Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by John R. Rickford
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Lexicons and meaning
- 2 Syntax part 1: verbal markers in AAE
- 3 Syntax part 2: syntactic and morphosyntactic properties in AAE
- 4 Phonology of AAE
- 5 Speech events and rules of interaction in AAE
- 6 AAE in literature
- 7 AAE in the media
- 8 Approaches, attitudes and education
- Endnotes
- References
- Acknowledgments
- Index
2 - Syntax part 1: verbal markers in AAE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by John R. Rickford
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Lexicons and meaning
- 2 Syntax part 1: verbal markers in AAE
- 3 Syntax part 2: syntactic and morphosyntactic properties in AAE
- 4 Phonology of AAE
- 5 Speech events and rules of interaction in AAE
- 6 AAE in literature
- 7 AAE in the media
- 8 Approaches, attitudes and education
- Endnotes
- References
- Acknowledgments
- Index
Summary
Focal point Part of knowing a word involves knowing how to use it in sentences. As explained in the preceding chapter, speakers of AAE use some of the same words that occur in other varieties of English, but they may use them with different meanings. In addition, these words must occur in specific environments in a sentence. For example, the verbal marker be can precede words from any grammatical class such as verb (That computer becrashing), adjective (Those computers belight) and preposition (Her computer beinher carry on bag). On the other hand, the verbal marker dәn can only precede verbs (Theydәn boughtall the sale books).
Jesus is mine;
Jesus is mine;
Everywhere I go,
Everywhere I be,
Jesus is mine.
[from a gospel song]Introduction
The preceding chapter characterizes a part of the system of AAE, the lexical component. In continuing to put the pieces together to form a complete picture of the AAE system in this chapter, I present a description of verbal markers and try to make explicit how they fit into the syntactic component. Many of the well-known features of AAE are from the syntactic component of the language system, that part of the system that deals with the way words are put together to form sentences. In many cases, words in AAE that are identical or quite similar in pronunciation to words in other varieties of English are used differently and may combine with other words in sentences in different ways.
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- Chapter
- Information
- African American EnglishA Linguistic Introduction, pp. 34 - 75Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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