THE LANGUAGE IDENTITY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ...

THE LANGUAGE IDENTITY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN

ENGLISH EXPRESSED IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S

THE MAN WHO WAS ALMOST A MAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

MUHAMAD ALFISYAHRIN AZIS

Student Number: 134214138

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2017

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

i

THE LANGUAGE IDENTITY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN

ENGLISH EXPRESSED IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S

THE MAN WHO WAS ALMOST A MAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

MUHAMAD ALFISYAHRIN AZIS


ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2017


A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

THE LANGUAGE IDENTITY OF AFRICAN AMERICANENGLISH EXPRESSED IN RICHARD WRIGHT'S

THE MAN WHO WAS ALMOSTA MAN

ByMUHAMAD ALFISYAHRIN AZIS


Approved by

Dr. Fr. B. Nip, M.Pd., M.A.Co-Advisor

;11

May 29, 2017

May 29, 2017


A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis



ByMUHAMAD ALFISYAHRIN AZIS


Defended before the Board ofExaminerson June 6, 2017

and Declared Acceptable

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Name

Chairperson : Dr. B. Ria Lestari, M.Sc.

Secretary : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A.

Member 1 : Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum.

Member 2 : Dr. B. Ria Lestari, M.Sc.

Member 3 : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A.

-

III


STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been

previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to

the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously

written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the

undergraduate thesis

Yogyakarta, May 15, 2017

IV


LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAHUNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharn1a

NamaNomOf Mahasiswa

: Muhamad Alfisyahrin Azis: 134214138

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada PerpustakaanUniversitas Sanata Dhanna karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul



beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (hila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikankepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dhanna hak untuk menyimpan,mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau medialain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya maupunmemberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai

penulis.

Demikian pemyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenamya.

Dibuat di YogyakartaPada tanggal 15 Mei 2017

Yang menyatakan,

v


vi

mOTTO

“A simple thought may

conquer the complicated

world.”

“Time heals, love works.”


vii

dEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to my dearest family for their never ending love

and especially my mom for being the best grace that I have ever had.


viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my endless gratitude to Allah SWT for

every blessing and enlightenment bestowed upon me every day. I must say that I

have had hard time in conducting this thesis while going to work. There are so many

obstacles and challenges I have faced but the Almighty God always gives me

strength and patience to finally finish this thesis.

I am deeply fortunate and thankful for being able to be advised by my thesis

advisor, Dr. B. Ria Lestari, whose kindness, vision, guidance, and encouragement

help me a lot to finish my thesis. My sincere gratitude is also addressed to Dr. Fr. B.

Alip, M.Pd., M.A., my co-advisor, for giving me powerful suggestions to make my

thesis better.

Besides, I am indebted to the people who always encourage and support me

while finishing my research. I have been encouraged all the time by my supportive

family including my father (Azis Sima), brother (Muhamad Alfian Azis) and sister

(Fitri Yuliani Azis). I take this opportunity to convey my sincere thanks to my

beloved mom (Muzuniah) who I know she is no longer with me but I am sure she

shares the joy with us in heaven.

I would like to seize this chance to show my special thanks and appreciation

to my friends, Miss Joice and Miss Helmy, who always support me when I am up

and down while doing my research. I also extend my thanks to all of my classmates

who share colorful and meaningful experiences during my study in Sanata Dharma

University.

Muhamad Alfisyahrin Azis


ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................ ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ....................................................................................... iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................. iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ........................... v

MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................... vi

DEDICATION PAGE ......................................................................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... ix

LISTS OF TABLES ............................................................................................ xii

LIST OF FIGURE .............................................................................................. xiii

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... xiv

ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... xv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study .............................................................................. 1

B. Problem Formulation ................................................................................... 4

C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................ 4

D. Definition of Terms ...................................................................................... 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................. 8

A. Review of Related Studies ........................................................................... 8

B. Review of Related Theories ......................................................................... 11

1. Theory of African American English ........................................................ 11

a. Background of African American English ........................................... 12

b. Characteristics of African American English ....................................... 14

i. Phonological Feature .......................................................................... 15

1. Theory of Phonetics ................................................................... 16

a. Consonant Sounds ................................................................... 17

i. Place of Articulation ............................................................ 17

ii. Manner of Articulation ......................................................... 19

b. Vowel Sounds ......................................................................... 23

i. Tongue Position ................................................................... 23

ii. Lip Rounding ....................................................................... 24


x

iii.Tense and Lax Vowels ........................................................ 24

2. Phonological Processes .............................................................. 25

a. Assimilation ............................................................................ 25

b. Deletion and Epenthesis .......................................................... 26

c. Affrication ............................................................................... 27

d. Vowel weakening .................................................................... 27

e. Vocalization ............................................................................ 27

f. Monophthongization ............................................................... 27

ii. Syntactic Feature ................................................................................ 29

a. Verbal Tense Marking................................................................... 29

b. Nouns and Pronouns ..................................................................... 30

c. Negation ........................................................................................ 31

iii.Lexical Feature ................................................................................... 32

a. The Use of Set ............................................................................... 32

b. The Use of Kin .............................................................................. 33

2. Theory of Standard English ...................................................................... 33

3. Theory of Communicative Event .............................................................. 34

4. Theory of Interpersonal Speech Accommodation..................................... 35

C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................ 38

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 41

A. Object of the Study ....................................................................................... 41

B. Approach of the Study .................................................................................. 41

C. Method of the Study ..................................................................................... 42

1. Data Collection.......................................................................................... 42

2. Data Analysis ............................................................................................ 43

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS (RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS) .................. 46

1. Phonological Features ............................................................................... 46

a. Realization of Final /ŋ/ as in Gerunds .................................................. 47

b. Realization of voiced /ð/ ....................................................................... 48

c. Consonant Dropping ............................................................................. 49

d. Realization of retroflex /r/ .................................................................... 52

e. Reduction of Word-Final Consonant Clusters...................................... 54

f. Monophthongal pronunciations ............................................................ 56

g. Realization of /t/ ................................................................................... 57


xi

h. Deletion of schwa /ə/ ............................................................................ 59

i. Realization of word-final consonant /k/ ............................................... 60

2. Syntactic Features ..................................................................................... 61

a. Verbal Tense Marking .......................................................................... 61

i. The Loss of Copula be ....................................................................... 62

ii. The Absence and Addition of Suffix in Present Verbs ...................... 63

iii.The Nonexistence of Auxiliary in Perfect Tense ............................... 64

iv. The Use of done to Indicate Perfective Aspect .................................. 65

b. Noun Marker......................................................................................... 66

i. The Absence of suffix {–s} in plural noun ........................................ 66

c. Pronouns ............................................................................................... 67

i. The Use of Copula in Personal Pronoun ............................................ 67

ii. The Use of Pronoun Them or em as Article The ................................ 68

iii.The Use of Pronoun They as Adverb There ....................................... 69

d. Negation................................................................................................ 69

i. The Use of ain’t/ain’ .......................................................................... 70

ii. The Use of Double Negation .............................................................. 70

iii.The Realization of ain’t but ............................................................... 71

3. Lexical Features ........................................................................................ 72

a. The Use of Set....................................................................................... 73

b. The Use of Kin ...................................................................................... 73

B. The Effect and Reason of AAE to SE User‟s Language Choice .................. 75

1. The Effect of AAE to SE Users ................................................................ 75

2. The Reasons of SE User‟s Language Change ........................................... 78

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ........................................................................ 83

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 86

APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 89

Appendix 1: The Linguistic Features of AAE Compared to SE ....................... 89

Appendix 2: The Effect of AAE to SE Users .................................................... 98


xii

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 1. Phonological Features of AAE .......................................................... 15

Table 2. Phonetic Alphabet for English Pronunciation .................................... 16

Table 3. Phonetic Symbols for American English Consonants ....................... 22

Table 4. Feature matrix for American English Vowels ................................... 25

Table 5. Phonological Process of Assimilation................................................ 28

Table 6. Phonological Process of Realization of Final /ŋ/ ............................... 47

Table 7. Phonological Process of Realization of /ð/ ........................................ 48

Table 8. Phonological Process of v-Dropping.................................................. 50

Table 9. Phonological Process of t-Dropping .................................................. 51

Table 10. Phonological Process of /r/-Realization ........................................... 53

Table 11. Phonological Process of d-Deletion ................................................. 55

Table 12. Phonological Process of t-Deletion .................................................. 55

Table 13. Phonological Process of Monophthongization ................................ 56

Table 14. Phonological Process of /t/ Realization ........................................... 57

Table 15. Phonological Process of /ə-/ Deletion .............................................. 59

Table 16. Phonological Process of /k/ Realization........................................... 60

Table 17. The Loss of Copula be ..................................................................... 62

Table 18. The Absence and Addition of Suffix {–s} or {–es} ........................ 63

Table 19. The Nonexistence of Auxiliaries (Have/Has) .................................. 64

Table 20. The Insertion of Done ...................................................................... 65

Table 21. The Absence of Suffix {–s} in Plural Nouns ................................... 66

Table 22. The Use of Copula in Personal Pronoun .......................................... 67

Table 23. The Use of Them or em as The ......................................................... 68

Table 24. The Use of They as There ................................................................ 69

Table 25. The Use of ain’t ............................................................................... 70

Table 26. The Use of Double Negation ........................................................... 71

Table 27. The Realization of ain’t but ............................................................. 72

Table 28. The Use of Set .................................................................................. 73

Table 29. The Use of Kin ................................................................................. 74

Table 30. The Effect of AAE to SE User‟s Language Choice ......................... 76

Table 31. The Analysis of the Influenced SE Users ........................................ 78


xiii

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 1. Classification of American English Vowels ..................................... 24


xiv

ABSTRACT

AZIS, MUHAMAD ALFISYAHRIN. The Language Identity of African

American English Expressed in Richard Wright’s The Man Who Was Almost A

Man. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma

University, 2017.

Language has an important role as a communicative tool to human‟s life.

Through the language, meanings of the speech are conveyed to the listener.

However, these meanings are distributed to different kinds of language. Specifically,

a language can be varied into more complex languages called dialect. In English,

there are many dialects, and one of them is African American English (AAE). The

dialect is regarded as the substandard language since it does not follow the rule as in

Standard English (SE). However, this research intends to show that AAE has a rule-

governed language demonstrated in the short story, The Man Who Was Almost a Man

(1961) by Richard Wright.

Further, in order not to see the AAE as the substandard language, this

research is conducted to answer two problems. First, the linguistic features of AAE

including phonological, syntactic and lexical features will be examined. Second, after

figuring out the linguistic features of AAE, the writer finds out the effects and

reasons of AAE to the SE user‟s language choice.

In order to analyze the short story, the sociolinguistic approach is

appropriate to be applied. Studying the relationship between two languages and

language contact is also a part of sociolinguistic study. Further, some steps were

taken in accomplishing this study. Firstly, the writer collects the data related to

phonological, syntactic and lexical features uttered by AAE characters, Dave, Mrs.

Saunders, and Mr. Saunders. Then, the data will be compared to SE to show the

difference. Secondly, the data showing effects and reasons of AAE to the SE user‟s

language choice will be taken from SE characters who imitate the linguistic features

of AAE.

The result of the analysis is drawn into two categories. The first is the

characteristics of AAE examined by the three linguistic features found in the short

story such as phonological, syntactic, and lexical features. The findings prove that

AAE carries distinctive and systematic language features. The second is the effects

and reasons of AAE to the language choice of SE users. The finding displays that SE

users imitate the linguistic features of AAE. The language change is based on factors

in the components of communicative event including participants, setting and act

sequence which can influence the characters‟ language choice. Besides, the

interpersonal speech accommodation in which narrowed to two psychological

processes namely similar attraction and causal attribution give contribution as well in

revealing the reasons of the language change of SE users. In conclusion, AAE has

formed its own identity as the variety of English that should be respected and

accepted as any other varieties of English.


xv

ABSTRAK

AZIS, MUHAMAD ALFISYAHRIN. The Language Identity of African

American English Expressed in Richard Wright’s The Man Who Was Almost A

Man. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata

Dharma, 2017.

Bahasa memiliki peran yang penting sebagai alat komunikasi dalam

kehidupan manusia. Melalui bahasa, makna ucapan dapat tersampaikan kepada

pendengar. Namun, makna-makna tersebut disampaikan dalam bahasa yang

bervariasi. Khususnya, sebuah bahasa dapat digolongkan ke dalam bahasa-bahasa

yang lebih kompleks yang disebut dialek. Dalam bahasa Inggris, jenis-jenis dialek

sangat beragam dan salah satunya adalah AAE. Dialek dianggap sebagai bahasa yang

tidak standar karena tidak memiliki struktur bahasa yang tetap seperti SE. Maka dari

itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menunjukkan bahwa AAE memilki bahasa yang

terstruktur dan terorganisir yang diilustrasikan di sebuah cerita pendek, The Man

Who Was Almost a Man (1961) karya Richard Wright.

Agar AAE tidak dipandang sebagai bahasa yang tidak baku, penelitian ini

dilakukan untuk menjawab dua permasalahan. Pertama adalah fitur-fitur linguistik

AAE termasuk fonologi, sintak, dan leksikal akan dianalisa. Kedua adalah penulis

menemukan efek dan alasan pilihan bahasa dari pengguna SE terhadap pengaruh

yang diberikan pengguna AAE.

Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan sosiolinguistik yang bertujuan

untuk menganalisa hubungan dua bahasa dan kontak bahasa yang juga merupakan

bagian dari lingkup sosiolinguistik. Dalam penyelesaian masalah, langkah-langkah

yang perlu dilakukan adalah sebagai berikut. Pertama, penulis mengumpulkan data

yang menyangkut fonologi, sintak dan leksikal AAE berdasarkan percakapan dari

karakter berkulit hitam seperti Dave, Nyonya Saunders dan Tuan Saunders. Data-

data tersebut akan dibandingkan dengan SE untuk memperlihatkan perbedaannya.

Kedua, data yang menunjukkan efek dan alasan dari pilihan bahasa pengguna SE

terhadap AAE diambil dari karakter yang berkebangsaan Amerika yang meniru fitur-

fitur AAE.

Hasil penelitian ini dibentuk kedalam dua kategori. Pertama, karakteristik

AAE diperoleh dari tiga fitur linguistik yang ditemukan di dalam cerita pendek

berupa fonologi, sintaks dan leksikal. Hasil penemuan menunjukkan bahwa AAE

memiliki fitur bahasa yang sistematis dan unik. Kedua, efek dan alasan AAE terhadap

pilihan bahasa oleh pengguna SE. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengguna SE

dapat terpengaruh oleh AAE dengan meniru fitur AAE. Perubahan bahasa dipengaruhi

oleh faktor communicative events yang dikategorikan ke dalam tiga komponen yaitu

partisipan, lokasi dan tindak tutur. Selain itu, alasan perubahan bahasa didukung oleh

faktor internal yaitu interpersonal speech accommodation misalnya similar

attraction dan causal attribution. Kesimpulannya, AAE telah membentuk identitas

bahasanya sendiri yang seharusnya dihargai dan diterima sebagaimana variasi-variasi

lain dari bahasa Inggris.


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Language has an important role as a communicative tool to human‟s life.

Through the language, meanings of the speech are conveyed to the listener.

However, these meanings are distributed to different kinds of language. In other

words, people around the world do not use the same language. There are lots of

languages spoken by people around the world such as English, French, Japanese,

German, and so on.

Generally, all languages share some universal characteristics –modularity,

constituency and recursion, discreteness, productivity, arbitrariness, and context

reliance– (Fasold and Connor-Linton, 2006: 6). Nevertheless, in terms of

variability, languages might be different in many ways regarding to who the

speaker is and the situation in which the speaker is speaking. Therefore, the

variability of the language enables the listener to recognize their social identities

such as geographical, social status, ethnicity, and even gender.

Further, a particular language can be varied into more complex languages.

In terms of regional variation, the language can be diverged since it is spoken in

particular social community which is called dialect. Dialect can be referred to

“differences between kinds of language which are differences of vocabulary and

grammar as well as pronunciation” (Trudgill, 2000: 17). English, for instance, as

the most-widely used language across the world, has lots of dialects. American


2

English, British English, Australian English, African American English, and

others are the various dialects of English language.

