美国黑人英语的形成和特征assignment

Contents目录

 

Chapter One: Introduction........................................................................................ 7

 

1.1 What Is African-American English?.................................................................. 7

 

1.2 How did African-American English Come into Being?.................................... 8

 

1.3 What Are the Features of African-American English?..................................... 11

 

Chapter Two: The Analysis of the Formation of African-American English..... 15

 

2.1 The Origin of African-American English......................................................... 15

 

2.2 How Does the African-American English Come into Being? ............................

 

2.3 The Further Development of African-American English................................. 18

 

Chapter Three: The Main features of African-American English...................... 20

 

3.1 African-American English and Standard American English............................ 20

 

3.2 Differences between African-American English and General American English 26

 

3.2.1 Differences on Phonetics.............................................................................. 28

 

3.2.2 Differences on Grammar............................................................................... 31

 

Conclusion................................................................................................................. 39

 

Bibliography............................................................................................................... 44

 

 

Chapter 1: Introduction:引言

 

1.1 What Is African-American English?

 

The words “African -American English” were produced in 1969.African-American English usually refer to the English which is used in the northern American cities, and it is also known as Black Vernacular English, or Afro-American Vernacular English. African-American English is not a geographical concept nor is the concept of race. Most of the black people speak African -American English, however, most of those who are middle-class don’t. Except for 80 percent of African-Americans speak African-American English; there are also some white people, Puerto Ricans in New York City and some Indians speaking African-American English. Therefore, not all blacks speak African-American English. But the people who speak African-American English are majority blacks.

 

African-American English is a variant of English; it resulted from the African-American culture and came into being in the background of African-American community in the United States. There is little relationship between the African -American English and the geographic locations of the African –American. The Standard American English and African-American English have a lot in common .However, due to some social, economic, historical and geographical factors, African -American English also has some unique features which this paper will deal with in the coming chapters. During the past decades African -American English has gradually become a social dialect, for which the African -American have played a more and more important role in the American society.

 

African -American English develops from Creole language in West Africa, and it is neither like the language in the West Africa nor like the Standard English in America. African -American English is an independent system and has experienced a historical and dynamic process .The black slaves trade, the influence of the African -American’s mother tongue are all factors that had played great role in the development and formation of African -American English. African -American English is the product of social history and the American environment, and we should take a proper view on the African -American English.

 

1.2 How did African-American English come into being?

 

In the United States, most of the black people are transported from Africa as slaves. When the European people need to communicate with the Africans, they don’t have a common language, so a new language which acts as a tool to communicate between them slowly comes into being. And this language is simple and much easier than both English and the black people’s African mother tongues; it ensures the slaves to communicate with the White well. This language is just made up by very few words at first from both English and the African languages. People often call this primitive language Negron Pidgin.

 

What’s more, in the plantations in North America, the slaves have their own mother tongues, to communicate with each other they have to learn the language of Negron Pidgin so that they can understand each other. As a result, Negron Pidgin becomes a common language, and their descendants also speak the language, and the Negron Pidgin gradually becomes the black people’s own language. With the expansion of the residency of the colony in the North America, Negron Pidgin becomes the black people’s first language that is spoken in most occasions; at the same time, the voice, morphology, and syntax and vocabulary system gradually become very complicated.

 

Later, with the great development of society and economy, and the abolishment of slavery, the black communicate more and more with the white, therefore, the primitive language developed into nowadays African-American English.

 

1.3 What Are the Features of African-American English?

 

After several centuries’ evolution, though, it has taken a lot of changes, African-American English still remains its unique pronunciation and syntax features.

 

From the features of the African-American English ,we can find that the African-American English has absorbed some of the words in American’s daily life ,basic pronunciation and simple syntax of the standard English, it has also takes into some of the African languages features, so we may call the African-American English as a combination of the African languages and the standard English, it not only has the dominated features of English but also has the unique African cultural features and it has contributed greatly to the better communication between the slaves and their white owners. Generally speaking, African-American English is the English spoken by the black Americans with the features of the African languages; it reflects the African cultures and the African slave’s history in the land of North America.

 

This paper would deal with two main features of the African-American English which has large difference from the Standard English. First, we would talk about the differences of phonetics in the African-American English and later we will explore the differences of syntax in the African-American English.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Chapter 2: The Analysis of the Formation of African-American English分析美国黑人英语的形成

 

2.1 The Origin of African-American English

 

As to the origin of the African-American English, there are two main arguments. Some linguists hold the view that African-American English is a branch of the dialect of Standard American English, and it is the product of the co-influence of the southern and northern white American, it appeared as early as the colonial era. While some other linguists think that African-American English originated from the Pidgin English which is spoken by the western African during the 16th century, so people may call it “African English”.

 

From the viewpoint of linguistics, the formation of African-American English is caused by various factors, which include time, geographical locations, races, society and social groups and so on. For the past three hundred years, African-American has experienced a long history of hardship and sufferings, and it is these pains and sufferings that result in the formation of African-American English.

 

This paper holds the view that African-American English takes both the characteristics of the viewpoints held by the linguists mentioned above.

 

2.2 How Does the African-American English Come into Being?

 

We will have a deep exploration of this issue in this paper. As the paper mentions above, the descendants of the African-American are mostly from various different tribes in the western Africa and their languages are very different from each other. From 15th century to 16th century, various African languages with a little English mixed in could always be heard in North American. To prevent the black slaves to unite and escape, the white masters often keep different tribes in a region so that the slaves can not communicate with each other and the black people are unlikely to escape. However, to better communicate with different tribes from Africa ,the black slaves succeeded in creating a kind of Pidgin English which is mixed with African languages and English ,and this Pidgin English have some of the words that both used in English and African languages.

 

As time passed by, African-American English has a more and more important influence and more and more features of English; it gradually turns into Creole, which was mainly spoken by the offspring’s of the black slaves. Later, with the abolishment of the slavery, large numbers of black people pour into the northern America, although they spread to different regions, due to their race and social status, they mostly live in the same areas and form a group which is separated from the white people and they speak their language, Creole.

 

Furthermore, African-American English is an English variant which comes into being by the co-influence of the African culture and the American social background .The linguist think that since the start of the trade of the black slaves , African-American English was heavily influenced by the Southern American white English until the 1960s ,therefore African-American English is the direct product of the Standard American English .Although the linguists haven't reached a certain agreed view, they do agree that the migration of the black people from the south to the north and west of America does help the African-American English become a national language variant.

 

2.3 The Further Development of African-American English

 

With the foundation and enlargement of the North American inhabited area, Pidgin English gradually becomes the black people's own language at different kinds of occasions, the vocabulary also enlarges greatly and the phonetics and syntax also have become more and more formal and complicated .The language they speak then has taken on more changes and turn into another language based on English, Creole.

 

The language black people in the northern part of the United States speak is much closer to the American northern dialect, however, it is different from the language which was spoken by their ancestors in the southern part .While, the southern black people's language may has some elements of the primitive black language, it gradually become close to the southern American English .It is this northern black English that establishes the foundation of the modern African- American English.

 

However ,then African-American English is just a regional variant of English, later ,when African-American migrate from south to west in bulk ,the African-American English genuinely develops into a social dialect .From 18th century to the early 20th century, 90% of the black people live in the south ,however the population decreases sharply since 1910.The rate is 85% in 1920 , 77% in 1940 and 60% in 1960 and the black people migrate to the north at that time mostly swarm into cities and then spread all over the country .As the black people mostly move into the black people inhabited areas ,the limited social environment make their language features able to be reserved .The development of African-American English is good to create an environment which could help to preserve African-American English on the one hand ,and make African-American English an unique dialect across the nation ;on the other hand ,it can bring certain influence to the white Americans with the black people's culture、 art、music and lifestyle .In the US ,besides the black people ,there are also Puerto Rican and many white people speaking this dialect in cities like ,New York .The African-American movement in the 1950s not only improved black people's social status but also help the spread of African-American English.

 

From the first group of black people being transported to the North America in 1619 to African-American English being recognized legally in 1979, the black people have struggled more than 360 years, and so is the development of African-American English.

 

Chapter 3: Features of African-American English黑人英语的特征

 

3.1 African-American English and Standard American English

 

The voice, morphology, syntax and vocabulary systems of African-American English are significantly different from the features of Standard English. However, it is consistent with the principle that “language is a system of rules”. African-American English is the result of the cooperation of language rules, there is a clear system and self-regulation. The following are the main features of African-American English from the aspect of the pronunciation and grammar.

 

In American English, we cannot find a single nation–wide Standard English. In 1970s, American scholars had ever held several academic conferences discussing the definition of Standard American English, but had not had any result in the end. In America, the English which spoken by Americans is generally called "General American English" in linguistics. According to statistics in 1944,71%of today’s American people speak General American English, though not very pure (being of a log of local variation).At present, all American big television and broadcasting organizations, such as Voice of America, use General American English.Therefore,for the sake of convenience, General American English is sometimes called "Standard American English".

 

3.2 Differences between African-American English and Standard American English

 

African-American English had ever been regarded as a second- class or lower language variant. But in linguistics, this is utterly groundless. African-American English differs from General American English, but the differences do not change arbitrarily; they are of some regularity. Now let's see differences between African-American English and General American English on phonetics and grammar.

