The Phonology of African American Vernacular English
The Phonology of
African American Vernacular English
Table of contents
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….………...…….1 2. African American Vernacular English (AAVE)……………………….………...….…2 3.1. Vowel phonemes of AAVE……………………………………………………...……2 3.2. Consonant phonemes of AAVE…………………………………………………...…..3 3.3. Syllable structure…………………………………………………….…………….......6 3.4. Prosodic features……………………………………………………….…………...…7 3. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..…7 4. Bibliography…………………………………………………………….…………..….8
1. Introduction
The speech of the African American population in North America has been the subject of many studies and researches. Especially the provenance of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has been up for discussion ever since research on this variety began. Currently, there are two opposing positions regarding its origin: The first is called the “African substratum position” and the other one the “English-origins position” (Edwards 2008, 181-182). While the former one basically suggests that AAVE evolved from a creole-based speech spoken by the African slaves on southern plantations, the latter proposes a crucial influence of the “preexisting nonstandard English variants” on the speech of the slaves (ibid). Although the scholars have not yet been able to come to a conclusion regarding the origination of AAVE, it is undoubted that this variety shares many features with the Southern White Vernacular (SWV).
Nowadays, AAVE is spoken by a vast majority of African Americans throughout the United States and Canada. Although it enjoys little social prestige on the part of the white American population, it is held in high esteem by its own speakers because of the high degree of cultural identification and unity (Zeigler 2001, 169). Of course, AAVE is not spoken to the same extent by every African American. While working-class speakers of said variety use it very consistently in the form of a
African American Vernacular English
Table of contents
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….………...…….1 2. African American Vernacular English (AAVE)……………………….………...….…2 3.1. Vowel phonemes of AAVE……………………………………………………...……2 3.2. Consonant phonemes of AAVE…………………………………………………...…..3 3.3. Syllable structure…………………………………………………….…………….......6 3.4. Prosodic features……………………………………………………….…………...…7 3. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..…7 4. Bibliography…………………………………………………………….…………..….8
1. Introduction
The speech of the African American population in North America has been the subject of many studies and researches. Especially the provenance of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has been up for discussion ever since research on this variety began. Currently, there are two opposing positions regarding its origin: The first is called the “African substratum position” and the other one the “English-origins position” (Edwards 2008, 181-182). While the former one basically suggests that AAVE evolved from a creole-based speech spoken by the African slaves on southern plantations, the latter proposes a crucial influence of the “preexisting nonstandard English variants” on the speech of the slaves (ibid). Although the scholars have not yet been able to come to a conclusion regarding the origination of AAVE, it is undoubted that this variety shares many features with the Southern White Vernacular (SWV).
Nowadays, AAVE is spoken by a vast majority of African Americans throughout the United States and Canada. Although it enjoys little social prestige on the part of the white American population, it is held in high esteem by its own speakers because of the high degree of cultural identification and unity (Zeigler 2001, 169). Of course, AAVE is not spoken to the same extent by every African American. While working-class speakers of said variety use it very consistently in the form of a
Bibliography: Bailey, Guy (2001) The Relationship between African American and White Vernaculars in the American South, in: Lanehart, Sonja L Edwards, Walter F. (2008) African American Vernacular English: phonology, in: Schneider, Edgar W (ed.) Varieties of English 2 The Americas and the Caribbean Labov, William (1972) Language in the Inner City. Philadelphia: Univ. of Philadelphia Press. Rickford, John R University of Alberta (1998) Phonological Features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) [WWW Website]