The historical evolution of earlier African American English : an empirical comparison of early sources / by Alexander Kautzsch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kautzsch, Alexander, 1969-2018.

Series:

Topics in English linguistics ; 38.

Topics in English linguistics ; 38

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Languages--Sources.

African Americans.

English language--United States--Foreign elements--African--Sources.

English language.

English language--United States--History--Sources.

African languages--Influence on English--Sources.

African languages.

Black English--Sources.

Black English.

Americanisms--Sources.

Americanisms.

African languages--Influence on English.

History.

African Americans--Languages.

United States.

Genre:

Sources.

Physical Description:

xv, 335 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 2002.

Contents:

1.1 Education: where it all started 2

1.2 The synchronic description of AAE and its comparison to other varieties of English 3

1.3 The debate about the origins of AAE 4

1.4 The sociohistorical background for the evolution of AAE 6

1.5 The divergence of AAE from other varieties of English 8

1.6 Sources for the historical reconstruction of AAE 9

1.7 The aims of the present project 10

1.8 A final note on terms 11

Chapter 2 Data and methods 12

2.1 Mississippi samples from the ex-slave narratives Rawick (1977/1979) [WPA MS] 12

2.2 The Virginia WPA project [WPA VA] 20

2.3 The ex-slave recordings [ESR] 22

2.4 Samples from Hyatt's hoodoo interviews [HOODOO1 and HOODOO2] 24

2.5 Linguistic evaluation of the subcorpora 28

2.6 Methodological possibilities of a combined corpus of Earlier AAE 32

2.6.1 Comparison of subcorpora 32

2.6.2 Studying change in progress - apparent time analyses 33

2.6.3 Analysis by state 35

2.6.4 Gender differences 38

Chapter 3 Negation patterns in Earlier AAE 40

3.2 Verbal negation 41

3.2.1 The distribution of ain't and its standard counterparts 41

3.2.1.1 Verbal negation by subcorpus 41

3.2.1.2 Verbal negation in apparent time 47

3.2.1.3 Verbal negation by state 51

3.2.1.4 Verbal negation by gender 53

3.2.2 The functions of ain't 54

3.2.2.1 The functions of ain't by subcorpus 55

3.2.2.2 The functions of ain't in apparent time 56

3.2.2.3 The functions of ain't by state 59

3.2.2.4 The functions of ain't by gender 60

3.3 Multiple negation / Negative concord 61

3.3.1 Overall frequencies of negative concord and standard negation 62

3.3.1.1 Negative concord and standard negation by subcorpus 62

3.3.1.2 Negative concord and standard negation in apparent time 62

3.3.1.3 Negative concord and standard negation by state 64

3.3.1.4 Negative concord and standard negation by gender 64

3.3.2 Variability of negative auxiliaries in indeterminate contexts 65

3.3.2.1 Variability of negative auxiliaries by subcorpus 67

3.3.2.2 Variability of negative auxiliaries in apparent time 70

3.3.2.3 Variability of negative auxiliaries by state 73

3.3.2.4 Variability of negative auxiliaries by gender 77

3.4 Negative attraction 78

3.4.3 Never+did+V(inf) 80

3.5 Negative postposing 81

Chapter 4 The copula in Earlier AAE 89

4.2 Methodological considerations 90

4.2.1 Setting the stage for an analysis: identifying count and don't count items 93

4.2.1.1 The copula in past tense environments 93

4.2.1.2 Habitual BE[subscript 2] and non-finite BE 94

4.2.1.3 Clause final and emphatic copula 94

4.2.1.4 There + copula / here + copula 94

4.2.1.5 This + copula 96

4.2.1.7 What / it / that (WIT) 97

4.2.1.8 Negation 99

4.2.1.9 Am 99

4.2.1.10 Are 104

4.2.1.11 Phonological environments 107

4.2.1.12 Survey of copula usage in Earlier AAE 108