Apart from the thought that being varied is rich, an English dialect is

often regarded as the “wrong” language because it breaks the SE form. As what

Wardhaugh argues, “As a social norm, then, a dialect is a language that is

excluded from polite society” (1992: 25). The statement leads to a bad

connotation to those who speak a dialect conforming them as a nearly nonstandard

or substandard language user. Then, the various degree of inferiority of a dialect

will give the impact to the language user as well.

AAE, one of the English dialects, has been a debatable issue whether the

dialect is considered as the substandard language or the variety of English

language. The main problem concerns about the linguistic features shared by the

AAE. It is the dialect that shares many different linguistic features from SE. Due

to the difference of linguistic features, AAE, is seen as “inappropriate” language

because it is compared to the SE which is believed as the “appropriate” language.

Despite understanding the AAE as the variety of English, the non-

linguists still regard the dialect as the substandard English. This perception surely

evokes the problem in social relationship among the people. Nonetheless, one of

the sociolinguists, Trudgill, confirms that SE is only the variety of English which

means it is equal to the other varieties.

“Standard English is that variety of English. The difference between

standard and non-standard, it should be noted, has nothing to in principle

to do with differences between formal and colloquial language, or with

concepts such as „bad language‟. All varieties of a language are

structured, complex, rule-governed systems which are wholly adequate


3

for the needs of their speaker. There is nothing at all inherent in non-

standard varieties which make them inferior” (2000: 20).

While Trudgill puts the focus on the SE, Labov directly states that AAE

is a rich language that has regularity of rule-governed nature of Black English

(Cited in Edwards, 2009: 73). Then, the essence of a language is to have rules

which show that AAE demonstrates grammatical regulation in its language.

Further, in order not to see AAE as the „corrupt language‟, this research

will show that AAE has its own rules in the linguistic forms. The rules will form

the characteristics of the dialect which can establish a language identity as the

variety of English. Edward further adds that “the importance of language as an

identity marker at a group level is everyone is used to accent, dialect and language

variations that reveal speaker‟s membership particular speech communities, social

class, ethnic and national groups” (2009: 21).

In relation to the characteristics of AAE dialect, this paper analyzed the

short story, The Man Who Was Almost a Man (1961) by Richard Wright. Briefly,

the short story narrates the pride of an African American boy, Dave, to have a gun.

Taking the setting in the plantation where different social relationship is shown,

the English variety is used by the characters. Some characters, the field workers,

use the AAE while the other characters, the owner of the plantation and gun store,

use SE.

This current thesis aims to show the characteristics of AAE dialect as the

variety of English. To figure out a dialect used by the speakers, the linguistic

system is approachable to distinguish the other dialects within a language

(Langacker, 1998: 47). Further this study will analyze three linguistic features


4

namely phonological, syntactic and lexical features expressed by the characters

within the short story. Next, there are some factors affected by the characters who

speak SE toward the AAE which will be elaborated later.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the discussion of the study background, this research targets

two following questions to be answered:

1. What are the characteristics of AAE expressed by the African American

characters in Richard Wright‟s short story The Man Who Was Almost a

Man?

2. How is the language choice of SE users influenced by AAE?

C. Objectives of the Study

Based on questions stated in the problem formulation, this research is

intended to reveal the analysis result of the two problems. The first problem is the

characteristics of AAE shown in the short story The Man Who Was Almost a Man

by Richard Wright. This study aims to identify the characteristics of the dialect by

analyzing its linguistic features.

Further, the result of the analysis will be compared to the SE. The

distinctive linguistic features between SE and AAE will be profoundly elaborated

to the readers. Further, the readers may gain better understanding that AAE is one

of the varieties of English that shares its own characteristics. The labels of non-

standard language will not be attached to the dialect since the characteristics of the

language has established its own identity.


5

The second problem is related to the result of the first problem. After

comparing the two varieties of English, this current study reveals how AAE users

affect the language choice of SE users. Then, the writer tries to show the reasons

of the language change occurred in American English characters. There are some

factors influenced the characters. This finding will be helpful to state that AAE

has a rule-governed language that can affect other language variety including SE.

D. Definition of Terms

In order to avoid the lack of understanding, some following key terms

will be provided to be elaborated further. A profound elaboration will be

explained deeply in chapter II.

The first term, African American English, is defined as one of the

English dialects, spoken by African-Americans specifically in the United States.

AAE has been recognized in several distinctive names namely Black English (BE),

Black English Vernacular (BEV), Nonstandard Negro English (NNE), African

American Vernacular English (AAVE), and Ebonics (Wardhaugh, 1992: 334).

Regarding to the controversy that AAE is a substandard language, AAE

produces its own characteristics in terms of its linguistic features. As one of the

English dialects, AAE has governed the features of all levels of language

patterning. Then, Wardhaugh argues that “Black English has certain phonological,

morphological, and syntactic characteristics” (1992: 334). Thus, those distinctive

features of AAE are different from the features of SE.

The second term, Standard English, refers to the language which has

undergone the process of determination, codification, and stabilization (Bex and


6

Watts, 1999: 117). These three processes develop an understanding that the SE is

recognized as a fixed or stable form of language, preserved in dictionaries and

grammar books, and determined by the decision which has to be taken concerning

the selection of particular languages for particular purposes in the society or

nation.

SE is simply one of the varieties of English language. It is a sub-variety

of English. It is taught in educational institution for non-native speakers to learn

the language. It is also the variety which is typically spoken by educated people

and used in news broadcasting and other similar situations. Therefore, SE has

much more prestige and status than other dialects of English language.

The third term, language identity, means the identical language that is

used by people by carrying its own characteristics. As Edwards quotes Joseph‟s

statements that language and identity are “ultimately inseparable” since language

is an essential component to human‟s life and therefore it might be used to

distinguish the characteristic of certain group of people (2009: 20).

The language identity can be derived from personal and social level.

Personal level focuses on the individual traits, characteristics and dispositions that

define the uniqueness of each human being. While the social level treats more

participants include a group or community which speaks the same language.

Edwards states that the language can be the identity of a language if each person

in the community is used to accent, dialect and language variations that reveal

speaker‟s membership in particular speech communities, social classes, ethnic and


7

national groups (2009: 21). Moreover, in relation to the topic, this current study

only focuses on the social level.


8

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In this chapter, the discussion will be divided into three subparts namely

review of related studies, review of related theories and theoretical framework.

First, the review of related studies contains some previous studies conducted by

other researchers connected to the current topic. Second, the review of related

theories is provided to help the writer in conducting the analysis in order to

answer the problems. Last, theoretical framework has a purpose to explain how

the related theories are applied to solve the problems.

A. Review of Related Studies

In this part, several relevant studies are provided to give an overview

concerning to the topic that writer focuses on. The present study, which objects

the AAE, has been conducted by a number of researches. Specifically, in relation

to the current research, there are four researchers that have been conducting this

research. The four studies are collected from both published thesis and journal.

The first relevant study is a thesis conducted by Feldman (2002). The

focus of the study is to find out the frequency of occurrence of two grammatical

features of AAE shown in the lyrics of three different forms of African American

popular music.

According to Feldman‟s focus of the study, it concludes that the two

grammatical features, copula absence and verbal {–s} absence, are found in the

Blues, Hip Hop and Soul lyrics. However, the copula absence is more exposed in


9

Blues and Hip Hop than Soul lyric. On the other hand, the verbal {–s} absence is

discovered in those three forms of African American popular music. The data

imply that “Hip Hop and Blues lyrics are more vernacular than Soul/Frunk lyrics

with respect to copula absence and that all three genre‟s lyrics are equally

vernacular with respect to verbal {–s} absence” (2002: 3-5).

The study above might be related to the present study because both study

the characteristics of AAE examined by its linguistic features. Aside from

comparing to the SE, the first study chooses to compare the linguistic features of

AAE to different kinds of popular music in different period. Additionally, the first

study objects the non-literary text, while this current study objects the literary text

which is a short story.

The second related study is conducted by Ismartono (2009). In his

undergraduate thesis, the focus is to analyze the phonological features of African

American Vernacular English (AAVE) shown in lyrics of several songs and to

compare the result to the SE. This study concludes that AAVE shares its own

linguistic features (2009: 55-56).

Further, this second related study is quite similar to this current study

which compares the AAE to SE. However, the difference is this present study tries

to reveal the other linguistic features namely syntactic and lexical within the short

story. Moreover, this current study is distinct as well in applying the approach.

The third similar study is a published journal by Charity (2008). In her

journal, she presents a summary of linguistic features of the AAE. Some specific

linguistic features are discussed namely lexical, phonological, grammatical and


10

prosodic features. Additionally, the discussion of educational issues surrounding

AAE and teacher‟s attitudes concerning the use of AAE among the students are

considered. In conclusion, AAE is categorized as systematic and rich language

which can be integrated into process in institutional educations (2008: 5).

Referring to the current study, the third study above might be relevant

concerning to the identification of AAE. Nevertheless, the study proposed by

Charity does not include the comparison of two language varieties. The study

projects in how the AAE can influence educational issues. Whereas, the current

study projects in how the AAE can signify the social stratification of the

characters in literary work.

The fourth relevant study is a published journal written by Reyes (2005).

The study explores how the Asian American teenagers create appropriate African

American slang terms. By closely examining both meta-pragmatic discussions of

slang and the emergence of slang in interaction, the study concludes that there are

“multiple ways in which South-east Asian American teenagers invoked

stereotypes linked to African American slang in constructing their own identities

and signaling urban youth sub-cultural participation” (2005: 527-528).

The last relevant study by Reyes is appropriate to be applied in this

current study because the journal finds out the language identity of AAE through

the use of slangs by Asian American teenagers. Meanwhile, the current study

doesn‟t require the language identity from the use of slangs but the linguistic

features shown in the AAE expressed through the characters in the short story.


11

Thus, in relation to the relevant studies presented above, the writer

intends to develop the studies about the AAE specifically its linguistic features

and discover the effect of one language which is AAE to the SE.

B. Review of Related Theories

Since this study concerns about the AAE, there are several related

theories of AAE applied to this research. In order to understand the theories well,

the writer organizes them into three sub-parts. The first one is the theory of AAE

which later will be categorized into two parts, the background of AAE and its

linguistic features. The second one is the theory of SE which shows a brief history

of SE and its definition. The last one is divided into two namely the theory of

communicate event and theory of interpersonal speech accommodation.

1. Theory of African American English

In this subpart, the background of AAE and its linguistic features are

profoundly discussed. Firstly, the writer draws the background of AAE include its

history and development until the present day. This explanation aims to show that

historically the AAE is one of the varieties of English, not the substandard

language. Next, the description of the characteristics of AAE is displayed by

analyzing its linguistic features. There will be three linguistic features examined

in this study which are mostly carried by AAE namely phonological, syntactic and

lexical features.


12

a. Background of African American English

The historical development of AAE is intrinsically tied to the question of

its present-day relationship to European American vernaculars. It is possible that

the earlier AAE and European American varieties in the South is once identical

but somehow it becomes significant dialect divergence due to independent dialect

innovation, patterns of segregation and cultural factors related to ethnic identity.

However, these two varieties might have different histories or developed along in

similar lines. It is reasonable that later it leads to the establishment of two similar

or different varieties.

Referring to the origin of AAE, there are numbers of researchers who

have been conducting the study for decades because it is a debatable issue. There

are several hypotheses resulted by some researchers namely Anglicist hypothesis,

Creolist hypothesis, Neo-Anglicist hypothesis and Substrate hypothesis (Wolfram

and Schilling-Estes, 2006: 219). However, this study is narrowed to review the

latest hypothesis, Substrate hypothesis, which is more relevant and reasonable to

the present day.

Substrate hypothesis, confirms that AAE is primarily the result of

language contact with Creole speakers (Veenendal et al., 2014: 26). The

hypothesis maintains that even though earlier AAE may have integrated many

features from regional varieties of English in America, its sturdy substrate effect

have always distinguished it from other varieties of American English. The

substrate effect might be derived from the original contact between speakers of


13

African languages and English, whether or not this contact resulted in the

development of a full-fledged Creole language.

Although the socio-historical chronology does not display the

continuation of a widespread plantation Creole in the American South, it is likely

that the development of earlier AAE is affected by possessing a contact with

Creole speakers during the slavery from Africa to North America. Winford, one of

the supporters of Substrate hypothesis, argues that

“AAE preserves traces of a shift from a Creole pattern to a variety based

on Standard English. However, early AAE itself was not full-fledged

Creole, but it arose through a process of reconstructing in which a Creole

substrate played a significant role. It has certain properties that point to

substrate influence from an earlier contact situation, like English-based

Creole Gullah. These creolized varieties of English, such as Gullah, were

in turn restructured by substratum influence from other languages spoken

by Africans in a process of adaptation. AAE was therefore never a Creole

itself, but was created by African slaves” (2014: 27).

Indeed, extended periods of interment of African slaves along the coast

of West Africa and in Caribbean islands such as Barbados before transfer to North

America may have resulted in linguistic from Creole language. Creole varieties

still flourish widely through the Caribbean islands and some few countries on the

west coast of Africa. The earlier versions of these Creole varieties may well have

extended some influence over the development of early AAE speech in the

American South.

As Winford discusses above, neither English dialect nor Creole variety is

the source of AAE instead it has had multiple inputs from both and evolved over

time. AAE is the result of a process of restructuring of the settler dialects by

Africans and it bears the distinctive marks of this creation. The extensive


14

relationship between black and white speech communities in the South is reflected

by the fact that AAE shows a broad overlap in their structural properties.

In many respects, the current development of AAE is as intriguing as its

background. Referring to its background, though the roots of AAE is established

in the rural South, the development into an ethnically distinct variety is derived

from its use in Northern urban areas. In fact, the descriptive study about AAE, in

the 1960s, which concentrated on the metropolitan city rather than the rural South.

There are several major factors affecting the recent and continuing

development of AAE, including patterns of population movement and matters

pertaining to cultural identity. The emergence of urban AAE was in part of the

Great Migration in which African Americans moved from the rural South to large

metropolitan areas of the North in the early and mid-twentieth century. More than

a third of all African Americans lived in just seven cities – New York, Chicago,

Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and Baltimore (Bailey,

2001:66).

b. Characteristics of African American English

As one of the varieties of English language, AAE carries its own

characteristics. Trudgill confirms that each variety of a language is “structured,

complex, and rule-governed systems” which are utterly sufficient for the necessity

of their speakers (2000: 20). The characteristics of AAE can be studied by

identifying its linguistic features. There are three linguistic features shown in

AAE namely phonological, syntactic, and lexical items.


15

i. Phonological Feature

The first feature, phonological feature, is a feature that studies about

sound pattern. Besides, Poole argues that phonology focuses on the study of

sounds in the context of languages and other speech varieties (Poole, 1999: 23).

Phonologically, AAE shares different pronunciation of words from SE. As

Rickford demonstrates in his book, there are at least 10 distinctive phonological

features of AAE (1999: 205) shown in the table below.

Table 1. Phonological Features of AAE

No. Phonological Features of AAE Examples

1. Realization of final ng as in gerunds walkin’ for SE “walking”

2. Realization of voiced th [ð] as d or v den for SE “then”, bruvver

for SE “brother”

3. Consonant dropping in two words gimme for SE “give me”

4. Deletion or vocalization of r after a

vowel.

sistuh for SE “sister”

5. Reduction of word-final consonant

clusters especially ending in t or d

han’ for SE “hand”, des’ for

SE “desk”

6. Monophthongal pronunciations of ay and

oy

ah for SE “I”, boah for SE

“boy”

7. Realization of palatal glide [j] as palatal

affricate [ʧ]

whutcha for SE “what you”

8. Deletion or Realization of Stressed

Vowels or Weak Vowels

bout for “about”

9. Realization of word-final consonant velar

[k] as alveolar [t]

ast for SE “ask

In order to demonstrate the differences between the two language

varieties, some theories are applicable to be used. There are two theories used

namely theory of phonetics and phonological processes.


