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How Black English Past got to the present: Evidence from Samaná1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Sali Tagliamonte  and
Shana Poplack
Sali Tagliamonte
Affiliation:
Department of LinguisticsUniversity of Ottawa
Shana Poplack
Affiliation:
Department of LinguisticsUniversity of Ottawa
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Abstract

This article examines the tense system of Samaná English, a lineal descendant of early nineteenth-century American Black English. Independent evidence from quantitative phonological, grammatical, and narrative analyses reveals the existence of a past tense marker comparable in surface form, function, and distribution to that of Standard English. In addition, we establish the presence of a narrative Historical Present, thus far unattested in Black English Vernacular (BEV), which appears in proportions and patterns of alternation with the past tense nearly identical to those associated with middle-class white American narrators. Comparison with varieties of contemporary BEV and English-based creoles shows a structural resemblance between Samaná English and the former, but not the latter. These findings have important implications for understanding the development of contemporary BEV. (Linguistic variation, narrative analysis, Black English Vernacular, pidgin and creole linguistics, Dominican Republic)

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Type
Articles
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Language in Society , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 1988 , pp. 513 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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