GRAMMATICAL PATTERN OF AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE) IN RICHARD WRIGHT SHORT STORY, THE MAN WHO ALMOST A MAN.

GRAMMATICAL PATTERN OF AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR

ENGLISH (AAVE) IN RICHARD WRIGHT SHORT STORY,

THE MAN

WHO ALMOST A MAN

A THESIS

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Degree

of English Department, Faculty of Adab and Humanities,

State Islamic University Sunan Ampel Surabaya

By:

Yulika Harnum Aulia Basandi

NIM A83211203

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SUNAN AMPEL

SURABAYA

2015

ABSTRACT

Basandi, Y. H. B. 2015. Grammatical Pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in Richard Wright Short Story, The Man Who Almost A Man. English Departement, Faculty of Adab and Humanities. The State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

The Advisor : Raudlotul Jannah, M.App.Ling

Key words : Grammatical Pattern, African American Vernacular English

(AAVE), Standard American English (SAE), Non-Standard English The Man Who Almost A Man

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a kind of another variation of American English. It has uniqueness features which lies on the grammatical pattern, lexical pattern, and phonological variation. The aims of this study are to reveal the grammatical pattern of AAVE found in the Richard Wright short story, The Man Who Almost A Man and explain the reasons of African American characters using AAVE in this short story. The writer uses the theory of AAVE by Green (2002) then supporting theory by Meyerhoff (2006), Yule (2006), Hall (2009) and Edward (2009) for answer the second problem. The data for this study taken from the utterances of all African American characters in short story. Then, The writer using qualitative method because the data came in the form of text. She tries to observes, describes and interprets. The result finds that this study supported the finding of the newest previous study by Ningrum (2014). The reasons of African American characters using AAVE because to show the identity of African American ethnic group and to show the solidarity among others. Based on the writer’s findings, there was a possibility that African American characters tend to simplify their utterance from Standard American English (SAE)

INTISARI

Basandi, Y. H. B. 2015. Grammatical Pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in Richard Wright Short Story, The Man Who Almost A Man. English Departement, Faculty of Adab and Humanities. The State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

Dosen Pembimbing : Raudlotul Jannah, M.App.Ling

Kata Kunci : Grammatical Pattern, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Standard Amerikan English (SAE), Non-Standard English, The Man Who Almost A Man

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) adalah salah satu macam ragam bahasa Inggris Amerika. AAVE mempunyai keunikan ciri-ciri yang berada pada pola susunan tata bahsa, arti, dan ragam fonologi. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengungkapkan pola susunan tata Bahasa dari AAVE yang ditemukan dalam cerita pendek The Man Who Almost A Man oleh Richard Wright dan menjelaskan alasan dari karakter-karakter Afrika-Amerika menggunakan AAVE dalam cerita pendek ini. Penulis menggunakan theory AAVE oleh Green (2002), kemudian teori pendukung oeh Yule (2006), Hall (2009) and Edward (2009) untuk menjawab rumusan masalah nomor dua. Data untuk penelitian ini diambil dari ujaran oleh karakter-karakter dalam cerita pendek ini. Kemudian Penulis menggunakan metode kualitatif karena data diambil dari teks. Penulis mencoba mengobservasi, mendeskripsikan, dan menginterpretasikan temuan. Hasil yang ditemukan menunjukkan bahwa penelitian ini mendukung penemuan dari penelitian sebelumnya yang paling baru oleh Ningrum (2014). Alasan-alasan mengapa orang Afrika-Amerika menggunakan AAVE adalah untuk menunjukkan identitas suku Afrika-Amerika dan untuk menunjukkan solidaritas kepada yang lainnya. Berdasarkan penemuan dari penulis bahwa ada kemungkinan orang Afrika-Amerika cenderung mempermudah ujaran-ujarannya dari Standard Bahasa Inggris Amerika.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Inside Cover ... i

Inside Title ... ii

Declaration ... iii

Advisor’s Approval

... iv

Examiner’s

Sheet ... v

Motto ... vi

Dedication ... vii

Acknowledgment ... viii

Table of Content ... x

Abstract ... xiii

Intisari ... xiv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1

Background of the Study ... 1

1.2

Statements of the Problems ... 6

1.3

Objectives of the Study ... 6

1.4

Significance of the Study ... 6

1.5

Scope and Limitation ... 7

1.6

Definition of the Key Terms ... 8

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 11

2.1 Theoretical Framework ... 11

2.1.1 Language Variation ... 11

2.1.1.1 Language and Identity ... 13

2.1.1.2 Language and Social Interaction ... 14

2.1.2 African American Vernacular English (AAVE) ... 15

2.1.2.1 Linguistics Features of AAVE ... 17

A. Phonological ... 18

1. Final Consonant Sound ... 18

2. Devoicing ... 18

4.

r

and

l:

Liquid Vocalization ... 19

5. Reduction Phonological Patterns ... 19

B. Lexical and Semantic ... 20

C. Morphological and Syntactic ... 21

2.1.3 Grammatical Pattern of AAVE ... 22

2.1.3.1 Syntactical Features ... 22

1. The Absence of Auxiliary or Conjugated Form ... 22

2. The Use of Ain’t

... 23

3. Inverting Auxiliary in Question ... 24

4. Omitting Auxiliary in Question ... 24

5. Auxiliary in Question Tag ... 25

6. Verb Phrase Ellipsis ... 26

7. Invariant be ... 26

8. Invariant BIN ... 27

9. Invariant

Dәn

... 27

10. Multiple Negation ... 28

11. Existential

it

and

dey

... 29

12. Relative Clause ... 30

13. Preterit

had

... 30

2.1.3.2 Morphological Features ... 31

1. Past Morphology ... 31

2. Verbal

–

s ... 32

3. The Absence of Possessive

–

s ... 33

2.2 Review of Related Studies ... 33

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design ... 37

3.2 Research Instrument ... 38

3.3 Research Subject ... 38

3.4 Data and Data Source ... 38

3.5 Data Collection ... 39

3.6 Data Analysis ... 40

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Findings ... 42

4.1.1 Grammatical Pattern of AAVE ... 42

4.1.1.1 The Use of Ain’t

... 45

4.1.1.2 Invariant be ... 46

4.1.1.3 Invariant BIN ... 47

4.1.1.4 Invariant

D

ə

n

... 48

4.1.1.5 Multiple Negation ... 48

4.1.1.6 Omitting Auxiliary in Question ... 49

4.1.1.7 Relative Clause ... 50

4.1.1.8 Past Morphology ... 51

4.1.1.9 Verbal

–

s ... 52

4.1.2 The Reasons of African American Characters Using AAVE 53

xii

4.1.2.1 To Show the Identity of African American Ethnic Group

... 53

4.1.2.1 To Show the Solidarity among Black American and White

American ... 54

4.2 Discussion ... 56

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ... 61

REFERENCES ... 63

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of background of the study, statement of the problems, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation, and definition of the key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

As an international language, English has been used around the world and widespread in different countries such as Australia, Britain and the USA (Yule, 2006). People can use variation of English, there are Indian English, Australian English, New York English, West Country English, African American Vernacular English, Non-Standard English, BBC English, and so on (Wardaugh, 2006). Because of that, largely people have accepted the fact that every language has a lot of variation.

Language variation is influenced by the factors such as age, sex, social class, and ethnic background. Those factors make them speak differently. It is not only lies on the words meaning (lexical) but also on the sound (phonological) and the words construction (grammatical). The uniqueness language ethnicity in a single region refers to dialect. Every region has a differentiation in dialect. People in a social group have different dialect which associated with specific colloquial language, known as vernacular (Wardaugh, 2006).