16

1. Theory of Phonetics

Phonetics is defined as one of the branches of linguistic which concerns

on speech sounds (O‟Grady et al., 2010: 15). In order to explain speech sounds, it

is essential to describe and differentiate each individual sound. The listeners can

identify which aspects of pronunciation are linguistically significant and which

are not by their linguistic knowledge. The listeners only perceive the speech

sounds which build the list of words in particular language. In a greater extent, in

phonetics, there are three discussion include acoustic, auditory and articulatory

phonetics. Nevertheless, the writer focuses on the articulatory phonetics which

studies how the sounds of language are produced by vocal tract.

Before showing how sounds are produced, the individual sounds are

necessary to be illustrated. Furthermore, the sounds of language are not always the

representation of alphabetic spelling. Consequently, the sounds of all languages

are symbolized into a phonetic alphabet developed by the International Phonetic

Association (IPA) (Fromkin et al., 2011: 192). The following table of a list of the

IPA symbols which represents English speech sounds is projected below (2011:

193).

Table 2. Phonetic Alphabet for English Pronunciation

Consonants Vowels

p pill t till k kill i beet ɪ bit

b bill d dill g gill e bait ɛ bet

m mill n nil ŋ ring u boot ʊ foot

f feel s seal h heal o boat ɔ bore

v veal z zeal l leaf æ bat a pot

θ thigh ʧ chill r reef ʌ butt ə sofa

ð thy ʤ gin j you aɪ bite aʊ bout

ʃ shill w witch ɔɪ boy

ʒ measure


17

Based on the table above, the English sounds are categorized into two

classes which are consonants and vowels. Both terms possess different definition

in term of how they are produced. “Consonant sounds are produced by obstructing

the air flow as it comes up from the lungs” while the vowel sounds the air flow is

manipulated rather than being obstructed (Finch, 2000: 43).

a. Consonant Sounds

The consonant sounds are mainly described in articulatory phonetics

including place of articulation and manner of articulation. These components deal

with how the airflow is modified in the vocal tract by involving the position of the

tongue and lips.

i. Place of Articulation

Most consonant sounds are produced by involving the tongue and other

parts of the mouth in which constriction happens and oral cavity is reshaped in

various ways called place of articulation. This process occurs at the lips, within

the oral cavity, pharynx and glottis. The following terms are the consonant sounds

produced in different ways in term of place of articulation.

1. Bilabials

The sounds called bilabial if the sounds are produced by involving and

bringing both lips together (McMahon, 2002: 31). The English bilabial sounds are

[p] in pear, [b] in bear and [m] in mouth.


18

2. Labiodentals

The sounds produced by letting both lips, upper and lower, touched are

defined as labiodentals (McMahon, 2002: 31). The English labiodental sounds

include [f] in fat and [v] in vat.

3. Interdentals

Some English sounds are produced with the tongue placed against or near

the teeth named interdentals. Specifically, interdental sounds are pronounced by

inserting the tip of the tongue between the teeth (McMahon, 2002: 31). The

interdental sounds are represented in [θ] and [ð] and the illustration as followed

found in thing and this.

4. Alveolars

The sounds pronounced involve the raising of the tongue to be near or

touch the alveolar ridge. The alveolar ridge is a small ridge extends from behind

the upper front teeth (O‟Grady, 2010: 24). The alveolar sounds are illustrated in

several sounds namely [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l] and [r]. The illustration of those

sounds in English words is followed as tie, die, nigh, sip, zip, rip, lip (McMahon,

2002: 32).

5. Palatals

The sounds are termed as palatals when the tongue reaches and touches

the highest part of the roof of the mouth called palate. [ʃ], [ʒ], [ʧ] and [ʤ] are the

representative of palatal sounds and they occur in words such as mission, measure,

cheap and judge (McMahon, 2002: 31).


19

6. Velars

The sounds are labeled as velars when the tongue rises and touches

velum. Velum is the soft area toward the rear of the roof of the mouth. The

illustration of velar sounds is [k], [g] and [ŋ], heard in kick, gig and bang

(McMahon, 2002: 32).

7. Glottals

The sounds produced by vocal folds which they do not involve the

tongue. The glottal sound comes from the air flow through the glottis, and the

tongue and lips are passed as they prepare to pronounce a vowel sound. There is

only one glottal sound including [h] found in word hog (McMahon, 2002: 32).

ii. Manner of Articulation

Besides identifying sounds due to their place of articulation, they can be

distinguished further into specific features. The sounds are configurated and

interacted by the articulators such as the tongue, lips and palate defined as manner

of articulation. The speech sounds might be varied in term of the way the

airstream is affected when it blows from the lungs to the mouth and nose. The

following terms are described the sounds related to manner of articulation.

1. Voiced and Voiceless

The voiced and voiceless sounds possess the difference in whether the

vocal cords are attached to each other or not (Fromkin et al., 2011: 198). The

sounds will be voiced when the vocal cords are attached and the airstream forces

through the way causing the vibration. Several English sounds are pronounced in

that way such as [b], [d], [g], [v], [ð], [z], [ʒ], [ʤ], [m], [n], [ŋ], [l], [r], [w] and [j].


20

Whereas, the voiceless sounds are pronounced freely through the glottis into the

oral cavity by having the vocal cords unattached. The examples of voiceless

sounds are [p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], [h], [ʍ] and [ʧ].

2. Nasal

The sounds which are created when the air flow blocked by mouth and

let the air come out from our nose (Fromkin et al., 2011: 198). The block is

performed by three processes including closing the lips, pressing tongue tip

against the alveolar ridge and pressing the back of the tongue against the soft

palate. Those three ways will produce nasal sounds namely [m], [n] and [ŋ].

3. Stops

Stop sounds has the same way in producing sounds by having the vocal

tract closed completely. However, the airflow is not let out through the nose.

Instead, the pressure is built up behind the articulators and then the air is released

in a burst (Fromkin et al., 2011: 198). [p], [b], [t], [d], [k] and [g] are the

representative of stop English sounds.

4. Fricatives

Unlike nasal and stop, fricative sounds only involve a partial blockage of

the vocal tract and causing the air to be blown in a narrow channel (Fromkin et al.,

2011: 198). The English fricative sounds are [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z], [ʃ], [ʒ] and

[h].

5. Affricates

The combination of producing stop and fricative sounds is the way to

produce affricate sounds. They are built as stop sounds in which the air created


21

behind an articulator then it releases through a narrow channel as a fricative

(Fromkin et al., 2011: 198). The examples of English affricate sounds are [ʧ] and

[ʤ].

6. Liquids

To produce liquid sounds, the obstruction of the airstream in the mouth

will be found but does not necessarily create constriction or friction (Fromkin et

al., 2011: 198). The illustration of liquid sounds is drawn into two sounds, the

retroflex [r] and the lateral [l].

7. Glides

The last sounds pronounced by having “little obstruction of the airstream”

and “always followed by a vowel and do not occur at the end of words” are

termed glide sounds (Fromkin et al., 2011: 198). The result of the glide sounds is

alike fast vowels such as [w], [j] and [ʍ].

Those classes of sounds can be categorized in major phonetic classes

such as continuants, obstruents and sonorants and consonantal. First, continuant

sounds are the sounds which the airstream does not obstruct in the oral cavity

while noncontinuant sounds defined as the airstream is obstructed in the oral

cavity. Nasal stops and affricates are the examples of noncontinuant sounds while

continuant sounds can be found in all other consonants and vowels.

Second, obstruents and sonorants involve the obstruction of the airflow.

The obstruent sounds described as the airstream might be obstructed or fully

obstructed while the obstruction is much lesser which allows the air to resonate

occurred in the sonorant sounds. The obstruent sounds include the non-nasal stop,


22

fricatives and the affricates while the sonorant sounds are vowels, nasal stops,

liquids and glides.

Third, consonantals refer to the sounds restricted to the airflow.

Consonantal sounds are divided into some subclasses such as labials, coronals,

anteriors and sibilants. Labial sounds have been discussed in the preceding part so

the writer continues discussing coronals. Coronal sounds are articulated by raising

the blade of the tongue. Some sounds fall into coronals category include

interdentals, alveolars, palatals, affricated and liquids. Further, anteriors are

characterized by producing the sounds in the front part of the mouth specifically

in the alveolar area. Labials, interdentals and alveolars are included as anterior

sounds. The last one is sibilants. Sibilant sounds described as hissing sounds

which is the combination of high-frequency sounds.

After discussing both place and manner of articulation, the summary will

be given in the form of table below. The table concludes in which consonant

sounds belong to particular terms.

Table 3. Phonetic Symbols for American English Consonants

Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Stop

Voiceless

Voiced

p

b

t

d

k

g

Nasal

Voiced

m

n

ŋ

Fricative

Voiceless

Voiced

f

v

θ

ð

s

z

ʃ

ʒ

h

Affricate

Voiceless

Voiced

ʧ

ʤ

Glide

Voiceless

ʍ

ʍ


23

Voiced w j w

Liquid

Voiced

r, l

b. Vowel Sounds

In preceding discussion, the consonant sounds are explained specifically

how they are pronounced in the vocal tract. Then, in this subpart, the vowel

sounds are discussed. Vowels can be differentiated into two kinds; simple vowels

(monophthongs) and diphthongs (O‟Grady et al., 2010: 34). Simple vowels

(monophthongs) are defined as vowels which contains only a vowel sound such as

[ɪ] in pit. On the other hand, diphthongs are vowels which contain a sequence of

two vowel sounds like [ɔɪ] in boy.

Additionally, vowel sounds are produced by involving vocal tract as the

consonants sounds do. Nonetheless, the vowel sounds will be varied in term of

tongue position, lip rounding and tense and lax vowels (Fromkin et al., 2011: 202).

These three aspects will be presented in a clearer example in the form of table

later.

i. Tongue Position

To produce vowel sounds by examining the position of the tongue, there

are two aspects the speaker needs to be acquainted with. The first is the parts of

the tongue involved when pronouncing vowels. The parts are front, central and

back. While the second is the tongue height includes high, mid and low parts.


24

ii. Lip Rounding

In English vowels, they can differ as well in the way the lips will be

rounded or relaxed when producing those sounds. The lips will make a circular

opening when creating rounded sounds and be relaxed when creating unrounded

sounds.

iii. Tense and Lax Vowels

The last component deals with how the vowels are produced either

shorter or longer, or more loose or tense. The tense vowels will be produced “with

greater tension of the tongue muscles and often a little longer in duration”.

Whereas, the muscle of the tongue will be loose and have a short pronunciation

are described as lax vowels.

The following figure and table demonstrate the summary of classification

of American English vowels and feature matrix for English vowels (Fromkin et al.,

2011: 202).

Figure 1. Classification of American English Vowels

Front Central Back

High i u

ɪ ʊ

Mid e o Rounded

ɛ ə

ʌ ɔ

Low æ a


25

Table 4. Feature matrix for American English Vowels

i ɪ e ɛ æ ə ʌ u ʊ o ɔ a

[high] + + - - - - - + + - - -

[low] - - - - + - - - - - - +

[back] - - - - - + + + + + + +

[tense] + - + - - - - + - + - +

[reduced] - - - - - + - - - - - -

2. Phonological Processes

After identifying each sound and its feature, the way how the sounds are

formed and patterned in the language will be further discussed. In English, the

articulated sounds possess some phonological processes. The phonological

processes apply some rules that can connect the phonemic representations to the

phonetic representations.

Phonologists argue that phonemic representations are equivalent to the

speaker‟s knowledge of the language, while the phonetic representations are

similar to the actual phonetic outputs derived by applying the phonological rules.

Therefore, the .phonemic representations are also called “underlying

representation” while the phonetic representations are also called “surface

representations”.

The rules of phonology differ from each language. In SE, there are some

rules applied to reflect that the pronunciation of English words is rule-governed.

The following phonological rules are displayed below:

a. Assimilation

Assimilation is the most common rule where two non-identical sounds

change into more alike sounds. It is a process that makes neighboring segments


26

more similar by imitating or spreading a phonetic property from one segment to

the other. The change of the sound is influenced by either the preceding sound

(progressive assimilation) or the following sound (regressive assimilation)

(Ramelan, 1994:1772).

One of the words which undergo the assimilation process is impossible.

The word, impossible, has two parts which are possible as the root and in- as the

prefix. The sound /n/ becomes /m/ as in the word impossible because /n/ is

influenced by the following sound /p/ which is voiceless bilabial stop.

b. Deletion and Epenthesis

Deletion or elision is “the emission of a phoneme in speech” (Finch,

2000: 46). It is one of the phonological processes in which a sound is removed.

According to Jones, there are two types of elision namely historical elisions and

contextual elisions. Historical elisions are sound deletion which exists in earlier

form and disappears in later form while contextual elisions are sound deletion

which occurs in the compound word or connected phrase (1962: 230). One of the

examples of historical elision is the loss of r-sound in final and before consonants

in Southern English.

Unlike deletion, epenthesis is the process of inserting either a consonant

or vowel (O‟Grady et al., 2010: 252). The epenthesis rules are normally found in

forming regular plurals, possessive forms and third-person singular verb

agreement. One of the examples is the insertion of an [ə] before the plural

morpheme /z/ when a regular noun ends in a sibilant (Fromkin et al., 2011: 250)


27

c. Affrication

Affrication is the process of removing palatalized stop sounds and

inserting affricate sounds. The affrication occurs when the palatalized and stops

are induced by front vowels and [j]. The illustration of affrication process is

drawn from Romance languages which is cento. The word is pronounced by

inserting [ʧ] in the initial position of the word (O‟Grady et al., 2010: 251).

d. Vowel weakening

Vowel weakening described as vowels which are weakened or reduced to

a schwa [ə] sound. This process happens frequently “to checked vowels in

unstressed or weak syllable, without the „protection‟ of consonants” (Kreidler,

1989: 253). Vowel weakening typically affects the lax vowel followed by a single

consonant. This phenomenon generally occurs in functional words such as

prepositions, quantifiers, auxiliaries and pronouns. Besides, some English words

possess the vowel weakening as well include accept, calculate, complain and etc.

e. Vocalization

Besides performing vowel weakening, sounds might be vocalized as well

(Rickford, 1999: 205-208). The vocalization exists when particular sounds like [l],

[ɛ] and [ə] are replaced by more neutral vowels which are [a] and [o]. The

examples can be derived from the words seal and computer.

f. Monophthongization

Monophthongization is a phonological process deals with diphthong

sounds. The monophthongization occurs when there is a diphthong and it is


28

realized into a simple vowel (monophthong) (Rickford, 1999: 205-208). The

representative data can be displayed in the word main.

Those phonological processes will be portrayed in a form of table. This

table is helpful to demonstrate the input and output of the phonological process

that apply some rules. The writer gives an example of the word impossible as the

illustration.

Table 5. Phonological Process of Assimilation

SE

impossible

Underlying representation /ɪnˈpɑsəbəl/

Assimilation /ɪmˈpɑsəbəl/

Surface representation [ɪmˈpɑsəbəl]

After showing the data in a form of table, the notation rule is written to

make the rule statements more concise. The general rule is drawn in the following

form.

A B / X _____ Y

In the notation above, A represents for the underlying representation

(input) while B refers to the surface representation (output) of the rule. Then, X

and Y stand for the conditioning environment. The underscore ( _ ) is the relative

position which indicates the position of the segment undergoing the rule. The last

sign is the slash (/) means the statement of the of the conditioning environment.

Thus, the notation above can be read as A becomes B in the environment between

X and Y.


29

ii. Syntactic Feature

The next feature, syntactic feature, is one of the linguistic features

commonly found in AAE. This feature is defined as “a part of grammar that

represents a speaker‟s knowledge of sentences and their structure” which is called

syntax (Fromkin et al., 2011: 82). In other words, studying syntax enables the

speakers to form a structural phrases or sentences so they can communicate well.

Further, there are several different syntactic features expressed by AAE from SE.

a. Verbal Tense Marking

In the SE, tense carries its own characteristics regarding to which time

marker it stands for. In English verb system, tense is associated to signify time

categorization which is past, present and future. It is obligatory to mark verb tense,

while to mark verb aspect is optional. In AAE, the use of copula be (linking verbs)

are not detected. Copula refers to the linking verbs or sometimes called as a verb-

like. The illustration can be observed in the sentence “The color is red” in which

is links the subject with a predicate.

