Black English Afro-American Movies

5

E. Research Benefits

This research gives benefits in linguistic aspect. This research aims at finding the language input of Black English in some examples of Afro-American movies. It is aimed to enrich the language input in Black English as the researcher assume that many people does not know a lot about the expressions of Black English. It is also purposed to give some samples of the situation and the condition of Black English occurs in the movies and gives the readers the understanding of it as portrayed in the movies.

F. Definition of Terms

1. Black English

Black English here has two definitions. The first is this term has the same meaning with Ebonics that was originally intended and sometimes used for the language of all people of African ancestry; since 1996 it has been largely used to refer to African American Vernacular English distinctively non-standard Black United States English, asserting the independence of the Standard English. The term became widely known in the U.S. in 1996 due to a controversy over its use by the Oakland School Board. According to Robert William, as cited in Baugh, Black English or Ebonics may be defined as the linguistic and paralinguistic features which on a concentric continuum represent the communicative competence of the West African, Caribbean, and United States slave descendant of African origin. It includes the various idioms, patois, argots, idiolects, and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 6 social dialects of black people especially those who have adapted to colonial circumstances Williams; 1975 as cited by Baugh, 2000. The second definition is for Black North American people.

2. Afro-American Movies

The word Afro-American is a term used to refer to Black Americans or African-Americans. It means that they are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. So, the term Afro-American movies mean movies that most of the actors and actresses are Afro-American or portraying the life of Afro-American people. In this research, the researcher uses Bad Boys I and II and Rush Hour I and II, as the movies analyzed. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 8 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE