vocabularies and grammar as well as pronunciation” Trudgill, 2000:5. As one of English dialects, African American Vernacular English also has its own linguistic
features as their characteristics that differentiate it from other varieties of English dialects.
The linguistic features of African American Vernacular English used in this research taken from
Rickford‟s table of distinctive features as seen in his book African American Vernacular English for syntactical and phonological features
and from Lisa J. Green‟s book entitled African American English for lexical aspect
i. Syntactical Features
The most frequent linguistic features of African American Vernacular English in this novel are the syntactical aspect. According to Miller, the definition
of syntax “has to do with how words are put together to build phrases, and with
how clauses are put together to build sentences.” Miller, 2002: xii. Syntax is needed to construct words into phrases or sentences so the speaker can transfer
messages to the listener and the listener can understand the messages well.
a. Preverbal marker of tense, aspect and mood
In order to make the construction of the English phrases or sentences more understandable, there are several things to be considered. The speaker also needs
to pay attention on the tense, aspect, and mood. Tense, aspect and mood are interrelated and three of them are useful to identify which verb that is going to be
used in making sentences. In English verb system, tense has to deal with time, which are past, present and future. Aspect in English verb can be divided into two,
which are perfect and progressive. Mood itself in English verb also known as modality and it can be divided into three: indicative, subjunctive and imperative.
Each tense, aspect and modal has their own markers to be used in certain situation. In African American Vernacular English, the marker of tense, mood and
aspect are found missing or use differently, as in: a.
The absence of copula auxiliary is and are for present tense states and actions as in “He
ø
tall” For SE “He‟s tall” or “They
ø
running” for Standard English
“They are running” Rickford, 1999:6.The function of a copula in Standard English is to link nonverbal predicates i.e., nouns, adjectives, and
certain adverbials with their subjects and serves as a carrier for tense and
subject verb agreement Celce-murcia, 1983:33-34.
b. The use of invariant be sometimes bees
for habitual aspect, as in “He be walkin” usually, regularly, versus “He
ø
walkin” right now for Standard English
“He is usually walking usually walks.” Rickford, 1999: 6.
c. The use of invariant be for future “will be,” as in “He be here tomorrow,”
This is essentially a result of the phonological rule deleting the contracted „ll
of will. Rickford, 1999: 6. Be in Standard English can be placed in simple future tense or future progressive after will
. For example: “He will be here in an hour” simple future, “He will be walking to school at 8 a.m. tomorrow”
future progressive Celce-murcia, 1983: 64.
d. Use of steady as an intensified continuative marker, usually after invariant
habitual be, but before a progressive verb, for actions that occur consistently or persistently, as in “Ricky Bell be steady stepping in them number nines”
Rickford, 1999:6. While in Standard English, continues aspect is marked by placing be present: is, am, are or past: was, were and followed by V-ing.
e. Use of unstressed been or bin for Standard English
“Hashave been” present perfect, as in “he been sick” for Standard English “he has been sick.” Unlike
stressed BIN, unstressed been can co- occur with time adverbials e.g. “since
last week” and does not connote remoteness Rickford, 1999: 6. f.
Use of stressed BIN to mark remote phase that the action happened or the state came into being long ago as in “She BIN married” for Standard English
“She has been married for a long time and still is,” or “He BIN ate it” for Standard English
“He ate it a long time ago. Rickford, 1999:6. g.
Use of done to emphasize the completed nature of action, as in “He done did
it” for Standard English “He‟s already done it.” Rickford, 1999:6. Done in Standard English is past participle of do, and it is used in perfective sentence
to describe a completed action. In African American Vernacular English, done can co-occur with been
, as in “By the time I got there, he been done gone” or, in the reverse order, “They done been sitting there an hour”
Rickford, 1999: 6. h.
Use of be done for resultatives or the future conditional perfect, as in “She
be done had her baby” for Standard English “She will have had her baby”
Rickford, 1999: 6. i.
Use of finna sometimes fisna, derived from “fixin‟ to” to mark the
immediate future, as in “He finna go” for Standard English “He‟s about to go Rickford, 1999: 6.
j. Use of had to mark the simple past primarily among preadolescents as in
“then we had went outside” for SE “then we went outside” Rickford, 1999: 6. In Standard English, had is used as perfective aspect marker. In past tense
is marked by the regular form of past tense verb V-ed or the irregular form of verb.
k. Use of double modals, as may can, might can, might could common in
Southern White vernaculars for Standard English “might be able to” or must
don‟t more unique to AAVE for Standard English “must not” Rickford, 1999: 6. Single modal is more common to Standard English speaker.
l. Use of quasi modals liketa and poseta
, as in “I liketa drowned” for Standard English
“I nearly drowned” and “You don‟t poseta do it that way” for SE “You‟re not supposed to do it that way” Rickford, 1999:7.
b. Verbal tense marking:
In the Standard English, tense brings its own characteristics. English verbs are also known for its regularity and irregularity. Regular verb means the form of
the past tense and past participle of the verb is same with suffix –ded. In irregular
verb, the past tense and the past participle of the verb has different pattern. The present tense uses the base of the verb or V1 and the third person singular use V1
+ ses. The past tense use past verb or V2. In perfective, it uses past participle or V3. In African American Vernacular English, the markers of the verb tense are
found different to Standard English as follows: a.
Absence of third person singular present tense –s, as in “He walk
ø ”
for Standard English
“He walks.” The use of don‟t instead of “doesn‟t” as in “He