 

3.1 .2 Differences on Phonetics

 

1)Compared with General American English, a remarkable character of African-American English on phonetics is elision of /r/.It includes two points:

 

a)Elision of /r/ which is behind a vowel or in front of a consonant.

 

This is not peculiar in African-American English, but it is an articulation trend of American lower strata. Owing to the elision of /r/, the articulation of groups of words below in African-American English had not any difference: cat -cart; hop-horp; bid -bird; shot -short. But they are of difference in upper strata.

 

b)Elision of /r/ which is between two vowels. This is peculiar in African-American English. For example, in African-American English, there is no difference in articulation between the word "tore" and the word "toe".

 

2)Elision of /l/ in African-American English.

 

In African-American English,"l" which is in word "final" or in word "medial" is often elided. So we know that many groups of words like sick -slick, sea-seal, pay-pail, flaw-four which have different pronunciation in General American English are of the same pronunciation in African-American English.

 

3)Simplification of Consonant cluster in African-American English.

 

For instance, the word “tend” is pronounced as /ten/, so it has the same pronunciation with the word "ten”. Elision of some consonants in consonant clusters can probably appear in General American English, but in African-American English, it is an outstanding phenomenon.#p#分页标题#e#

 

4)Conversion of /θ/ and /e/ in African-American English.

 

/θ/which is in word initial in General American English is usually converted into /t/ in African-American English. For example, the word "thief" is pronounced as /tif/; "thorough" is pronounced as /′tΛrэ/.When /θ/ is pronounced in word final (sometimes in word medial) in General American English, it’ll be converted into /f/ in

 

African-American English. For instance, the African-Americans pronounce the word "tooth" as /tuf/; "everything" as /′evrifiη/,etc.

 

5)Confusion of /i/ and /e/ in African-American English.

 

/i/ and /e/ in front of a nasalized consonant are often of the same pronunciation in African-American English. For instance, the articulation of vowels in some groups of words like: din-den, fen-fin, gen-gin, kin -ken is the same. They are all pronounced as the sound between /i/ and /e/.

 

6) Intonation.

 

As to the rise and fall of intonation, African-American English changes greater than General American English. High tone or even falsetto is often used in African-American English, esp.in intimate atmosphere of chatting among friends. In African-American English, the use of rising tone is very common.

 

7)change of pronunciation of the vowel with” ng”

 

The pronunciation of the vowel with “ng” turns from [η]into “ang”,for example:thing-thang, sing-sang, ring-rang. The abbreviation form of “going to” becomes “gon” , “to” is completely elided and it is pronounced like “gone”. For example,“He was gon tell his momma the thang,” while in standard English : ”He was going tell his momma the things.”

 

8) Change of some vowels

 

In the African-American English, some of the vowels may be affected by the voiced consonants and some double vowels are turned into single vowles.For example, my /mai/-/ma/, right, /rait/-/rat/

 

9)Stress

 

In the Standard English, there are many double syllable words which have have the stress at the second syllable, while in the African-American English, there is a tendency that the stress be put at the front part the words.

 

For instance: po’lice-‘police, De’troit-‘Detroit

 

3.2.2 Differences on Grammar

 

1)A very common phenomenon in African-American English is the loss of the change of "s" which is in word final.

 

We’ve talked about the simplification of consonant cluster which is in word final in African-American English, but it is not simply a phenomenon of phonetics. Owing to its affecting the change of the word final, it becomes a question of grammar. We know the word "expressed" is the past tense of the word "express”. In African-American English owing to the simplification of consonant cluster which is in word final, the past tense verb "expressed" is of the same pronunciation with its original verb "express”. Thus the change of the word final which acts as the symbol of past tense disappeared. From the above-mentioned examples, we can get the following conclusions: due to the simplification of consonant cluster which is in word final in African-American English, the change of the word final which expresses noun plural forms, noun-possessive cases, the third person singular+"s" disappeared. Some African-American English users not only put "s" behind the third person singular, but also put "s" behind all verbs. Here are some examples," they studies diligently",etc.As far as they are concerned, the verbal "s" is not the symbol of the third person singular, but the symbol of present indefinite.

 

2)Omission of linking verbs in Black American English.

 

This is a very peculiar syntactic character of African-American English .If an action or a state is of fixed time, or it is motionless, not often happens or appears repeatedly ,"be" in the sentence can often be omitted. Omission of "be" can appear before various predicatives. For instance, “ I a college English teacher now." (The predicative is a noun.);

 

"I glad to meet you." (The predicative is an adjective.);

 

"I here." (The predicative is an adverb.);

 

"He at home." (The predicative is a preposition phrase.) Auxiliary verb "be" in continuous tense can also be omitted.

