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| ANTHRO M145
Afro-American Sociolinguistics: Black English
Lecture: MW 09:30A - 10:45A ----- Course Outline ----
This course looks at the distinctive varieties of English used by and among African Americans in the US. We will spend some time tracing the history of this variety in the US. We will also look at the relations between African American English (AAE) and English based creole varieties in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados). The course can be broken into three parts:
Grades will be based on the following Midterm test 34% Lexicon project 16% Final Exam 50% The midterm test is to be held on Feburary 16. You will be resonsible for all the material that we have covered up to that point.
Jan 12-14 Introduction This week we will briefly define a few terms and basic sociolinguistic concepts. We start by considering what is meant by the term "English." Although we tend to think of English as a single, homogeneous entity, it is in fact spoken differently in different regions. Sometimes it becomes difficult to determine whether a spoken langauge is English or something else entirely. In order to understand this we need to introduce the concept of a "speech community." We also introduce the topic of AAVE in particulaer. We will consider the complex attitudes that people have toward this variety. We will review the course outline.
2. An in class exercise. Is it English? 3. Some Sociolinguistic concepts: Speech Community Acceptability/Allowable "Correctness" as ideology 4. What is AAVE? 5. What is AAE? 6. Who speaks AAVE/AAE? 7. What do people feel about it? linguists speakers educators 8. Overview of the course & syllabus
Jan 19 & 21 Social and regional variation in language What Lippi-Greene calls the "linguistic facts of life’ can be summarized as follows (see her chapter for more detail): -All languages vary -Different varieties of a langauge tend to be evaluated differently This week we turn to this issue of variation introducing the main concepts of what is known as sociolinguistics. We will view a film called "American Tongues" which documents the range of regional and social variation in the US.
Lippi-Green, Rosina (1997) The linguistic facts of life. Chapter 1 of English with an Accent: Language Ideology and Discrimination in the United States. London: Routledge.
Africanisms in the New World: A look at the work of a Lorenzo Dow Turner How African are the varieties of English used by African Americans in the US? In discussing africanisms we will have a chance to discuss the work of Lorenzo Dow Turner - the first African-American linguist and a major figure in the development of Creole and AAVE studies. Turner was writing at a time (1940’s) when most white linguists, historians, anthropologists and other observers held the firm opinion that there was nothing particularly African about Gullah and AAVE. Most believed that AAVE and Gullah were poor imitations of the white dialects of South Western England. The story up to the forties was that newly arrived Africans in the US had learnt English through contacts with speakers of non-standard white dialects (with whom they worked, by whom they were managed during slavery etc.). Turner set out to explode this myth. His meticulous description of Gullah left no doubt of a strong African inheritance in that language. His work has been very influential in anthropology (Turner was a close associate of Herskovitz) and linguistics (Turner’s work is still the most complete description of Gullah).
Distinctive Features of AAVE: Lexical Innovation and Phonology This week we begin our description of AAVE by looking at the lexicon (vocabulary) and phonology (accent/pronounciation) of the variety. The lexicon is a place where AAVE is quite distinct and very interesting. We will look at two important areas of AAVE lexicon: Africanisms and innovations. Africanisms are words which appear in AAVE (and often in other US dialects) which have sources in African languages. Innovations are words which have been created or remodelled in AAVE to express new meanings. We will also look at the distinctive aspects of AAVE pronounciation. I have provided an outline of this in your reader. (Outline of AAVE phonology).
"Phonetics: The Articulation of the Consonants of English"/ Language Files, 31. "Phonetics: The Vowels of English"/ Language Files, 32.
Feb 2 & 4 Distinctive Features of AAVE: Grammar This week we lok at AAVE grammar. For many this may be the most challenging part of the course because we need to introduce some technical linguistic terminology to describe AAVE grammar. Don’t get disheartened - if you have questions please ask them in class. Although it is challenging, grammar is a very important topic for a number of reasons. First, this is where we see the most distinctive features of AAVE in relation to other US dialects. Second, we can use what we know about AAVE grammar to talk about other sociolinguistic problems like creolization and divergence.
Feb 9 & 11 The Caribbean Connection - Pidgins and Creoles This week and next we discuss pidgins and creoles. The idea that AAVE developed from an earlier creole is an old and controversial notion. We will first look at creoles in general focussing on those creoles that show the most striking similarities to AAVE (eg. Gullah, Jamaican, Guyanese). We will define terms such as pidgin, creole, decreolization and look at the linguistic features that all creoles tend to share. Viewing: The Harder They Come (A film with Jimmy Cliff).
Feb 18 The Caribbean Connection - Pidgins and Creoles Having introduced the notions of pidgin and creole, this week we look at the evidence of prior creolization of AAVE. Essentially this invloves two kinds of evidence. First we have to ask whether the social, economic and political conditions under which creolization usually takes place where found in the US at any time. This invloves a consideration of the history of slavery on the east coast of the US. Second we have to consider the linguistic evidence. For linguistic evidence of prior creolization there are essentially three sources of evidence.
Early recordings of AAVE Relocated communities of early AAVE speakers (Liberia, Samana, Nova Scotia)
Feb 23, 25 Contact, Divergence, Crossing This week we wrap up some of the sociolinguistic issues associated with AAVE. We will consider forms of contact between AAVE and other varieties. This includes White Southern English, Hiberno-English and a number of other white dialects of US English. Consideration of the evidence leads to an understanding of the development of AAVE as a very complex process. This leads to a consideration of the "divergence controversy." Are white and black dialects in the US becoming more and more different? Finally we consider the issues and problems associated with crossing: when non-native speakers of AAVE attempt to use it.
Jacobs-Huey, Lanita (1997) Is there an authentic African American speech community: Carla revisited. Proceedings of NWAVE 1996, Penn working Papers in Linguistics.
Mar 2 Social Functions of AAVE This week we consider the way AAVE is used in its speech communty. We will generate a set of terms which are used to describe the distinctive ways of talking in AAVE speech communities (rapping, signifying, dissing, fronting) and try to give a description of each of the terms. We will also consider some uses of AAE formal registers as used by public figures. We will have a guest speaker, Prof. M.H. Goodwin who has studied langauge use in African American childrens’ play groups for over 20 years.
Guest: Professor Marjorie Harknes Goodwin (UCLA)
Education We will discuss the important educational issues surrounding AAVE. Although these issues recently cam to public attention with the Ebonics resoultion in Oakland thay have in fact been discussed for a long time by knowledgeble sociolinguists and educators. An earlier public debate surrounded the Black English Trial (Ann Arbor) in the 70’s. We welcome Professor John Baugh (Stanford) as guest speaker this week. Professor Baugh is an internationally reknowned expert in AAVE and the education of minority and non-traditional students.
Statements made to the senate on the wake of the Ebonics issue by Rickford, Labov Check out the following for more:
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/ebonics.htm http://www.cal.org/ebonics/wolfram.htm
Literacy and Conclusions Finally we turn to the issue of literacy. We will ask whether sociolinguistic knowlegde of AAVE can be used to help children to read through the use of dialect readers in the classroom.
7.2:107-128.
Each syllabi the intellectual property of the author. |
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