A PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF BLACK ENGLISH IN 50 CENT’S SONG LYRICS IN THE ALBUM ‘CURTIS’
A PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF BLACK ENGLISH
IN 50 CENT’S SONG LYRICS
IN THE ALBUM ‘CURTIS’ AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
ESTU KUNCORO ISMARTONO
Student Number: 054214033
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
A PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF BLACK ENGLISH
IN 50 CENT’S SONG LYRICS
IN THE ALBUM ‘CURTIS’
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
ESTU KUNCORO ISMARTONO
Student Number: 054214033
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
B B E E A A S S H H
I I N N
I
I N N G G L LI I G G H H T T
I I N N E E
V V E E
R
R
Y Y L LI I F F E E T T H H A A T T Y Y O O U U T T O O U U C C H H
Bapak, Ibuk,
I finally made it …
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdullillah, I praise to Allah S.W.T., the Almighty Creator and the All-Merciful for the blessing bestowed upon me. Thank You for all the people and the situations You have placed in my life to help me be the person I am today and for the strength You give me to lift me up when I fall.
I would like to express deep appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A., who has helped me and guided me in finishing this thesis. I thank him very much for the patience and precious time for me to consult my thesis. I am also indebted a gratitude to my co-advisor, Dra. B. Ria Lestari M.S., for her suggestion and willingness to do correction on my thesis. I thank my thesis examiner, Anna Fitriati, S.Pd., M.Hum, for the her questions and appreciation for my thesis. I also thank all lecturers in English Letters Department for providing their precious time and energy during my study.
I owe a great deal to my loving parents for their unconditional love, for the support since I was born, mentally and financially, and for their patience. No words can replace my love for both of you. My utmost gratitude is forwarded to my angelic sister, Mbak Kum, and my lovely brother, Dik Daru, who shared his computer with me this semester to finish this thesis. Thanks for being a push when I have stopped and a guide when I am searching. I also thank my husband, A.
Danu Fratomo, who always gives his tender love and great support for me. Lastly, I thank my little angel, Damarjati Desta Pradana, to whom this thesis is dedicated.
Thank you for making my life so meaningful.
Estu Kuncoro Ismartono
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................... iAPPROVAL PAGE ...................................................................................... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................. iii
............................................................................................. iv
MOTTO PAGE
.................................................................................... v
DEDICATION PAGE
Lembar Pernyataan Persetujuan Publikasi Karya Ilmiah................................. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................. viii
......................................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES
....................................................................................... xii
LIST OF FIGURES
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. xiii
ABSTRAK .................................................................................................... xiv
............................................................... 1
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study................................................................ 1 B. Problem Formulation ..................................................................... 2 C. Objective of the Study.................................................................... 3 D. Benefit of the Study ....................................................................... 3 E. Definition of Terms........................................................................ 4
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................ 6 B. Review of Related Theories .......................................................... 7 B.1. Theories of Black English ...................................................... 7 B.1.a. History ....................................................................... 8 B.1.b. The Growth of African-American English ............... 9 B.2. Theories of Phonetics ............................................................ 11 B.2.a. Vocal Tract ................................................................ 11 B.2.b. Articulation ............................................................... 13 B.2.c. Manner of Articulation.............................................. 15 B.2.c.i. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds ................. 15 B.2.c.ii. Nasal and Oral Sounds ............................ 15 B.2.c.iii. Stops........................................................ 16 B.2.c.iv. Fricatives ................................................. 16 B.2.c.v. Affricates................................................. 16 B.2.c.vi. Liquids .................................................... 17 B.2.c.vii. Glides ...................................................... 17 B.2.d. Place of Articulation ................................................. 17 B.2.d.i. Bilabial .................................................... 18 B.2.d.ii. Labio-dental ............................................ 18 B.2.d.iii. Dental ...................................................... 18 B.2.d.iv. Alveolar................................................... 18B.2.d.v. Postalveolar ............................................. 18 B.2.d.vi. Palatal...................................................... 18 B.2.d.vii. Velar........................................................ 19 B.2.d.viii. Glottal ...................................................... 19
