Course materials for/by Peter L. Patrick. May contain
copyright material used for educational purposes. Please respect copyright.
Notes for LG449
by Prof. Peter L. Patrick, Univ. of Essex
Types of features often identified with AAVE
See
also the “List
of AAVE features contrasting with MUSE/Standard American English”, & Sidnell’s
brief online
grammar of AAVE.
Some
features people identify with African American Vernacular English (AAVE) are
merely
·
general informal or
non-standard features of American English
·
such as
(-ING) varying with (-IN'), and variable loss of some final consonant clusters
(#5, #6 on handout) or contraction of Will
to 'll, which everyone does, or
fortition (#1) like many urban white dialects
·
Some of
these however have been extended to new environments in AAVE, which they don’t
occur in for other dialects, eg VrV deletion, devoicing final
stops in stressed syllables (“bed” = [bɛːəʔt])
Others
are:
·
features shared
with SWVE speakers
regardless of race
·
(e.g.
#3, #7, #9, #10)
·
features widely-shared with non-standard
English dialects
·
eg
negation with ain’t, non-concord be, Aux inversion in indirect Qs
·
features unique
to AAVE and not generally used by whites,
·
such as
Habitual "Be", deletion of Will,
or phonological features such as #2, #8.
Some
are:
o
features shared
w/Caribbean Eng Creoles but not Standard American English
o some of these may be shared with
SWVE, or other Am or Br vernaculars, but origin may be uncertain, e.g. double
modals
o others are not shared with other
dialects of English except African Diaspora varieties, eg associative –dem/-nem
in Mama-nem, and absence of possessive suffix /-s/
o
features shared
w/contact varieties generally, and sometimes w/L2 varieties of English, but not with Standard
American English or other dialects
o eg frequent TD-deletion before
following vowel (link to TD table)
o again,
absence of possessive suffix /-s/ (this might occur in both categories due to
the fact that Creoles have it as a feature of simplification during contact;
other non-Creole contact varieties may also have it, however)
Last updated 16 May 2003