Additionally, English verbs are also known as for its regularity and

irregularity. Regular verb means the form of the past tense and past participle of

the verb is similar to suffix {–d}/{ed}. On the other hand, irregular verb illustrates

different suffix either the past tense or past participle. Moreover, the present tense

uses the base of the verb or V1 and the third person singular use V1 + {-s}/{-es}.

In perfect tense, it uses past participle or V3. In summary, these verbal tense

markings are drawn differently from SE as follow (Rickford, 1999: 205-208):


30

1. The absence of copula be (is, are, am, was, were and etc) for particular

tense.

2. The addition and absence of suffix {–s} in third person singular present

tense.

3. The non-existence of auxiliaries in perfective aspect.

4. Use of done to emphasize the completed nature of an action which can

co-occur with been or other past participle form.

b. Nouns and Pronouns

A noun is a part of speech that defines a person, an animal, a place, a

thing, an activity or quality. In SE nouns, it is obvious to differentiate both

singular and plural noun. It is called a singular noun when the word is not attached

to the suffix {–s} in the final word, while a plural noun is marked by attaching the

suffix {–s} in the end of the word. Otherwise, the existence of the marker of

singular or plural noun in some cases is absent.

Further, a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase is called a

pronoun. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech,

though some modern theorists will not consider them to form a single class, in

view of the variety of functions they perform. There are few types of pronoun

include personal pronouns, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, possessive

pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns and

indefinite pronouns. Nonetheless, the illustration of noun and pronoun in AAE

stated by Rickford is somewhat different as follow (Rickford, 1999: 205-208):

1. Absence of {–s} in regular plural noun.


31

2. The use of different copula in personal pronoun

3. The use of pronoun them as the article the

4. The use of pronoun they as adverb there

c. Negation

In English grammar, negation is described a contradictive sentence which

negates all or part of the meaning of the sentence. The negation is also called

negative construction or standard negation. In SE, the negative clauses and

sentences are expressed by using negative particle not or the contracted negation

n’t. Additionally, other negative words can be used include no, none, nothing,

nobody, never and etc.

In the same manner, AAE has a number of ways of marking negation.

Like a number of other varieties of English, AAE uses ain't to negate the verb in a

simple sentence. Unlike most other varieties of English, AAVE speakers

characterized by using ain’t to refer many general preverbal negators. Besides, the

negator ain’t can be doubled and carry different meaning. The following points

are the characteristics of AAE in term of negation (Rickford, 1999: 205-208).

1. Use of ain’(t) as a general preverbal negator, for SE “am not”, “is not”,

“are not”, “has not”, “have not” and “did not.”

2. Double negation or negative concord (that is, negating the auxiliary verb

and all indefinite pronouns in the sentence).

3. Use of ain’t but and don’t but for “only”.


32

iii. Lexical Feature

The third feature, lexical feature, refers to the lexicon which is the

“people‟s mental storehouse of information about words and morphemes”

(Fromkin et al., 2011: 45). To put it simpler, it can be defined as the vocabularies

of the speaker. This feature is related to the meanings of language as well. For

instance, when different vocabularies can be meant to one meaning and it is found

in AAE.

Certain words and phrases have a specialized or unique meaning in AAE.

Some words and phrases are used by African American from a range of age

groups, while others are common to speakers of a particular age group. Moreover,

the African American lexicon includes the same type of information found in the

general American lexicons. The difference is the former lexicon will have entries

for words that sound like words in general American English. Though, the

meaning and information will be different from the corresponding homonyms in

general American lexicon (Green, 2002: 20).

As stated in her book, Green shows some lexical differences shown in

AAE. Additionally, she explains the lexical differences, meaning and comparison

to the general English. Two lexicons are analyzed as follow:

a. The Use of Set

In AAE, set refers to the act of sitting. One of the examples using the

word set is “Ah don wan t tal ef yuh don set down”. However, in SE, set does not

refer to the sitting position. Instead, set defined as” put, lay, or stand in a certain

position or location” (Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus).


33

b. The Use of Kin

The second term, kin, described categorized as a modal verb and it

functions to show the ability, request, possibility and allowance. The illustration

of the word kin can be seen in the form of question, “Kin Ah see it?” Unlike AAE,

in SE, the word kin represents a completely different meaning which is “one‟s

relatives or family” (Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus).

2. Theory of Standard English

The term SE was established from the dialect of English. The dialect was

flourished and used by educated people. The dialect became the one preferred by

the educated and it was developed and promoted as model or norm, for wider

segments of society (Wardhaugh, 1992: 31).

Historically speaking, the standard language developed out of the English

dialect used in and around London as these were modified through the centuries

by speakers at the court, by scholars from the universities and other writers and by

the public schools. As time passed, the English used in the upper classes of

society in the capital city. Consequently, it came to diverge quite markedly from

that used by other social groups and came to be regarded as the model for all those

who wished to speak and write well. When printing became widespread, it was

inevitably the form of English most widely used in books.

Until today, the term SE is considered as the right form of English.

People use SE to be the parameter of which language is right and wrong. The

definition of SE should be profoundly understood because it may lead to social

gap among speakers who do not speak SE.


34

According to Trudgill, the definitions of SE can be comprehended by

saying what SE is not as well as by saying what SE is. He categorized the

definitions into some categorizations; SE is not a language; SE is not an accent;

SE is not a style; SE is not a register (In Bex and J.Watts, 1999: 117-120).

SE is a variety of English language that can be obtained in academic

institution. Nonetheless, Trudgill states that SE is only a variety of English

language.

Standard English, whatever it is, is less than a language, since it is only

one variety of English, in all sorts of way; it is the variety associated with

education system in all the English speaking countries of the world, and

is therefore the variety of spoken by those who are often referred to as

„educated people‟, and it is the variety taught to non-native learners.

Standard English is thus not the English language but simply variety of it

(2000: 118)

3. Theory of Communicative Events

There are various factors involved in speaking due to the ethnographic

framework. An ethnography of a communicative event is a description of all the

factors that are relevant in understanding how that particular communicate event

achieves its objectives (Wardhaugh, 1992: 245). Therefore, Hymes applies the

word SPEAKING as an acronym for the various factors he believes to be relevant

(In Wardhaugh, 1992: 245). However, the writer narrows the SPEAKING

components into three which are in line with the analysis. Those three components

are S, P and A.

The first letter, S, describes the importance of setting and scene of the

speech. A setting refers to the time and places especially the concrete physical


35

circumstances in which speech takes place. Moreover, a scene refers to the

abstract psychological setting, or the cultural definition of the occasion.

The second letter, P, defines the participants include various

combinations of speaker-listener, addressor-addressee, or sender-receiver. They

generally fill certain socially specified roles.

The third alphabet, A, refers to act sequence which is defined as the

actual form and content of what is said: the precise words used, how they are used,

and the relationship of what is said to the actual topic at hand.

It is a very necessary reminder that to speak is a complex activity, and

that any particular bit of talk is actually a piece of „skilled work‟. What Hymes

offers in his SPEAKING formula reveals sensitivity to and awareness of each of

the eight factors. Speakers and listeners must also work to see that nothing goes

wrong. When speaking does go wrong, it is often clearly describable in terms of

some neglect of one or more of the factors.

4. Theory of Interpersonal Speech Accommodation

It is likely to have a language contact since there are many different

languages spoken by people around the world. When people interact to one

another in different languages, it is naturally for them to be influenced by other

languages. Generally, the simple definition of language contact is when two or

more languages are expressed in the same place at the same time. However, it

does not necessarily assume to be only on different languages but also variations

of a language (Thomason, 2001: 2).


36

Languages normally develop by accumulating dialectical differences

until the dialects end to be mutually understandable and distinct to one another.

Moreover, language contact most often involves direct conversation (face-to-face

conversation) among groups of speakers. Therefore, the speakers of different

languages might live in the same community and have an intensively maintained

interaction.

Sociolinguists have provided insights that the influenced language might

be changed as a result of its motivation (Hickey, 2002: 9). One powerful motive is

the desire of individuals to make their speech alike to another group they interact

with. This phenomenon is typically involved in social class or delineation of

geographical areas. For instance, the language choice occurs between higher

social class and lower social class, or the urban dialect and rural dialect.

The decision of language choice is triggered after undergoing the

complexity of communicative events. The study on language choice can be

narrowed to person-oriented model called Interpersonal Speech Accommodation

theory (Cited in Alip, 2016: 186). The theory is proposed by Giles et al (1973)

states that “language choice is determined not only by the situational factors but

also by the interpersonal relationship between the speakers and interlocutors”

(Cited in Alip, 2016: 187).

Thus, there are two results affected by the language choice namely

accommodation and dissociation. The first, accommodation, is defined as an

attempt to change one‟s language in order to fully imitate another group‟s

language. The second, dissociation, is the opposite of accommodation which the


37

speakers attempt to be indifferent in using the language to make distance from

another group.

In this current study, the writer puts the focus on the accommodation

theory since some characters who speak Standard English (white landowner) tend

to imitate the speakers of AAE (black workers). Through the accommodation

process, the speaker tries to build and strengthen the relationship to the

interlocutors by avoiding dissimilarities. In accommodation theory, there are two

types, convergence and divergence. However, the writer focuses on the

convergence behavior because it describes how people adopt the speech patterns

of the person to whom they are talking with by showing the similarities (Giles,

1990: 34).

“The adaptation can be observed in all types of verbal interaction,

whether monolingual or bilingual, and at all linguistic levels such as phonological,

lexical, etc” (Hamers et al, 2004: 242). According to Hamers, the speakers are

adapted or influenced by other dialects examined by the linguistic features they

share (2004: 242). He briefly states that there are four social psychological

processes involved in communication-accommodation theory such as similarity

attraction, social exchange, causal attribution and intergroup distinctiveness.

First, similarity attraction defined as “the more similar an individual‟s

attitudes and beliefs are to others, the more he is attracted to them” (Hamers et al,

2004: 243). In other words, the similarity attraction occurs when the speakers and

interlocutors share the same beliefs, interests, attitudes which make them more

attached.


38

Second, social exchange refers to “the attempt to assess and costs of

alternative courses of action”. This means that both speakers and listeners share a

common set of interpretative procedures which allow the speakers‟ intention can

be interpreted by listener. Then, by performing speech convergence, rewards are

more needed than the costs (Hamers et al, 2004: 243).

Third, causal attribution is performed in accommodation theory to reduce

social distance. Speakers are encouraged to adapt the interlocutor‟s language

behavior in order to gain the listeners‟ social approval. This process may affect

the communication and maintain the positive social, cultural or ethnic identity

(Hamers et al, 2004: 243).

Fourth, intergroup distinctiveness has different purpose with those three

processes above. This process seeks to compare some aspects which are relevant

to the other groups (Hamers et al, 2004: 243). Then, the different aspects will be

the important strategy to distinguish oneself from members of the other groups.

C. Theoretical Framework

In order to conduct the research about AAE in a short story, the writer

chooses several theories include the theory of AAE, theory of SE, theory of

communicative event and theory of interpersonal speech accommodation.

The first theory is the theory of AAE. This theory aims to show the

historical background of AAE and its characteristics. The historical background of

AAE should be valued to sharpen the idea of the origin of AAE. This study

strongly proves that AAE is one of the varieties of English language by showing


39

its root. Next, the characteristics of AAE strengthen the AAE as a rule-governed

language which reveal distinctive linguistic features.

The second theory is the theory of SE. This theory intends to show the

origin of SE and its definition by several sociolinguists. By showing the historical

and developmental background of SE, the idea of putting SE as the variety of

English language is strongly reasonable. Moreover, few sociolinguists namely

Trudgill, Wardhaugh, Rickford are positive to state that SE is a variety of English

language that grows in educational system resulting notable language considered

as “true language”.

Those two theories above are appropriate to answer the first question

stated in the problem formulation. The theory of AAE will be used to analyze the

characteristics of AAE expressed by the characters within the short story. Further,

the theory of SE will be helpful in countering the comparison between the two

variations of English language.

Additionally, the third theory is the theory of communicative events

proposed by Hymes. The theory plans to illustrate the various factors involved in

speaking. There are at least 3 components to be aware of by both the speakers and

interlocutors. The fourth is the theory of interpersonal speech accommodation. In

relation to the theory of communicative events, the language choice is necessarily

to be considered since there are two variations of a language spoken intensively in

the same setting.

Thus, the problem number two can be solved by using these two theories,

theory of communicative events and interpersonal speech accommodation.


40

Referring to the question, the writer needs to find out the factors that both

speakers and interlocutors have to be aware of within the short story. Then, the

interpersonal accommodation theory can be applied since it has a linkage to the

communicative events because it helps to find out the reasons why the language

choice of SE users is influenced by AAE users.


41

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

Since the current study aims at identifying the linguistic features of AAE

and its effect, the writer decides to examine a short story by Richard Wright

entitled The Man Who Was Almost A Man as the object of the study. Specifically,

the linguistic elements are studied within the short story include sounds, words

and sentences. Those linguistic elements are uttered by the characters that speak

AAE and later will be compared to SE.

Briefly, the short story exposes the life of a black boy named Dave

Saunders who eagerly owns a gun to be recognized as a man. Taking the setting in

the plantation, where Dave and his family earn money as the land workers, the

different language varieties are spoken by the characters. The landowner, Jim

Hawkins, hires Dave to take care of his land. Instead, he shoots the mule and

causes him to pay for the dead mule. The story ends when Dave decides to leave

the house and brings the gun with him.

B. Approach of the Study

In order to analyze the short story, sociolinguistic approach is appropriate

to be used. The approach analyzes on “the language practices of one community

that differ from other communities, places and ethnicities (Van Herk, 2012: 5).

Moreover, studying the relationship between two languages and language choice

is also a part of sociolinguistic study. Therefore, in relation to the topic of the

research, the sociolinguistic approach is suitable to explore the two different


42

language varieties, AAE and SE. Then, the approach will be also beneficial to find

out the effects and reasons of the language change expressed by SE users.

C. Method of the Study

In this part, the writer intends to show how the date are collected and

analyzed. The data are taken from the short story while the analysis is elaborated

by undergoing the library research.

1. Data Collection

In order to collect the data from the short story, the writer decides to

apply a sample study. Sprinthall states that a population study requires the whole

group of people, things, or events which has at least one common characteristic,

while a sample study involves only parts of the population that will be the

representative of the population‟s characteristics (1992: 27). Therefore, the data

by examining its linguistic features found in the short story will be the sampling

data. The writer chooses few data to be the representative data to be analyzed and

the result of the analysis will be the conclusion of all data. The complete analyzed

data will be projected in the appendix columns.

The first thing that the writer needs to do is to read the whole story. Next,

the writer marks the characters who speak both the AAE and SE. Then, the focus

will be on the characters who speak AAE. The data will be taken from the dialog

among the African American characters include Dave‟s family and the field

worker from the beginning until the end of the short story. Further, the writer

decides to analyze the linguistic features of AAE including phonological,

syntactic and lexical features carefully.


43

Further, the data to reveal the effect of language contact of two language

varieties are taken from the dialogue of American English, the gun store owner

and landowner, Joe and Jim Hawkins. The data should be selected first since not

all utterances will be displayed. The writer only selects the utterances that reflect

the characteristics of AAE. Meaning to say, the chosen data are the utterances that

govern the same rules shown in the linguistic features of AAE.

Additionally, to make the analysis more organized, the writer draws

tables of the linguistic features shown in the short story. The use of tables will be

systematic in organizing the data and helpful in displaying the difference between

two language varieties and its effects. Further, the specific categorization of each

linguistic feature will ease the readers to spot the detailed differences.

2. Data Analysis

The current study presents two problems which are going to be analyzed.

The first is the characteristics of AAE seen through its linguistic features. The

second is the effects of AAE to the characters who speak SE and the reasons of

undergoing linguistic change. In order to provide the answers, the writer

undergoes some steps.

