pronouns which can be used depending on the function of the pronoun in the sentence. Pronouns are used as demonstrative: this, that, these, those;
interrogative: who, which, what, where; negation: no. nobody, no one, nothing; personal and reflexive pronouns: I, my, mine, myself; reciprocal
pronouns: each other, one other; relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, whose; quantifier: some, any, each, all, both, either and every that
can be combined with –one, -thing and –body. d.
Negation Negation is used to deny something. “It is a single negative
particle can serve to deny long and complicated rhetorical sentences” Conner, 1986: 199. The most “conspicuous device for negation” is the
negative particle not. People also use never, no, none, and other words “which incorporate the basic negative particle 1986: 199.
e. Noun
According to Guth, nouns usually have two forms, one referring to a single item or singular, the other referring to more than one item of
the same kind or plural 1965: 17.
4. Theory on Subject-Verb Agreement
Agreement is a property of grammatical organization found in pair of words in English it is between a subject and a verb and between a determiner and a noun.
According to subject–verb agreement rule, a verb has to “agree” with its subject. Here is what is meant by “agree” Fromkin, 2000: 237:
The form of a verb is sensitive to the kind of DP it takes as subject. In English, if the subject of a verb is third-person singular, the verb in the present
tense must appear with a particular marking – a final s – if it can if it cannot, like the auxiliary verb will, it remains unchanged.
5. Syntactic Variation of Black English dialect
a. Omission of Auxiliary Verb
One of the syntactic variation of Black English is the absence of the copula verb be. It is in line with a statement by Holmes, who says that
Black English is heard especially in the northern cities of the United States. One of its most distinctive features is the complete
absence of the copula verb be in some social and linguistic contexts. In most speech contexts, speakers of Standard English
use shortened or reduced forms of the verb be. In other words, people do not usually say She is very nice but rather She’s very
nice. They reduce or contract the is to s. In the same kinds of contexts speakers of Black English omit the verb be, . . . 1992:
193 -194
He also mentions that “white Americans never delete the verb be, such as is, am, or are, whereas Afro-Americans or Black Americans,
especially those who are from lower socio-economic groups, regularly do Holmes, 1992: 194.
Wardhaugh conveys the same statement; he says that syntactically, Black English BE has no copula verb to be or it has zero
copula, as in the sentence He nice which means He is nice right now. He PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
states “one of the most interesting characteristics of Black English is mentioned use of the zero copulas or omitting the auxiliary verb
Wardhaugh, 1986: 334. b.
Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement In morphology, there may be no overt signaling of the past tense,
the final t and d. There may also be no signaling of the third singular in the present tense of the verb, the final –s. The use of be in present tense
is, am, and are and in past tense was and were sometimes it is incorrect.
c. The use of be
Be is placed before adjective, adverb, and verb in the –ing form. Sometimes the sentences containing this feature are added with adverbs
such as usually, sometimes, every, steady, always, and all the time. Black English speaker usually uses the word be to substituted is, am, are, was,
and were Holmes, 2001: 178-179. However, the use of be has different meaning. This be in Black English is used to signal actions which are
repeated. According to Trudgill 1983: 65, invariant be i.e., the use of the form be as a finite verb form is probably the most important
characteristic of Black English. Trudgill also says that be is used in Black English to indicate ‘habitual aspect’, since the adverbs usually and
sometimes in the sentence used. Trudgill gives example of the use of be: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
1 He usually be around.
2 Sometimes when they do it, most of the problems always be
wrong. Trudgill’s statement about the use be is also supported by
Holmes’ statement. He states that another distinctive variation of Black English BE is the use of be to give signs that the actions are repeated
1992: 194. For example: She be at school on weekdays. d.
The use of done According to Baugh, “functionally speaking, we find that done is
a perfective marker” 1983:74. He adds that: Done is used to substitute the word have and has before past
participle. In Baugh’s book states that . . . done is essentially “completive” in nature, referring to a characteristic of its
meaning. Other proposals concerning the meaning of this form have been made and many simply suggest a close synonym, like
the perfective auxiliary have or the adverb already Baugh, 1983: 75.
e. The use of ain’t
Ain’t is a contraction of the negative forms of be, have, and do. Ain’t can be used to replace am not, isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t, hasn’t,
haven’t, hadn’t, and didn’t Wardhaugh, 1986: 335. Black English uses ain’t to negate the verb in a simple sentence.
