Verbal tense marking: The theory of African American Vernacular English

use ain‟t. Other characteristics of making negative sentence of African American Vernacular English can be seen as follows: a. Use of ain‟t as general preverbal negator, for Standard English “am not,” “isn‟t.” “aren‟t,” “hasn‟t,” “haven‟t,” and “didn‟t” as in “He ain‟t here” for Standard English “He isn‟t here,” or “He ain‟t do it” for Standard English “He didn‟t do it” Rickford, 1999: 8. Negation of simple sentence in Standard English is accomplished by inserting the word not between the operator and the predication Quirk et al, 1972: 374. b. Multiple negation or negative concord that is, negating the auxiliary verb and all indefinite pronouns in the sentence, as in “He don‟t do nothing” for Standard English “He doesn‟t do anything” Rickford, 1999: 8. Multiple negation can be happened in Standard English but the effect is different from multiple negation in African American Vernacular English. They use more than one negative form but the result is a single negative. In Standard English, when it has multiple negation it results in a positive sentence. In African American Vernacular English, they tend to use the negative word, while in Standard English, they tend to use a non-assertive word after a negative. For example: “No one never said nothing” multiple negation could be meant “No one ever said anything ” in Standard English Quirk et al, 1972: 379. c. Negative inversion inversion of the auxiliary and indefinite pronoun subject, as in “Can‟t nobody say nothing” inverted from “Nobody can‟t say nothing” for Standard English “Nobody can say anything” or “Ain‟t nobody home” From “Nobody ain‟t home” for Standard English “Nobody is home” Rickford, 1999: 8 d. Use of ain‟t but or don‟t but for “only”, as in “He ain‟t but fourteen years old” for Standard English “He‟s only fourteen years old” or “They didn‟t take but three dollars” for Standard English “They only took three dollars” Rickford, 1999: 8. In African American Vernacular English ain‟t but or don‟t but are used to replace “only”. In Standard English, “only” can be used in an implied negative statement.

e. Questions

Forming questions in Standard English is by placing wh-question then is followed by the auxiliary verb. Below are some characteristics of African American Vernacular English in making questions: a. Formation of direct questions without inversion of the subject and the auxiliary verb, usually with rising intonation, as in “Why I can‟t play? for Standard English “Why can‟t I play?” and “They didn‟t take it? for Standard English “Didn‟t they take it?” Rickford, 1999: 8. The order elements in wh- questions of Standard English is not only by initial placing of the Q=element, but by the inversion of subject and operator in all cases except that in which the Q-element is subject, where the rule of initial Q-element takes precedence over the rule of inversion. If there is no operator in the equivalent statement, do is introduced as substitute operator in the questions Quirk et al, 1972: 394-395. b. Auxiliary verb inversion in embedded questions without if or whether, as in “I asked him could he go with me” for Standard English “I asked him if he could go with me” Rickford, 1999: 8. In Standard English to form an embedded indirect question normally uses “if” or “whether”.

f. Existential and locative constructions

Existential and locative constructions are used to show the existence and location of something being referred. Existential sentences are principally those beginning with the unstressed word there, and are so called because when unstressed there is followed by a form of the verb be, the clause expresses the notion of existence Quirk et al: 1972: 958 In the following characteristics of African American Vernacular English on the existential and locative construction will show the differences to Standard English: a. Use of existential it is, „s, was, ain‟t instead of there is, „s, was, isn‟t as in “It‟s a school up there” for Standard English “There‟s a school up there” Rickford, 1999: 8. b. Use of existential they got as plural equivalent of singular it is, instead of there are, as in “They got some hungry women here” line from a Nina Simone song for Standard English “There are some hungry women here” Rickford, 1999: 9. c. Use of here go as static locative or presentational form, as in “Here go my own” said by a 12-year-old girl from East Palo Alto, California as she