Development of AAE: Introduction. Divergence Hypothesis – What is it?

Development of AAE:Introduction

Divergence Hypothesis – What is it?


• Hypothesis that AAVE may be becoming more distinct from other vernacular varieties of English.

• Why is there controversy?


• Hypothesis that AAVE may be becoming more distinct from other vernacular varieties of English.

• Why is there controversy?– Despite quantity of publication on AAVE, there

are persistent problems with the reliability of sources and analysis, and previous publications have not been able to establish direction of change

What is Linguistic Reconstruction?


• The postulation of a version of a language that existed before any reliable records were made to document its features.– Two methods: Internal Reconstruction and

Comparative Method

• What issues are important in reconstructing AAVE?


• The postulation of a version of a language that existed before any reliable records were made to document its features.– Two methods: Internal Reconstruction and

Comparative Method• What issues are important in reconstructing

AAVE?– Effect of regional dialects– Role of substratal influence from earlier language

contact situations– Nature of intracommunity variation in earlier AAVE– Trajectory of change

What data do we have on earlier AAVE?

What data do we have on earlier AAVE?

• Newly found audio recordings and written documentation of earlier AAVE indicate that AAVE was not as distinct from Eur-Am English as previously thought– BUT these materials are sparse, of poor quality, and

sometimes questionable authorship

• Af-Am emigres to Dominican Republic and Nova Scotia live in isolated enclaves and their speech is very similar to earlier Eur-Am English– BUT these emigres were not representative

What will this book contribute to this discussion?

What will this book contribute to this discussion?

• Detailed analysis of a biracial enclave linguistic community in a remote location – Hyde County, North Carolina

What are advantages of Hyde Co?


• Age and continuity

• Isolation

• Biracial demographics


• Age and continuity– Almost 300 yr-old community, among oldest

biracial communities in NC. – Europeans arrived around 1700, Africans in

early 1700s. – Many current residents are descendants of

original settlers.


• Isolation– Remote location– 85% marshland, previously navigable only by

boat– Limited in-migration into Hyde Co


• Biracial demographics– Continuously biracial with stable percentages

of Eur-Am & Af-Am– Neither race heavily predominates– Participants from a range of age groups

represent persons born before WWII and attended segregated schools, as well as persons born later who attended integrated schools

What is a corpus?

• A body of linguistic data that was spontaneously produced by native speakers for purposes of communication, which has been gathered and made available for linguistic analysis– Does not elicit specific linguistic features– May be written or spoken

• Example: British National Corpus

What is the Hyde Co corpus?

What is the Hyde Co corpus?

• Since 1997 144 lifetime residents (92 Af-Ams & 52 Eur-Ams) with birthdates ranging from 1890s to 1990s were interviewed 60-90mins each, mostly in 3-way conversations

• Interviewees selected according to social networks & family trees

• Contents of interviews are casual conversations and genealogical inquiries

What types of linguistic features were analyzed?


• Morphosyntax – What’s this?

• Vowels

• Consonants

• Intonation (Prosody)


• Morphosyntax – forms of words and how they are combined– Was/weren’t leveling– Copula is/are absence– Third person –s marking

• Vowels

• Consonants

• Intonation (Prosody)

Is AAVE diverging from Eur-Am vernaculars?

Is AAVE diverging from Eur-Am vernaculars?

• YES & NO – recent studies have suggested that AAVE distinctiveness is a 20th century phenomenon, but Wolfram & Thomas find these claims exaggerated.

• More significant: There is the development of a supraregional AAVE norm that entails the abandonment of or resistance to regional norms.

Development of AAE: Introduction. Divergence Hypothesis – What is it?

Documents

Transcript of Development of AAE: Introduction. Divergence Hypothesis – What is it?