Black English uses ain’t while Standard English sentences use haven’t or hasn’t. For example, “I haven’t seen him” is equivalent to “I ain’t seen
him”. Black English speakers also sometimes use ain’t to replace didn’t. f.
Double Negation and Multiple Negations Another syntactic variation of the Black English dialect is the
double and multiple negations. This syntactic variation is unique. Double negation is the combination of negative auxiliary verb usually ain’t and
another word with negative sense no, nothing, etc. It is called double negation because there are two negative words, while actually the
intended meaning is identical to an ordinary negative sentence with one negative word, thus creating redundancy Fromkin and Rodman, 1983:
256. Fromkin and Rodman state: Following the lead of early “prescriptive” grammarians, some
“scholars” and teachers conclude that it is illogical to say he don’t know nothing because two negatives make a positive. Since such
negative constructions occur in BE, it has been concluded by some “educators” that speakers of BE are deficient because they
use language “illogically” 1983: 256.
g. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun
Accusative pronoun pronoun that is used as complement of verb is often used in place of definite article the or demonstratives this, that,
these, those. It occurs mostly in the plural form, with the accusative pronoun them and demonstrative the or those.
C. Theoretical Framework
The theories mentioned above is used to analyze how Black English Structure is different from Standard English. The theories are also used to analyze the mistakes
of Black English features that are not appropriate with Standard English. The theory on Standard English is used to know what Standard English
means. To know what features that can make sentences included as Standard English. By using the theory, the reader may know why Black English is called non Standard
English. To know the elements or features of correct sentences also needs the theory
on grammar and structure. On the analysis, the writer uses verb, determiner, pronoun, auxiliary verb, and negation as the elements. The writer only uses these elements
because not all the elements are appropriate to analyze Black English. Theory on syntactic variation of Black English helps the writer to know what
features that make Black English different from Standard English. It is useful because it guides the writer to analyze the contrastive between them.
D. Research Framework
This diagram describes the framework of the research. The Play
August Wilson’s Fences
Dialect feature spoken by Troy Maxon
Analysis Black English structure
Readers
The effect toward the understanding of the story
18
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This part gives information on the research procedure. It contains information about the object of the study and method of the study. This chapter also discusses
data gathering and data analysis of this study.
A. Object of the Study
August Wilson’s Fences is the source of this research. It had been published in 1990 by Allyn and Bacon. This play consists of 46 pages including the
introduction and notes by August Wilson. The object of the study is the structure of Black English dialect which occurs
in Troy Maxon’s utterances, the major character of Fences. The writer only chooses Troy Maxon because the character can represent the dialect clearly. Those Black
English structure used in this play compared with Standard English Structure is intended to analyze the effect of Black English features toward the understanding of
the story. Based on Chapter II, the writer finds ten syntactic variations of Black English
dialect. They are omission of auxiliary verb, lack of subject verb agreement, the use of be, the use of done, the use ain’t, double negation and multiple negations, incorrect
use of determiner and pronoun, incorrect plural, incorrect past participle and incorrect PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
use of relative clause. All those features will be used in order to know the effects toward the understanding of the story.
B. Method of the Study
The method that the writer uses for this study is an empirical research since the research relies on the primary data that are used. The writer used a literary text,
August Wilson’s Fences, as the primary data because all of the data are taken from this literary work.
The writer also uses library research and field research. The library research is carried out in order to answer the first problem formulation since it needs to collect
many books, thesis, and dictionary to provide the complete data. The writer carries out this research by reading some theory books and thesis concerning with the topic
to help the writer in conducting this research. Field research is used by the writer to answer the second problem formulation because to find the effects of those Black
English features toward understanding of the play cannot be answered based on library research. Conducting a questionnaire distribution is done to help the writer in
finding the effects that might be arisen. Another method that the writer uses is the contrastive method. In this case the
writer tries to contrast the Black English Structure and the Standard English Structure. The next step is that the writer classified the differences. Then the writer
analyzes them using the theories. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