The first problem deals with the linguistic features of AAE. Firstly, the

writer collects the data which concern the phonological processes including the

sounds. The words or sentences by African American displayed in the short story

are the orthography of AAE. Secondly, the writer puts the focus on the syntactic

processes. The writer examines how the words uttered by African American are

structured into a sentence. Thirdly, the lexical items will be objected. The writer


44

finds some words possessed different meanings which are used by African

American within the dialogue.

Moreover, in analyzing the phonological and syntactic features, the

writer applies Rickford‟s tables of phonological and syntactic aspects of AAE

(Rickford, 1999: 205-208). Unlike the two linguistic features, the lexical feature

of AAE is analyzed using Green‟s description of some words spoken by African

American in her book. Likewise, the reliable dictionary chiefly American Oxford

Dictionary and Thesaurus and Longman Pronunciation Dictionary will be useful

to find the meanings and spellings of the words. After those three are analyzed,

the findings will be compared to the linguistic features of SE.

The second problem deals with the language choice of SE users which is

influenced by AAE users. Meaning to say, the writer shows the effect and

explains the reasons why AAE users can affect the language choice of SE users.

There are some theories applied include theory of communicative events and

theory of interpersonal speech accommodation. Firstly, the writer collects the data

which are the sentences expressed by the characters who speak SE. Specifically,

the utterances which carry the same linguistic features of AAE will be the data.

Then, the theory of communicative events may reveal the factors of the language

choice of SE users. As a result, the theory of interpersonal speech accommodation

is useful to figure out the reasons of the language choice of SE users.

In the final analysis, the writer restates that AAE is a variety of English

language which has structured, governed linguistic features. The AAE has

established its own identity as the variety of English language not as the


45

substandard language which is spoken by people who have different culture and

social status. The findings prove that a rule-governed AAE can influence SE

whose speakers are educated and high class people.


46

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the profound discussion and the analysis will be presented

to find out the answer of the two research problems; the first is the characteristics

of AAE shown by its linguistic features; the second is the effects and the reasons

of the language contact between AAE and SE. The analyzed data are derived from

the characters‟ utterances within the short story. The data can be in form of sounds

in term of phonological analysis, and words, phrases and sentences in term of

syntactic and lexical analysis.

A. Linguistic Features of AAE Shown in the Short Story

The first analysis discusses the linguistic features of AAE demonstrated

in the short story. The linguistic features are categorized into three features

namely phonological, syntactic and lexical. The findings of each feature will

indicate the characteristic of AAE.

1. Phonological Features

The first feature, phonological feature, is one of the subdisciplines in

linguistics which deals with sounds. It is a study of the selected sounds and how

they are realized in a particular language (Simpson, 1981: 68). Referring to the

AAE, the way the African Americans pronounce particular words is distinct to the

SE. As Rickford has noted, there are numbers of characteristics of AAE in

phonological side. Moreover, the differences can also be observed through the use

of English sounds such as vowels, consonants or diphthongs.


47

Those English sounds are analyzed through the phonological processes.

Further, the data are taken from the typology of the written text. The written text

illustrates how the characters pronounce the words. The characters are the African

Americans whose names are Dave, Mrs. Saunders (Dave‟s mother), Mr. Saunders

(Dave‟s father). Further, the data will be categorized based on Rickford‟s table of

phonological features of AAE and later they will be analyzed through

phonological processes. Of equal importance, the phonological notation is drawn

in each phonological process to summarize the analysis. In addition, the analysis

only uses one representative datum which means not all data are going to be

examined. All analyzed data will be summed up in the appendices.

a. Realization of Word Final /ŋ/ as in Gerunds

To begin with, the first common characteristic found in AAE is the

realization of final sound /ŋ/ in gerunds. Gerunds, which are verbs that function as

nouns and they are applied to {–ing} forms in certain cases, have final sound /ŋ/.

In AAE, the sound /ŋ/ is realized into sound /n/. The writer chooses the word

talkin as the representative data and its phonological process is shown in the table

below.

Table 6. Phonological Process of Realization of Word Final /ŋ/

SE AAE

talking

talkin

Underlying representation /ˈtɔːkɪŋ/ /ˈtɔːkɪŋ/

Velar alveolarization NA /ˈtɔːkɪn/

Surface representation [ˈtɔːkɪŋ] [ˈtɔːkɪn]


48

According to the table, the phonological process applied is velar

alveolarization. The non-alveolar sound will be changed into alveolar sound. In

the word talkin, the final sound produced is the sound /n/ while the SE is the

sound /ŋ/. It reveals that the velar sound /ŋ/ is changed with the alveolar sound /n/.

It occurs when the final sound is [-alveolar], which is velar sound, and becomes

[+alveolar] when there is an alveolar sound in the same word. To put it in

phonological notation, the illustration can be written as follow:

/ŋ/ [n] / #

+velar +alveolar

+nasal

b. Realization of voiced [ð]

The second characteristic is African American tend to avoid the use of

final sound /ð/. In AAE, the final sound /ð/ will be changed into either [d] or [v].

However, the writer only focuses on the changed sound /d/ because it is illustrated

within the short story. The analyzed word is wid and it is shown in the table below.

Table 7. Phonological Process of Realization of /ð/

Phonological Process

SE AAE

with

wid

Underlying representation /wɪð/ /wɪð/

Interdental fricative NA /wɪd/

Surface representation [wɪð] [wɪd]


http://lingorado.com/ipa/





49

Referring to the table, the phonological process occurred in the word wid

is consonant change . In the word with, the sound /ð/, which has the feature of

interdental fricative, will be changed into /d/ whose features are voiced alveolar

stop. Despite its difference, the two sounds have the same feature which is

[+voice]. Consequently, the sound /ð/ will be revealed into /d/ when it is found in

the final position. Accordingly, the notation can be demonstrated as follow:

/ð/ [d] / #

+interdental +alveolar

+fricative +stop

Besides in the final position, another finding reveals that /ð/ is changed

into /d/ whenever it appears in the initial position. The representative data is the

word den which should be pronounced as than in SE. The following notation

demonstrates the substitution of /d/ in the initial position.

/ð/ [d] / #

+interdental +alveolar

+fricative +stop

c. Consonant Dropping

The third characteristic is consonant dropping expressed by the African

American characters. Consonant dropping means there are some consonants

which are not pronounced and they are deleted. The v-and t-droppings are the

result the writer found within the short story. These consonant droppings are

followed by voice weakening. Firstly, the writer shows the phonological process

of both consonant deletion and vowel weakening in the word gimme.


50

Table 8. Phonological Process of v-Dropping

Phonological Process

SE AAE

give me

gimme

Underlying representation /ˈgɪv mi/ /ˈgɪv mi/

Consonant Deletion NA /ˈgimmi/

Vowel weakening NA /ˈgimmə/

Surface representation [ˈgɪv mi] [ˈgimmə]

There are two phonological processes occurred in the table above. The

first is consonant deletion process. The process is defined as the deletion of

particular consonants. In this case, the consonant /v/ is dropped and /m/ is directly

pronounced. Those two sounds possess the similar feature which is [+voice]. On

the other hand, /v/ is characterized as labiodental fricative while /m/ is labial nasal.

As a consequence, the consonant loss especially v-dropping appears when the

voiced labiodental fricative is followed by voiced bilabial nasal.

Moreover, the second phonological process is vowel weakening. Besides

considering on the orthography, the writer also observes the way African

Americans pronounce the words through songs and daily conversation. The result

of the observation is they tend to weaken the vowel. Vowel weakening results the

change of the movement of the tongue in pronouncing the vowel. After removing

the consonant/v/, the vowel /i/ is reduced into /ə/. The vowel /i/ possesses the

features of [+high], [+tense} and [-reduced] while the vowel /ə/ is the opposite,

which has the features of [-high], [-tense] and [+reduced].


51

Those different features emphasize that vowel /i/ is a tense vowel

characterized by the tongue being raised and longer duration of pronunciation. On

the other hand, /ə/ is drawn as a reduced vowel distinguished by putting the

tongue in the middle and pronouncing quicker. Thus, the process called vowel

weakening when the vowel is in the final position and followed by voiced labial

nasal sound.

Next, the second consonant dropping is t-dropping. Its phonological

process is demonstrated in the following table with the word lemme as the

illustrative data.

Table 9. Phonological Process of t-Dropping

SE AAE

let me

lemme

Underlying representation /ˈlɛt mi/ /ˈlɛt mi/

Consonant Deletion NA /ˈlɛmmi/

Vowel weakening NA /ˈlɛmmə/

Surface representation [ˈlɛt mi] [ˈlɛmmə]

The second characteristic of consonant dropping, which is t-dropping,

obtains the same phonological processes. Unlike the v-dropping, the process takes

different consonant. In the phrase let me, the consonant /t/ is removed and /m/is

pronounced directly. These two sounds acquire dissimilar features which /t/ is

described as voiceless alveolar stop whereas /m/ is characterized as voiced labial

nasal. They only have one similar feature which is [+consonantal]. As a result, the


52

t-dropping exists when the voiceless alveolar stop sound is followed by voiced

labial nasal sound.

Meanwhile, the process of vowel weakening in the word let me has the

same analysis demonstrated in the first example. After dropping consonant /t/, the

vowel /i/ becomes weakened into /ə/ when it is in the end of the word and

preceded by /m/. As a result, the notation of v- and t-droppings is explained

below:

/v/ Ø / [m]

+labiodental + bilabial

+fricative + nasal

/t/ Ø/ [m]

+ alveolar +bilabial

+ stop +nasal

Furthermore, the phonological notation of vowel weakening is also given

below:

/i/ [ə] / #

+ high - high

+ tense - tense

- back + back

-reduced + reduced

d. Realization of retroflex /r/

Furthermore, the deletion of [r] is the fourth characteristic of AAE. After

reading thoroughly, the writer has figured out that /r/ is deleted and consonant /h/

is inserted. One of the examples is the word bettah.


53

Table 10. Phonological Process of /r/-Realization

SE AAE

better

bettah

Underlying representation /ˈbɛtər/ /ˈbɛtər/

Vocalization NA /ˈbɛtar/

Glottal fricative NA /ˈbɛtah/

Surface representation [ˈbɛtər] [ˈbɛtah]

Referring to the table above, there are two phonological processes

applied in the word bettah. The first one is vocalization described as changing

weak vowels or liquid sounds into more neutral vowels. Equally important,

African Americans do not only change stressed vowels into unstressed (weak)

vowels, but they can pronounce from the weak vowel into stressed one. In effect,

the weak vowel /ə/ is changed into stressed vowel /a/ which has the features of

[+tense] and [-reduced].

The last process involved in the analysis is consonant change especially

glottal fricative. The consonant /r/ is removed and replaced by /h/. These two

sounds have different features such as voice and coronal. The /r/ is described as

[+voice], [+coronal] and [+sonorant] while /h/ is [-voice], [-coronal] and

[+obstruent]. To be sure, the [r] realization occurs when the consonant /r/ is in the

final position and preceded by weak vowels and voiceless stop sounds. The


54

following notations are the illustration of phonological processes of [r]-

realization in the word bettah.

/r/ [h] / [t] and [ə]

+ sonorant + obstruent + obstruent

+ voice - voice - voice

+ coronal - coronal + coronal

Another finding which undergoes the [r]- realization is found in the word

suppah and it is realized in the notation below:

/r/ [h] / [p] and [ə]

+ sonorant + obstruent + obstruent

+ voice - voice - voice

+ coronal - coronal + anterior

Besides the [r]- realization, the vocalization process is also examined and

the notation can be drawn as follow:

/ə/ [a] / [t] or [p] [h]

+ reduced - reduced

- tense + tense

- low + low

e. Reduction of Word-Final Consonant Clusters

Despite changing one sound into another sound, AAE also is

distinguished by deleting particular sound. African Americans tend to reduce a

final consonant in consonant clusters. Clusters are sequences where there are two

consonants or more without an intervening vowel. However, Rickford specifies

the reduced consonants which mostly uttered are /d/ and /t/. The first reduced

consonant in consonant clusters is the word understan.


55

Table 11. Phonological Process of /d/-Deletion

SE AAE

understand

understan

Underlying representation /ˌʌndərˈstænd/ /ˌʌndərˈstænd/

Consonant Deletion NA /ˌʌndərˈstæn/

Surface representation [ˌʌndərˈstænd] [ˌʌndərˈstæn]

In the table, d-deletion is applied in the word understand. The consonant

/d/ is deleted and the word becomes understan. These two sounds have the same

features which are [+voiced] and [+alveolar]. However, the sound /d/ is [+stop]

whereas /n/ is [-stop]. As a result, /d/ is not pronounced and /n/ is placed as the

final sound.

Next, the second reduced consonant in consonant clusters is the word

wan. The analysis is given in the table below.

Table 12. Phonological Process of /t/-Deletion

SE AAE

want

wan

Underlying representation /ˈwɑnt/ /ˈwɑnt/

Consonant Deletion NA /ˈwɑn/

Surface representation [ˈwɑnt] [ˈwɑn]

Besides d-deletion, the writer also objects the loss of / t/ in the word want.

The consonant /t/ is removed and the final sound will be /n/ and it is pronounced







56

/wɑn/. These two sounds have the same feature which is [+alveolar]. Nevertheless,

they possess distinct features as well such as /t/ is voiceless stop while /n/ is

voiced nasal.

Accordingly, those two data can be concluded that d-deletion and t-

deletion are applied when consonantal sounds encounter the alveolar stop as the

final sound. Thus, the phonological notation can be represented as follow:

/d/, /t/ Ø / [+ consonantal] #

+ consonantal

+ alveolar

+ stop

f. Monophthongal pronunciations

In AAE, monophthong is frequently used to particular words.

Monophthong is simply a single sound which comes from a vowel. When

producing monophthongal sound, the speakers do not have to move their mouth to

make sounds because it is only one vowel sound. One of the analyzed words is Ah

which is shown in the table below.

Table 13. Phonological Process of Monophthongization

SE AAE

I

ah

Underlying representation /aɪ/ /aɪ/

Monophthongization NA /a/

Epenthesis NA /ah/

Surface representation [aɪ] [ah]



57

Based on table, in SE, I has the surface representation as [aɪ] while in

AAE it is pronounced as [ah]. At first, it is called a diphthong because there are

two combined sounds, /a/ and /ɪ/. Though, the diphthong is monophthongized into

/a/ and later /h/ is inserted as the final sound. For this reason, the

monophthongization is applied when there is a diphthong either in the initial

position or in the final position preceded by bilabial nasal sound. The notations

can be written as follow:

/aɪ/ [a] / # , or

+ diphthong + monopthong

+ high - high

+ tense + tense

/ai/ [a] / [m]

+ diphthong + monopthong + bilabial

+ high - high + nasal

+ tense + tense + consonantal

g. Realization of [t]

Next, the other characteristic found in the short story is the realization of

alveolar stop /t/ as palatal affricate /ʧ/. This realization involves the combination

of two words, what you, as the representative data displayed in the table below.

Table 14. Phonological Process of /t/ Realization

SE AAE

what you

whutcha

Underlying representation /ˈwʌtju/ /ˈwʌtju/

Affrication NA /ˈwʌʧu/


58

Vowel weakening NA /ˈwʌʧə/

Surface representation [ˈwʌtju] [ˈwʌʧə]

As shown by the table above, there are two phonological processes

occurred namely affrication and vowel weakening. Affrication means the process

of removing the alveolar stop /t/ and inserting palatal affricate /ʧ/. Before

affricating into /ʧ/, the sound /j/ influences /t/. The two sounds possess their own

features which /t/ is characterized as voiceless bilabial stop otherwise /j/ is

illustrated as voiced palatal glide. They are also unlike in term of manner feature

which is /t/ is [+anterior] whereas /j/ is [-anterior]. For this reason, /t/ is affricated

into /ʧ/, which is described as [+palatal], [+affricate], [+sibilant] and [-anterior],

when a voiceless bilabial stop is followed by a voiced palatal glide.

