Chepasbe

Tshipese any small portion, piece, bit broken off or taken from the whole

Chichessa

Tshitshenza

big doing; important events; happening

Chick Tshika guard; keep a secret (imperative)

Chinch Row

Tshinji bug; insect

Chiahao Tshiahu working group, field gang; family that works together

Chiquola Tshikole strong; well; grown; mature

Chota Tshiota the clan; extended family group

Chukky Tshuki don’t answer; don’t replay; be closemouthed (imperative)

Cofitachequi

Kufitshishi

don’t allow to pass over; don’t let cross over to the other side, go over the boundary

Combahee

Kombahu

sweep here (imperative)

Cumbee Nkumbi large, wedge-shaped, slit drum beaten on both sides

Coosabo Kusabo they shake their heads, say "no"

3 Hypotheses of the Origin and Development of AAE

•Anglicist (mid 20th C) – AAE derived directly from British-based dialects and modern AAE is equivalent to rural Southern white speech

Eurocentric

Speakers of indigenous African languages acquired English quickly and/or no vestiges of early language contact remain

Features of AAE derive from other varieties of English, primarily white Southern varieties

3 Hypotheses of the Origin and Development of AAE

•Creole (1960s-70s) – AAE derived from creole found in African diaspora

developed from a pidgin

Haitian Creole French

Jamaican Creole English

Gullah?

3 Hypotheses of the Origin and Development of AAE

•Neo-Anglicist (1990s) – postcolonial African American speech similar to early British dialects, but AAE has diverged from European American speech

Differences between AAE and other varieties of American English are creations of the twentieth century—not an older linguistic inheritance

Who is right?

Problems associated with the study of AAE:

•Nature of texts

Problems include questions of authorship, questions about models (native speech or literary?), manipulation of written code (does orthographical ability obscure facts of oral language?), representativeness (is writer a representative speaker?)

Audio recordings made in 1930s include speakers born in 1860s, but are rare, sparse, and of poor quality

American Folk Life Center of the Library of Congress

Problems associated with the study of AAE:

•Sociohistorical context

Demographic & Sociohistorical circumstances are very important

Issues include migration, contact ecology, population demographics, social valuation

Problems associated with the study of AAE:

•Variation in earlier AAE

Initial linguistic diversity: Africans spoke various native languages and had various English proficiency and were exposed to various contact situations.Individual variation within a community can be significant