Analysis Of A Non-standard Variety Of American English
Essay's requirements are in the word "essay request", where b section is to write slang or jargon, the reference to exercise 2 is at the bottom of the word document. The article ends with a conclusion.
Analysis of a non-standard variety of American English
For this possibility, you will analyze the language patterns of a speaker (or group of speakers) of a non-standard variety of American English that you find interesting. This variety may be a geographically based variety (e.g., Appalachian English, Southern English, Valley Girl English, New Jersey English, Great Lakes English), or it may be a socially based variety, such as a particular way of speaking associated with ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality, or even a small community of practice here at campus. The language variety that you choose to investigate may be either a spoken variety or an online variety (e.g., texting, internet, twitter).
Try to find speakers of your chosen language variety here on campus, but if that fails, you can collect data from media sources. For instance, you can find rich spoken language data on internet sites like YouTube, Reddit or even on reality television shows (e.g. Jersey Shore). If you are investigating computer-mediated or digital discourse, you might want to consider using your own emails or text messages as data. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, message boards, online gaming sites, and Second Life can also provide interesting language data.
Your essay should be 10 pages, double-spaced pages, except for language data, which should be single-spaced. The form of the essay is fairly loose, but we expect at least three sections:
(a) An introductory section that articulates what the project is about and provides a strong thesis statement, or argument, about the data you have collected.
This topic is a fairly descriptive option, so your thesis statement should specify what you plan to describe. Ideally, however, your thesis statement should make a social as well as linguistic argument about the data you have collected. For instance, if you are writing about a recognized geographical or social dialect, you will want to think through the sociohistorical position of this dialect in the United States, as well as any language ideologies or attitudes that may be associated with it. If you are writing about slang or jargon as used by a group of students here at campus or on the internet, you will want to think through how this variety functions in social terms and build this into your thesis. See below for ideas on developing this part of your thesis statement.
(b) An intermediate section that organizes and displays the data you have collected in a readable and meaningful way. If you are describing a language variety, you will want to provide examples that you have collected and an explanation of those examples. If you are analyzing slang or jargon, you will want to include a readable and informative list of the terms/phrases you have collected, much like in Exercise 2 on slang and word-formation process.
(c) A third section that offers a sociolinguistic analysis of the data you have presented. What social purpose does the use of this variety serve? Your analysis should refer in detail to perspectives voiced in at least three of the required course readings. You are also encouraged to reference facts or ideas from other academic articles that you have located on the internet, if relevant to your project.
If you are discussing a geographical or social dialect of American English, your analysis might consider the sociohistorical reasons as to why these dialectal features exist. For instance, Wolfram and Schilling-Estes gave us a number of sociohistorical reasons for the existence of dialects, ranging from settlement patterns to economic ecology to social stratification to personal identity. Do any of these shed light on the dialect you are investigating? You might also consider whether the dialect you are studying has symbolic capital in US society, whether in mainstream or alternative channels. Finally, you might consider pursuing the idea of language attitudes or language ideologies. If you have access to any speakers of this dialect, you might want to interview them and include an analysis of what they think about their own dialect. For instance, do they like their dialect or do they reveal linguistic insecurity? Do they have strong opinions about other dialects as compared to their own? Do they even think they speak a dialect? If you do not have access to actual speakers, play recordings of the dialect for your friends and interview them instead, analyzing their language attitudes or ideologies about the dialect you are studying.
When composing your discussion, illuminate your data with detailed reference to the perspectives discussed in at least three of the articles cited in this course, as well as at least one outside scholarly source. The readings we have done should provide you with a wealth of things for you to think about when addressing these questions, especially on the connection between language and society (e.g., Kiesling, Wolfram/Schilling-Estes, Lippi-Green).
Exercise 2 on slang and word-formation process.
1. The slang term and any variants of it
2. A phonetic transcription of how the term is pronounced along with any variants (you can find an online keyboard for phonetic symbols at http://ipa(dot)typeit(dot)org/)
3. A definition of the term
4. A sample sentence, either invented or real, illustrating the use of the term
5. A classification of the term according to the word formation processes discussed in lecture 6. A justification for why you classified the term in the way that you did (i.e. don’t simply say “semantic shift” or “blend” or “loan word” for #5, but also explain your rationale for determining how the word was formed)
7. Which group uses the term (if you focused on a single group, you do not need to provide this information here)
8. In what circumstances or what function the term is used (anger, solidarity, critique, teasing, etc.)
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Analysis of a non-standard variety of American English
Introduction
American English can be categorized according to the variations, especially while considering the non-standard variety of the linguistic. The variation occurs due to a different classification of the American population, which can be based on gender, age, ethnicity, literacy level, religion among other population variation factors. For instance, ethnicity has been a major contributor to the development of a non-standard variety of American English. The variation occurs as a result of people moving from different parts of the world, bringing a close interaction of cultural diversity in America (Gramley, 2018). America is considered as a multi-cultural nation containing the highest level of ethnic diversity across the world. For instance, the African American developed a socially-adopted English language considered to be dialect, ethnolect, and sociolect, communicated by millions of blacks in the United States. The analysis conducted herein, therefore, entails detailed research on the African American language as a non-standard variety of American English as spoken by millions of American population in different states especially in the Southern States.