Next, vowel weakening occurs after the affrication process. In SE, the

vowel used is /u/ defined as [+tense] and [-reduced]. On the contrary, in AAE, the

vowel expressed is /ə/ characterized as [-tense] and [+reduced]. Hence, /u/ is

weakened into a reduced vowel when it is a word-final vowel and preceded by

voiceless palatal affricate. Then, the notation is illustrated below:

/t/ [ʧ] / [j]

+ alveolar + palatal + palatal

+ stop + affricate + glide

- sibilant + sibilant - sibilant

+ anterior - anterior - anterior


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h. Deletion of schwa [ə]

In previous findings, the writer has explained about consonant dropping

which deletes particular consonant in a word. In a similar manner, the deletion of

reduced vowel is found as well. The input of the process involves the schwa /ə/

and it is demonstrated in the table below.

Table 15. Phonological Process of /ə/-Deletion

SE AAE

catalog

catlog

Underlying representation /ˈkætəlɔg/ /ˈkætəlɔg/

Vowel Deletion NA /ˈkætlɔg/

Surface representation [ˈkætəlɔg] [ˈkætlɔg]

In the table above, there is a phonological process occurred namely

vowel loss. In SE, the word catalog is pronounced [ˈkætəlɔg], as the schwa is

pronounced as well. In other respects, African Americans pronounce as [ˈkætlɔg],

which indicates the loss of schwa sound, when the schwa is found between

alveolar coronal sounds.

/ə/ Ø / [t] [l]

- high + alveolar + alveolar

- tense + coronal + coronal

+ back

+ reduced


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i. Realization of word-final consonant /k/

Realization of word-final consonant velar as alveolar sound is the other

characteristics revealed in the short story. The representative data is drawn by the

word ask. The table below shows the phonological process of the word ask.

Table 16. Phonological Process of /k/ Realization

SE AAE

ask

ast

Underlying representation /ˈæsk/ /ˈæsk/

Assimilation NA /ˈæst/

Surface representation [ˈæsk] [ˈæst]

Based on table, the phonological process occurred is assimilation

specifically progressive assimilation. It is called progressive assimilation because

there is a sound which becomes more like the preceding sound. In SE, the surface

representation of the word ask uses /k/ as the final sound. By contrast, AAE shows

different surface representation by using final sound /t/. The /k/ sound is

assimilated into /t/ because it is influenced by the preceding sound /s/.

The cause of the assimilation is derived from the feature that /t/ and /s/

possess. Both sounds possess utterly the similar features namely [+alveolar],

[+coronal], [+obstruent] and [+anterior]. They are coronal sounds since they are

produced with the tip of the tongue while /k/ is [-coronal] released by raising the

back of the tongue. Thus, the African Americans tend to assimilate the sound /k/


61

into /t/ when it is preceded by alveolar coronal sound. The phonological notation

of [k] realization is displayed below:

/k/ [t] / [s]

+ velar + alveolar + alveolar

+ stop + obstruent + obstruent

- anterior + anterior + anterior

-coronal + coronal + coronal

2. Syntactic Features

After analyzing the phonological feature, the next feature that will be

examined is the syntactic feature. This feature is defined as “a part of grammar

that represents a speaker‟s knowledge of sentences and their structure” which is

called syntax (Fromkin et al., 2011: 78). In other words, studying syntax enables

the speakers to form a structural phrases or sentences so they can communicate

well.

The analyzed data are obtained by the conversation of the African

American‟s characters. Since this part discusses grammar, the data are not only

words instead they can be extended into phrases, clauses or sentences. Equally

important, the data will be based on Rickford‟s theory about the syntactic features

of AAE. Besides, the writer shows some data as the representative data in each

analysis. Further, there are several different syntactic features expressed by the

characters and they are illustrated in the table.

a. Verbal Tense Marking

In grammar, tenses are categorized as time reference signified by the use

of specific forms of verbs. In SE, there are three time signifiers which describe the


62

tenses namely; past, present and future. In alike manner, AAE produces the same

tenses. In spite of this, the African Americans express the tenses differently. The

following characteristics show that AAE apply verbal tense marking in a distinct

way.

i. The Loss of Copula be

Copula has a role as a linking verb which connects the subject of a

sentence with a predicate. Equally important, the use of copula signifies the time

marker as well. Whether or not, African Americans commonly remove the copula

in their conversation specifically the use of be. Most of the sentences are spotted

without the linking verb be as seen in the table below.

Table 17. The Loss of Copula be

No AAE SE

1. Where (?) Dave? Where is Dave?

2. Yuh (?) a fool! You are a fool!

3. Ah did not know Ah (?) gittin up

so early, Mistah Hawkins

I did not know, I was getting

up so early, Mister Hawkins.

4. (?) You plannin on buyin

something?

Are you planning on buying

something?

Note: the negative marker (?) in brackets is used to mark the absence of copula

be

In the first and second example of AAE above, the linking verbs, is and

are, are not spotted in the interrogative sentence. On the other hand, in SE, the

linking verbs are spotted. Those linking verbs stand for present tense. Next, in the

third example, was is used to signify the past continuous event. Nonetheless, in

AAE, there is no copula to be used to mark the tense. Then, in the last example,

the absence of copula are can be seen in AAE. In SE, the sentence is explained in


63

present continuous tense since it has to be and followed by verb -ing. Thus, those

fourth examples demonstrate that in AAE, the use of copula is mostly removed

and do not possess time indication.

ii. The Absence and Addition of Suffix {–s} or {–es} in Present Verbs

According to the grammar of SE, a final {–s} or {–es} is inserted to “a

simple present verb when the subject is a singular noun or third person singular

noun” (Azar and Hagen , 2006: 168). In other words, the final {–s} or {–es} can

only be put to a present verb when the subject is the third person singular

pronouns (she, he,it) and singular nouns (Jack, my wife, the carpet). On the other

hand, if the subject is the first and second singular or first and third plural subject

(I, you, we, they), the additional {–s} or {–es} is avoided.

The next characteristic is the absence of suffix {–s} or {–es} in present

verb in third person singular pronoun and the addition suffix {–s} or {–es} in the

first or third plural subject. In the following table, the African American

characters tend to omit or add the suffixes.

Table 18. The Absence and Addition of Suffix {–s} or {–es}

No AAE SE

1. N it don cos but two dollahs. And it does not cost but two

dollars.

2. Ah plows mo lan than anybody

over there.

I plow more lands than

anybody over there.

Referring to the table, in the first example, AAE characters omit the

suffix {–es} in the word don. However, in SE, the realization of the word don

should be written as does not since the subject is the third person singular pronoun


64

(it). On the other hand, in the second example, they tend to add the suffix {–s} to

the verb include plows. Nevertheless, in SE, the present verbs should be written as

plow without inserting the suffix {–s} because the subject is the first singular

subject (I).

These phenomena show that in AAE the use of present verbs is different.

In SE, the present verbs are identical with the addition of suffix {–s} or {–es} in

the third person singular pronouns, and the absence of suffix {–s} or {–es} in the

first or third plural subject. Otherwise, in AAE it is used in reverse which means

the absence of suffix {–s} or {–es} can be observed in third person singular

pronoun and the addition suffix {–s} or {–es} can be seen in the first or third

plural subject.

iii. The Nonexistence of Auxiliaries in Perfect Tense

Besides illustrating different use of present verbs, the deletion of

auxiliary have is observed as well. The use of auxiliary have includes has and had

are applied in perfect tense. Nonetheless, those missing auxiliaries cannot be

avoided in AAE as displayed in the table below.

Table 19. The Nonexistence of Auxiliaries (Have/Has)

No AAE SE

1. (?) Ol man Hawkins given yuh

mah money yit?

Has old man Hawkins given

you my money yet?

2. Where (?) yuh been, boy? Where have you been, boy?

Note: the negative marker (?) in brackets is used to mark the nonexistence of

auxiliaries


65

The table above shows the lack of auxiliary both have and has in AAE.

As demonstrated, in the first example, the character does not pronounce the

auxiliary has while in the second one the auxiliary have is missing. As a result,

the perfect tense, which should been marked by the auxiliary has/have, does not

possess the auxiliary and it is directly followed by past participle verbs such as

given and been. In other words, AAE does not use the auxiliaries (have, has and

had) to indicate perfective events.

iv. The Use of done to Indicate Perfective Aspect

The fourth character has the relationship with the previous analysis

which discusses the perfect tense. In SE, the perfect tense is marked by the use of

auxiliaries (have/has/had) and followed by past participle verb. Unlike SE, the

African Americans tend to add the word done to indicate completed action.

Table 20. The Insertion of Done

No AAE SE

1. Shucks, a man ough ta hava

little gun aftah he done worked

hard all day

Sucks, a man ought to have a little

gun after he has worked hard all

day.

2. Ah‟ll tal t yuh aftah yuh done

eaten.

I will talk to you after you have

eaten.

According to the table above, in AAE, the use of done is marked as

perfective aspect. Based on the Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus, done

is categorized as both a verb and an adjective. Though, in this occasion, done has

a part of speech as an adjective since it is defined as something which is “finished

or completed”. Therefore, the function of using done is to strengthen the meaning

of the completed action. Instead of using the auxiliary (have/has/had), they


66

directly say the word “done” to indicate an activity that has been finished. Hence,

it shows that done is used in forming the perfective aspect as the auxiliary

(have/has/had).

b. Noun Marker

Noun marker is the way to identify a noun. In SE, some terms such as

articles, determiners and quantifiers belong to the noun marker which modifies a

noun. In fact, AAE mostly do not mark the noun in their conversation. The

findings of the absence of noun marker are shown in the subpart below.

i. The Absence of Suffix {–s} in Plural Noun

The first finding is the absence of suffix {–s} to indicate plural noun. In

SE, the addition of suffix {–s} or {–es} is applied to the regular plural noun. In

spite of this, the AAE does not signify the plural nouns by using the suffix {–s}.

The relevant data are illustrated in the table below.

Table 21. The Absence of Suffix {–s} in Plural Nouns

No AAE SE

1. Ah plowed bout two row, just

like yuh see.

I plowed about two rows, just like

you see.

2. Ah know that Mistah Joe sell

some gun.

I know that Mister Joe sells some

guns.

The table above describes the nonexistence of suffix {–s} in plural noun

expressed by African Americans. Referring to the sentence, row is defined as “a

horizontal line in a field or garden”, and the plural form is rows (Oxford American

Dictionary & Thesaurus). In the same manner, gun has a meaning as “any kind of

weapon consisting of a metal tube and often held in the hand with a grip at one


67

end, from which bullets are propelled with great force”, and it should be guns as

the realization of the plural form (Oxford American Dictionary & Thesaurus).

Therefore, in SE, the word row and gun will be attached with suffix {–s} due to

its role as regular verb. As opposed to AAE, the regular verbs are sometimes not

given the suffix {–s}.

c. Pronouns

Pronouns are the words that can replace a noun. They can be substituted

for particular noun. In fact, the pronouns must have a clear antecedent in which

noun they stand for. The following characteristics show the different phenomena

concerning to the pronouns.

i. The Use of Copula in Personal Pronoun

In previous finding, the writer has found that mostly African Americans

tend to delete the linking verbs in their speaking. Alternatively, particular linking

verbs are figured out in some expressions. Meanwhile, the difference of copula

use examined when it is used in personal pronoun. The illustrative data is shown

in the following data.

Table 22. The Use of Copula in Personal Pronoun

No AAE SE

1. Yeah, here they is. Yeah, here they are.

2. Nigger, is yuh gone plumb

crazy?

Nigger, are you plumb crazy?

The data above show the difference in using copula be. In the first

example, the third plural pronoun, they, is attached with the linking verb is.

Referring to the SE, they must be followed by are because they is categorized as


68

plural pronoun defined to two or more people or thing. Besides, in the second

example, the second singular pronoun, you, is followed by copula is. Otherwise,

in SE, you must be followed by copula are. To conclude, African Americans tend

to use copula is to link the third plural and second singular pronouns

ii. The Use of Pronoun Them or em as Article The

Them is described as one of the third personal pronouns. Specifically,

them is categorized as objective plural pronoun. Different from pronoun them, the

refers to the article used to modify noun to make it become specific. Nonetheless,

in AAE, them or em usually refers to the specific noun. The following examples

are the relevant data which will be analyzed.

Table 23. The Use of Them or em as Article The

No AAE SE

1. Whut‟s the use talking wid em

niggers in the field?

What is the use talking with the

niggers in the field?

2. Ahm going by ol Joe‟s sto n git

that Sears Roebuck catlog n

look at them guns.

I am going by old Joe‟s store and

get that Sears Roebuck catalog and

look at the guns.

According to the table, the data above shows the difference use of them

or em in AAE. Them/em replaces the use of article the. In both examples, them

and em are followed by plural noun which make the sentences become

grammatically incorrect in SE. Instead of using third personal pronoun, in SE, the

is applied because it is modified the plural nouns niggers and guns as definite

words and to refer specific things which have been mentioned.


69

iii. The Use of Pronoun They as Adverb There

The third pronoun which African Americans often use to indicate the

adverb is a subject pronoun they. They acts as the subject of the sentence and

performs the action of the verb while there is an adverbial form defined to refer to

particular place or location. The table below explains the use of pronoun they to

indicate the adverbial place.

Table 24. The Use of They as Adverb There

No AAE SE

1. Yuhgit up from they and git to

the well n wash yosef!

You get up from there and get to

the well and wash yourself!

2. Ah‟ll go they and tal t Jenny. I will go there and talk to Jenny.

According to the example, the sentence is an imperative sentence which

asks someone to do something. In AAE, the subject pronoun they is figured out to

indicate a certain location. Instead of using they, in SE, there is expressed as an

adverb to describe the verb in particular place. It explicitly refers to the place

since the character uses the word from which signifies the starting point of the

activity in certain place. However, AAE marks the adverb by using the third plural

subject.

d. Negation

Negation has a definition as the contradiction of some or all of the

meaning of an affirmative sentence. In SE, the negation is inserted into a sentence

by adding a single negative word which is not. As opposed to SE, AAE shares

unique characteristic in expressing negative sentence. In this part, the writer

shows several ways of how the African Americans mark the negation.


70

i. The Use of ain’t/ain’

Like a number of other varieties, AAE uses ain’t to negate the verb in a

simple sentence. Ain’t refers to the contraction for several verbs namely the

auxiliary (have not/has not/had not), modal (cannot/may not/will not and etc),

copula (am not/is not/are not) and particular verb (do not/does not/did not). The

following table demonstrates the use of ain’t in some expressions.

Table 25. The Use of ain’t/ain’

No AAE SE

1. Ah ain scareda them even ef they

are biggem me!

I am not scared of them even if

they are bigger than me!

2. You ain’t gonna touch a penny ef

tha money

You are not going to touch a

penny of that money.

The following examples display how the African Americans express the

negative utterances. Ain’t is mostly exposed in copula and verb as the writer

collects the data. In the examples, ain’t can be flexibly referred to some linking

verbs such as am and are. Unlike AAE, SE uses the linking verbs differently

regarding to their subject pronouns.

ii. Double Negation

Double negation is described as two forms of negation used in the same

sentence. In AAE, double negation does not produce positive sentence instead it

intensifies the negation. The type of the negation is also termed as negative

concord defined as a phenomenon in which multiple negations used in a sentence,


71

but the sentence is interpreted as only being negated once. The following table is

shown to demonstrate the use of double negation in AAE.

Table 26. The Use of Double Negation

No AAE SE

1. Yuh don need no gun You do not need a gun

2. Them niggers can’t understand

nothing

The niggers cannot understand

anything.

3. Don yuh talk t me bout no gun! Do not you talk to me about

gun!

According to the examples provided, double negation is expressed

frequently within the short story. In the first and third example, not as a negative

particle, is used to indicate negative expression. Furthermore, there is another

negative word no which results double negation. To the same extent, the second

example involve not as a negative particle as well to produce contradictive

utterance. Moreover, the utterance is followed by other negative word nothing

which causes double negation. In that respect, AAE still considers double

negation as a negative sentence.

iii.The Realization of ain’t but

The third characteristic is related to the use of ain’t but to express the

word only. In SE, but has some roles in English grammar and of them is

associated as the coordinating conjunction which connects the contrastive ideas.