 

For example,” He studying now.” One we should point out is that in African-American English, the omission of "be" is of its regularity, it is not in utter disorder.

 

Furthermore, in African-American English “been” can be used to express “the moment not long ago”, and to emphasis the influence which the state or the action then brings to present time .And this is equal to the function of “have/has been” in the Standard English. For instance:

 

I been there before.=I have been there before.

 

He been married.= He has been married.

 

3) Gender pronoun

 

In African-American English，when it comes to the pronoun of gender, it generally refers to “he” as the one which both stands for male but female as well. For instance:

 

He a nice girl. =She is a nice girl.

 

He a beautiful woman. =She is a beautiful woman.

 

4)In African-American English,"ain't" is widely used to form negative sentences. When predicate is not acted as by lexical verbs,"ain't" is almost unexceptionally used to be the symbol of negative sentences.

 

e.g. She ain't gonna see no film with her mother.

 

She ain’t afraid of nothing.

 

"ain't" is often used in the sentences of continuous tense.

 

e.g. I ain't coming back. He ain't working hard.

 

5)Universal use of double negative and multi -negation in African-American English. From examples above we can see that the negative sentences in African-American English often adopt double negative or multi-negation.

 

For example:

 

“They will bring nothing.” turns to“They won’t bring nothing.”

 

“Nobody will ever bring anything.” turns to“Nobody won’t never

 

bring nothing.”。

 

6)In Black American English, "It's a" is used to replace "There's a" in General American English.

 

e.g.

 

It's(=There are) 20 students in our class.

 

It's(=There is) a book on the table.

 

Besides, "It's" can be used in the same way as "There is" to form interrogative sentences.

 

e.g.

 

Is it (=Is there) a bird in the tree?

 

7) The double use of subject

 

In African-American English，there can be seen many double subjects in the sentences.

 

e.g.

 

My mother she used to wash and iron and cook.

 

My brother from Lubbock he visits to get his wife and baby.

 

Some of them they put the needle in the fire.

 

8)Way of expression of word order of possessive case.

 

Possessive case "-'s" is often omitted in Black American English on condition that word order itself is enough to show possessive relation

 

9 As to the special interrogative sentence and general interrogative sentence, there is also great difference between African-American English and Standard English.

 

As to the general interrogative sentence ,in African-American English we can often see the express : “Did he leave?”,while in the Standard English , we may see : “He left?”;

 

As to the special interrogative sentence, we may see the express : “What that is?” in African-American English ,while in Standard English we would express : “What is that?”.

 

10) In African-American English, not only the relative pronouns which act as object in the sentence can be elided but the ones act as subject as well. For instance: “He looks like a little man have on a hat with a round circle on it.” in African-American English, while in Standard English, it is” He looks like a little man who has on a hat with a round circle on it.”

 #p#分页标题#e#

Conclusion:结论

 

When we take an overall view on the development process of African-American English, we may find that under the influence of the social dominant language, Standard American English, African-American English has experienced four stages of development , which starts from the early Pidgin English to the later Creole and finally comes the latest African-American English. From the perspective of linguistics, the formation of African -American English is caused by a variety of factors, such as, time, geographic locations, ethnic, and social and community groups and other factors. African-American English is the social product of American slavery; it bears a close relation with the natural environment, social system and people’s living conditions in the North America.

 

African-American English, at different development stages ,has been named differently, such as : Negro Pidgin ，Negro Creole ，Negro Dialect ，Negro English ，Non-Standard Negro English ,Black English Vernacular ，Afro-American English ，Black English and so on. From the names above we can find that just like the black people’s social status development, African-American English has also experienced a process from being discriminated to being recognized as a social dialect.

 

Besides, African-American English has taken into some of the Standard American English words about daily life, basic pronunciation and simple syntax, more importantly, some of the native contents of the African language, we may call it a combination of the English and the African languages, which have both the features of English and African languages. It comes into being when the black people and their white masters communicate in their daily life.

 

Generally speaking, African-American English is a variant of English spoken mostly by the African-American and it has the features of the African languages. As a part of the black people’s culture, African-American English reflects the traditions of African-American’s culture and history, as well as their sufferings as a people that was oppressed, discriminated and treated as slave. It has a strong power because it has helped the black people to create a new culture in which they can live.

 

Language is one mirror, therefore, the social, political and economic status determine the status of language. So when African Americans resolved the issue of national languages, the main task should be to strive to improve their social, economic and political status, also should absorb the excellent results of other ethnic groups, and continuously improve the quality of their own culture, should maintain and develop the fine traditions of their own nation. Only in this way, the political, economic and cultural status of black language and blacks can be improved and enhanced.

 

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