The case of african american english

Language and Ethnicity:

African-American English.

A continuum of varieties whose features may be very similar or very different from those of Standard American English.Is used in acknowledgement of the fact that these varieties are spoken primarily by and among African Americans.Age, socioeconomic status, gender, and style influence AAE varieties.

The Study of AAE

Linguists´interest in AAE:To reeducate society about the nature of AAE.Linguists proved:AAE is not a collection of random deviations from SAE.AAE is systematic and rule governed.

Linguists´interest in AAE:To reeducate society about the nature of AAE.Linguists proved:AAE is not a collection of random deviations from SAE.AAE is systematic and rule governed.

The Origin of AAE.

Dialectologist View:AAE traces its roots back to the varieties of English spoken in the British Isles, just like any other varieties of American English.Creolist View:AAE developed out a creole language used during the times of slavery, which ultimately traces its origins back to the various West African languages of the slaves who were trasported to the New World.

A Unified View.

Structural features of AAE

Case StudiesSociolinguist William Labov. (1960)How different factors such as age, region,

style,etc. Interact with a language within speech community.

Studies of language variation and the interaction of linguist behaviour and society.

Martha`s Vineyard.

Martha´s VineyardLabov asked:

1.Was centralization related to geography?2.Was ethnich group a factor in centralization?3.Was economic background an current

economic situation of the island in any way correlated with linguistic behaviour?

Martha´s VineyardAs a conclusion:Group Identification: How closely speakers

identified with the island, wanted to remain, wanted to enter into the mainstream, saw themselves as Vineyarders and were proud of it,was positively correlated with degree of centralization.

New York City : R-LessnessLack of [r] in words such as four, card, papers, etc.The use of [r] varies according to social status.Labov set out to interview salespersons from large

N.Y. department stores.If the costumers ranked high prestige, salespeople

would “borrow prestige from their costumers” (Labov 1972: 45)

Labov´s hypothesis: salespeople from the highest prestige store would exhibit the highest incidence of [r] in their speech, while those from the lowest prestige store would exhibit the lowest incidence of [r]

Table of results.(% of [r] in floor)

Total percentage of [r]s produced

What do these studies show?