In the United State, African Americans are represented in every institution, including government, health, and educational as well as social institutions. African American language has developed controversially to present the variety of America’s non-standard languages spoken by the majority. The language is described as African-American vernacular English or with a controversial Ebonics term (Patrick 2012). It is mainly spoken by the majority in the working and middle-class African Americans and the Black Canadians in the urban communities. The English language adopted by the African Americans entails its vocabularies, grammatical, and accent features. It is mainly applied by the informal and casual end of the continuum of the social linguistic. These middle-class population of the African American population would, however, switch to Standard English with the use of eloquent grammar and vocabulary at the formal end of the communication continuum while retaining the non-standard accent.
The African American English indicates a clear relationship with earlier Southern United State dialects with no credited origin. The language developed from the Atlantic Slave trades and the interactions between the African captives with their different languages as they try to communicate among themselves and the slave owners. The African American language consists of a simplified mixture of languages indicating linguistic diversity from different ethnic groups. The words used by African Americans in their communication consisted of simple English terms developed at the end of the 18th century. The development of the language can be traced from terms like;
“you just leave me, but me fall asleep, until another great fish jump into de canoe, no wake till you come, me sit here next to where you sit, fine food, Massa, me dem very glad, den me sit very still, here he be, and there go him”.
Such language was difficult to comprehend and understand especially for the whites who were supervising the slaves in their workplaces. The society had, therefore, had to comprehend their language to make it closer to the white Americans so that they can enhance understanding especially on instructions and commands given (De Bose, 2013). However, the African American language has experienced a minimal influence of the West African connections and the languages from other ethnic groups forming the United States population.
Grammar in the African American language as a non-standard English
From the analysis conducted, some of the major areas studied included grammar, a major aspect of language applicable in both writings and oral communication. The language presents necessary simple past-tense markers. The markers also have an optional tense system consisting of aspects of both past and future tenses. The past tense aspects of the African American language include the pre-recent (I have bought it), recent (I did bring it), pre-present (I do buy it), and past inceptive (I do buy it). The future tense includes the immediate (I am bringing it), post-immediate (I am gonna bring it) and indefinite future (I gonna bring it).
African American English has also facilitated the development of negation in English, mostly noticed while communicating. For instance, the use of “ain’t,” a very common term for this particular ethnic group presents a general negative aspect of communication. This dialect of language in the African American culture differs from other cultural or ethnical dialects whereby others would say “I am not, haven’t, aren’t, or hasn’t.” Double negation in the African American involves negative concede of the language. For example, a person may say “I didn't go nowhere.” The complete set of this sentence is negative and therefore all the negatable, and thus all the forms of the sentence become negative.
The ethnic group mainly do not inflict the verbs for number and persons. They usually don’t possess the –‘s’ ending in their third person singular of the present tense. The word order is also another issue to consider while addressing the variation in the African American language as compared to other non-standard and standard varieties of American English.
The ethnic pattern in the non-standard American English
The ethic speech pattern of African American is explained to occur as a result of racial isolation. The speakers are mainly exposed to limited social contact thus lacking a change to learn proficient language from the experts and the individuals of standard varieties of the language used. The ethnic background of a speaker will generally influence the characteristics of the language he/she uses which defines the sociolinguistic pattern of the language. As researched throughout this topic, the ethnic identity can easily be identified by the structural features of the linguistic varieties the speaker uses (How To Spell, 2017). The English used by the African Americans reveals all the applicable features non-standard English which mainly include the disparity in the morphological structures of words and sentences, numerous grammatical differences, syntactical and phonological disparities in both oral, written communication.
The speakers of the ethnic minorities, mainly use their ethnic varieties to present their linguistic and social disparities from the majority ethnic group with the standard language variety in society. The linguistic repertoire of an ethnic group is mainly widened by an increase in the racial contact beyond personal connection group. The literature of the sociolinguistic pattern of the African American vernacular language is often connected to the ethnic groups that make up the variety of American English. The characteristic and structural features of the African American language that distinguishes it from other standard and non-standard American language include multiple negations which may not only be restricted to this linguistic.
A comparable non-standard American language commonly used in the United States is Chicano English. It is a true ethnic variety of the American English that provides its distinguishing structural features of grammar and pronunciation patterns. Chicano English developed as a dialect language that belongs to the certain ethnical dialect in the United States (Linguistic Marketplace, 2016). It is a form of American English that is presented as Latino English, or Hispanic English with the majority of the speakers being the Mexicans found in major urban areas of the United States. It is also a common language for the communities in the Southwest area of the United States. This particular language has a typical specific phonological feature which includes substitution of “I” for “l” like in the pronunciation of words like “she” where ‘I’ is substituted with ‘t.’ This non-standard American English, however, shares many features with the African American English as well as other non-standard American English.
Anthropology of linguistics in the African American English
The identity of a speaker can easily be identified from the linguistic ethnography. The speech level within the community is mainly used to differentiate ethnicity, racial, nationality, and cultural boundaries of a speaker or group of individuals sharing that particular language. Linguistic influences the social organizations of different ethnic groups based on the role and responsibilities of an individual within the society of the subject position or the speaker. Theoretical tool for investigation of African American language features is based on h...