THE VARIATION OF FUTURE GOING TO IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), Black English Vernacular (BEV), or Ebonics, is a social dialect or a non-standard linguistic variety of American English which carries distinctive grammatical and phonological features. Because of these features, AAVE is considered a unique communication system that has been recognized among linguists as an alternate, regular, and systematic form of vernacular language. Common phonological characteristics of AAVE include reductions or deletions of particular sounds (e.g., [sstə] for Standard American English "sister" [sstər]) and different realizations and vocalizations. In this article, we examine the abbreviations of future going to (i.e., onna, gon, I’ma) which have been typically associated with AAVE. The variants of future going to have been studied in the interviews with six African-American public figures: rap artists Redman, Prodigy, MC Lyte, and Queen Latifah, a talkshow host, Oprah Winfrey, and a blues musician, B. B. King. We analyze the completely abbreviated form I’ma in correlation to gon, gonna, and going to in the first person singular and explore the use of gon in relation to gonna and going to in the remaining grammatical environments. The main objective of this study is to calculate the frequencies of future going to variants in the speech data of each interviewee and test the sociolinguistic variability of the feature by considering the influence of two external identity characteristics, gender and affiliation with Hip Hop culture

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL FACTORS ON VARIABILITY OF SELECTED AAVE FEATURES IN THE INTERVIEWS WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN CELEBRITIES

