The Present Tense of Be in Southern Black Folk Speech

Bailey, Guy; Maynor, Natalie

doi:10.2307/454884

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Nevertheless, both qualitative and quantitative differences between the two have been documented. Qualitative differences between SAAE and SWE primarily involve tense and aspect (see Bailey & Maynor, 1985, 1987Green, 1993;Mufwene et al, 1998;Rickford, 1985). These include, but are not limited to, grammatical constructions involving habitual or durative be (often referred to as be 2 ), done, be done, and stressed been (referred to by some as BIN).…”

Section: Characterstics Of Saae and Swementioning

confidence: 99%

Nonmainstream Dialect Use and Specific Language Impairment

Oetting

McDonald

2001

J Speech Lang Hear Res

162

121

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Most work looking at specific language impairment (SLI) has been done in the context of mainstream dialects. This paper extends the study of SLI to two nonmainstream dialects: a rural version of Southern African American English (SAAE) and a rural version of Southern White English (SWE). Data were language samples from 93 4-to 6-year-olds who lived in southeastern Louisiana Forty were classified as speakers of SAAE, and 53 were classified as speakers of SWE. A third were previously diagnosed σs SLI; the others served as either age-matched (6N) or language-matched (4N) controls.The two dialects differed in frequency of usage on 14 of the 35 coded morphosyntactic surface patterns; speakers of these dialects could be successfully discriminated (94%) from each other in a discriminant analysis using just four of these patterns. Across dialects, four patterns resulted in main effects that were related to diagnostic condition (SLI vs. 6N), and a slightly different set of four patterns showed effects that were related to developmental processes (4N vs. 6N). More interestingly, the surface characteristics of SLI were found to manifest in the two dialects in different ways. A discriminant function based solely on SAAE speakers tended to misclassify SWE children with SLI as having normal language, and a discriminant function based on SWE speakers tended to misclassify SAAE unaffected children as SLI. Patterns within the SLI profile that cut across the two dialects included difficulties with tense marking and question formation. The results provide important direction for future studies and argue for the inclusion of contrastive as well as noncontrastive features of dialects within SLI research. Keywords dialect; specific language impairment; morphosyntaxIn a recent publication, Tager-Flusberg and Cooper (1999) summarize the comments of participants from an NIH-sponsored workshop that focused on the study of specific language impairment (SLI). The participants included experts in the fields of SLI and other developmental disorders such as autism, learning disabilities, and dyslexia. As part of the report, the authors highlight important study topics to help guide future research. One of the recommendations listed in the report is the development of constructs that are important for defining SLI in individuals who come from many language, cultural, and dialect backgrounds.The goal of the current work is to begin, at an exploratory level, to extend the study of SLI to two nonmainstream dialects of English. Although the grammatical profile of SLI has been explored in a wide range of languages, including Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, and even Inukitut (an Eskimo- NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptAleut language) (Leonard, 1998), the study of SLI within nonmainstream varieties of these languages has been nonexistent. A primary reason for this has been limited knowledge on the part of researchers about the developmenta...

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Section: Characterstics Of Saae and Swementioning

confidence: 99%

Nonmainstream Dialect Use and Specific Language Impairment

Oetting

McDonald

2001

J Speech Lang Hear Res

162

121

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“…A detailed examination of individual speakers, and subgroups of younger SPE speakers failed to reveal any clear directional trends or evidence of age-grading. 10 Research on AAVE (Labov, 1969;Wolfram, 1969Wolfram, , 1974aFasold, 1972;Baugh, 1980Baugh, , 1983Bailey & Maynor, 1985a, 1987, 1989Rickford, 1997Rickford, , 1998Rickford, , 1999 has produced consistent results whereby a copula following a pronoun (Pro ) is more likely to be absent than a copula following a noun phrase (NP ). Studies of creole varieties have failed to reach consistent re- sults with respect to this constraint and researchers have not agreed on the implications of these differences with respect to issues of restructuring and/or decreolization.…”

Section: Present Tense Copula Absencementioning

confidence: 89%

“…An additional 108 instances of was/were occur with a past participle (passive constructions) and are analyzed separately from other past tense tokens. An additional 100 tokens of copula were extracted but excluded from analysis because they occurred in a negative context (e.g., I'm not really that good of a cook myself (2:38)), and such negative constructions have questionable status in terms of their potential for absence (see, e.g., Labov, Cohen, Robins, & Lewis, 1968;Bailey & Maynor, 1985a;Rickford, 1999;Weldon, 1994;Blake, 1997). As Blake (1997: 70) notes, "variable rule outcome may be skewed by the exclusion of ain't, whose linguistic status [is] not yet resolved."…”

Section: Data Extraction and Codingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While these studies document limited, bilateral, phonological accommodation, they also expose a persistent qualitative and quantitative ethnolinguistic divide. This study focuses on one morphosyntactic feature, copula absence, which has been studied extensively as a diagnostic variable in ethnic U.S. varieties (e.g., Labov, 1969;Wolfram, 1969Wolfram, , 1974aWolfram, , 1974bFasold, 1972;Feagin, 1979;Baugh, 1980Baugh, , 1983Bailey & Maynor, 1985a, 1985b, 1987, 1989Rickford, 1997Rickford, , 1998Rickford, , 1999, varieties spoken by transplant communities (e.g., Poplack & Sankoff, 1987;Walker, 1999), and creole varieties of English (e.g., Holm, 1984Holm, , 1988Rickford, 1987Rickford, , 1999Rickford, , 2000Rickford & Blake, 1990;Winford, 1992Winford, , 1993Weldon, 2003). 2 Despite the amount of research on the copula and its near-canonical status in variation studies, it remains a controversial feature both synchronically and historically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A quantitative sociolinguistic analysis of Bahamian copula absence

Reaser¹

2004

JPCL

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The study of isolated Bahamian enclaves provides essential data with which to address sociolinguistic questions: Do monoethnic enclaves foster ethnolinguistic distinctiveness and if so, which features and structures demarcate these varieties? How homogenous is linguistic patterning in the Bahamas, given the non-continuous settlement, subsequent urbanization of some areas, and the ethnic diversity and segregation still apparent in Bahamian society? To what extent does copula absence in out island speech communities align with potential donor sources such as Southern White Vernacular English, African American Vernacular English, and Gullah? The comparison of previous analyses of other parts of the Bahamas with new data from Abaco Island reveals the multiplicity of linguistic patterning in the Bahamas. Cherokee Sound and Sandy Point, historically isolated monoethnic enclaves, represent two dissimilar linguistic situations. Cherokee Sound involves a transplant community of approximately 165 white loyalists founded in the late 1700s. Sandy Point represents the traditional Afro-Bahamian community of approximately 400 residents settled by ex-slaves in the 19th century. This study reveals variation within the copula systems of Bahamian varieties sensitive to ethnicity, urban-ness, and regionality, as well as the multiple input varieties and diverse histories of the speech communities. , and three anonymous reviewers. I alone am responsible for and remaining shortcomings.

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“…A useful outcome of these treatments is that they give a fairly comprehensive overview of contexts where be is (almost) categorically present in AAe and other North American and Caribbean englishes. In blake's (1997) discussion, all the researchers surveyed were agreed that, in AAVe, trinidadian Creole, and Samaná english (labov et al 1968;Wolfram 1969;bailey and Maynor 1985;Poplack and Sankoff 1987;rickford et al 1991;Winford 1992), be is categorically present in the following contexts, which should therefore be excluded from consideration (blake 1997, 59-63): 6 be-Deletion in Irish english 447 Additional environments where be is said to be virtually always present are also frequently excluded from studies of be-deletion in AAVe (blake 1997, 65-70):…”

Section: Aae Environments Where Be Is "C Ategoric Ally" Presentmentioning

confidence: 97%

“I DONT CARE ONE CENT WHAT [Ø] GOYING ON IN GREAT Britten”: BE-Deletion IN IRISH ENGLISH

McCafferty¹

2014

American Speech

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In the english-speaking world, be-deletion, or copula absence, is best known as a likely creole feature of African American english (AAe) and basilectal Caribbean englishes. this historical case study examines raymond hickey's contention that attestations of be-deletion in present-day Irish english (Ire) must lead to revision of accounts assuming that be-deletion does not and did not occur in the englishes of britain and Ireland. A survey of reports of be-deletion in present-day and historical varieties of british english (bre) and Ire suggests that be-deletion is and was found not only in Ireland, but also in Scotland and northern england, regions that contributed greatly to british settlement in Ireland. Deletion appears to have been widespread in Ire historically and was present in time to cross the Atlantic with Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish) settlers in the eighteenth century and with other Irish

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The Present Tense of Be in Southern Black Folk Speech

Cited by 34 publications

References 9 publications

Nonmainstream Dialect Use and Specific Language Impairment

Nonmainstream Dialect Use and Specific Language Impairment

A quantitative sociolinguistic analysis of Bahamian copula absence

“I DONT CARE ONE CENT WHAT [Ø] GOYING ON IN GREAT Britten”: BE-Deletion IN IRISH ENGLISH

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