An Investigation of T-Units in African American English-Speaking and Standard American English-Speaking Fourth-Grade Children

2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina T. Smith ◽  
Evan Lee ◽  
Hiram L. McDade
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
African American English ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
English Speaking

BE, DO, and Modal Auxiliaries of 3-Year-Old African American English Speakers

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1383-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandi L. Newkirk-Turner ◽  
Janna B. Oetting ◽  
Ida J. Stockman
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
African American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Surface Form ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Modal Auxiliaries ◽  
Different Types ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
American English Speakers

PurposeThis study examined African American English–speaking children's use of BE, DO, and modal auxiliaries.MethodThe data were based on language samples obtained from 48 three-year-olds. Analyses examined rates of marking by auxiliary type, auxiliary surface form, succeeding element, and syntactic construction and by a number of child variables.ResultsThe children produced 3 different types of marking (mainstream overt, nonmainstream overt, zero) for auxiliaries, and the distribution of these markings varied by auxiliary type. The children's nonmainstream dialect densities were related to their marking of BE and DO but not modals. Marking of BE was influenced by its surface form and the succeeding verbal element, and marking of BE and DO was influenced by syntactic construction.ConclusionsResults extend previous studies by showing dialect-specific effects for children's use of auxiliaries and by showing these effects to vary by auxiliary type and children's nonmainstream dialect densities. Some aspects of the children's auxiliary systems (i.e., pattern of marking across auxiliaries and effects of syntactic construction) were also consistent with what has been documented for children who speak other dialects of English. These findings show dialect-specific and dialect-universal aspects of African American English to be present early in children's acquisition of auxiliaries.

scholarly journals In your own words: Investigating voice, intertextuality, and credibility of Rachel Jeantel in the George Zimmerman trial

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Catherine Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
American English ◽  
African American English ◽  
Defense Attorney ◽  
Institutional Discourse ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Neutral Language ◽  
Trayvon Martin

In February 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, who, after a month of highly-publicized trial, was acquitted of second-degree murder. In this paper, I examine the testimony of Martin’s childhood friend and witness for the prosecution, Rachel Jeantel. I investigate the ways in which the intertextual strategy of voicing another, that is the representation of not only their words, but also the characteristics of their language variety, may effectively eliminate the witness’s credibility. This work is motivated by the literature on the interaction between intertextual strategies (Bakhtin 1981, Becker 1994, Tannen 2007[1989]) and language ideologies (Matoesian 1999, Tannen 2010), especially as they relate to institutional discourse of courtroom interactions (Conley and O’Barr 1990, Conley et al. 1978, Magenau 2003, Cotterill 2003). My analysis shows that the prosecuting attorney standardizes Jeantel’s African American English (AAE) and excuses the supposed lack of clarity of her testimony as due to her upbringing in a non-native English-speaking household. The defense attorney voices Jeantel in a much more adversarial manner and reflects her AAE as itself evidence for her testimony to be considered non-credible. And finally, the ways in which the court reporter, the “neutral” language authority of the court, requests clarification of Jeantel’s testimony may actually be effectively discrediting the witness as it further highlights Jeantel’s variety as non-standard and marked for the courtroom.

Difference Versus Deficit in Child African American English

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry N. Seymour ◽  
Linda Bland-Stewart ◽  
Lisa J. Green
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
African American English ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
The Past ◽  
Conversational Language

We propose that shared features (noncontrastive) between African American English (AAE) and Standard American English (SAE) may be more diagnostically salient than features not shared (contrastive) when identifying children of AAE language backgrounds with language disorders. The syntax of child speakers of AAE with language disorders (LD) and child speakers of AAE without language disorders (NLD) were compared. Syntactic features were transcribed from conversational language samples of seven LD and seven NLD children, and these features were classified according to their overlapping relationship with SAE. Shared features between AAE and SAE were designated as "noncontrastive" and features not shared as "contrastive". The production of several noncontrastive linguistic features were significantly different between groups, whereas group differences were nonsignificant for all contrastive features, with the exception of the past tense /ed/ morpheme.

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