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Vernacular is a topic to start. Vernacular is the language variation which refers to non-standard language. Holmes (1995, p.80) says that it is usually the first language learned by people in multilingual community for informal situation. Vernacular generally refers to a language which has not been standardized and has not an official status. Furthermore, Meyerhoff (2006, p.37) states that amount kinds of vernacular used as a local language such as, Vernacular Variety of German, Standard German (Hochdeutsch), White American Vernacular English (WAVE), Vernacular Varieties of Arabic and Haitian, African American Vernacular English (AAVE).

In United States, African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a kind of another variation of American English. Green (2002, p.6) defines that AAVE has a list of labels, they are: Negro Dialect, Nonstandard Negro English, Negro English, American Negro Speech, Black Communications, Black Dialect, Black Folk Speech, Black Street Speech, Black English, Black English Vernacular, Black Vernacular English, Afro American English, African American English, African American Language, African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The last four are more commonly used today. However, people more often heard those beginning with “Black”.

AAVE was born by the history of tobacco and cotton plantations in United States where the slaves of African were a closely contact with the White American. Many White American use Standard American English (SAE) to speak with African slaves in their daily language. On that account,

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those languages influenced one another until today and they share certain features (Sladkova, 2013).

Studies about AAVE have been done with different focuses. Pullum (1999) describes several features of AAVE uttered by African American in California school board. In conclusion, they talk about vernacular forms which mostly occurs systematic differences from SAE in the domain of words, structures, and sound. Deak (2007) observes the status of using AAVE in California school board educational practice. Ezgeta (2012) studies grammatical variations of selected AAVE, those are the third person singular –s absence, the plural –s absence and generalization is and

was to plural and second pronouns in ten African American public figures. Ningrum (2014) focuses on grammatical pattern, phonological pattern in AAVE, and 4 types of slang word process in the Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

AAVE is not only used in daily conversation such as in a movie, television and radio but also in a novel, short story and drama script. Since the writer’s experience as an English department’s student, it is not easy to understand non-standard American English in literary works given by the lecturer. Sometimes, the authors like Mark Twain, Thomas Dixon, Margaret Mitchell, William Faulkner, and Richard Wright use uncommon English in some literatures.

Richard Wright was born in Mississippi where many African Americans live there. He was an African American author of controversial

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novels, short stories, poems and non-fiction. Much of his literature concern of the racial themes, especially involving the plight of African American during the late 19th _{to mid-20}th _{centuries. His literary works consist a lot of}

non-standard American English.

The writer chooses short story The Man Who Almost A Man. The short story tells about Dave, a young African American who works in the American’s field. He lives with his parent, both are African American. Nigger Characters in this short story represent non-standard American English in conversations.

Unlike the previous studies, systematic grammatical pattern of AAVE in written form is unique to be analyzed. The writer support the newest previous study that has successfully shows AAVE pattern. For the present study, the writer tries to deep dig about grammatical pattern in Richard Wright short story, The Man Who Almost A Man.

The most language in The Man Who Almost A Man is mostly different from Standard American English. For example, Ah tol yuh t git outta here! Yuh ain gonna toucha penny of tha money fer no gun! Thas how come Ah has Mistah Hawkins t pay yo wages t me, cause Ah knows yuh ain got no sense, the language in those sentences little bit difficult to understand for linguist and non-linguists. Therefore, the writer wants to study AAVE in the work by Richard Wright. Since object of this study taken from written form, the writer only focus on grammatical pattern, then phonological pattern and lexical will be left.

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The AAVE grammatical pattern is arrangement of non-standard American English words in sentence construction usually used by African American community. In AAVE, negation such as don’t, no and nothing

can be used multiple in a single negative sentence. For instance I didn’t see nothing. Based on AAVE, two negators didn’t and nothing in one sentence is grammatical correct. On contrary, a perspective rule from SAE states that double negation in one sentence are ungrammatical correct, because they make a positive one (Green, 2002). The correct sentence for SAE should I didn’t see anything. The writer focuses on AAVE grammatical pattern, in addition, the writer also provides SAE forms which correspond to the utterances that containing AAVE grammatical pattern.

The explanations above make the writer not only curious, but also inspired to focus more on grammatical pattern of AAVE. Furthermore, the data are taken from utterances of Nigger characters in the short story. The unique one, there still no study deeper about grammatical pattern of AAVE. The writer focuses on nine types of AAVE grammatical pattern by Green (2002). In order to answer statement of the problems, the writer uses theory of language variation by Meyerhoff (2006), Wardaugh (2006), and Yule (2006), language and identity, language and social interaction by Edward (2012), and the theory of AAVE by Green (2002).

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1.2 Statement of the Problems

1. What are the grammatical pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) found in the Richard Wright short story, The Man Who Almost A Man?

2. What are the reasons of African American characters using AAVE in this short story?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1. To classify the grammatical pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) found in the Richard Wright short story, The Man Who Almost A Man.

2. To describe the reasons of African American characters using

AAVE in this short story.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study are supposed to give a valuable contribution theoretically and practically. To the theoretically, this study is expected to be one of the sources in sociolinguistics studies and gives more knowledge about African American Vernacular English (AAVE) variation by Green (2002) in Richard Wright work. Moreover, the writer hopes that this study useful for other linguistics researchers whom interested in studying AAVE. To the practically, this study gives some information about AAVE and help the reader to define what the AAVE is. Especially for linguist and non-linguist students, they should know that language variation of English

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in our environment is not only Standard English but also non-standard English.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

There are many patterns in African American Vernacular English, according to Green (2002, p.1) AAVE is a variety that has set phonological (system of sounds), morphological (systems of the structure of words and relationships among words), syntactic (system of sentence structure), semantic (system of meaning) and lexical (structural organization of vocabulary items and other information) patterns.

This study focuses on grammatical pattern used by Nigger characters which covered syntactic and morphological pattern. The writer

chooses her analysis in Richard Wright short story, The Man Who Almost A Man published in 1960. The short story consist of some standard and non-standard American English in the narration and conversation. As a conclusion, the writer limits her study to the utterances in conversations uttered by the chosen characters.

Actually, the research about African American Vernacular English is suitable for spoken text which contains of voice and sound. Moreover, the writer using written text because the data for supporting this analysis are available in the written text.

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1.6 Definitions of the Key Terms

In order to avoid misinterpretation about the use of the terms. It is important for the writer to give the suitable meaning of the key terms. Some terms are defined as follows:

1. English language variation is varieties of a language which used by particular social group in particular social context. It provides different specific human speech patterns such as sounds, words and grammatical pattern. English language variation includes dialect, jargon, register, slang, standard and non-standard English language. 2. Standard American English (SAE) is an international language that

recognized as the correct language by the majority of people in America. This language has written in a grammar book, pronunciation and used in spelling conventions. SAE also used by media and other public linguistics such as the education system (Radford, Atkinson, Britain, Clahsen and Spencer, 2003).

3. Non-standard English is a language which often considered to be lazy, ungrammatical forms which betray a lack of both educational training and discipline in learning. Finch (2000, p. 217) claims that non-standard English are restricted in function and have no fixed orthographic form. It is usually used as daily communication with family, friends and non-formal activity.

4. Grammatical pattern of AAVE is arrangement of non-standard words in sentences. It usually used by African American in United

9

States. For example, negation such as don’t, no and nothing can be used double in a single negative sentence. For instance I didn’t see nothing. Based on AAVE, double negation didn’t and nothing in one sentence is grammatical correct. On contrary, a perspective rule from SAE states that double negation in one sentence are ungrammatical correct, because they make a positive sentence (Green, 2002).

5. Vernacular is the first language learned by people in multilingual communities and they often used for relatively narrow range of informal situation. Jackson (2007, p. ) defines, vernacular refers to a local, non-standardized language, and be learnt first by a child. It is also used in a wider sense to refer any language that is not designated as an official language. More widely, it refers to any colloquial variety used by a speaker, as against the standard language.

