DPEV 1103

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
Webster attempt to establish independence for AE was not welcomed by
all Americans.
One wrote, sarcastically…
“ if the Connection lexicographer considers the retaining of the English
language is a badge of slavery, let him not give us a Babylonish dialect in
its instead, but adopt, at once, the language of the aborigines”.
 The absurdities of standard English are
denounced by every English philologian and
the American believes that their AE is ..
- Clearer
- More rational
- More charming
AMERICAN ENGLISH BRITISH ENGLISH

La/bo/ra/to/ry Labo/ra/to/ry
(5 syllables) (4 syllables)

Ex/tra/or/di/na/ry Extraor/di/na/ry
(6 syllables) (4 syllables)
 INTRODUCTION
THEORIES
SPECIFIC FORCES
DIALECT REGION
 The variation increases further when regional
and social varieties are considered.
 The differences between African American
Vernacular English test (AAVEs) and White
American English Vernacular(s) (WAEVs).
 It has been explained by two competing
theories.
 COLONIAL LAG
CONTACT THEORY
THEORY

 Argues that WAEVs  Argues that AAVEs

develop by introducing differ from WAEVs
features from varieties because they
of British English. developed from the
 According to Dillard, contact of English with
the initial popularity of other languages,
lag theory at least primarily African
among some White languages.
Americans .
 Today the contact theory is more accepted.
 According to Mufwene’s ‘virtually the same
language contact equation and the same
selection principles applied in the formation
of AAEs and WAEVs’.
 Mufwene pointing out that both varieties
have clearly influenced each other and he
notes that the similarities between them can
be explained by some 200 years of common
history and regular interaction between the
speaker.
 In some cases the majority of the population
are not native to the community.
 The varieties of English spoken in
communities are likely undergo significant
change.
 In the early years, each settlement developed
different varieties.
 A variety of different acronyms and terms are
used to describe certain varieties of American
English. For example:
 Black English Vernacular, African English
Vernacular, African American English, African
American Vernacular English and Ebonics.
 ‘Ebonics’ was a term originally created to
indicate that Black American English was
actually a variety of African languages rather
than a variety of English.
Lippi-Green (1997) argues that :
“A speaker of AAVE is likely to be
pigeon-holed as being capable of only
certain types of work.”
Successful only in

Entertainment
Sports industries
 She also mentioned that :

“An African-American accent would be

more acceptable in a physical education
teacher for example than it would in a
teacher of speech.”

 It is common among speakers of

certain varieties around the world,
speakers of the particular variety are
among those most prejudiced against it.
The question how to legitimise the home
varieties or languages of children in the
school, been a matter of debate and
controversy for centuries.

Lippi-Green again argued that,

“Everyone should have the right to be

heard in their variety and this is as much
a right being treated equally on the basis
of religion and colour.”
Clearly, questions of identity and
power along with cultural and stylistic
issues are at least as important as
linguistic ones in any discussion of
AAVE.

AAVE can be seen as symbolic of

black resistance to the cultural
mainstream.
 are aimed at
allowing Black writers
to capture a distinctive
Black identity as
writers.
 1) Minimal number of
words for every idea. 6) Eliminate ‘do’

7) Try to formulate really

2) Clarity positive ideas by using
emphatic negative
structures.
3) Eliminate the use of the
verb ‘to be’ whenever
possible. 8) Use double or triple
negatives for dramatic
4) Use ‘be’ or ‘been’ only emphasis.
when you want to describe
a chronic, ongoing state of
things. 9) Never use the –ed suffix to
indicate the past tense of a
5) Zero copula (eliminate verb (if this is used in
the verb ‘to be’ whenever it ‘standard’ English)
would combine with other
verbs)
 15) Do not hesitate to play
10) Only use the third person
with words, even invent
singular, present, indicative
them.

11) Observe a minimal 16) Stay in the present tense

Inflection of verbs. unless you want to
underscore the past tense.
12) Never use an apostrophe
(‘s) construction. (The 17) Never use the suffix –ly
possessive case scarcely ever form of an adverb.
appears in Black English.
18) Never use the indefinite
13) If the modifiers indicates article ‘an’
plurality, then the noun remains
in the singular case.
19) Invariant syntax : it is
possible to formulate an
14) Listen for or invent special imperative, interrogative, and
Black English forms of the past declarative with the same
tense. (‘losted’ etc) syntax.
AAVE has changed over time just like with
all other varieties of English.

This example illustrates features of AAVE

that are still in use.
“S : What ’s her ,what ’s her her name t hat cooks
t hem? She a r eal young gir l. She br ing ‘em in
ever y mor nin’. An’ t hey sells ‘em, an’ t hey sells
‘em f or t hat gir l t her e in t hat st or e.”

