African American English Midterm

Lexicon

Set of words

Prosody and Intonation

Rhythm and cadence of speech

Phonetics and Phonology

Set of sounds and sound system

Semantics

Meaning

Morphology

Structure of words and phrases

Syntax

Grammar; how words are put together to create sentences

Consonant cluster reduction

Multiple consonants at the end into one

Example: cold -> col

Develarization

ing at the end -> in'

/ŋ/ -> /n/

Example: swimming -> swimmin'

Initial stress shift

Stress moves to first syllable

Example: guiTAR -> GUItar

TH-stopping

Voiced "th" sound at the beginning of a word -> "d"

them -> dem

Labiodentalization

"th" sounds not at the beginning -> "f" or "v"

Medial/final /õ/ -> /v/

breathe -> breave

Medial/ final /Ø/ -> /f/

Example: birthday -> birfday

Two dots next to a vowel in IPA

Vowel before the dots is lengthened

[ɹ] vocalization / derhoticization

The reduction, weakening, or deletion of the /r/ sound

players - playas

Zero Copula

The absence of is or are

She is from Kankakee -> She from Kankakee

Habitual be

An aspect market of BAE that indicates an event happens regularly

She be working

existential it

Instead of "there is" or "there are", "it" is used

Aspectual done

A market that emphasizes that an action is completely finished. It usually replaces "have"

Optionality

Things that can happen in a language but don't have to; What makes BAE unique

Double negation/negative concord

Multiple negative terms still resulting in negative meaning

"Ain't no way"

Monophtongization

A diphthong, or two-vowel sound, becomes one sound

"Time' : taɪm/ → /ta:m/

Difference between slang and lexicon

Slang changes rapidly, associated with young and a casual register, and is used as a marker of identity. Words in the lexicon are more stable across time and identity

Prescriptivism

Prescribed rules about how people "should" speak.

- "Socially constructed grammaticality"

Descriptivism

Belief that all types of language are acceptable - non judgemental

Creolist hypothesis

BAE was derived from an African-based Creole language

Anglicist hypothesis

BAE derived from contact with British English

Compensatory lengthening

When a segment is deleted, the preceding segment gets lengthened as a result

love -> luh

Preterite had

Simple past tense marker rather than the past perfect tense

"She had broke the vase"

be

marks habitual/recurringe vents

BIN

situates event in the remote past

den

Marks a completed action

be den

Future or habitual completion

BIN den

Marks completion in the remote past

Zero possessive

's or s' is omitted between nouns

Tom's crib - Tom crib

Subject-verb case/number agreement of SE is

not required

Omits -s marker on verbs in the present tense

"He talk"

Question non-inversion

Maintaining standard word order (subject-verb) rather than reversing them (verb-subject) to form a question

"What you got?"

Examples of Phonological Patterns

Consonant cluster reduction, derhoticization, develarization, final consonant deletion, th-stopping, g-dropping

Examples of Grammatical Patterns

Habitual be, optionality of -s when conjugating a verb, zero copula, use of bin/din, double negation

Sonority

The melodic quality of BAE, enhances flow, & emphasizes the final word of a sentence

How can Ghoti be pronounced as fish?

Gh sound in rough makes the f sound

O in women makes the i sound

Ti in celebration makes the sh sound

Speakers of BAE

someone who is a descendant of a formerly enslaved Black person

Descriptivism

The scientific approach that observes how dialect is actually used by its speakers rather than judging it against the rules of "Standard" English

Examples of linguistic discrimination

In the courtroom - BAE being transcribed and/or interpreted by non-speakers leading to false conclusions

In Speech Language Pathology - BAE grammatical rules not recognized as acceptable forms of speech

In the classroom - Teachers often mistake BAE linguistic rules for speech or language impairments, grading biases as they view BAE as inferior

White Hollywood BAE

how the entertainment industry and non-Black celebrities adopt features of BAE for profit or "coolness

Heritage Language

Spoken language, but not written language

Derhoticization

The "r" is dropped at the end of words or before a consonant

car → cah

Ethnography

Thick description of people and cultures

Auto-Ethnography

Analyzing your personal experiences

Rule governed

Implicit rules that aren’t taught explicitly, but feel natural to BAE speakers

Pidgin

A simplified bridge used by adults who already have their own native tongues

Cut-Eye

Visual gesture expressing annoyance or anger

Orthography

Describing a written system (spelling); explicity taught

Phoneme

the smallest unit of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word

Allophoneme

the actual, physical way a sound is pronounced

Initial voiced TH

Dropping the TH at the beginning of a word

these → deez

Morphosyntax

the study of how words are formed and how they are put together to create sentences

Zero possessive

The dropping of a possessive at the end of a word

Katie’s cat → Katie cat

(only able to happen in some circumstances)

What does “A language is a dialect with its own army/navy” mean?

That languages have POWER

Ellipsis

the omission of one or more words from a sentence that are still understood from the context

Creole

When a pidgin is passed down to children as their first language, it becomes a creole. Children naturally expand their vocabulary and stabilize their grammar into a full, complex language.