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
showed me her artwork for Standard English “Here‟s my own” Rickford,
1999: 9.
ii. Phonological features
Phonological means it has relation to sound. Every language produces their own phonological identity that means the sound that they produce may have some
differences. Therefore, it needs phonology to understand the sound of a language. a. Reduction of word-final consonant clusters i.e., sequences of two or more
consonants, especially those ending in t and d, as in han‟ for Standard
English “hand”, des‟ for Standard English “desk”, pos‟ for Standard English
“post”, and pass‟ for Standard English “passed” the –ed suffix in “passed” is pronounced as [t] Rickford, 1999: 4.
b. Deletion of word-final single consonant especially nasals after a vowel, as in ma‟ [mæ] for Standard English “man,” ca‟ [kæ] for Standard English “cat” and
ba‟ [bæ:] for Standard English “bad” Rickford, 1999: 4 c. Devoicing of word final voiced stops after a vowel, i.e., realization of [b] as [p],
[d] as [t], and [g] as [k], as in [bæt] for Standard English [bad], and [pik] for Standard English
“pig”. The devoiced consonant may be followed or replaced by a glottal stop. Rickford, 1999:4.
d. Realization of finale ng as n in gerunds, e.g. walkin‟ for Standard English
“walking” Rickford, 1999:4 e. Realization of voiceless th [
ɵ
] as t for f, as in tin for Standard English “thin”
and baf for Standard English “bath” Rickford, 1999: 4.