B.3. Theories of Phonology ......................................................... 19 B.3.a. Phonemes and Allophones ........................................ 19 B.3.b. The Rules of Phonology............................................ 20
B.3.b.i. Assimilation Rules .................................. 21 B.3.b.ii. Dissimilation Rules ................................. 21 B.3.b.iii. Feature-changing Rules........................... 22 B.3.b.iv. Feature Addition Rules ........................... 22 B.3.b.v. Segment Insertion Rules ......................... 22 B.3.b.vi. Segment Deletion Rules.......................... 23
B.3.c. Variation between Accent ......................................... 23 B.4. Theories of Song Lyrics ....................................................... 24 B.5. Review of 50 Cent ................................................................. 26
C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................. 28
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
........................................................... 30
A. Object of the Study ....................................................................... 30
B. Approach of the Study .................................................................. 30
C. Method of the Study ...................................................................... 31 C.1. Population and Sample .......................................................... 31 C.2. Instrument and Data Collection............................................. 31 C.3. Data Analysis......................................................................... 32
CHAPTER IV: RESULT OF ANALYSIS ................................................. 34
A. Phonological Processes Occurred in the Black English Words Pronunciation of 50 Cent’s Song Lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’..... 35 A.1. Alveolarization ...................................................................... 35 A.1.a. Velar Alveolarization ................................................ 35 A.1.b. Voiced Continuant Alveolarization .......................... 36 A.1.c. Voiceless Continuant Alveolarization ...................... 37 A.2. Vowel Weakening ................................................................. 38 A.3. Deletion ................................................................................. 39 A.3.a. Consonant Deletion................................................... 39 A.3.b. Vowel Deletion ......................................................... 43 A.3.c. Monophtongization ................................................... 44 A.3.d. Segment Deletion...................................................... 45 A.4. Affricatisation ....................................................................... 45 B. Phonological Characteristics of Black English .............................. 46 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION................................................................... 51
A. Phonological Processes Occurred in the Black English Words Pronunciation of 50 Cent’s Song Lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’..... 51
B. Phonological Characteristic of Black English................................ 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 55
............................................................................................... 57
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 List of the Analyzed Data ............................................... 57 Appendix 2 List of Words Experiencing Velar Alveolarization
Rule (/ ŋ/ Æ /n/)................................................................. 63
Appendix 3 List of Words Experiencing Vowel Weakening Rule ...... 64 Appendix 4 List of Words Experiencing ð-deletion Rule.................... 65 Appendix 5 List of Words Experiencing r-deletion Rule .................... 65 Appendix 6 List of Words Experiencing t-deletion Rule .................... 65 Appendix 7 List of Words Experiencing Vowel Deletion Rule .......... 65 Appendix 8 List of Words Experiencing Monophtongization Rule .... 66 Appendix 9 List of Words Experiencing Affricatisation Rule ............ 66
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 The Examples of the Analyzed Data.................................................. 34 Table 2 Phonological Process Applying Velar Alveolarization Rule (/
ŋ/ Æ /n/) .................................................................................. 36 Table 3 Phonological Process Applying Voiced Continuant
Alveolarization Rule (/ð/ Æ /d/) ........................................................ 37 Table 4 Phonological Process Applying Voiceless Continuant
Alveolarization Rule (/ θ/ Æ /t/) ......................................................... 37
Table 5 Phonological Process Applying Vowel Weakening Rule .................. 38 Table 6 Phonological Process Applying ð-deletion Rule................................ 39 Table 7 Phonological Process Applying
θ-deletion Rule................................ 40
Table 8 Phonological Process Applying r-deletion Rule ................................ 41 Table 9 Phonological Process Applying t-deletion Rule ................................ 41 Table 10 Phonological Process Applying v-deletion Rule................................ 42 Table 11 Phonological Process Applying Vowel Deletion Rule ...................... 43 Table 12 Phonological Process Applying Monophtongization Rule ................ 44 Table 13 Phonological Process Applying Segment Deletion Rule ................... 45 Table 14 Phonological Process Applying Affricatisation Rule ........................ 46
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Parts of the Vocal Tracts .....................................................................14 Figure 2 Areas of the Tongue ............................................................................14
ABSTRACT
Estu Kuncoro Ismartono. A Phonological Analysis of Black English in 50 Yogyakarta: Department of English Cent’s Song lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’. Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.
Nowadays, rap music which is mostly performed by Black artist is loved by millions of youth all around the world. One of the famous black rappers today is
50 Cent, the pseudonym of Curtis James Jackson III. He launched his newest album, ‘Curtis’ in 2007 and it has been sold for approximately 691,000 copies in USA in its first week of release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_50_Cent_
album accessed on March 19, 2009). Since 50 Cent’s songs use Black English,
which has different pronunciation from Standard English, it becomes interesting for the writer to analyze the lyrics to find their differences.
There are two problems to answer in this research. The first problem is what phonological processes occurred in the Black English words pronunciation of the
50 Cent’s song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’, and the second problem is what phonological characteristics of Black English that can be seen through the processes.
Some steps were taken in accomplishing the study. The writer firstly listed the Black English words found in the eighteen song lyrics. The writer included the phonetic transcriptions of both the Standard English (based on Oxford Advance
Learner’s Dictionary of Current English) and Black English (based on the
writer’s listening to the pronunciations of the songs). Secondly, from the comparison of the phonetic transcription of Standard and Black English, the writer analyzed each word into its phonological process by applying all possible phonological rules. From the analysis, the writer then categorized those possible processes in each table according to the phonological processes orderly. The next step was deriving notations from each classified process to state the general rule of its phonological process so that the writer could derive the characteristics of Black English phonology.
Based on the analysis, the writer concluded that the phonological processes occurred in the pronunciations of Black English words of 50 Cent song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’ are alveolarization, vowel weakening, deletion, and alveolar stop palatalisation. From those processes, the writer found eight characteristics of Black English words pronunciations. One of them is Black English words alveolarized velar nasal if it occurs in the last syllable of a word. In spelling, Black English words are different from Standard English as the result of the phonological characteristics.
ABSTRAK
Estu Kuncoro Ismartono. A Phonological Analysis of Black English in 50 Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Cent’s Song lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’. Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Dewasa ini, musik rap yang banyak dinyanyikan oleh artis kulit hitam, sangat populer di kalangan kaum muda di seluruh dunia. Salah satu rapper kulit hitam yang terkenal saat ini adalah 50 Cent, atau Curtis James Jackson III, yang merilis album terbarunya ‘Curtis’ pada tahun 2007. Album tersebut terjual 691,000 copy pada minggu pertama setelah dirilis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_50_ Cent_ album, diakses pada tanggal 19 Maret 2009). Penulis tertarik untuk menganalisa lirik-lirik lagu 50 Cent karena
rapper tersebut menggunakan dialek Black English yang mempunyai pelafalan dan ejaan yang berbeda dari Bahasa Inggris standar.
Ada dua permasalahan yang dibahas dalam penelitian ini. Permasalahan pertama adalah proses fonologi apa yang terjadi pada pelafalan kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black dalam lirik lagu 50 Cent di album ‘Curtis’. Permasalahan kedua adalah ciri khas fonologi apa yang terdapat dalam pelafalan kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek tersebut berdasarkan proses fonologi yang telah dianalisa.
Ada beberapa langkah yang dilakukan dalam menyelesaikan penelitian ini. Pertama, penulis membuat daftar kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black yang ada dalam delapan belas lagu di album ‘Curtis’. Penulis menyertakan transkrip fonetik, baik transkrip fonetik bahasa Inggris Standar (berdasarkan Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of Current English) maupun transkrip fonetik bahasa Inggris Black (berdasarkan pendengaran penulis terhadap pelafalan kata-kata dalam lagu). Kedua, berdasarkan perbandingan transkrip fonetik kedua dialek tersebut, penulis menganalisa setiap kata dengan menerapkan berbagai pola fonologi yang memungkinkan. Dari analisa tersebut, penulis dapat mengelompokkan proses fonologi yang terjadi ke dalam tabel secara berurutan.
Langkah selanjutnya adalah membuat notasi dari setiap proses fonologi tersebut untuk menyatakan pola-pola fonologi umum sehingga penulis dapat menemukan ciri khas fonologi yang terdapat dalam kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black.
Berdasarkan analisa yang telah dilakukan, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa proses fonologi yang terjadi pada pelafalan kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black dalam lirik lagu 50 Cent di album ‘Curtis’ adalah proses alveolarisasi, pelemahan vokal, peluruhan, dan palatalisasi konsonan alveolar
henti. Dari proses-proses tersebut, penulis menemukan delapan ciri khas fonologi
yang terdapat dalam pelafalan kata-kata dengan dialek bahasa Inggris Black. Salah satunya adalah kata-kata dengan dengan dialek bahasa Inggris Black mengubah konsonan velar nasal menjadi konsonan alveolar henti jika konsonan tersebut terdapat di akhir suku kata. Dalam hal ejaan, kata-kata dengan dengan dialek bahasa Inggris Black berbeda dengan bahasa Inggris standar sebagai akibat dari ciri khas fonologi tersebut.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Music has an important role in human life for it becomes a means of
entertainment and self-expression. Nowadays, rap music, which is mostly performed by Black singers, are addicted by millions of youth all around the world. Robert McCrum et.al in their book The Story of English said that the word ‘rap’ itself gained its new meaning in 1960’s. To rap was used by Blacks to criticize whites, to demand Black rights and finally, by extension, ‘to talk’. It is very interesting for the word rap has meant ‘a rebuke’ or ‘blame’ in England since 1733 (1986: 229). Therefore, music can also be a tool to voice one’s demand. In this case, rap music was always associated with Black people that historically, it was used for criticizing the Whites. That is why the writer considers rap music appropriate to be the representation of Black English usage in daily conversation. One of the famous black rappers today is 50 Cent. He launched his newest album, ‘Curtis’ in 2007 and it has been sold for approximately 691,000 copies in USA in its first week of release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_50_Cent_album accessed on March 19, 2009).
Since 50 Cent’s songs are using Black dialect that has different pronunciation and spelling from Standard English, it becomes interesting for the writer to analyze the lyrics to find their differences. The writer found that analyzing song lyrics is fun because by listening and enjoying the music, the writer can apply the linguistics study, in this case phonological study, to find some new facts on Black English phonology.
In addition to that, it is very interesting for the writer to study Black English phonology because the pronunciations of the words are so much different from the Standard-English-word pronunciations. As the effect, the spellings of Black English words also have some differences in comparison with the standard one.
Emerging among slaves in the southern colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, Black English or often mentioned as Black English Vernacular, was considered as an ungrammatical language, or even suggests an inferior intelligent. Now, it is widely spoken by both White and Black people (McCrum, et.al, 1986: 195). Therefore, the writer chooses to study the phonological analysis on Black English words through the sample, i.e. the song lyric of 50 Cent in the album ‘Curtis’, since 50 Cent is a famous Black rapper nowadays who uses Black English as the style of his song lyrics. There are eighteen lyrics in the album. The lyrics that are going to be analyzed later are Intro, My Gun Go off, Man Down, I’ll Still Kill, I
Get Money, Come & Go, Ayo Technology, Follow My Lead, Movin’ On Up,
Straight to the Bank, Amusement Park, Fully Loaded Clip, Peep Show, Fire, All of
Me, Curtis 187, Touch the Sky, and bonus track Hustler’s Ambition.B. Problem Formulation
In order to make this study better organized, the writer has set up some questions that will be answered. The questions are as follows:
1. What phonological processes occurred in the Black English words pronunciation of the 50 Cent’s song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’?
2. What are the phonological characteristics of Black English as seen through the processes?
C. Objective of the Study
The aim of this thesis is to answer the questions set up in the Problem Formulations. The answers of the problems will result in deeper and better understanding on the Black English phonology. Since the album that consists of eighteen songs and all of them are written in Black English dialect, the album provides us with the data of Black English words.
The main objective of this thesis is, therefore, to know the phonological processes of the Black English word pronunciation that lead to different spellings.
The other objective of this thesis is also to find out the phonological characteristics of Black English. Later, when the writer has already understood the characteristics of Black English phonology, the writer can find the differences between Black English and Standard English phonology.
D. Benefit of the Study
Studying the phonology of Black English through 50 Cent’s lyrics makes a better understanding on Black English phonology. We can understand the comparison of Black English and Standard English both in phonology and in orthography. The benefit of the study is that it helps in understanding the characteristics of a particular dialect, in this case, Black English Vernacular so that it can enrich our knowledge in pronouncing a word in different dialect.
Basically, all human beings have the same structures in their vocal tracts and in their ears. By doing this research, the writer began to understand why dialects of one language are different one from the other.
Doing the research also improves the writer’s phonological knowledge, so that the writer understands the way to produce sounds which form meaningful utterances, to recognize a foreign ‘accent’, to know what is or is not a sound in her language, and to know that different phonetic strings may represent the same morpheme.
E. Definition of Terms
Before continuing the discussion, it is better for the writer to define some terms that are greatly used in this thesis. To avoid misunderstanding of each term, the writer gives the definitions below:
a. Phonological Analysis Baverly Collins and Inger M. Mees in their book Practical Phonetics and
Phonology stated that phonological analysis is the analysis on the system and
sound patterning in a language (2003: 246).b. Black English Matthews in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms stated Black English as any distinct variety of English native to black, especially urban, populations in the USA and, by extension, in other societies whose members are predominantly white; also referred to by the abbreviation BEV, for ‘Black English Vernacular’ (1997: 38).
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE In the second chapter, the writer will discuss three parts. The first is the
review of the related studies, the second is review of the related theories, and the third will be the review of the theoretical framework. The review of the related studies contains the review on what others have done, especially those connected with the study on Black English phonology. The review of the related theories contains the theories taken from some sources that will be useful for the writer to conduct the analysis in order to answer the problems, while theoretical framework contains the role of the theories, which have been mentioned in the review of related theories, to solve the problems.
A. Review of Related Studies
In order to support the study, especially to conduct the analysis, it is necessary for the writer to state the previous studies that have been done related to the topic of this thesis. After searching for some sources, two related studies were found.
One of the studies is taken from the thesis done by Wahyu Adi Putra Ginting entitled Back Vowel Lengthening Process in American-English Pronunciation. In his study, Ginting tried to find out how the voiced and voiceless stop consonants influence the duration of the preceding back vowel’s lengthening. He focused his observation on American-English pronunciation (2007: xi).
This paper has the same focus, that is the phonological study on back vowels’ lengthening of American-English pronunciation, but it is different in a way that the writer wants to do the research on the different object. In this case, the writer focuses the research on Black English Vernacular dialect through the song lyrics of rap singer, 50 Cent.
The writer also takes another thesis discussing Black English. The thesis entitled The Character’s Dialect and Their Social Background In Mark Twain’s
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Wivina Tomas. The writer takes this
thesis because it discussed Black English as the dialect that represents the character’s background. Black English, in the novel, is the dialect used by Jim, one of the major characters. Although Tomas study the same object of the study, i.e. Black English, the focus of the thesis is different in a way that it does not discuss the morphology of the Black English words.
B. Review of Related Theories
To analyze the object of the study, which means to answer the problems mentioned in the problem formulations, the writer will review some theories in order to find out which theories might be able to be used to answer those problems. From the problem formulations we can see that the possible theories might be used are those on Black English, phonetics, phonology, theory on lyrics, and the review of the singer of the songs, 50 Cent.
B.1. Theories of Black English
Before we talk further about Black English phonology, we should know first about what people refer to as Black English. What people refer to as ‘Black English’ is certainly one of the prominent vernacular dialects of English, but it is difficult to pick out one dialect as the most different.
Wolfram, et.al, in Dialect and Education, Issues and Answers said that Black English is a variety of English that has combined a number of the nonstandard English forms in a unique way. Its uniqueness lies not so much in the distinct language forms that are found only in that dialect, although there are a few, but in the particular combination of forms that make up the dialect (1986: 40).
B.1.a. History
Black English itself was the product of the slave trade. McCrum, et.al in The
Story of English stated that today, Black English speakers are members of a
scattered family that includes African pidgins, Caribbean creole, the English of Southern states of America and the Black English of the post-colonial British Isles (1986: 196).
According to David Crystal in his book Cambridge Encyclopedia of the
English Language, during the early years of American settlement, a highly
distinctive form of English was emerging in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland, spoken by the incoming black population. This was a consequence of the importation of African slaves to work on the sugar
th
plantations, a practice started by the Spanish as early as 1517. From the early 17 century, ships from Europe traveled to the West African coast, where they exchanged cheap goods for black slaves. The slaves were shipped in barbarous conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum, and molasses. The ships then returned to England, completing an ‘Atlantic triangle’ of journeys, and the process began again. The first 20 African slaves arrived in Virginia on a Dutch ship in 1619. By the time of the American Revolution (1776) their numbers had grown to half a million, and there were over 4 million by the time slavery was abolished, at the end of the US Civil War in 1865 (2005: 96).
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people of different language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plot rebellion.
The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidgin between the slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English. Once arrived in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication between the black population and the new landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when their children were born, the pidgin gradually began to be used as a mother tongue, producing the first black creole speech in the region.
It is this creole English, which rapidly came to be used throughout the southern plantations, and in many of the coastal towns, and islands. At the same time, standard British English was becoming a prestige variety throughout the area, as a consequence of the emerging political influence of Britain (Crystal, 2005:96).
B.1.b. The Growth of African-American English
David Crystal in his book Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language said that black culture became known throughout the country, especially for its music following the widespread movement to the industrial cities of the northern
th
states in the late 19 century in the USA. The linguistic result was a large influx of new, informal vocabulary into general use, as whites picked up the lively speech patterns of those who sang, played, and danced –from the early spirituals, through the many forms of jazz and blues, to later fashions in rapping, soul music, and break dancing. At the same time, there was a growth in educational opportunities for black people, and an increasing involvement in political and professional roles. The civil rights movement in the 1960s had its linguistic as well as its political successes, with school being obliged to take account of the distinctive character of Black English Vernacular, following the successful outcome of a test case at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1977 (Crystal, 2005: 97).
In the 1980s, the public use many expressions in the language for talking about this group of people. The current respectability of African-American (which dates from the 1980s) has replaced such forms as Afro-American, Africo-
American, Afro (all in evidence from the 1830s), colored (preferred in the period
after the Civil War), negro (preferred after the 1880s, and with a capital N some 50 years later), and black/Black (which became the preferred form during the 1960s, and is still the commonest use). Black is now often proscribed, and language conflicts have grown as people strive to find fresh forms of expression lacking the pejorative connotations they sense in earlier usage (2005: 96).
B.2. Theories of Phonetics
Phonology can never be completely divorced from phonetics, since sound patterns can never be completely separated from how they are produced and heard. Phonetics is a part of phonology, and provides the means for describing speech sounds. The writer only takes the theory on articulatory phonetics, which deals with how the vocal tract produces the sounds of language.
B.2.a. Vocal Tract
Basically, sound is produced by vibrating air. Speaking means using the vocal tract (lungs, trachea, larynx, mouth, and nose) to get air moving and vibrating, and then shaping that movement in different ways. According to Elizabeth Zsiga in the compilation edited by Ralph Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton
An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, said that speech begins with breath
because most speech sounds are made with air exiting the lungs (2006: 14). That is why when we begin to speak; we pull down the diaphragm, the big muscle that separates our chest cavity from the stomach. This enlarges the lungs, which draws air in. then the diaphragm relaxes and the muscles around the ribs contract, slowly squeezing the lungs and forcing the air out and up the windpipe or trachea.
The next part of the vocal tract is larynx (the “Adam’s apple”) in the little box of cartilage at the top of the trachea. Inside the larynx, two folds of soft tissue, called the vocal folds (or sometimes called vocal cords), lie across the top of the trachea. Just above the larynx, at the base of the tongue, is the epiglottis. It is a muscular structure that folds down over the larynx when we swallow to prevent food from going down into the lungs before it enters the passage to the stomach. The payoff for the risk of a larynx located low in the throat is an open area at the back of the mouth, i.e. the pharynx. The pharynx allows the tongue freedom for front and back movement (2006: 15).
Inside the mouth itself, there are many different structures –active articulators and passive articulators- that we use to shape speech sounds as the air passes through the vocal tract. Active articulator is the organ that moves, and the passive articulator is the target of the articulation, i.e. the point towards which the active articulator is directed (Collins, Beverley and Inger M. Mees, 2003: 42).
The active articulators move toward the passive articulators in order to constrict and shape the air that is moving out from the lungs. Active articulators include the lips, which can be opened or closed, pursed or spread, and the tongue. The tongue front (including the tip and the blade, which extends a few centimeters back from the tip), the tongue body (the main mass of the tongue, also known as the dorsum), and the tongue root (the lowest part of the tongue, back in the pharynx), are considered separate active articulators.
The passive articulators lie along the top of the vocal tract. The first is the alveolar ridge, the bony rise just behind the teeth. The second is the hard palate, the roof of the mouth. The post alveolar region arches from the alveolar ridge toward the hard palate. The third is soft palate or velum, which is the softer tissue that we can find when we curl the tongue very far back in the mouth, just behind the hard palate. The velum is a muscular structure that regulates the velar port, the opening in the back of the mouth that connects the mouth and the nose. At the very end of the velum is the uvula, the little pink pendulum hanging down in the back of the mouth when it is opened wide (2006: 16-17).
B.2.b. Articulation
McMahon in his book An Introduction to English Phonology stated that speech is audible because the movements of articulators cause the air to vibrate, forming sound waves which travel to the hearer’s ears, and set up vibrations in the inner ear, which are then translated into sounds again by the brain. Since sound waves need air, it follows that articulatory vibrations will only make sound waves if there is a moving body of air available. Airstreams can be set in motion in three ways; pulmonic egressive airstream, glottalic airstream, and velaric airstreams mechanism. However, only one is used in English, that is, pulmonic egressive airstream, and indeed is found in every language of the world (2002: 24).
According to Elizabeth Zsiga in the compilation edited by Ralph Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, stated that pulmonic egressive airstream is the way the air moving out from the lungs (2006: 18). All the sounds of English, both consonants and vowels, are produced on this pulmonic egressive airstream, where the initiator is the lungs and the rest of the respiratory system and the direction of airflow is out-wards.
Besides the airstream mechanism, there is another way that a sound is articulated. It deals with the vocal folds. Sounds produced with vocal fold vibration are voiced; sounds produced without vocal fold are voiceless. This vocal folds vibration has to do with the larynx. When a speaker produces a voiced sound [z], he or she can feel the vibration if he or she places the finger on the larynx. If the speaker switches to the voiceless [s], the vibration ceases. Besides deciding what to do with the larynx, the speaker must decide whether the velum will be open or not. If the velum is open, so that air flows into the nose, the sound is nasal (like [m]). If the velum is close, the sound is oral (2006: 18). Figure 1 shows parts of the vocal tract and figure 2 shows the areas of the tongues. Both figures are taken from Practical Phonetics and Phonology by Baverley Collins and Inger M.Mees.
Figure 1. Parts of the Vocal Tract (2003: 42) Figure 2. Areas of the Tongue (2003: 54)
B.2.c. Manner of Articulation
According to Elizabeth Zsiga in the compilation edited by Ralph Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, manner of articulation is the type of constriction that is made for a speech sound (2006:507).
To produce any consonant, an active articulator, usually located somewhere along the base of the vocal tract, moves towards a passive articulator, somewhere along the top. How close the active and passive articulators get, determines the manner of articulation. Victoria Fromkin et.al in An Introduction to Language stated that there are six main manners of articulation (2003: 244-250). The explanations are given below.
B.2.c.i. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds Voiceless sounds are sounds produced in a way that the vocal cords are apart during the airflow, so that the air flows freely through the glottis and supraglottal cavities (the parts of the vocal tract above the glottis). The voiceless sounds in English are /p/, /t/, /k/, and /s/. If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. The sounds produced in this way are voiced sounds: /b/, /d/, /g/, and /z/. Voiceless sounds may also be aspirated or unaspirated. In the production of aspirated sounds, the vocal cords remain apart for a brief time after the stop closure is released, resulting in a puff of air at the time of the release. The /p/ in pit is aspirated, while the /p/ in spit is unaspirated.
B.2.c.ii. Nasal and Oral Sounds Sounds produced with the velum up, blocking the air from escaping through the nose, are oral sounds, since the air can escape only through the oral cavity. When the velum is not in its raised position, air escapes through both the nose and the mouth. Sounds produced this way are nasal sounds. Voiceless oral sounds include /p/, /t/, and /k/, and voiced oral sounds are /b/, /d/, and /g/. Nasal sounds in English are usually voiced. They are /m/, /n/, and /
ŋ/. B.2.c.iii. Stops A stop occurs when the active and passive articulators actually touch, stopping airflow through the oral cavity completely for a brief period. Nasal sounds /m/, /n/, and /
ŋ/ are classified as stops because nasals have a structure of complete closure in the oral cavity although the soft palate is lowered allowing the airstream to escape through the nose. Nonnasal, or oral stops are also called plosive because the air that is blocked in the mouth ‘explodes’ when the closure is released. Stops are classified into bilabial stops /p/, /b/, /m/, alveolar stops /t/, /d/, /n/, velar stops /k/, /g/, /
ŋ/, glottal stop / ʔ/ as in butter, and palatal affricates with complete stop closures /t ∫/ and /d /.
B.2.c.iv. Fricatives If the articulators are brought close together but not closed completely, so that the stream of air that is forced between them becomes turbulent and noisy, the manner of articulation is fricative. The sounds /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /ð/, / /, /
θ ∫/, and / / are
fricatives. The sounds /f/ and /v/ are labiodental fricatives, /s/ and /z/ are alveolar fricatives, /ð/ and / / are interdental fricatives, /
θ ∫/ and / / are palatal fricatives.
B.2.c.v. Affricates Affricates combine a sequence of stop plus fricatives in a single sound. It is produced by a stop closure followed immediately by a gradual release of the closure that produces an effect characteristic of a fricative. The two relevant sounds for English are /t ∫/, at the beginning and end of church, and its voiced equivalent /d / found at the beginning and end of judge.
B.2.c.vi. Liquids Liquids are sounds produced with some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not enough to cause any real constriction or friction. For lateral liquid /l/, the tip of the tongue rises to the alveolar ridge leaving the rest of the tongue down, permitting the air to escape laterally over its sides. Retoflex liquid /r/ is produced by curling the tip of the tongue back behind the alveolar ridge. In some languages, the /r/ may be an alveolar trill, produced by the tip of the tongue vibrating against the roof of the mouth. It may be produced by a single tap or flap of the tongue against the alveolar ridge and it sometimes called ‘a flap’. The IPA symbol for the alveolar tap or flap is / /.
ɽ
B.2.c.vii. Glides Glides produced with little or no obstruction of the airstream in the mouth. The sounds /j/ and /w/ are glides. They are transitional sounds that are sometimes called semivowels. The glide /j/ is a palatal sound; while /w/ is produced by both raising the back of the tongue toward the velum and simultaneously rounding the lips. Therefore, the glide /w/ is a labio-velar glide, or a rounded velar glide.
B.2.d. Place of Articulation
Place of articulation tells us where the sounds are produced. According to McMahon in An Introduction to English Phonology, the English consonants are produced at eight places of articulation as follows (2002: 31-33). B.2.d.i. Bilabial The active articulator for a bilabial sound is the bottom lip, and the passive articulator is the top lip. Bilabial sound occurs if the lower and upper lip comes together. Bilabial sound includes /p/, /b/, and /m/. /p/ is voiceless and /b/ and /m/ are voiced.
B.2.d.ii. Labio-dental For labio-dental sound, the active articulator is the lower lip and the passive articulator is the upper teeth. /f/ and /v/ are labio-dental. /f/ is voiceless and /v/ is voiced. B.2.d.iii. Dental The dental sound is produced when the active articulator, tongue tip or blade, moves forward to the upper teeth that becomes the passive articulator. The dental sound includes / / (voiceless) and /ð/ (voiced).
θ