6. African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a kind of another variation of American English spoken by almost majority of African American in a certain community. AAVE has certain differences from the Standard American English. Many Niggers in America regions use AAVE (Yule, 2010).

7. Nigger refers to the black people. Known in America as African American.

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8. Richard Wright was an African American author of controversial novels, short stories, poems and non-fiction. Much of his literature concern racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African American during the late 19th _{to mid-20}th _{centuries. His}

literary works consist a lot of AAVE.

9. The Man Who Almost A Man is the one of Richard Wright short story which published in 1960.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists of many important aspects concerning the theoretical framework and related studies.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

2.1.1 Language Variation

Not everyone in a single geographical area speaks in the same way in every situation (Yule, 2010). For instance, a director may speak to his wife using Javanese but he may change Bahasa when he asks information to the hotel receptionist. He may also change the language to English when he speaks in the meeting abroad. This shift of language are based on individual language choice. Meyerhoff (2006, p.28) states that people pay more or less attention to their speech when they are engaged in different kinds of situations, so they design their speech to suit with their audiences.

People have some reasons why they choose a variation of a language. The reason is just not stand to reach successful in communication only. Meyerhoff (2006, p.24) states that there are a lot of reasons why people use the language variation. First, desire to speak the language which is different from others, but fit in with some people, people do that in order to differentiate themselves from others. Second, desire to utter the language that has value or consider has the most positive effect in society. Third is desire to avoid to do something wrong. For instance, upper class like

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lecturer or the president more selective in communication and eliminate the language which has a negative value, indeed they use the variation language to avoid that it may look down in the society. The last is desire to train how people appreciate themselves.

Yule and Wardaugh find that the language variation are divided into regional variation and social variation. Regional variation and social variation develop when people are separated from geographically and socially.

Regional variation covers accent and dialect in a certain areas. Dialect is a language which claim as the language of the people in a certain region. Wardaugh (2006, p.135) states that a regional variation is the regional dialect which marks off the residents in one region from other regions. It has aspects of the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of a variety of the language.

Moreover, people that come from different social groups use different linguistic variation. Social variation is analysis of the language from social perspective. It will require us to be able to find linguistic features which are associated with differences in classes or groups and to define what we mean by these latter terms (Meyerhoff, 2006). The language variation based on social variation is more interesting to be analyzed because it directly engaged with the society. It includes registers, styles, or any other sociolinguistic variation including standard & non-standard variety (Wardaugh, 2006).

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Although, people can use standard or non-standard English variation, the majority of people consider that Standard English is the correct way to speak. Standard English has written in grammar books, pronunciation and uses in spelling conventions. It is used by the media and other public linguistics such as the education system (Radford, Atkinson, Britain, Clahsen and Spencer, 2003).

Otherwise, non-standard English variation is a language which often considered to be lazy, ungrammatical forms which betray a lack of both educational training and discipline in learning. Finch (2000, p. 217) claims that non-standard English are restricted in function and have no fixed orthographic form. It is usually used as daily communication with family, friends and non-formal activity.

2.1.1.1Language and Identity

The language that we use shows who we are, which refers to our identity. Edward (2009, p.20) states that identity is central to all human and concerned with the ways in which human beings understand themselves and others. Identity are divided into two, there are social identity and personal identity. In general, each individual or social group will reflect its identity. Edward also says that individual identity cannot be separated from individual action. It is based on level of education, social status and social class. The example in the level of education, a teacher more using

appropriate words than a member of Gang Street. Then social status, for example based on occupation, president will selective in using the language.

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Social class, the language used by personal may show that he or she is upper-class person or upper-class person.

Social identity shows the speech in communities, national groups, and ethnic group. The language of pilots, criminals, financiers are the example of language in specific communities. Yet, each communities has different language from others. Second example, Indonesia has kinds of regional dialect, when two Indonesian meet in some places in America then they have a conversation, indirectly they use Bahasa Indonesia than using English. It because they are as national group of Indonesia.

Ethnic group sometimes boundaries with a region. The language variation in the ethnic group could happen when people want to show their ethnic’s identity. In an ethnic group, a majority language in a region as the signal of the identity. For example, when Sundanese men move to the other region in Madura Island, then they speak using Bahasa Indonesia although the accent and dialect of Sundanese and Madurese are different. It shows that Sundanese applying the identity of the ethnic group. In this cases, the way people using language of ethnic group is to make them differentiate with the others. Yet, it is because he proudly using his ethnic group language.

2.1.1.2 Language and Social Interaction

Interaction with a society will be taking place as long as we are alive.

It is impossible if we use language without any purposes for social interaction. Style-shifting, dialect-switching, diglossia, and

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switching have relationship between social situation and language variation. Sometimes, people are using a language based on the situation. For instance, Chinese students at the Hong-Kong University often switch his language of Cantonese and English. If they spoke only Cantonese, they might be regarded as being loyal to their community.

Within the context of an English-language university, Cantonese as uneducated and unsophisticated language. When Chinese students meet in their community then they spoke Cantonese, it makes the conversation more intimate and may be viewed as being solidary to their community. Therefore, not all surprising that code-switching is a very widespread phenomenon.

2.1.2 African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

Vernacular is the first language learned by people in multilingual communities and they often used for relatively narrow range of informal situation. Vernacular… generally refers to a language which has not been in standardized form and which not have an official status (Holmes, 1995). Therefore, vernacular is a general expression of a kind of social dialect, typically spoken by a lower status group which is treated as non-standard because of the marked differences from the standard language. It has aspects of the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of a variety of a language (Yule, 2010).

The most widespread and most familiar vernacular of African American is African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Green (2002,

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p.6) said that it is a kind of another variation of American English. AAVE has a list of labels, they are: Negro Dialect, Nonstandard Negro English, Negro English, American Negro Speech, Black Communications, Black Dialect, Black Folk Speech, Black Street Speech, Black English, Black English Vernacular, Black Vernacular English, Afro American English, African American English, African American Language, African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The last four are more commonly used today. However, people more often heard those beginning with ‘Black’.

Black American English or AAVE came from the historical of slavery. Koh in the Taylor (2000) says that African separated from their African family and friends in childhood. They herded into the wretched and stinking hold a slave ship, and sold at auction to a Waccamaw rice planter. The slave found himself among various other enslaved Africans whose speech could not understand with strange customs and they was unfamiliar.

Masters in this environment commands at them, which they struggled to comprehend. Little by little they effort to communicate with one another, they discovered common grammatical patterns in their diverse African languages. While they lacked a common linguistic heritage, through trial and error in their effort to communicate with one another, African increasingly became aware of common elements in their diverse tongues as they found other speakers of their own or similar African

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languages. Out of the opposing tendencies to learn English and to retain African speech patterns, they created a new language.

African American reveals the link between oral and written expression. Ball (1996, p.28) states that the oral style or structures of expression in AAVE are less easily translatable into the standard academic forms of expository written than those of some other cultural groups in our society. Some AAVE speakers who have been adept at integrating their everyday language into their writing, their syntactic features that appeared in their texts as errors. She (1996, p. 29) adds that traditionally, AAVE speakers also use rhythmic language, patterns of repetition and variation, expressive sound, and phenomena encouraging participative sense-making, like using dialogue, tropes, hyperbole, and call and response patterns in their traditional ways of expressing their ideas.

Not all African are fluent speakers of AAVE. Like other social groups, speakers of AAVE also share characteristic ways of interacting. It has characteristic phonological, morphological, syntactic features and vocabulary (Finegan, 2004).

2.1.2.1 Linguistics Features of AAVE

Linguistics features in African American Vernacular English is a language variation which has a number of characteristics which a bit different from Standard American English. Green (2002, p.1) argued that

AAVE is a variety that has set phonological (system of sounds), morphological (system of structure of words and relationship among

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words), syntactic (system of sentence structure), semantic (system of meaning) and lexical (structural organization of vocabulary items and other information) patterns. So when speakers know AAVE, they know the system of sounds, word and sentence structure, meaning and structural organization of vocabulary items and other information.

A. Phonological

Phonological pattern of AAVE shows the different sound that reflected in the combination of sounds. Words in AAVE and in SAE that have the same meanings may have different pronunciations due to constraints on sounds. For examples:

1. Final Consonant Sound

Analyses of final consonant groups is a process in which the final consonant group composed of two consonant sounds such as

tes (test), des (desk) and han (hand). The sound tes, des and han is reduced to a single consonant sound. In contrary, the pronunciations when the speakers produce minimal two words, first word ending with the two consonants and the following word beginning with a vowel, for instance I will test out of math. They add the final consonant to the first word.

2. Devoicing

The process of consonant devoicing is make a voiced consonant become voiceless. Words ending in the voiced b, d, g are

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pronounced in p, t and k.. For examples cab (for SAE cap), d feed

(for SAE feet) and g pig (for SAE pick).

3. Sound Patterns and th

The other pattern in the sound system of AAVE is the production of t/d and f/v in the words which the th sound occurs in SAE. For instances, the words such as that, bath, with and these in SAE will be sound dat, baf, wit and dese in AAVE.

4. r and l: Liquid Vocalization

This section focus in the pattern that associated on the consonant with r and l which is them will disappear in AAVE.

AAVE Phonethic transcription SAE

Cout [kot] ‘court’

Brotha [br∧də] ‘brother’

Toe [to] ‘tore’

Bea [bεə] ‘bell’

Coo [ko:] ‘cold’

5. Reduction Phonological Patterns

The pattern is omitted in the suffix–ing when the words with more one than one syllable such as walking, running, spending,

thinking, and listening that included the property of –ing (ɪŋ) will be pronounced as –in (Iŋ) walkin, runnin, spenin, thinkin and listenin

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B. Lexical and Semantic

Lexical and semantics of AAVE reveal the information about the type of meaning that is associated with lexical items (words and phrases) and also reveal the information about the unique meanings of AAVE. Speakers who know AAVE, they know the lexical of these words. It is usually used by African American adolescence, teenagers, and young adult. This variation generally not accepted in the marketplace in America. The lexical of AAVE may be used in different linguistic environments, but they have different meanings

The example below provide gloss or sentence in SAE for corresponding sentences with terms from AAVE lexical. Example: 1. Some [s∧m] Adv,—{Adj, Adv}, very; to a great extent

(meaning in SAE)

Note: The adverb some is generally pronounced with stress. a. I really want some candy.

The sentence above has an acceptable in SAE but different in

some occurs in the sentences below. b. Kareem Abdul Jabar is some tall. c. She can cook some good.

Gloss: She can cook very well.

As an adverb, some serves to indicate the extremity of a state or ac tion; it has the meaning of very.

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C. Morphological and Syntactic

The morphological and syntactical features of AAVE are covered by grammatical pattern. Syntactical is the rules of grammar for the arrangements of words into phrase and of phrases into sentence. Word classes are the basic elements of syntactic. Traditionally, word classes are known as part of speech. Part of speech includes; nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, preposition, conjunction, and articles. The example sentences of syntactic pattern of AAVE such as omitting auxiliary be form in She here, She running. While, the perspective from SAE that auxiliary be form should occur both in nominal sentence or verbal sentence, such as I am here and I am running. Other part of grammatical pattern of AAVE is morphological.

Morphological is a system that deals with the function of smaller unit of words, it has relation with the internal economy of words. The example of morphological pattern of AAVE such as verbal –s, verb base may occurs with third person singular in the present tense. As the result, the verb base for present tense that occurs with the third person singular subject is not marked with an –s, speakers who using AAVE often produce sentences in She come, He go, so on. In contrary, the speakers intentionally leave out –s in verb base for the third person and add it where it does not belong to SAE form. The distinction between singular and plural verb is neutralized. Therefore, the

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characteristics of grammatical pattern of AAVE against the SAE norms.

2.1.3 Grammatical Pattern of AAVE

The grammatical pattern of AAVE includes syntactical and morphological pattern. In syntactical features, there are absence of copula/aux be, the use of ain’t, inverting auxiliary in question, omitting auxiliary in question, auxiliary in question tag, VP-ellipsis, invariant be, invariant BIN, invariant dәn, multiple negation, existential it and dey functions as there, relative clause, and preterit had. Then in the morphological features, there are past morphology, verbal –s, and the absence of possessive -‘s

2.1.3.1 Syntactical Features

1. The Absence of Auxiliary or Conjugated Forms

Examples:

a. They ø walking too fast b. He ø be there in a minute c. The teacher ø got all the papers

The auxiliary is, am, are, was, were or conjugated forms to be, do, have and modals in AAVE can be characterized by a set of properties that usually reduced. It makes the sentence cannot be indicated as present tense, present progressive tense, and perfect tense.

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The sentence point (a) shows the example of zero auxiliary

be form, there is no to be form before verb progressive walking. The sentence for SAE can be they is walking too fast or they were walking too fast. Now, for sentence point (b), there is a reduced form of will for the future tense or would for past tense. The sentence in SAE can be He will be there in a minute or He would be there in a minute. The last for the sentence point (1c), there is an absence of the auxiliary preceding verb got for perfect tense. The absence form is have which corresponds to SAE as the perfect tense. The sentence should be The teacher have got all the papers for SAE.

2. The Use of Ain’t

Examples:

a. Bruce ain’t talking calculus this semester b. Bruce ain’t finish his homework las night

Green stated that the ain’t features in AAVE has classified as negation. Usually, all negative sentences in AAVE using negation

ain’t. In contrary, the negation form for SAE occurs in the forms

isn’t for to be is and contracted not, then didn’t, can’t, hasn’t, haven’t and so on.

The example point (a) presents the negative progressive sentence, because the negation ain’t preceded by the verb progressive talking. Besides that, there is an adverb of time this semester that indicates an event at this time. For SAE, the sentence

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should be Bruce isn’t taking calculus this semester. For example point (b) which ain’t preceding by the verb base finish and the adverb of time last night which indicates an event in the past. The SAE for point (b) should be Bruce didn’t finish his homework last night. All the use of ain’t based on the examples above has the function as a negation.

3. Inverting Auxiliary in Question

Example:

a. Cook Bruce can?

An analysis for interrogative sentence in AAVE helps to reveal another property of auxiliaries in question. The auxiliary in

question formation of AAVE is a unique feature.

For example in point (a), the main verb cook has inverted preceding the subject Bruce. The rule in SAE which an auxiliary (but not main verb) can be placed in the position preceding subject like in Can Bruce cook? for yes-no question. It is contrary with the question uttered by AAVE speakers. Yet, the important thing form them, they can understand that the sentences is question seen by the intonations.

4. Omitting Auxiliaries in Question

Auxiliary verb to be, have, do, does, did or modal auxiliary

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subject is described as questions. However, you may find some yes-no questions in AAVE that are formed without overt auxiliaries in the sentence initial position, the following may also be used in this examples:

a. You know her name? b. He sleeping in the car? c. Bob left?

There are no auxiliaries do and is in the initial position of the for sentences (a,b), but the intonation pattern marks them as questions. The SAE sentence for (a) should Do you know her name?, and for point (b) Is he sleeping in the car? Or was he sleeping in the car?, it means the point (b) has two interpretations same as the next point. The identical question in point (c) has 2 interpretations in SAE, it can be Have Bob left? or Did Bob leave?, point (c) can be distinguished by the context in which they occur.

5. Auxiliary in Question Tag

Examples:

a. Bruce ø eating, ø not he? b. Bruce ø eating, ain’t he?

Tag questions are formed by copying the auxiliary in a declarative sentence in the position at the end of the sentence,

making it negative it its original occurrence positive and positive if its original occurrence negative. The pronoun corresponding to the

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subject of declarative sentence is copied in the position following the copied auxiliary.

The AAVE sentences in (a) and (b) show that the tag questions which cannot be formed without placing an auxiliary in the tagged part of the sentence even if there is no overt auxiliary in the declarative. For SAE point (a) should be in Bruce is eating, is not he?. But, the example point (b) has provided the negative auxiliary form whether it using ain’t.

6. Verb Phrase Ellipsis

Examples:

a. Bruce ø dancing, and Dee is, too

The term VP-elipsis is used to refer the structures which an auxiliary is substituted for deleted material. The showing of ø is used to indicate that an auxiliary does not occur in that position. In verb phrase ellipsis, the auxiliary is in example (a) substitutes for dancing

and the verb dancing is omitted in the second clause of the sentence.

7. Invariant be

Invariant be in this point has the meaning as the sequence of verbs. It shows the meaning of sentence based on the construction. When invariant be occur in the sentences, it may not receive ambiguous interpretation.

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Examples:

a. Bruce be running

Aspectual be of AAVE in the example point (a) receive ambiguous interpretation. Be form in here can be replaced by auxiliary was or is. Otherwise, be form will appear in SAE such as

Bruce is running to be which occur on the surface will make the emphatic context. It indicates that running is already in progress and shows the use of present progressive tense.

8. Invariant BIN

Examples:

a. She bin running

b. I been knowing he died

BIN (been) which occurs in AAVE has the function as present perfect progressive tense, this should add has/have before BIN. The correct sentences for point (a) should be in “She has been running”, and “I have known for a long time that he died”. For point number (b), the verb forms in BIN constructions that are interpreted as meaning ‘for a long time’ or ‘a long time ago’.

9. Invariant Dәn

Examples:

a. She dən been to church. b. I dən lost my wallet!

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The verbal maker dәn denotes that an event has ended. Sometimes, dәn has the function as the replacement of the verb has

or have. For example in the point number (a), dәn indicates the person has had the experience of attending the church. In (b) indicates the recent past, an example of the person who has just lost his wallet or just realize that his wallet lost. The correct sentences for those examples should be “She has been to church before” and “I have just lost my wallet!”.

10. Multiple Negation

The multiple negation is a sentence which consists of more than one negator, it can be double negator, triple, or more. In AAVE,

the multiple negation can be used in a single negative sentence. The multiple negation can be marked in the auxiliaries don’t, isn’t,

aren’t, won’t and indefinite nouns such as anybody (nobody) and

anything (nothing). Examples:

a. Sometimes it didn’t have no chalk, no books, no teacher

b. Ain’t nothing you can do

For instance in point (a), there are negation did’t and no in one sentence. On one hand, double negation in one sentence is

grammatical correct for AAVE rule. On the other hand, a prescriptive rule from SAE states that double negation are not

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grammatical correct because they make a positive one. The sentences above, should be Sometimes it has no chalk, no books, no teacher and nothing you can do in SAE rule.

11. Existential it and dey

It and dey occur in AAVE construction to indicate that something exists. The existential sentences in AAVE can be constructed with an existential element it and dey and following obligatory form of to be, have or got. The use of it and dey here have the functions as existential there in the same sentence for SAE. Examples:

a. It be too many cars in that parking lot

b. It was seventy in the family that went down to Israel c. Dey got a fly messing with me

d. Dee gat anoao leedi laas tu

The sentences point (a and b) should be in There are always too many cars in that parking lot, and There were seventy in the family that went to Israel for SAE rule. Same as the function of it,

dey is used to indicate that something exist. As in example point (a) that dey is followed by got. The SAE form for example point (a) should be in There is a fly messing with me and point (b) There is another lady who lost two.

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12. Relative Clause

Examples:

a. There are many mothers [ø don’t know where their children are]

b. It’s a whole lot of people [ø don’ wanna go to hell] These clauses (enclosed brackets) may be introduced by an overt relative pronoun, that or who. The symbol ø to indicate that nothing in the specific position.

The example point (a) should There are many mothers who don’t know where their children are for SAE forms and point (b) should be It’s a whole lot of people who don’t want to go to hell.

13. Preterit had

The use of preterit or past tense form had appear appears in certain environments which is had in AAVE is used to mark past tense. In contrary, the use of had + pluperfect in SAE is used to mark the past activity before the past or indicates as past perfect tense. Examples:

a. My mother had cooked fish last night when I had got my clothes together

The example above shows that the use of had followed by pluperfect cooked and got is not used to indicate the events that took place in the past before the past or past perfect tense. Yet, the AAVE sentence point (a) refers to an event in the past. There are two events

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in that sentence, the cooking fish event and the getting clothes event which taken place simultaneously, or the time of one has overlapped the time of the other. My mother was cooking fish last night when I was getting my clothes is the correct sentence based on SAE.

2.1.3.2 Morphological Features

1. Past Morphology

The past morphology in AAVE usually has no distinction verb form for the simple past and the past participles sentence. The same form for simple past and past participle are same. In the terminology, participle forms are used with helping verbs, as in I eat, I ate, I have eaten. The participle or -en form is eaten.

Examples:

a. The mirror BIN broke b. Did you walked?

The perfect tense form such as in example point (a) which using verb base broke, then there is BIN which has the function as replacement has been should be followed by pluperfect. The correct sentence for SAE rule should in the mirror has been broken.

The second example indicates of the activity has been completed. There is did in the first construction, which indicates the past tense interrogative sentence. The interrogative sentence in the

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the point (b) is past simple. The correct interrogative past tense in SAE should Did you walk?.

2. Verbal –s

Examples:

a. When he come down here, I be dən talked to him b. When I think about Palm Sunday, I gets excited In verbal –s feature, verb base may occurs in the subject third person singular. As the result, the base form for the present tense sentence with the third person singular subject is not marked with an

–s. AAVE speakers often produce sentences like She come, He go, so on. In contrary, the speakers intentionally leave out the third

person –s and add it where it does not belong to SAE form, the distinction between singular and plural verb is neutralized.

In the example point (a), which the subject he refers to the 3rd _{singular subject, then the verb which followed should adding –s.}

The SAE rule for the present tense should be when he comes down here, I have usually talked to him. Moreover, the subject of the second example is 1st person singular I, but the verb ends in –s for

get. The SAE form for example point (b) should be when I think about Palm Sunday, I get excited.

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3. The Absence of Possessive -‘s

Examples:

a. Sometimes Rolanda bed don’t be made up b. That’s the church responsibility

In AAVE, the possessive –s may also be deleted. As in the sentences point (a and b) Rolanda bed and church responsibility. There are no possessive -’s marker is used. A possession may also be indicated by of, however, the loss of possessive –s can be happened in AAVE. The correct sentence based on SAE should be

Sometimes Rolanda’s bed don’t be made up and that’s the church’s responsibility.

2.2 Review of Related Studies

The writer inspired to study African American vernacular English (AAVE) from the previous studies that have successfully research about AAVE. On December 1996, Pullum (1999) reported about the Oakland school district school board that allow to use AAVE in school that primarily language of Niggers. He also describes several features of AAVE which usually occur in environment. He concludes that AAVE speakers use different grammar that clearly distinguishes from Standard American English (SAE) though it massively similar to SAE overall. Americans concludes that Niggers are bad and stupid. Yet, this study provides an

argument that a linguistic study of AAVE makes quite clear that AAVE is not Standard English with mistakes. Pullum argued that AAVE is not a bad

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language. It just another variation of English American because it has systematic rules.

In relation to the above issues, Deak (2007) observed the status AAVE in educational practice in the famous 1996 school board of Black speech sounds. The result of the study clarifies that the educators in Los Angeles have brought AAVE into the schools as a tool for learning, an object of study, and a complement to cultural instruction in other aspects of the curriculum.

Different from the study before, since the emergence of urban areas became the contemporary norm of AAVE, Wolfram (2000) classifies the grammar of urban AAVE in rural south 14 different kinds of language grammar of urban AAVE. Those are verb phrase, copula/auxiliary absence, invariant be, completive done, sequential be done, remote been, simple past had + verb, specialized auxiliaries, irregular verbs, subject-verb agreement, other verb phrase structures, negation, nominals, question formation. The factors influenced Nigger to use AAVE are the social class, speech community, identity, and language ideology. The studies above summarize the status of grammatical structure in tables (innovate and intensifying features of urban AAVE, receding features, summarize stable features. But she also compare urban AAVE with earlier AAVE (the nineteenth century), Southern European American vernacular English, and Northern European American vernacular varieties. It concludes that young African Americans in urban areas do not want to ‘act white’.

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Ezgetta (2012) study AAVE and her object is ten African-American public figures, they are Redman, Chuck D, Oprah Winfrey, Prodigy, Queen Latifah, Colin Powell, Whoopi Goldberg, B.B. King, MC Lyte and Michelle Obama. She examines grammatical variation of the selected AAVE features include the third person singular –s absence, the possessive –s absence, the plural –s absence, and the generalization of is and was to plural and second person pronouns in interviews. And the result of her study the use of AAVE features contribute to a better understanding and wider acknowledgement of the fact that AAVE is a regular and systematic form of vernacular language. Ningrum (2014) studied entitle African American English (AAVE) and slang used by Jim and Huck Finn in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Novel by Mark Twain. She was analyze AAVE used theory by Trudgill. She found ten types AAVE features and four types of slang word formation in that novel. Her study use qualitative method.

After exploring some related studies, the writer found the similarity between Ningrum (2014) and this study. Both of those studies are taken from the written form. Moreover, (Pullum, 1999) Wolfram (2000), (Deak, 2007) and Ezgeta (2012) analyzed AAVE grammatical features in the urban area and the school board. Yet, the object of those studies is different from this study. After share similarities of the object study, the writer concludes the differences of from the previous studies. Ningrum (2014) focuses on AAVE patterns and slang in written form. As a conclusion, AAVE

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grammatical pattern by Green (2002) as the focus for this study while the data are taken from utterances in the short story.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter discussed the method for this study. The writer explained the general process of collected and analyzed the data. It consist of research design, research instrument, research subject, data and data sources, data collection, and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

In conducting this study, the writer used qualitative approach because the data came in the form of text to be analyzed. Based on Guest, Namey, and Mitchell (2012) typology of qualitative research divides the qualitative data into its three main forms—text, images, and sounds. Besides, Bogdan and Biklen (1992) stated that qualitative data collected the data in the form of words or pictures rather than number. So, this study didn’t use a formula at all.

This study classified and described the grammatical pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) used by Nigger characters in the short story, The Man Who Almost A Man. Often, the next logical step in qualitative research is to describe these items in as much depth as possible (Guest, Namey, and Mitchell, 2012). Moreover, the qualitative approach is used to describe each type of grammatical pattern of AAVE produced by chosen characters. So, the writer not only stop in finding the data, but also she was going to make interpretation about those findings.

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3.2 Research Instrument

Due to the fact that this study used qualitative approach, the main instrument was the writer herself. It means that the writer herself who collected, interpreted, organized and analyzed the data and drawn the conclusion for this study. In collecting the data, the writer also need printed out of short story, note, pen as the supporting instrument to assist her, also internet connection for looked deeper information about Richard Wright’s short story, The Man Who Almost A Man.

3.3 Research Subject

The subject of this study is all African American’s characters in

The Man Who Almost A Man. They are Dave, Dave’s Father, Dave’s Mother and Mr. Joe as the store owner. The writer used those characters because they represented grammatical pattern of AAVE.

3.4 Data and Data Source

The data of this study found the utterances in conversation of Nigger characters in short story, it could be form of words, phrases or sentences. There were two different utterances used by Niggers, Standard and Non-Standard American English. Nevertheless, the writer only took AAVE as the Non-Standard American English. Whereas, the data source for this study was taken from the Richard Wright short story, The Man Who Almost A Man.

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3.5 Data Collection

The writer collecting the data by doing the following steps:

1. Accessing then downloading the online short story The Man Who Almost A Man from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR2/wright.htm. 2. Printing out the short story.

3. Reading to understand plot of the short story. To understand the whole content of the short story, the writer read three times or more. For going deeper, the writer looks everything about the author of the short story in the internet.

4. Choosing the characters who represent the use of AAVE in short story.

5. Identifying each utterance by bold each word in the conversation uttered by Niggers as many words as possible containing grammatical pattern of AAVE.

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3.6 Data Analysis

After collected the data, the writer began to analyze the data. In analyzing the data, there are several steps as follows:

1. Classifying the data. Here, the writer took the number from previous step. Then put it into each pattern into the table. For addition, the writer also provided the Standard American English (SAE) forms that correspond to the grammatical pattern of AAVE.

Table 3.1 Utterance having grammatical pattern of AAVE

No Grammatical

Pattern AAVE SAE N

1 The absence of aux

& conjugated forms No feature available No feature available 0 2 The use of ain’t It ain mine! It is not mine 1 3 Inverting auxiliary in

question No feature available No feature available 0 4 Omitting aux in

question

Whut yuh wan fer it?

What do you want for

it? 1

5 Aux in question tag No feature available No feature available 0 6 Verb Phrase ellipsis No feature available No feature available 0 7 Invariant be It be fer Pa. It is for Papa 1 8 Invariant BIN Where yuh been,

boy?

Where have you been,

boy? 1

9 Invariant dan Ah done worked

hard alla summer

I have worked hard all summer 1 10 Multiple Negation You ain'tnothing

but a boy.

You are nothing, you are just a boy 1 11 Existential it and dey No feature available No feature available 0 12 Relative clause

Ma, Gawd knows Ah wans one of

these.

Ma, God knows that I want one of these 1 13 Preterit had No feature available No feature available 0 14 Past morphology Ma give it t me. Ma gave it to me 1 15 Verbal –s Not ef Ah knows it,

yuh ain! No feature available 1 16 The absence of

possessive -’s No feature available No feature available 0

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2. From the findings, the writer interpreted each type of grammatical pattern based on the related theory.

3. Then, the writer also described the reasons of African American characters using AAVE in short story, The Man Who Almost A Man.

4. Finally, the writer made a conclusion for this study and gave suggestion for the next study.

42 CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The aims of this chapter is concerned with the analysis of the data in order to answer the research problems presented in chapter I. In the first part, the writer focuses on the grammatical patterns of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in Richard Wright short story,The Man Who Almost A Man. In the second

part, the writer describes the reasons of African American characters using AAVE in this short story.

4.1 Findings

In this study, the writer found 47 AAVE grammatical patterns. The writer also provided the Standard American English (SAE) forms that correspond to the grammatical patterns of AAVE.

4.1.1 Grammatical Pattern of AAVE

In the finding, the writer found nine grammatical patterns of AAVE uttered by African American characters in short storyThe Man Who Almost A Man. Grammatical pattern of AAVE includes syntactic and

morphological pattern. The syntactical patterns consist of the use ofain’t,

invariant be, invariant BIN, invariant dΩQ, multiple negation, omitting auxiliaries in question, and relative clause. While, the morphological patterns consist of past morphology, and verbal–s.

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Table 4.1 Each AAVE Grammatical Pattern

G r a m m a tic a l P a tte rn

PATTERNS AAVE SAE p n

The Use of Ain’t

Itainmine! Itisn’tmine! 4 3

yuhain! Youare not! 5

Itainbut two

dollahs. Itis nottwo dollarexpensive, just 6 Invariant Be Itbefer Pa. Itisfor Papa (Dave’s_Dad) 6 1

InvariantBIN

Where yuhbeen,

boy? Wherehaveboy?you been, 3 2 Then somethin musta

beenwrong wid ol Jenny

Then something must havebeen wrong with

old Jenny 10 InvariantDΩQ

Ahdoneworked hard alla summer

I have worked hard all

summer 6 ₂

Whut yuhdone? What you have done? 10

Multiple Negation

Ahdonwanna buy nothing.

Idon’twant to buy

anything 1

12 Youain't nothing

but a boy.

You arenothing, you are just a boy 2 Ahainfeedinno

hogs in mah house! I am

notfeeding hogs in

my house! 3

Yeah, butain nousa yuh thinking bout

throwin nona it erway.

Yeah, but itis notuseful thinking about throwing a

money

5 Donyuh talk t me

boutnogun!

Don’t talk to me about a

gun 5

Ah'llneverast yuh fernothingno mo

I’ll never ask you

anymore for anything 5 Yuhaingonna

toucha penny of tha money fernogun!

Yuh are not going to touch a penny of the money for a gun

5 Ah knows yuhain

gotnosense.

I know youdidn’thave a

sense 5

Paaingotnogun. Papadidn’thave a gun 6 Ah done worked hard

alla summer nainast yuh fernothin, is

Ah, now

I have worked all summer anddidn’task

you anything

6 Yuhdon_needno

gun. Youdon’tneed a gun 6

Ain nothinwrong, Nothingwrong 6

Omitting Aux in Question

Whutcha want? What do you want? 1

18 How yuh, Mistah

Joe? How are you, Mister Joe? 1 You wanna see it

here?

Do you want to see it

here? 1

You plannin on buying something?

Do you plan to buy something? 1

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Your ma lettin you have your own

money now?

Do your Mother let you to have your own money

now? 1

Whut you plannin on

buyin? What is your planning tobuy? 2 Whut you want with

a gun?

What do you want with the gun, Dave? 2 Whut yu wan fer it? What do you want for it? 2 Whut this? What is this? 3 Yuh crazy? Are you crazy? 3 yuh hear? What did you hear? 6 Know whut this is,

Jenny? Do you know what isthis, Jenny? 8 Whut yuh do wid the

gun?

What have you do with the gun? 10 Whut yuh do wid it? What did you do with it? 12 Where Dave? Where is Dave? 10 Where yuh git the

money?

Where did you get the

money? 11

Whut yuh wan fer yo mule, Mistah

Hawkins?

What do you want for your mule, Mister

Hawkind?

12 Whut yuh do wid it? What will you do? 12 Relative

Clause

Ma, Gawd knows Ah wans one of these.

Ma, God knowsthatI

want one of these 5 1 Past

Morphology Magiveit t me. Magaveit to me 11 1

Verbal -s

Ahwanst take it home wid me

I wantto take it home

with me 1

8 Ah plowsmo Ian

than anybody over there.

I plowmore than

somebody over there 4 Ma,Gawd knows

Ah wans one of these.

Ma, God know thatI wantone of these 5 Not efAh knowsit Not if I know it 5

Ah knowsyuh ain got no sense.

I knowyou didn’t have a

sense 5

But Ma,Ah wansa

gun But Ma,I wanta gun 6

Ah wansa gun I wanta gun 6

Please, Ma!Ah loves

yuh, Ma. Please, Ma!MaI loveyou, 6

Total 47

The list of grammatical pattern of AAVE shown in the Table 4.1 which represent grammatical patterns of AAVE. The theories supporting the

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study are taken from Green (2002), Edward (2009), and other supporting materials.

4.1.1.1 The Use of Ain’t

Green states thatain’tis classified as the negation. It is different

from other negation auxiliaries in SAE. In SAE, the negation is formed from any particular auxiliary or conjugated form of be, do, have, modals +

contractednot(n’t). Althoughain’tmay occur in environments which have

function asisn’t,didn’tandhaven’t, can’t. As shown in table 4.1, the use of

ain’t occurs 3 times. The utterance that uses this feature is found in the

following conversation: Conversation 1

Dave : "Naw, Ma, Gimme ma catlog, Ma."

Dave’s Mam : "Quit hollerin at me! Whut's wrong wid yuh? Yuh crazy?" Dave : "But Ma, please.It ain mine!It's Joe's! He tol me t bring

it back t im termorrow. "

This conversation happened when Dave grabbed the catalogue and Dave’s Mam asked him to stop holler at her. Dave might look weird until his mam said that he was crazy. Dave grabbed the catalogue because that was not belong to him. It was belong to Mr. Joe, the store owner. Dave would brought back the catalogue to Mr. Joe tomorrow.

The use ofain’tmostly happens when Dave speaks with his family.

Mostlyain’tin this short story are withoutt.Dave usesain’tinit ain mine

to utter the negative sentence about the thing which is not belong to Dave. The rule in SAE if we want to utter the negative sentence there should be

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not form preceding auxiliary for nominal sentence. So, this family prefer

use ain’t in their conversation for negative sentence to simplify their

utterances.

4.1.1.2 Invariantbe

Invariantbewhich may also be in the form ofbesin some instances

indicates habitual meaning. Whereas the auxiliary/copula be and other

auxiliaries in AAVE can be absent or do not have to occur obligatorily. The aspectual markerbecannot be left out of the sentence. If it is omitted, some

sentences may receive ambiguous interpretations, or they may not receive the intended interpretation. In AAVE, the use ofbe replaces to beis, am, are in SAE. It occurs just once, the utterance that uses invariant be is

presented in the following conversation: Conversation 2

Dave’s Mam : "Yuh bring it straight back t me, yuh hear?It be fer Pa." Dave : "Yessum! Lernme go now, Ma."

The conversation above happened when Dave’s Mam gave Dave money to buy a gun but he should promise to her. Dave should give the gun to his father. After he promised to his mam, he left the home to buy a gun as soon as possible.

Invariant be occurs just once in the story. For the conversation

above, Dave’s Mam did not do habitual activity, but here she changes auxiliaryisin nominal sentence into bein order to generalize all auxiliary

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form in her utterance. The utterance should be in “It is for Papa” for the rules in SAE.

4.1.1.3 InvariantBIN

Commonly, the using of special auxiliarybeen is to replace have.

They are usually used to indicate the actions that occurred perfectly. InvariantBINoccurs twice. The example is presented below:

Conversation 3

Dave : "Waal, Ah brung ol Jenny down here sos; Ah could do mah plowin. Ah plowed bout two rows, just like yuh see. Then somethin musta been wrong wid ol Jenny. She wouldn ack right a-tall. She started snortin n kickin her heels. Ah tried t hol her, but she pulled erway, rearin n goin in. Then when the point of the plow was stickin up in the air, she swung erroun n twisted herself back an it . . . She stuck herself n started t bleed. N fo Ah could do anything, she wuz dead."

This conversation happened when Dave explained what he had done. Something wrong happened with old mule, Jenny. Jenny was snorting and kicking her heels. She was blending. Dave’s mother still pushed Dave in order to tell the truth what he had done until made Jenny dead.

Dave’s mother utters BIN to indicate something happens

completely. She asks Dave about what her son had done. The usingbeenin

"Then somethin musta been wrong wid ol Jenny” replaces have. As the

SAE, the sentence should be “Then something must have been wrong with old Jenny”.

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4.1.1.4 InvariantDԥn

The verbal makerdΩQindicates about some eventuality which has ended or having had some experience. Sometimes, dԥQSUHFHGHVDYHUELQ

the–edform. InvariantdΩQoccurs twice The following example is below:

Conversation 4

Dave’s Mam : "Whut happened, Dave?Whut yuh done?" Dave : '"Nothin "

Dave’s Dad : "C mon, boy, talk,"

This conversation happened when Dave’s Mam and Dave’s Dad asked what did he done. Whether Dave did not want to say anything. Dave’s Mam asked about something happen in the past.

Dave’s Mam asked to Dave, “Whut yuh done?” indicates that she wants to know something has ended, and of course he just realized something has done. As the SAE form, the utterance should be “What have you done”?

4.1.1.5 Multiple Negation

The multiple negation is a sentence which consists of more than one negator, it can be double negator, triple, or more. Usually, if there are two or more negative markers in a single sentence, it will make a positive sentence instead the negative one. The data shows that there are simplification of structure by equalizing some negative markers usingain’t. Ain’tin some sentence could replaceis not, am not, are not, was not, were not, have not, has not, had not, do not, does not, did not. The writer finds

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many double negation occurring in this short story. It occurs 12 times. For instance:

Conversation 5

Dave : "Ma, ef yuh lemme buy one Ah'll never _{ast yuh fer}

nothing no mo."

Dave’s Mam : "Ah tol yuh t git outta here!Yuh ain gonna toucha penny of tha money fer no gun!Thas how come Ah has Mistah Hawkins t pay yo wages t me, causeAh knows yuh ain got no sense."

Dave : "But, Ma, we needa gun.Pa ain got no gun. We needa gun in the house. Yuh kin never tell whut might happen." This conversation happened when Dave asked money to his mam to buy a gun. If his Dave’s Mam let Dave to have a gun, he will not ask something else. He thought that the gun is an important thing for his family. Whether his mam did not allow Dave to have a gun, he still forced his mam that have the gun in the house is a must.

The conversation above shows that Dave use more than one negation in an utterance. Based on SAE, double negation in one sentence means positive sentence. Although those characters use double negation in conversation, for instance, “Pa ain got no gun”, means his father didn’t need a gun. So, double negation in AAVE means negative sentence. Dave and his mam tend to use multiple negation in the utterances to emphasize negative sentences.

4.1.1.6 Omitting Aux in Question

Auxiliary verb precedes the subject is described as question. However, you will find some yes-no questions in AAVE are formed without

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overt auxiliaries in the sentence initial position. It occurs 18 times, the example in this following conversation:

Conversation 6

Dave : "Naw, Ma. Gimme ma catlog, Ma."

Dave’s Mam :"Quit hollerin at me! Whut's wrong wid yuh?Yuh crazy" Dave : "But Ma, please. It ain mine! It's Joe's! He tol me t bring i

t back t im termorrow. "

This conversation happened when Mother’s Dave curious about the thing that Dave brought. Dave answered his mam’s question. He said that the thing he brought just a catalogue from Mr. Joe the gun store owner. But, his mam grabbed the catalogue and she would to use it in the house. Dave asked his mother to give it back to him because it was not belong to him. Dave should bring the catalogue back tomorrow to Mr. Joe.

There are no auxiliariesare in the initial position of the sentence.

For Dave’s Mam utterance “Yuh crazy?". That indicates omitting auxiliary in a question. Green argued that the auxiliary assumes a position in the front of the sentence preceding the subject (2000, p.84). These example indicating that they are questions, but, of course, the intonation pattern used in uttering the sentences marks them as questions.

4.1.1.7 Relative Clause

The clause serves as modifiers or qualifiers of a preceding noun and are referred to as relative clauses. In AAVE and in other varieties of English, some relative clauses modifying a noun in predicate nominative or object position are not obligatorily introduced by a relative pronoun. Relative

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clause occurs just once, uttered by the main character, Dave. Following conversation indicates that there is no overt relative pronoun:

Conversation 7

Dave :"Ma, Gawd knows Ah wans one of these." Dave’s Mam : "One of whut?"

Dave : "One of these,"

This conversation happened when Dave asked to his mam about his salary from Mr. Hawkins. Dave clarified that he wanted to have a gun. His mother answered that she would kept his salary because it would be paid for the next winter school that came more closely.

There is no overt relative pronoun. In the sentence "Ma, Gawd knows Ah wans one of these”, the sentence clause introduced by a zero relative pronoun modifies noun in the predicate nominative position. These sentence should be “Ma, God know that I want one of these”.

4.1.1.8 Past Morphology

In AAVE, usually no distinction form between simple past and past perfect. For the most part, the same form or identical morphology is used in both simple past and pastperfect. Itoccurs justonce. The utterance is below: Conversation 8

Dave’s Dad : "Where yuh git the money?" Dave :"Ma give it t me."

This conversation happened when Dave’s Dad and Mr. Hawkins asked to Dave where he got the money to buy a gun till the mule has shouted by him. They also asked what happened with Dave until he shoot that mule.

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us being haughty and jeering the pauper because of social classes, occupation, and the wealth.

Although black American and white American are boundaries with the languages and also the color of skin, they should keep good relationship. The message of the diversity delivered in the al-Qur’an Surah Ar-Rum verse 22:

“And of His signs is the creation of heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for those who hear”. (Q.S. Ar-rum: 22)

This verse tells about a lot of languages in this world and also diversity of colors. They should be able live diversely. No one has the similarities with others. Even distinguishable from one another in their speech or attitudes. Neither real nor hidden, it is only be seen through contemplation.

The development of language variation especially AAVE will be the gap for the further research. Moreover, this study not completely discuss about lexical pattern and phonological pattern because the object of the study taken from written form. For that reason, the study about AAVE is suitable for spoken text that contains of voice and sound. It will be the gap for the further studies to analyze AAVE in a movie. The next studies will

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give new nuance to find the new kinds of AAVE which contain of phonological pattern never been discussed by the newest previous study.

61 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION

Based on the discussion in the previous chapter, the writer classify

grammatical pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in short

story The Man Who Almost A Man. The writer gets the reasons of African American

using AAVE. In every utterance they have unique grammatical pattern. In every

utterance, African American have unique grammatical pattern. As the guidelines,

the writer also provides standard American English (SAE). This phenomenon show

us another English America variation is played in written form.

For classifying the data, the writer use AAVE by Green (2002). There are

16 patterns grammatical of AAVE. They are, the absence of aux & conjugated

forms, the use of ain’t, inverting auxiliary in question, omitting aux in question, aux in question tag, verb phrase ellipsis, invariant be, invariant bin, invariant dan,

multiple negation, existential it and dey, relative clause, preterit had, past

morphology, verbal –s, and the absence of possessive -’s. AAVE is one of other

variation of America English used by majority African American people in US.

This study gets the new findings of AAVE grammatical pattern. There are

invariant be, omitting auxiliary in question, relative clause, past morphology, and

verbal -s. Based on the writer’s findings, there was a possibility that black speakers

tend to simplify their structures (from SAE) in the conversation and AAVE as their ethnic identity.

This study not completely discuss about lexical pattern and phonological

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the study about AAVE is suitable for spoken text that contains of vowel, phoneme,

etc. It will be the gap for the further studies to analyze AAVE in a movie. The next studies will give new nuance to find the new kinds of AAVE which contain of

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