Afriško-ameriška pogovorna angleščina je socialni dialekt oziroma nestandardna jezikovna različica ameriške angleščine, ki jo determinirajo specifične slovnične in glasoslovne prvine. Prav zaradi teh prvin je črnska pogovorna različica edinstven sistem sporazumevanja, ki ga jezikoslovci označujejo za variabilno, strukturirano in sistematizirano obliko pogovornega jezika. Govorci črnske angleščine ponavadi variirajo med rabo narečnih in standardnih slovničnih prvin, na kar lahko vpliva situacija, v kateri govor poteka, udeleženci interakcije, stopnja jezikovne formalnosti, funkcija jezika ali tema pogovora. Variiranje med črnskimi narečnimi značilnostmi in med standardnimi angleškimi jezikovnimi prvinami pa je lahko odvisno tudi od internih slovničnih omejitev ali od eksternih družbenih dejavnikov, kot so spol, starost, socialni status, etnična identiteta govorca, itd. V doktorski disertaciji analiziramo variabilnost izbranih prvin afriško-ameriške angleščine v intervjujih z desetimi temnopoltimi ameriškimi medijskimi osebnostmi. V raziskavo so zajeti izvajalci rap glasbe in drugih glasbenih zvrsti (Redman, Chuck D, Prodigy, MC Lyte, B.B. King), voditeljice pogovornih oddaj in filmske igralke (Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Latifah) ter državni funkcionarji (Colin Powell, Michelle Obama). Obravnavane slovnične prvine afriško-ameriške angleščine vključujejo odsotnost glagola »biti« v sedanjiku (z izjemo prve osebe ednine), odsotnost končnice s v navadnem sedanjiku za tretjo osebo ednine, odsotnost opuščaja in obrazila s za izražanje svojine, odsotnost končnice s za označevanje množine, posplošeno rabo glagola »biti« (is in was) iz tretje osebe ednine na osebne zaimke v drugi osebi in tiste v množini ter rabo is in was s samostalniki v množini. Za vsako od navedenih prvin statistično analiziramo potencialne interne slovnične omejitve tako, da izpostavimo favorizirana gramatična okolja v katerih se te prvine najpogosteje pojavljajo. Na ta način odkrivamo vzorce pogostnosti pojavljanja posameznih prvin glede na osebek in glagol. Nadalje obravnavamo vpliv družbenih dejavnikov (spol, starost, socialni status, etnična identiteta in udejstvovanje v hip hop subkulturi) na stopnjo formalnosti jezikovnega izražanja med posameznimi intervjuvanci: osredotočamo se na korelacijo med pogostnostjo črnskih slovničnih prvin in eksternimi karakteristikami govorcev ter izpostavimo družbene dejavnike, ki najbolj vidno stimulirajo ekstenzivno rabo afriško-ameriške angleščine. Frekvence črnskih prvin so izražene v procentih in predstavljajo določeno stopnjo rabe afro-ameriškega dialekta pri posameznemu intervjuvancu. Dobljene rezultate primerjamo z izsledki in ugotovitvami dosedanjih sociolingvističnih raziskav, ki obravnavajo vpliv družbenih dejavnikov na stopnjo formalnosti jezikovnega izražanja oziroma na količino rabe črnskih jezikovnih prvin. Temeljni cilj disertacije je statistično predstaviti pogostnost črnskih slovničnih značilnosti v intervjujih z izbranimi medijskimi osebnostmi in poiskati vzroke za določeno raven rabe afriško-ameriške angleščine z analizo notranjih slovničnih mehanizmov in ob upoštevanju vpliva zunanjih družbenih dejavnikov.African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a social dialect or a non-standard language variety of American English which contains distinctive grammatical and phonological features. Because of these features, AAVE is considered a unique communication system that has been recognized among linguists as an alternate, regular, and systematic form of vernacular language. Speakers of AAVE might vary between the use of dialectal and standard grammatical features, which may be accommodated to the speech situation, the participants of interaction, the degree of formality, the function, or the topic. On the other hand, the alternation between AAVE and Standard English (SE) variants may be affected by internal linguistic restrictions or influenced by external social factors such as, gender, age, socio-economic status, ethnic identity, and the like. This thesis explores variability of the selected AAVE features in the interviews of ten African-American public figures, ranging from Hip Hop artists and blues musicians (Redman, Chuck D, Prodigy, MC Lyte, B.B. King) to talk show hosts (Oprah Winfrey), from Hollywood actresses (Queen Latifah, Whoopi Goldberg) to former government officials (Colin Powell) and residents of the White House (Michelle Obama). The selected features of AAVE treated in the thesis include the absence of copula, the third person singular –s absence, the possessive –s absence, the plural –s absence, and the generalization of is and was to plural and second person pronouns. We statistically analyze potential internal grammatical constraints on each feature by highlighting favorable grammatical environments in which the features occur at the highest rate. This way, we are able to discover particular patterns in the behavior of AAVE variables according to subject type and verb type. Further, we consider the influence of social parameters (i.e., gender, age, social status, ethnicity, and affiliation with Hip Hop culture) on the degree of speech formality within a frame of interspeaker variation by examining the correlation between the frequencies of AAVE features and social factors of individual interviewees and by exposing those external attributes which appear to stimulate an extensive AAVE usage. The frequencies of individual AAVE variants are calculated into percentages which represent the levels of vernacular usage of each interviewee. Our results are then compared with the outcomes of previous sociolinguistic findings on the external influences that have been reported to facilitate the rise in the frequency of AAVE features. The central aim of this study is to statistically present the frequencies of AAVE features in the interviews of the chosen celebrities in order to explore various causes for particular levels of AAVE usage by considering internal grammatical mechanisms and the influence of social factors

Internal grammatical conditioning in African-American vernacular English

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) has been defined as a social dialect or a non-standard variety of American English, which contains specific phonological and grammatical features. Some of these features are unique to AAVE, while others may be shared with other informal varieties of American English. Speakers of AAVE usually alternate between the use of AAVE features and their Standard English (SE) equivalents, which may be influenced by external identity constraints and internal grammatical restrictions. This article examines grammatical variability of the selected AAVE features in interviews with ten African-American public figures. The selected features include the third person singular s absence, the possessive s absence, the plural s absence, and the generalization of is and was to plural and second person pronouns. I highlight favorable grammatical environments in which the features occur at the highest rate and search for particular patterns in the variability of AAVE features according to subject type and verb type. My results are then compared with the outcomes of previous linguistic findings on internal conditioning in AAVE. The main objective of this study is to statistically present the frequencies of AAVE features in the interviews with the chosen celebrities in order to explore the influence of internal grammatical mechanisms. Linguistic patterns and restrictions in the use of AAVE demonstrate that AAVE is a systematic means of communication and an ordered language variety