In the same manner, only has few functions and one of them is to state the

limitation (one or very few) to some people, things or activities. In other


72

perspective, AAE expresses the limitation by producing ain’t but which can be

analyzed in the table below:

Table 27. The Realization of ain’t but

No AAE SE

1. You ain’t but a boy. You are only a boy.

2. It ain’t but two dollahs. It‟s only two dollars.

3. He ain but ten year ol. He is only ten years old.

According to the table above, African Americans tend to use ain’t but to

replace the word only. The sentence has a different structure in which the negative

expression is followed by the conjunction but. The word ain’t does not explain

anything but it only functions as a negation. Further, ain’t is not followed by a

noun yet it is directly continued with but which indicates contrastive ideas.

Therefore, ain’t but is caught in the sentence to negate some facts that the

character is not a mature male and to show the limitation which they belong to the

young teen.

3. Lexical Features

The last finding that will be discussed is lexical features. Lexical features

refer to the lexicon which is the words or vocabulary of a language distinguished

from its grammatical and syntactic aspect. The lexicon is derived from parts of

speech either it is open-class words or closed-class words. The writer analyzes the

lexicons which carry different meanings used by African American. Even though

the AAE shares less difference in lexical feature, the short story shows the

different use of some vocabularies uttered by the characters.


73

a. The Use of Set

The first vocabulary examined is set. The writer finds some data in which

African Americans prefer to use set to express the activity of sitting. The

comparison of vocabulary use between AAE and SE is appeared in the table

below.

Table 28. The Use of Set

No AAE SE

1. Waal, set down n be still! Well, sit down and be

still!

2. Why don‟t yuh set down n talk

calmly?

Why don‟t you sit down

and talk calmly?

Referring to the examples, there is a different use of vocabularies

demonstrated in the table. Both examples show the use of set instead of sit. In SE,

the word set has a meaning “to put something or somebody in a particular place”

(American Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus). While the word sit refers to “a

position in which one‟s bottom is resting on a chair, the floor, etc and one‟s back

is upright”. According to the Oxford Dictionary, these two vocabularies carry

different meaning. However, in relation to the sentence above, the speaker asks

someone to do the activity of sitting not putting or laying something or someone.

b. The Use of Kin

The second lexicon found is kin. The input of the data involves the word

kin in which it represents the word can. However, in SE, kin has a different

meaning and it is not realized as can.


74

Table 29. The Use of Kin

No AAE SE

1. Kin ah see it? Can I see it?

2. We kin use it in the outhouse. We can use it in the

outhouse.

Next, the two examples demonstrate the use of kin instead of can. The

word kin is associated with “one‟s family and relations”. It is relatively distant

with the meaning of can. The word can stands for a modal verb and functions to

show the ability, request, possibility and allowance. Moreover, referring to the

utterance above, the character talks about the catalogue that can be used in the

outhouse. In this case, she does not refer to any kind of family members or

relatives. Instead, she talks about the possibility of using the catalogue as tissue

paper.

After undergoing the analysis on each linguistic feature, the writer draws

the result of all analyzed data below. The data are portrayed in form of numbers

uttered by each character.

Firstly, for the phonological feature, the total usage from the three

characters is 338. Specifically, there are 221 data produced by Dave, 103 data

produced by Mrs. Saunders and 14 data produced by Mr. Saunders. The totals of

each phonological feature examined are 39 data in /ŋ/ realization, 14 in /ð/

realization, 8 in consonant dropping, 14 in /r/ realization, 171 in reduction of

word-final consonant clusters, 80 in monophthongal pronunciation, 2 in /t/

deletion, 6 in /ə/ deletion and 4 in realization of word-final consonant /k/.

Secondly, for the syntactic feature, the collected datum from the three

characters is 77. To be detailed, there are 43 data expressed by Dave, 25 data


75

expressed by Mrs. Saunders and 9 data expressed by Mr. Saunders. Therefore, the

data can be summed up as follow; 11 data in loss of copula be, 7 in absence and

addition of suffix {–s} or {–es} in present verbs, 4 in the nonexistence of

auxiliaries in perfect tense, 4 in use of done to indicate perfective aspect, 3 in

absence of suffix {–s} in plural noun, 5 in use of copula in personal pronoun, 3 in

use of pronoun them or em as article the, 4 in use of pronoun they as adverb there,

12 in use of ain’t, 9 in use of double negation and 3 in realization of ain’t but.

Thirdly, for the lexical feature, the total finding obtained by those

characters is 11 data, which is much lesser than the previous features. Precisely,

Dave states 7 data, Mrs. Saunders states 4 data and Mr. Saunders does not state

any data. Hence, the data can be concluded as follow; 2 data in use of set and 9

data in use of kin.

B. The Effect and Reason of AAE to SE Users’ Language Choice

After analyzing and discussing the first problem on the linguistic features

of AAE, the writer can move to the second problem which deals with how the

language choice of SE users is influenced by AAE users. Meaning to say, this

second problem shows the effect and reason of language choice of SE users. In

order to analyze the second problem, the writer examines the effect of AAE to the

SE users and figures out the reason by combining the theory of communicate

events and interpersonal speech accommodation.

1. The Effect of AAE to SE Users

A language can be influenced by other languages due to the language

contact. By the same token, this phenomenon leads to the decision of language


76

choice occurred in SE users. Consequently, the language change cannot be

avoided in terms of its linguistic features.

Referring to the short story, the writer has found that SE users are

influenced by AAE and possesses some language changes. The language changes

are some linguistic features of AAE analyzed in the preceding problem.

Table 30. The Effect of AAE to SE Users

No. The Influenced SE Users SE

1. Whutcha want? What do you want?

2. (?) You plannin on buyin

something?

Are you planning on buying

something?

3. (?) Your ma lettin you have your

own money now?

Is your mom letting you have your

own money now?

4. Well, that (?) good. Well, that is good.

5. Hey! (?) that you, Dave? Hey! Is that you, Dave?

6. Since you (?) so early, how about

plowing that stretch down by the

woods?

Since you are so early, how about

plowing that stretch down by the

woods?

7. Ain’t nobody going to hurt you. There is no one going to hurt you.

8. Well, (?) looks like you have

bought you a mule, Dave.

Well, it looks like you have bought

you a mule, Dave.


auxiliaries

Based on the table above, there are eight utterances of SE which will be

the representative data examined on the short story. The complete findings are

presented in the appendix part. Those utterances are the result of the language

change and the effect can be seen by the different use of linguistic features.

In the first place, the utterance Whutcha want is expressed. As analyzed

in the preceding problem, the utterance undergoes the process of affrication.

Instead of producing What do you want, in which the proper interrogative


77

sentence must be sounded, the character imitates the phonological feature of AAE

by applying the process of affrication.

Besides applying the affrication process, another phonological change

can be observed in the second and third utterances. Those interrogative sentences

are said by the character to confirm about two things; first, whether Dave is

allowed to have his own money or not. Second, whether Dave is going to buy

something or not. The two questions apply the phonological feature of AAE by

realizing the sound of /ŋ/ into /n/ in the words plannin, buyin and lettin. Rather

than stating planning, buying and letting, the character chooses to confirm Dave

by applying the phonological feature of realizing /ŋ/.

Next, the language change is discovered in the syntactic level as well.

The copula absence specifically the loss of linking verbs, is and are, is displayed

in the second up to sixth sentence. In the second and sixth sentence, the copula is

does not appear while in the third up to fifth sentence, the copula are is not

detected. Different from AAE, in SE, the copula is is realized when the subject is

the third person singular pronouns (she, he,it) and singular nouns (Jack, my wife,

the carpet). On the other hand, if the subject is the second singular or first and

third plural subject (I, you, we, they), and plural nouns, the copula are will be used.

Fourth, one of the common characteristics of AAE, the use of double

negation, cannot be avoided by the character. In the seventh example, the negation

is marked by the use of ain’t. Additionally, another negative word, nobody is

preceded by ain’t, resulting the sentence to possess double negation. On the


78

contrary, the sentence should be expressed only with one negation in order not to

change the meaning of the sentence.

Fifth, the addition of suffix {–s} of present verb in particular pronouns is

observed in the ninth example. In the datum, the subject is not detected yet the

verb looks with the suffix {–s} attached to the verb. However, in SE, the suffix {–

s} will be attached to a verb when it is in present form and the subject is the third

person singular pronouns (she, he,it) and singular nouns.

2. The Reasons of the SE User’s Language Change

In the previous subpart, the writer collects several data which show the

effect of language contact between AAE and SE. The result of the language

choice proves that there are some linguistic changes spoken by the Americans.

Further, in order to find out the factors of the language change, the writer puts

three components namely participant (P), setting (S) and act sequence (A) in

which the attitude of the language might be influenced. The participants involved

are Dave, Joe and Jim Hawkins. Dave is an African American boy who works in

Jim Hawkin‟s field. Moreover, Joe and Jim Hawkins are the Americans who own

some private properties.

Table 31. The Analysis of the Influenced SE Users

No The Influenced

SE

Components

Participants (P)

Setting (S) Act Sequence (A) Addresser

(Americans)

Addressee

(African

American)

1. Whutcha want? Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation

occurs when Joe

greets Dave right


79

after he walks in

the store.

2. (?) You plannin

on buyin

something?

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation

talks about the

action of Dave of

planning to buy a

gun.

3. Your ma lettin

you have your

own money

now?

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation

talks about the

action of Dave of

planning to buy a

gun.

4. Well, that (?)

good.

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation is

about the

agreement between

Dave and John in

the process of

buying and selling

a gun.

5. Hey! (?) that

you, Dave?

Jim Hawkins Dave At the

cultivated

land

The conversation

happens when

Dave comes and

starts doing his job

in Jim‟s plantation.

6. Since you (?) so

early, how about

plowing that

stretch down by

the woods?


cultivated

land

The conversation

discusses the action

of Dave to plow the

Hawkins‟ land.

7. Ain’t nobody going to hurt

you.


cultivated

land

The conversation

narrates the

situation when

Dave is suspected

to shoot and kill the

mule, and he

expects Dave to tell

the truth.

8. Well, looks like

you have bought

you a mule,

Dave.


cultivated

land

The conversation

emphasizes on the

topic about the

Dave‟s action of

killling a mule and

the risk of giving

compensation to

Jim.


80

The table above is divided into three aspects including participants,

settings and act sequences. In the first to fourth example, both participants and

setting are the same. The participants involved are Dave and Joe, and the setting

takes place in the Joe‟s gun store. However, the act sequences show different

topics yet they mostly talk about gun.

In Joe‟s four utterances, there are some linguistic changes revealed such

as affrication process, the realization of /ŋ/ and the copula absence. Based on the

language changes above, the theory of interpersonal speech accommodation can

be applied. Based on Joe‟s language change, there are two mechanisms of

psychological process used namely similarity attraction and causal attribution.

First, the similarity attraction can be observed from the similar interest

shown by an addressee. In this case, Dave has an interest of possessing a gun in

which Joe shares the similar interest as well that he is the owner of the gun store.

Joe, who sells various kinds of gun, is attracted to Dave‟s willingness to own a

gun. The similarity attraction of possessing guns is explained in the act sequences

above in which Joe and Dave interact. Dave is very obsessed to own a gun to

protect his family and it brings the joy when he enters Joe‟s gun store. Then, Joe

greets and welcomes him warmly, expecting him to buy some guns. In the same

manner, the role of setting gives significance impact as well where many African

Americans stop by at the gun store to have an intense interaction about gun.

Second, the causal attribution also gives the contribution to accommodate

addressee‟s language behavior. The causal attribution deals with the intention to


81

reduce social distance. In order to reduce the social distance, the speaker does not

reflect the opposite things from the addressee. Instead, the speaker puts himself in

the same social level by acquiring the same language behavior. In effect, Joe

needs to pay attention to the participants or to whom he talks. The different

participants may take an important role in realizing accommodation speech, since

the speakers have to adapt to the addressee‟s language behavior. Because Joe talks

to an African American boy, Dave, he applies some linguistic change to deliver

the message in the same language behavior and hopes Joe can perceive it easier.

The more Dave‟s language behavior is reflected, the more easily the message will

be understood.

In the same extent, Jim Hawkins‟s utterances possess the linguistic

change demonstrated in the fifth to eight example. The linguistic changes found

are the copula absence, double negation and the addition of suffix {–s} of present

verb in particular pronouns. According to the table, the participants and setting

have the same finding in each utterance. The participants included are Jim

Hawkins and Dave, while the setting is illustrated at the cultivated land.

As opposed from the previous finding, Jim Hawkins does not show the

similar attraction done by Dave. The act sequences above contribute to show the

dissimilar attraction. Instead of sharing the similar attraction to Jim Hawkins,

Dave does not show his interest in taking care of the plantation. He works in Jim

Hawkins‟ plantation as one of the ways to earn money for living. He helps his

family to pay his stuff for school.


82

In spite of sharing the similar attraction, Jim Hawkins illustrates causal

attribution to adapt to Dave‟s language behavior. The significance of adapting

Dave‟s language behavior is to deliver the message easier and clearer. Jim

Hawkins imitates some features of AAE to make Dave understands what he says.

Additionally, in this case, Jim Hawkins, the owner of the plantation, always asks

and requests Dave to do something frequently. In order to avoid the trouble in

doing his business, it is reasonable for him to adapt Dave‟s language behavior.

Hence, there are three main factors why SE users are influenced by AAE

include the participants‟ language, settings and act sequences. These components

are connected to the interpersonal relationship in which SE users try to show to

AAE users. The SE users try to reduce the dissimilarities and social distance to

deliver the message clearly and understandably.


83

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the writer provides the conclusion of the two problem

formulations discussed in the preceding chapter. First, the linguistic features of

AAE expressed by the characters within the short story are summarized

thoroughly including phonological, syntactic and lexical features. Second, the

effect and reason of the language contact between AAE and SE are briefly

concluded.

In the first place, the writer examines and discusses the linguistic features

of AAE uttered by the African American characters who are Dave, Mrs. Saunders

and Mr. Saunders. The writer has collected various numbers of each linguistic

feature spoken by each character.

Firstly, for the phonological feature, the writer found some distinctive

features such as /ŋ/ realization, /ð/ realization, consonant dropping, /r/ realization,

reduction of word-final consonant clusters, monophthongal pronunciation, /t/

deletion, /ə/ deletion and realization of word-final consonant /k/.

Secondly, for the syntactic feature, the data can be summed up as follow;

loss of copula be, absence and addition of suffix {–s} or {–es} in present verbs,

the nonexistence of auxiliary have in perfect tense, use of done to indicate

perfective aspect, absence of suffix {–s} in plural noun, the use of copula in

personal pronoun, the use of pronoun them or em as article the, the use of pronoun


84

they as adverb there, the use of ain’t, the use of double negation and realization of

ain’t but.

Thirdly, for the lexical feature, there are two data found include the use

of set and kin. Referring to the analysis, African Americans tend to express set to

replace sit. While kin is expressed to show the meaning of capability which uses

can.

After summarizing the linguistic features of AAE shown within the short

story, the effects and reasons of AAE to the SE user‟s language choice are

concluded concisely.

First, the writer has found out 12 data in total about the effect of the

language choice which leads to the language change. The data are derived from

the American characters who are Joe and Jim Hawkins. Accordingly, Joe

expresses data applying /ŋ/ realization, /t/ realization and copula absence.

Furthermore, Jim Hawkins expresses data applying copula absence, the use of

double negation and addition of suffix {–s} of present verb in particular pronouns.

Second, the reason why the characters, Joe and Jim Hawkins, undergo

the language change is based on the communicative events and interpersonal

speech accommodation. The communicative events are narrowed into three main

components include participants, setting and act sequence. These three are the

factors why SE users are affected by AAE. Additionally, the components are

connected to the interpersonal relationship of SE and AAE users. The reasons why

SE users try to imitate AAE are to express the similar attraction and causal

attribution.


85

The similar attraction is occurred when the American character, Joe, and

African American characters, Dave, have the same interest. The same interest can

be acquired from the act sequences. The act sequence means the topic that the

speaker and listener have. Both Joe and Dave have the same interest to talk to

which is to own a gun.