=There is no need for the copula ‘is’ in ‘she a real

young girl’ and note the deletion of the /d/ in
the consonant cluster ‘and’ .
 In AAVE, ‘-s’ inflection occurred in instances
of present tense 1st singular and with the
present 3rd plural.
 Jordan’s 4th ‘rule’ says that ‘be’ should only be
used to described a chronic, ongoing state of
things.
 For example:
‘If you don’t do nothing but farm work , your
social security don’t be nothing.’
‘If you only do farm work, then social security
isn’t usually very much.’
 In General American, ‘be’ often occurs with
the 1st person singular pronoun and the
neutral 3rd person singular.
 It’s use is compulsory in the past tense ‘was’
but ‘was’ is used for both singular and plural
subjects. For example:
‘Well, that’s the way it best’ (Well, that’s the
way it usually is).
 AAVE also creates a distinctive vocabulary by
according different meanings to words
commonly found in GA. For example:
 the verb ‘mash’ to mean ‘press’ as in ‘mash
the accelerator’ to mean press the
accelerator as hard as possible.
 AAVE has a wide range of distinctive
phonological features. Includes the non-use
of consonant clusters especially final
position. For example:
 ‘wes’ for ‘west’, ‘de’ for ‘the’.
 Southern English

is a laboratory on the workings of

language.
(Thomas,2003:166)

 SAE cannot be considered as single variety

 WHY??Because it comprises to some of the
states. For example :
• There are 4 major hierarchical levels of SAE
:

(Algeo 2003)
 SAE has developed due to 3 major
influences:
A) English-Core

B) Scots-Irish

C) African
Languages

Algeo (2003:9-12)
 a.k.a ‘Southern Drawl’.

 2 features :
a) Prolongation of certain vowel sounds
and the breaking of vowels and
diphthongs into triphthongs
 Example :
UK US

there /ðeƏ r/ /ðer/

bad /bæd/ /bæd/

pass /pα:s/ /pæs/

bath /bα:Ѳ/ /bæѲ/

after /α:f.tƏ r/ /æf.tƏ /

b) Merging of the vowel sounds /I/ and /e/.
For example ‘pin’ and ‘pen’.
(Bailey,1997:255)

‘…Beneath that deceptive

North Carolina drawl, there’s a
crisp intelligence.’

Someone who spoke with a southern

drawl might be intelligent.
 ‘Governer Clinton, you extended
Oxford University in England and
Yale Law School in the Ivy League,
two of the finest institutions of
learning in the world. So how come
you still talk like a hillbilly?

a highly educated person could speak with

a southern drawl.
 ‘Instead of listening to what
you’re saying, they’re passing the
phone around the office saying,
‘Listen to this little honey from
South Carolina.”’

a woman expressing frustration that he

accent means that listeners do not take
her seriously.

if the speaker is a woman, is also evident

in the next quote.
 ‘Its hilarious how these businessmen turn
to gravy when they hear it. I get some of
the most callous. And I start talking to
them in a mellow southern drawl. I saw
their heart rate down and I can sell them a
list in a heartbeat.’

the speaker is a woman who sells mailing

list over the phone. She is describing the
effect of her southern drawl has on men.
 So, all these attitudes towards the southern
drawl and ‘style’ are not always (-).

 And so southerners have to :

Less direct
than their
elaborate northern
civility compatriots

Be more
eloquent
 you-all yall

 fixin’ to

 multiple modals

Bernstein argues that it’s popularity

stems partly from a need in English to
find a plural pronoun for ‘you’.

She reports that :

 As plural pronoun
 ‘you guys’
Can refer to men and women
as well.

Means : ‘Maybe I could’

 ‘might could’
To express uncertainty and
politeness.

 ‘fixin’ to’
Means : ‘about to’

The action has to be coming

a.s.a.p (imminent)
 The increasing metropolitanisation
of America is causing significant
and rapid change to varieties of
American English.
 Extremely complex situation. WHY??
Because:
 the increasing of migration and
immigration to the cities.

 So, it means that the notion of a

variety of General American become
more idealisation than reality.
 Kretzschmar said that :

American national standard is a

variety with minimum of features
connected with any one regional
or social group.

And this will compete with

English RP in the international
marketplace.
 AMERICAN ENGLISH, Retrieved 17 January, 2011,
From
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitio
ns/aave.html
 Dialect, Retrieved 17 January, 2011,
Fromhttp://www.cal.org/topics/dialects/aae.html