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The variation of future going to in african-american vernacular english
Abstract
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., [s.st.] for Standard American English "sister" [s.st.r]) and different realizations and vocalizations. In this article, we examine the abbreviations of future going to (i.e., gonna, 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.
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Focusing on the process of grammaticization, whereby items with lexical meaning evolve into grammatical markers, this article examines the future temporal reference sectors of three diaspora varieties of African American English which have evolved in linguistic isolates and compares them with those of British-origin rural and mainstream varieties of English. With one exception, the same constraint hierarchies condition the selection of going to across the board, indicating that their future temporal reference systems are descended from a common source. All other distinctions among the varieties result from their differential positioning on the cline of ongoing grammaticization of going to as a future marker. Operationalization of constraints representing different stages of the development of going to and comparison of their probability values across communities confirm that the enclave and the rural varieties retain conservative traits, visible here in the form of variable conditioning, in contrast to mainstream English, which is innovating. We suggest that the major determinant of variability in the expression of the future is the fact that the speech of isolated speakers, whether of African or British origin, instantiates constraints that were operative at an earlier stage of the English language and that are now receding from mainstream varieties.
SUMMARY
In this second part of a two-part study of the origins of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), specific structural features of this dialect are examined and the argument is made that they arose via a process of language shift by Africans toward the white settler dialects of the southern American colonies in the 17th through 19th centuries. Essentially, the author agrees with dialec-tologists that AAVE was never itself a creole, but rather the result of partially successful acquistion of settler dialects by Africans who restructured the target in various ways. On the whole, three kinds of explanation for the structural features of AAVE are offered. First, as dialectologists have argued, certain features of AAVE such as negative copula/perfect ain't, invariant don't, negative concord etc., were simply adopted without much change from settler dialects. The same is true of certain phonological features such as the use of /n/ for /ng/ in participles and gerunds like walking and so on. Second, several features of AAVE appear to have resulted from the effects of imperfect second language learning, resulting in simplification or loss of certain morphological apparatus, for instance in the copula and auxiliary systems and in verbal and nominal inflection. This kind of simplification is quite common in cases of (untutored) second language acquisition, as well as in creole formation. Hence the tendency to view such features as 'creole', when they are not in fact uniquely creole features. Third, despite this caveat, there is strong evidence that several distinctive AÀVE features can be explained as the result of substratum 'transfer' (or retention) of creole structural and/or semantic properties. Features which can be explained in this way include negative preterite ain 't remote perfect BEEN and habitual be. Certain phonological features such as /d/ for /ð/ etc, also appear due to creole and/or African substrate influence. In some cases (e.g., variable copula absence) the effects of simplification and substratum transfer may have reinforced each other. In short, though AAVE was never itself a creole, it was created by Africans, and bears the distinctive marks of that creation.
RÉSUMÉ
Dans la deuxième moitié de cet article, qui traite des origines de l'anglais vernaculaire afro-américain (AVAA), l'auteur porte son attention sur les traits structuraux qui individualisent ce dialecte. Il soutient qu'ils sont apparus lors de l'assimilation linguistique des africains lorsqu'ils firent l'acquisition des dialectes des colons blancs du sud des États-Unis, du XIIe au XIXe siècle. L'auteur est en accord avec les dialectologues qui ont soutenu que l'AVAA n'a jamais été une langue creole, mais plutôt un parler que les Africains ont modifié de diverses façons en raison du fait qu'ils n'ont que partiellement réussi à s'assimiler l'ensemble du système de la langue des colons blancs. L'auteur a trois genres d'explications à offrir quant à l'origine de chacun des traits structuraux. Premièrement, en accord avec ce qu'ont soutenu les dialectologues, il soutient que certains traits, tels la forme négative/parfaite de la copule, ain't, le don't invariable et l'utilisation obligatoire de plusieurs négations dans une même proposition, proviendraient des dialectes des colons sans subir quelque modification d'importance. Il en irait de même de certains traits phonologiques, tels le remplacement de /n/ par /n/ dans les formes du participe présent et du gérondif, {walking), et ainsi de suite. Deuxièmement, certains traits de l'AVAA sembleraient provenir des effets de l'acquisition imparfaite d'une langue seconde, aboutissant à la simplification ou à la perte de certains systèmes morphologiques, par exemple celui de la copule et des auxiliaires et celui de la flexion nominale et verbale. Ce genre de simplification serait fort fréquent dans des situations d'acquisition 'sur le vif', d'une langue seconde, autant que lors de la formation des langues creoles. D'où selon l'auteur la tendance à y voir des traits 'creoles', alors qu'en fait ces traits se retrouvent également ailleurs que dans les creoles. Malgré cette mise en garde, l'auteur soutient qu'il y a de fortes raisons de croire que plusieurs traits caractéristiques de l'AVAA s'expliqueraient comme étant le résultat d'un 'transfert' (ou d'une préservation) de caractéristiques structurelles et/ou sémantiques creoles. Parmi les traits qui pourraient s'expliquer ainsi, on compte ain't, marque du prétérit négatif, BEEN, marque du parfait lointain et be, marque du fréquentatif.
