2. Issues in the Development of AAVE

1. 2. Issues in the Development of AAVE

2. Name three competing hypotheses of development of AAVE

3. Name three competing hypotheses of development of AAVE • Anglicist (mid 20th C) – AAVE derived directly from British-based dialects and modern AAVE is equivalent to rural Southern white speech • Creole (1960s-70s) – AAVE derived from creole found in African diaspora • Neo-Anglicist (1990s) – postcolonial AfAm speech similar to early British dialects, but AAVE has diverged from EurAm speech

4. Which hypothesis does this quote come from? • “Many important features of the modern dialect [of AAVE] are creations of the twentieth century, not an inheritance from the nineteenth”

5. Which hypothesis does this quote come from? • “Many important features of the modern dialect [of AAVE] are creations of the twentieth century, not an inheritance from the nineteenth” • Neo-Anglicist • Wolfram & Thomas do not adhere to any of these hypotheses

6. What issues pertain to reconstructing AAVE?

7. What issues pertain to reconstructing AAVE? • Nature of texts • Representative quality • Sociohistorical context • Variation in earlier AAVE • Donor source attribution

8. Nature of texts • Problems include questions of authorship, questions about models (native speech or literary?), manipulation of written code (does orthographical ability obscure facts of oral language?), representativeness (is writer a representative speaker?) • Audio recordings made in 1930s include speakers born in 1860s, but are rare, sparse, and of poor quality

9. Representative quality • This relates to the speakers in the enclaves in Dominican Republic and Nova Scotia. Founding members of these transplant groups came from highest, most mobile strata, and are not representative of US AfAms. • This also relates to what studies examine. Previous studies targeted only a few features rather than examining the variety as a whole.

10. Sociohistorical context • Demographic & Sociohistorical circumstances are very important. Hyde Co is a biracial community where AfAms have always been less than 50% of population. Cf. SC & Georgia where AfAms have outnumbered EurAms. • Issues include migration, contact ecology, population demographics, social valuation

11. Variation in earlier AAVE • Initial linguistic diversity: Africans spoke various native languages and had various English proficiency and were exposed to various contact situations. • Individual variation within a community can be significant.

12. Variation in earlier AAVE • “There is thus no reason to think that there was a seamless transition to a homogenized variety of English in the US.” • “enclave situations [like Hyde Co] provide critical insight into the role of localized dialects in the development of earlier vernacular varieties spoken by AfAms” • “there may have been considerably more variation in the vernacular varieties spoken at an earlier period than is found in contemporary versions of AAVE”

13. Donor source attribution • Where did the structures of AAVE come from? • Relics of original British dialect varieties • Emergent regional varieties of English in US (especially rural South) • Earlier language contact situations • Independent innovation • Earlier English of NC AfAms conforms to “cafeteria principle” -- selected structures from founder dialects and vestiges of original contact situation

14. Trajectory of Change for AAVE • Trajectory of change in 20th C is controversial • It does appear that earlier AfAm & EurAm English were more closely aligned than previously thought, and that AAVE has diverged from EurAm English in 20th C

15. Questions • Are AAVE features 20th C innovations or result of retention of 19th C features? • Is AAVE currently diverging from EurAm English? • Divergence hypothesis attracted popular attention as a bellwether of greater rifts in society. • “Divergence” vs. “Convergence” is a caricature of language change, since some structures can converge while others diverge.