4.2.2 Full, contracted and zero forms of the copula 109

4.2.2.1 Straight vs. Labov (and Romaine) 112

4.2.2.2 Differences between is and are contraction and deletion 113

4.2.2.3 Comparison across data sets 113

4.3 The variability of is in Earlier AAE 115

4.3.1 Possible constraints on is realization 115

4.3.2 Variability of is by subcorpus 119

4.3.2.1 Subject type by subcorpus 120

4.3.2.2 Following grammatical environment by subcorpus 126

4.3.2.3 Phonological environment by subcorpus 133

4.3.2.4 VARBRUL analysis of is in the combined corpus 136

4.3.3 Variability of is in apparent time 139

4.3.4 Variability of is by state 147

4.3.5 Variability of is by gender 152

Chapter 5 Relativization in Earlier AAE 156

5.1.1 Relativization in Standard and Nonstandard English 157

5.1.2 Humanness of the antecedent head 162

5.1.3 Category of the antecedent head 166

5.1.4 Adjacency of relative marker and antecedent head 166

5.1.5 Summing up the factors for the present analysis 167

5.2 Relativization by subcorpus 171

5.2.1 Humanness of the antecedent 173

5.2.1.1 Frequency of relative markers by environment 174

5.2.1.2 Comparison of relative markers across environments 175

5.2.2 Category of the antecedent 176

5.2.2.1 Frequency of relative markers by environment 176

5.2.2.2 Comparison of relative markers across environments 178

5.2.3 Adjacency of antecedent and relative marker 178

5.2.3.1 Comparison of relative markers across environments 179

5.3 Relativization in apparent time 182

5.3.1 Humanness of the antecedent 184

5.3.1.1 Subject relatives 184

5.3.1.2 Non-subject relatives 185

5.3.2 Category of the antecedent 187

5.3.2.1 Subject relatives 187

5.3.2.2 Non-subject relatives 188

5.3.3 Adjacency of antecedent and relative marker 189

5.3.3.1 Subject relatives 189

5.3.3.2 Non-subject relatives 190

5.4 Relativization by state 193

5.4.1 Humanness of the antecedent 195

5.4.1.1 Subject relatives 195

5.4.1.2 Non-subject relatives 196

5.4.2 Category of the antecedent 197

5.4.2.1 Subject relatives 197

5.4.2.2 Non-subject relatives 198

5.4.3 Adjacency of antecedent and relative marker 200

5.4.3.1 Subject relatives 200

5.4.3.2 Non-subject relatives 201

5.5 Relativization by gender 203

5.5.1 Humanness of the antecedent 204

5.5.1.1 Subject relatives 204

5.5.1.2 Non-subject relatives 205

5.6.1 Subject relatives 208

5.6.2 Non-subject relatives 209

5.6.3 VARBRUL analysis of subject and non-subject that, what, and zero 209

Chapter 6 Comparison of written and spoken Earlier AAE 212

6.1 Two sources of written Earlier AAE 212

6.1.1 Letters from Liberia (and Alabama) [LAL] 212

6.1.1.1 Validity of transcripts 215

6.1.2 Letters written during or after the Civil War (Freedmen's Bureau Letters [FBL]) 219

6.2 Manuscript letters as linguistic data 221

6.3 Negation 224

6.3.1 Verbal Negation 224

6.3.2 Negative concord 226

6.3.3 Negative attraction 230

6.3.4 Negative postposing 231

6.4 The copula 234

6.4.1 The copula in special contexts (there, here, this, WIT) 234

6.4.2 Full, contracted and zero forms of am, are, and is 237

6.5 Relativization 242

6.5.1 Humanness of the antecedent 245

6.5.2 Category of the antecedent 247

6.5.3 Adjacency 250

6.6 Summary: Written sources of Earlier AAE 253

Appendix 1 Informants by subcorpus 259

Appendix 2 Informants by year of birth 266

Appendix 3 Informants by state 269

Appendix 4 Historical demographics of the American South 272

Appendix 5 Detailed listings of negated auxiliaries in indeterminate contexts by sub-corpus 283.

Notes:

Enlargement of author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Regensburg, Germany.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [311]-327) and index.

ISBN:

3110173018

OCLC:

50035266