American Speech 77.3 (2002) 288-301
IN 1994 WHEN HIP HOP artist Guru rapped about Black street speech—what he called "the code of the streets"—he did so with outright defiance to a standard language ideology that stifles those without access to formal education. His rhymes, as it has been said of all rap lyrics, constituted more than just a resistance discourse; they created a context where issues of identity and in-group solidarity took center stage (Spady and Eure 1991). Guru fiercely rapped that he was never afraid to let loose his speech, because his brothas knew that he spit 'rapped' the code of the streets. In this proclamation—as with the lyrics of many socially conscious Hip Hop artists (Smitherman 2000a)—Guru attempts to resist the dominant culture with words—but he ain't gon do it alone. He and his brothas are rappin in a code of communication that reflects both the ideational and the material aspects of what has come to be known as Hip Hop Culture. Kickin 'speaking in rhyme' the code of the streets is essential to the notion of a Hip Hop Nation (HHN).
This essay examines the role that language plays in constructing a street-conscious identity for African American Hip Hop artists. Specifically, I have conducted a quantitative sociolinguistic analysis of the speech of two Hip Hop artists across two genres: (1) informal interview and (2) Hip Hop lyrics. Comparative analysis of copula absence between the conversational speech AND lyrics of Hip Hop artists demonstrates that Hip Hop artists vary their speech consciously to construct a street-conscious identity, allowing them to stay connected to "the streets," which are seen not only as a physical space, but also as a cultural space that represents the values, morals, aesthetics, and codes of conduct that govern life in urban America. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that Hip Hop lyrics can be used as a source of examining stylistic variation in the African American community.
This study begins by describing the relationship between Hip Hop Nation Language (HHNL) and African American Language (AAL). Because I have analyzed each artist's lyrics and speech using the techniques developed by variationists to analyze a corpus of natural speech, I then address some methodological considerations in the tabulation of copula absence in variationist studies. This exercise is interesting on comparative grounds alone, but it also raises some important questions: How conscious is control of grammatical features in language use? If there is conscious control of certain features, what purposes would this control serve to the speaker? With regard to the nature of language use in the African American community, what social forces direct speech up and down the linguistic continuum of (in)formality?
The richly varied and diverse speech acts and communicative practices of the HHN (see Smitherman 1997 and Alim forthcoming) can provide a rich source of data for sociolinguistic studies. My interest in HHNL has led me to examine its use within this community in the sociocultural context of the streets. I am a member of the Black History Museum research team in Philadelphia, which has conducted hundreds of tape-recorded ethnographic interviews with Hip Hop artists from around the nation (Spady and Eure 1991; Spady, Dupres, and Lee 1995; Spady, Lee, and Alim 1999). Our goals were manifold. Among them, we set out to investigate the cultural and aesthetic values that govern the Hip Hop World and to examine the linguistic-cultural practices of this diverse community. The volumes that have resulted from this study, particularly Spady, Lee, and Alim (1999), have documented that the street is the site, soul, sound, and center of the Hip Hop Culture-World.
Not only did Hip Hop Culture begin in the streets of African America, but the streets continue to be a driving force in contemporary Hip Hop Culture. Legendary Hip Hop producer Marley Marl explains what it means to be "street-conscious" in a Hip Hop-saturated world: