African Amer. English outline



L/AAAS 605. An introduction to African American English. Summer 2004.

M T R F 1:00-3:00. Instructor: Donald Winford.

Office: 207 Oxley Hall. Phone 292 0362 (W). E-mail: dwinford@ling.ohio-state.edu

Office Hours: W .2.00 – 4.00 pm or by appointment.

Course Description.

This course is designed to introduce students to the structure and history of the varieties of English used by African Americans, as well as the relationship between language use and socio-cultural factors in the African American speech community. Parallels with other language varieties and communities in the African diaspora (especially the Caribbean) will be explored. The course will be built around the following themes:

(1) The linguistic features that distinguish varieties of African American English (AAE) from other varieties of American English (AE). In particular, we will explore aspects of grammar such as the tense/aspect system, the copula, negation and other features in phonology and lexicon which are relevant to the status of African American speech varieties vis a vis other dialects.

(2) The socio-historical background to the emergence of AAE and the various hypotheses which have been proposed to account for its origins and development. We will evaluate the so-called "creolist" and "dialectologist" hypotheses and attempt to reconcile them as far as possible.

(3) The various ways in which language use in the African American community correlates with or is influenced by social factors and values. We will consider the role of language choice in marking social identities and relationships, and its role in conveying social meaning and communicative intent in conversation and other kinds of discourse. Speech events and styles of speaking characteristic of the African American community will also be discussed.

(4) Educational and social opportunity among African Americans, as they might be affected by attitudes toward varieties of AAE both among African Americans and in the wider society. We will examine the role of language in creating or reflecting social stereotypes, and the implications this has for social advancement among African Americans. The applications of linguistic and sociolinguistic studies to problems faced by African Americans in education and other areas of public life will also be considered.

Required Texts:

Lanehart, Sonya (ed.)2001. Sociocultural and historical contexts of African American English. John Benjamins.

Packet of Readings available at the Department of linguistics, just outside room 222 Oxley Hall (corner of Neil and 11th Aves.),

Requirements and Evaluation.

1. Four brief (roughly 2 pages, 3-page maximum) summaries of required readings, with critical evaluation and discussion of the questions that you think the paper raises. (See handout on guidelines).

TEXTBOOK CHAPTERS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR SUMMARY.

The papers to be summarized must be chosen from four different weeks of the schedule. You may submit summaries of the papers read for the panel discussions as part of this requirement. (25% of final grade).

2. A preliminary report on the progress of the final research paper. A written version of this report ( roughly 3-4 pages) is to be handed in during week 3 (15% of final grade).

3. A final research paper, which may be either a data-based research project, or a long essay (minimum 2000 words) on some central issue in any area of Sociolinguistics. A book review would also satisfy this requirement. Typed version to be submitted by Friday of week 5.

(See list of suggested topics in handout on guidelines) (40% of final grade).

4. Each student will participate in a panel discussion of one of the required readings (see reading packet). The readings are marked with an asterisk in the class schedule below. Students must choose a topic and reading by the end of week 1, and the first panel discussion will be held on Friday of week 2 (10% of final grade).

5. Participation through attendance and contributions to class discussions etc. (10% of final grade)

Attendance.

Attendance is required. Unexplained absences may result in lowering of grades.

Reading Assignments.

There will be regular weekly reading assignments. Students will be expected to read these before the lectures in the relevant topics.

Shedule of classes and readings: (Starred items are required reading. The rest are optional)

Week 1.

Monday 6/21 Introduction to African American English: Definition, labels used, etc.

What does African American English refer to?

6/22 "Dialect" vs "language". Linguistic and socio-cultural criteria of definition.

American English dialects. The place of AAE.

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in relation to Standard English.

Reading: Textbook. Chapter 2 by Mufwene.

*Whatley, Elizabeth. 1987. Language among Black Americans (Packet)

*Winford, D. 2003. Ideologies of language…..

6/24 Linguistic features of AAVE.

Vocabulary & Pronunciation.

The copula system.

Reading: *Rickford 1999. Chap. 1 (pp 3-12) (packet)

*Rickford & Rickford 2000. Spoken soul. Chapter 6. (Packet)

Smitherman, G. 1998. Word from the hood (Packet)

6/25 Tense and Aspect system.

Negation.

Reading: *Rickford & Rickford 2000. Spoken soul. Chapter 7. (Packet)

FIRST SUMMARY DUE FRIDAY 6/25

Week 2 (6/28 – 7/2).

6/28 The origins of African American Vernacular English.

Socio-historical background.

The "dialectologist" and "creolist" hypotheses.

Reading: *Winford, D. 1997. On the origins of AAVE. Part 1 (Packet).

6/29 AAVE in relation to Southern White Vernacular English (SWVE)

AAVE as outcome of language shift.

Reading: *Fasold, R. The relationship between Black and White speech… (Packet).

SECOND SUMMARY DUE TUESDAY 6/27.

FIRST PANEL DISCUSSION TUESDAY 6/27

7/1 AAVE in relation to Caribbean creoles.

Reading: *Bailey & Maynor. 1987. Decreolization? (Packet)

Rickford, John & Angela Rickford. Cut-eye and suck-teeth. (Packet)

7/2 The African American speech community.

Reading: *Morgan, Marcyliena. 1994. The African American speech community (Packet).

THIRD SUMMARY DUE FRIDAY 7/2

SECOND PANEL DISCUSSION FRIDAY 7/2

Week 3: (7/5 – 7/9)

7/5 African American Language in its cultural setting.

Speech events.

Language use among African Americans.

Reading: Textbook, Chapters 6 & 7.

7/6 Communicative styles and strategies.

Reading: Textbook, Chapters 8 and 9.

*Mitchell-Kernan. Signifying, loud-talking and marking.

THIRD PANEL DISCUSSION TUESDAY 7/6

7/8 Language and social differentiation in the African American community

.

Reading: *Edwards, W. 1992. Sociolinguistic behavior in --- Detroit. (Packet)

7/9 Divergence between Black and White dialects.

Reading: *Labov & Harris. De facto segregation of black and white vern.. (Packet)

PRELIMINARY RESEARCH PAPER REPORT DUE FRIDAY 7/9

Week 4 (7/12 – 7/16)

7/12 African American attitudes to African American English.

Reading: *Hoover, M. 1978. Community attitudes toward Black English. (Packet)

7/13 Social evaluation and stereotypes of AAE in the wider community.

Reading: *Lippi-Green, Rosina. 1997. The real trouble with Black English (packet).

FOURTH SUMMARY DUE TUESDAY 7/13.

FOURTH PANEL DISCUSSION TUESDAY 7/13.

7/15 Language and inter-cultural communication.

Mis-communication between Black and White Americans.

Reading: *Kochman, Thomas. Strategic ambiguity in Black speech…..(packet).

7/16 Language in the job market. Implications for social opportunity.

Reading: *Akinnaso & Ajirotutu. 1982. Performance and ethnic style (Packet)

Week 5.

7/19 Language and social disadvantage

Reading: *Baugh, John. Linguistic profiling. (Packet)

7/20 Language and education.

Reading: Textbook, chapters 10 - 11

7/22 Language teaching policy and AAVE.

Reading: Textbook, Chapters 12 - 13.

7/23 Language, education and the law

Reading: *Labov, William. Objectivity and commitment in linguistic science: the case of the Black English trial in Ann Arbor.

*Baugh, John. Linguistics, education and the law: Educational reform for African American Language minority students.

Select bibliography.

Bauer, Laurie & Peter Trudgill. 1998. Language myths.

Baugh, John. 1983. Black Street Speech: Its history, structure and survival. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Baugh, John. 2000. Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic pride and racial prejudice. NY/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baugh, John. 2003. Linguistic profiling. In Makoni, Sinfree, G. Smitherman, A. F. Ball & A.K. Spears (eds.) Black Linguistics. Lnaguage, society and politics in Africa and the Americas, pp155-168. London: Routledge.

Bonfiglio, Thomas Paul. Race and the rise of Standard American. Mouton de Gruyter.

Dillard, J. L. 1972. Black English: its history and usage in the United States.

Dillard, J. L. 1977. Lexicon of Black English.

Fasold, Ralph. 1972. Tense Marking in Black English.

Goodwin, Marjorie. 1990. He-said-She said-: Talk as social organization among Black children. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Gumperz, John. Discourse strategies.

Hewstone, Miles & Howard Giles. 1997. Social groups and social stereotypes. In Coupland, Nikolas & Adam Jaworski (eds.). Sociolinguistics: A Reader, pp. 270-283. NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Johnson, Fern L. 2000. Speaking culturally: Language diversity in the United States. London: Sage Publications.

Kochman, Thomas (ed.) 1972. Rappin' and stylin' out: Communication in urban Black America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Kochman, Thomas. 1981. Black and white styles in conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Labov, William. 1972a. Language in the inner city: studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Labov, William. 1982. Objectivity and commitment in linguistic science: The case of the Black English trial in Ann Arbor. Language in Society 11: 165-201.

Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with an accent: Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States. Routledge.

Makoni, Sinfree, G. Smitherman, A. F. Ball & A.K. Spears (eds.) Black Linguistics. Language, society and politics in Africa and the Americas. London: Routledge.

Morgan, Marcyliena.

Mufwene, Salikoko, John Rickford, Guy Bailey & John Baugh (eds.) 1998. African-American English: Structure, history and use. London & NY: Routledge.

Ogbu, John. 1999. Beyond language: Ebonics, proper English and identity in a Black-American speech community. American Educational Research Journal 36(2), 147-184.

Rickford, John. 1999. African American Vernacular English. Oxford: Blackwell.

Rickford, John & Russell Rickford. 2000. Spoken Soul: The story of Black English. John Wiley and Sons.

Roberts, Celia, E Davies & Tom Jupp 1992. Language and discrimination (in multi-ethnic workplaces).

Schneider, Edgar. 1989. American Earlier Black English: Morphological and syntactic variables. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press..

Smitherman, Geneva. 1986 . Talking and testifyin: the language of Black America. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

Smitherman, Geneva. 1994. Black Talk: Words and phrases from the Hood to the Amen corner. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Smitherman, Geneva (ed.) 1981. Black English and the education of Black children and youth. Proceedings of the national invitational symposium on the King decision. Detroit: Harpo press.

Spears, Arthur. 1999. Teaching "Minorities" about Language and Culture. In Arthur K. Spears (ed) Race and ideology: Language symbolism and popular culture. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, pp 61-82

Williams, Robert (ed.) 1975. Ebonics: the true language of Black folks. St. Louis: Institute of Black Studies.

Wolfram, Walter. 1969. A sociolinguistic description of Detroit Negro Speech. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Wolfram, Walt & Donna Christian. 1989. Dialects and education: Issues and answers. Englewood cliffs, NJ., Prentice-Hall.

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