Moreover, the causal attribution is built when the American characters,

Joe and Jim Hawkins, want to adapt to AAE to reduce social distance and get

positive judgment from the African American characters. They want to get the

message delivered clearly and understandably. Then, in adapting certain language

behavior, the participants and setting are considered to have great influence. In

order to deliver the message smoothly, the speaker needs to pay attention to whom

they speak and where the setting is. The American characters know that the

interlocutors are the African American characters and the setting is illustrated in

the plantation where most workers are the African Americans. Thus, the factors

and reasons above indirectly force the Americans to adapt to the interlocutor‟s

language behavior.

In conclusion, AAE has its own rule-governed language which has

several distinctive characteristics in term of the linguistic features. Those

characteristics should be respected and accepted as any other varieties of English.

Moreover, the effects and reasons of AAE to the SE users proves that a rule-

governed AAE can influence the Americans whose language behavior, status and

culture are different. In a greater extent, AAE has formed its own identity as the

variety of English, not as the substandard language.


86

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1:

The Linguistic Features of African American English

Compared to Standard English

A. Phonological Features

1. Final ng as in Gerunds

Speaker(s) AAE IPA SE IPA Total

Dave talkin [ˈtɔkɪn] talking [ˈtɔkɪŋ] 2

Dave plannin [ˈplænɪn] planning [ˈplænɪŋ] 2

Dave lettin [ˈlɛtɪn] letting [ˈlɛtɪŋ] 2

Dave gittin [ˈgɛtɪn] getting [ˈgɛtɪŋ] 5

Mrs.

Saunders

waitin [ˈweɪtɪn] waiting [ˈweɪtɪŋ] 2

Mrs.

Saunders

feedin [ˈfidɪn] feeding [ˈfidɪŋ] 1

Mrs.

Saunders

hollerin [ˈhɑlərɪn] hollering [ˈhɑlərɪŋ] 1

Mrs.

Saunders

foolin [ˈfulɪn] fooling [ˈfulɪŋ] 1

Mr.

Saunders

doin [ˈduɪn] doing [ˈduɪŋ] 2

Mrs.

Saunders

throwin [ˈθroʊɪn] throwing [ˈθroʊɪŋ] 1

Mrs.

Saunders

keepin [ˈkipɪn] keeping [ˈkipɪŋ] 1

Dave snortin [ˈsnɔrtɪn] snorting [ˈsnɔrtɪŋ] 1

Dave fixin [ˈfɪksɪn] fixing [ˈfɪksɪŋ] 1

Dave plowin [ˈplaʊɪn] plowing [ˈplaʊɪŋ] 1

Dave kickin [ˈkɪkɪn] kicking [ˈkɪkɪŋ] 1

Dave rearin [ˈrɪrɪn] rearing [ˈrɪrɪŋ] 1

Dave goin [ˈgoʊɪn] going [ˈgoʊɪn] 1

Dave stickin [ˈstɪkɪn] sticking [ˈstɪkɪŋ] 1

Mrs.

Saunders

worryin [ˈwɜriɪn] worrying [ˈwɜriɪŋ] 1

Dave shootin [ˈʃutɪn] shooting [ˈʃutɪŋ] 1

Dave nothin [ˈnʌθɪn] nothing [ˈnʌθɪŋ] 5

Dave somethin [ˈsʌmθɪn] something [ˈsʌmθɪŋ] 2

Dave tryin [ˈtraɪɪn] trying [ˈtraɪɪŋ] 1

Dave anythin [ˈɛniˌθɪn] anything [ˈɛniˌθɪŋ] 1






90

Dave bleedin [ˈblidɪn] bleeding [ˈblidɪŋ] 1

Total 39

2. Realization of voiced [ð]

Speaker(s) AAE IPA ASE IPA Total

Dave and

Mrs.

Saunders

wid [wɪd] with [wɪð] 12

Dave den [dæn] than [ðæn] 2

Total 14

3. Consonant Dropping


Dave gimme [ˈgimmə] give me [ˈgɪv mi] 3

Dave lemme [ˈlɛmmə] let me [ˈlɛt mi] 5

Total 8

4. Realization of retroflex[r]


Mrs.

Saunders

suppah [sʌpah] supper [sʌpər] 2

Mrs.

Saunders

bettah [ˈbɛtah] better [ˈbɛtər] 1

Mrs.

Saunders

mistah [ˈmɪstah] mister [ˈmɪstər] 11

Total 14

5. Reduction of Word-Final Consonant Clusters


Dave understan [ˌʌndərˈstæn] understand [ˌʌndərˈstænd] 2

Dave ain [ˈeɪn] ain‟t [ˈeɪnt] 32

Mrs.

Saunders

ol [ˈoʊl] old [ˈoʊld] 4

Mrs.

Saunders

don [doʊn] Don‟t [doʊnt] 14

Mr.

Saunder

jus [ʤʌs] just [ʤʌst] 6






91

Mr.

Saunder

fiels [filz] fields [fildz] 4

Mrs.

Saunders

wan [wɑn] want [wɑnt] 12

Mr.

Saunder

tol [toʊl] told [toʊld] 7

Mrs.

Saunders

thas [ðæs] that‟s [ðæts] 7

Dave fin [faɪn] find [faɪnd] 5

Dave firs [fɜrs] first [fɜrst] 6

Dave cloes [kloʊz] clothes [kloʊðz] 4

Dave almos [ˈɔlˌmoʊs] almost [ˈɔlˌmoʊst] 3

Mrs.

Saunders

won [woʊn] won‟t [woʊnt] 4

Mrs.

Saunders

hol [hoʊl] hold [hoʊld] 3

Mr.

Saunder

erroun [əˈraʊn] around [əˈraʊnd] 4

Total 171

6. Monophthongal pronunciations


Dave, Mrs.

Saunders

and Mr.

Saunders

ah [ah] I [aɪ] 74

Dave and

Mrs.

Saunders

mah [mah] my [maɪ] 6

Total 80

7. Realization of [t]


Dave and

Joe

whutcha [ˈwʌʧə] what you [ˈwʌtju] 2

Total 2






92

8. Deletion of schwa [ə]


Dave catlog [ˈkætlɔg] catalog [ˈkætəlɔg] 4

Mrs.

Saunders

bout [ˈbaʊt] about [əˈbaʊt] 1

Mrs.

Saunders

spose [sˈpoʊz] suppose [səˈpoʊz] 1

Total 6

9. Realization of word-final consonant [k]


Dave ast [ˈæst] ask [ˈæsk] 4

Total 4

B. Syntactic Features

1. The Loss of Copula be

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave How (?) you? How are you?

Dave Ah did not know Ah

(?) gittin up so early,

Mistah Hawkins

I did not know I was

getting up so early,

Mister Hawkins.

Dave Yuhs (?) jus a ol

mule!

You are just an old

mule!

Mrs. Saunders Where (?) Dave? Where is Dave?

Mrs. Saunders Who (?) gonna sell

yuh a gun?

Who is going to sell you

a gun?

Mrs. Saunders Whut (?) this? What is this?

Mr. Saunders How (?) you n ol man

Hawkins gitten

erlong?

How are the old man

Hawkins and you

getting along?

Mr. Saunders Waal, yuh oughta

keep yo mind on whut

yuh (?) doin

Well, you ought to keep

your mind on what you

are doing.

Mr. Saunders (?) Yuh crazy? Are you crazy?

Mr. Saunders Yuh (?) a fool! You are a fool!

Note: the negative marker (?) is used to mark the nonexistence of copula be


93

2. The Absence and Addition of Suffix {–s} or {–es} in Present Verbs

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave N it don cos but two

dollahs.

And it doesn’t cost but

two dollars.

Dave Ah plows mo lan than

anybody over there.

I plow more lands than

anybody over there.

Dave Ma, Gawd knows Ah

wans one of these

Mom, God knows I want

one of these.

Dave Ah loves yuh, Ma. I love you, Ma.

Dave Suits me, Mistah

Hawkins.

Suit me, Mister Hawkins.

Dave Ma give it t me. My mom gives it to me.

Mrs. Saunders Not ef Ah knows it,

yuh ain!

No, if I know it, you

cannot!

3. The Nonexistence of Auxiliary Have in Perfect Tense

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Mrs. Saunders (?) Ol man Hawkins

given yuh mah money

yit?

Has old man Hawkins

given you my money yet?

Mrs. Saunders Where (?) yuh been,

boy?

Where have you been,

boy?

Dave Ah (?) eaten Ma, now

Ah‟ll go.

I have eaten mom, now I

will go.

Dave Then somethin musta

(?) been wrong wid ol

Jenny

Then something must

have been wrong with old

Jenny.


auxiliaries

4. The Use of done to Indicate Perfective Aspect

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave Shucks, a man oughta

hava little gun aftah he

done worked hard all

day

Sucks, a man ought to

have a little gun after he

has worked hard all day.

Dave Ah‟ll tal t yuh aftah yuh I will talk to you after


94

done eaten. you have eaten.

Mr. Saunders Well, boy, looks like

yuh done brought a

dead mule!

Well, boy, it looks like

you have brought a dead

mule!

Mr. Saunders Enough! Yuh done

made yuh poin!

Enough! You have made

your point!

5. The Absence of suffix {–s} in plural noun

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave Ah plowed bout two

row, just like yuh see.

I plowed about two rows,

just like you see.

Dave Ah know that Mistah

Joe sell some gun.

I know that Mister Joe

sells some guns.

Mr. Saunders He ain but ten year old. He is only ten years old.

6. The Use of Copula and Auxiliary in Personal Pronoun

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Mrs. Saunders Yeah, here they is. Yeah, here they are.

Mrs. Saunders Thas how come Ah has

Mistah Hawkins t pay

yo wages t me, cause

Ah knows yuh ain got

no sense.

That is, how come I have

Mister Hawkins to pay

your wages to me, because

I know you do not have

sense.

Mr. Saunders Nigger, is yuh gone

plumb crazy?

Nigger, are you plumb

crazy?

Mr. Saunders Ah ast yu how wuz yuh

n ol man Hawkins gittin

erlong?

I ask you how were the old

man Hawkins and you

getting along?

Dave Aw, Ma, Ah done

worked hard alla

summer n ain ast yuh

fer nothin, is Ah, now?

Aw, mom, I have worked

hard all the summer and

ask you for nothing, have

not I, now?

7. The Use of Pronoun Them or em as Article The

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave Whut‟s the use talking

wid em niggers in the

field?

What is the use talking

with the niggers in the

field?

Dave Ahm going by ol Joe‟s I am going by old Joe‟s


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sto n git that Sears

Roebuck catlog n look at

them guns.

store and get that Sears

Roebuck catalog and look

at the guns.

Mr. Saunders It‟s one a them funny

things

It is one of the funny

things.

8. The Use of Pronoun They as Adverb There

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Mrs. Saunders Yuh git up from they

and git to the well n

wash yosef!

You get up from there and

get to the well and wash

yourself!

Dave Ah‟ll go they and tal t

Jenny.

I will go there and talk to

Jenny.

Dave Ah head they’s a knok

on the fron door.

I heard there was a knock

on the front door.

Dave They’s litle table

covered wit red ligh.

There is a little table

covered with red light.

9. The Use of ain’t /ain

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave Ah ain scareda them

even ef they are biggem

me!

I am not scared of them

even if they are bigger than

me!

Dave But Ma, please. It ain

mine!

But mom, please. It is not

mine!

Dave Pa ain got no gun. Dad does not have any gun.

Dave It ain but two dollahs. It is only two dollars.

Dave Ain nothin wrong, Ma. There is nothing wrong

mom.


worked hard alla



Aw, Mom, I have done

worked hard all day in

summer and I do not ask

you anything, am I, now?

Dave Hell, he told himself, Ah

ain afraid.

Hell, he told himself, I am

not afraid.

Mrs. Saunders You ain’t gonna touch a

penny ef tha money

You are not going to touch

a penny of that money.

Mrs. Saunders Ah ain feedin no hogs

in mah house!

I do not feed hogs in my

house!

Mrs. Saunders Yeah, but ain no usa

yuh thinking bout

Yeah, but do not think

about throwing it away.


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throwin nona it erway.

Mrs. Saunders Not ef Ah knows it, yuh

ain!

No, if I know it, you

cannot!



yo wages t me, cause Ah

knows yuh ain got no

sense.

That is how come I have

Mister Hawkins to pay your

wages to me because I

know you do not have

sense.

10. Double Negation

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Mr. Saunders Yuh don need no gun. You do not need a gun.

Mrs. Saunders Don yuh talk t me bout

no gun!

Do not you talk to me about

gun!

Mrs. Saunders Ah ain feedin no hogs

in mah house!

I do not feed hogs in my

house!

Mrs. Saunders Yeah, but ain no usa

yuh thinking bout

throwin nona it erway.

Yeah, but do not think

about throwing it away.



yo wages t me, cause

Ah knows yuh ain got

no sense.

That is how come I have

Mister Hawkins to pay your

wages to me because I know

you do not have sense.

Dave Them niggers can’t

understand nothing.

The niggers cannot

understand anything.

Dave Pa ain got no gun. Dad does not have any gun.


worked hard alla



Aw, Mom, I have done

worked hard all day in

summer and I do not ask

you anything, am I, now?

Dave Ain nothin wrong, Ma. There is nothing wrong

mom.

11. The Realization of ain’t but

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Mr. Saunders You ain’t but a boy. You are only a boy.

Mr. Saunders He ain but ten year old. He is only ten years old.

Dave It ain’t but two dollahs. It‟s only two dollars.


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C. Lexical Features

1. The Use of Set

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Mrs. Saunders Waal, set down n be still! Well, sit down and be

still!

Mrs. Saunders Why don‟t yuh set down n

talk calmly?

Why don‟t you sit

down and talk calmly?

2. The Use of Kin

Speaker(s) AAE SE

Dave Kin ah see it? Can I see it?

Dave Yuh kin never tell whut

might happen

You can never tell

what might happen

Dave Yuh kin lemme have two

dollahs outta mah money

You can let me have

two dollars out of my

money

Dave Please, Ma. I kin give it to

Pa

Please, mom. I can

give it to dad.

Dave Anyhow, this is a gun, n it

kin shoot, by Gawd!

Anyhow, this is a gun,

and it can shoot, by

God!

Dave Ef other men kin shoota

gun, by Gawd, Ah kin!

If other men can shoot

a gun, by God, I can!

Dave Ma, Ah kin buy one fer

two dollahs.

Mom, I can buy one

for two dollars.

Mrs. Saunders We kin use it in the

outhouse.

We can use it in the

outhouse.

Mrs. Saunders Ahm keepin tha money

sos yuh kin have cloes t

go to school this winter.

I am keeping that

money so you can

have clothes to go to

school this winter.


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Appendix 2:

The Effect of AAE to SE Users

No The Influenced

SE

Components

Participants (P)

Setting (S) Act Sequence (A) Addresser

(Americans)

Addressee

(African

Americans)

1. Whutcha want? Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation

occurs when Joe

greets Dave right

after he walks in

the store.

2. (?) You plannin

on buyin

something?

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation

talks about the

action of Dave of

planning to buy a

gun.

3. Whut (?) you

plannin on

buyin?

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The dialog is about

Joe‟s question

addressed to Dave

who seems to buy

something.

5. Yu ain‟t nothing

but a boy.

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The dialog

demonstrates Joe‟s

anxiety about

Dave‟s intention to

own a gun.

6. Your ma lettin

you have your

own money

now?

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation

talks about the

action of Dave of

planning to buy a

gun.

7. Well, that (?)

good.

Joe Dave At Joe‟s

gun store

The conversation is

about the

agreement between

Dave and John in

the process of

buying and selling

a gun.

8. Hey! (?) that

you, Dave?


cultivated

land

The conversation

happens when

Dave comes and

starts doing his job


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copula be

in Jim‟s plantation.

9. Since you (?) so

early, how about

plowing that

stretch down by

the woods?


cultivated

land

The conversation

discusses the action

of Dave to plow the

Hawkins‟ land.

10. Ain’t nobody going to hurt

you.


cultivated

land

The conversation

narrates the

situation when

Dave is suspected

to shoot and kill the

mule, and he

expects Dave to tell

the truth.

11. Well, looks like

you have bought

you a mule,

Dave.


cultivated

land

The conversation

emphasizes on the

topic about the

Dave‟s action of

killling a mule and

the risk of giving

compensation to

Jim.


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