A GRAMMATICAL FEATURE SEEN IN THE STRUCTURE OF BLACK ENGLISH SPOKEN BY TROY MAXON AND ITS EFFECTS TOWARD THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLAY OF WILSON’S FENCES

  

A GRAMMATICAL FEATURE SEEN IN THE STRUCTURE OF BLACK

ENGLISH SPOKEN BY TROY MAXON AND ITS EFFECTS TOWARD

THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLAY OF WILSON’S FENCES

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  

Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani

  Student Number: 044214029

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2008

  

A GRAMMATICAL FEATURE SEEN IN THE STRUCTURE

OF BLACK ENGLISH SPOKEN BY TROY MAXON AND ITS

EFFECTS TOWARD THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLAY

OF WILSON’S FENCES

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

  

By

Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani

  

Student Number: 044214029

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  There are three words I like to repeat to myself: glass half full. Just to remind myself to be grateful for everything I have. GOLDI HAWN

  

I proudly dedicate this thesis to

My beloved family

and

Those who have supported me

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis owes to the supports, helps, care, love and inspiration of God

and many people since I realize without them it is impossible to finish this

graduating thesis.

  In the first place, I would like to thank my beloved Jesus Christ for His

blessing and His love. I realize without His help I cannot finish my study. I also

thank Him for giving guidance during my wonderful life. I would like to thank the

Holy Mary for being my mother and my best friend who always listens when I am

in a difficulty.

  I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my advisor, Harris

Hermansyah Setiajid, S.S., M. Hum. for his suggestion, correction, support,

kindness, and time. I owe him much. To my co-advisor, Adventina Putranti S.S.,

M. Hum., I would like to thank for her time to read and to correct my thesis. I

also really appreciate her suggestions in my thesis. I really appreciate her help.

  My deep gratitude is also dedicated to my beloved parents Y. Sugeng

Darmadi and Susana Sri Setiyati who always support and give spirit and prayer

during my education program. Then, I also have to thank my beloved brothers,

Didit and Terry and my sister, Maria, who always love me.

  I am really grateful to all lecturers who have taught me and all the

secretarial staff in English Letters who have been so nice to me and always ready

to help me.

  I also extend my appreciation to my beloved Yosef Krisnanda for his existence every time I fall down and need someone to share with.

  I would also like to express my special gratitude to Diann, Christine

Trefalt, Tini, Just Nofi, Dita Ndutz, Diah, Nelly, miss M, Pak Turut, Pak

Sugiono, Dion, Sukma, Marita, Nova, and Nana for being my respondents. I

thank Mbak Mawar, Mbak Kurnia, Mbak Anti, Mas Koko, and Mas Adi, for

the inspirations.

  Thanks my beloved friends, Caca, Tata, Intan, Amel, Elin, Nanang, and

Astrid “my roommate” for their kindness to me and support. For Sing’04: Ka’

Ison, Feme, Edward, Dede, Ririn, Corry, Mas Jati, Sony, Ucok, Sisca, Deasy,

Indri, Rani, Disty, Lutfi, Sheila, Patrick, Rizky, 612, Eka IP4, Pita, Tony “Mr.

  

Item”; thank for giving the nicest moment during in university. Thanks to the

Selvita Gals who always make me laugh with their attitude especially Rina

Moxer, Bule Sragen, and Anak Sintang. They successfully cheer me up when I

really need it during finishing my thesis.

  Lastly, I would like to thank all whose name I cannot mention one by one.

Thanks very much for the awesome moment that has colored my days in

Yogyakarta. I will miss it.

  Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………............................... i APPROVAL PAGE ……………………………………................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………………... iii

MOTTO PAGE ………………………............................................................ iv

DEDICATION PAGE ……………………………......................................... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ vi

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ....................... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………........................ ix

LIST OF TABLE ............................................................................................ xi

ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... xii

ABSTRAK …………………………………………………............................ xiii

  a. Omission of Auxiliary Verb ...................................................... 12

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 18

A. Object of the Study ................................................................................ 18

B. Method of the Study .............................................................................. 19

C. Research Procedure ............................................................................... 20

  

D. Research Framework ............................................................................. 17

  

C. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 16

  g. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun ................................ 15

  f. Double Negation and Multiple Negations ................................ 15

  e. The use of ain’t .......................................................................... 14

  d. The use of done ......................................................................... 14

  c. The sue of be ............................................................................. 13

  b. Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement ............................................. 13

  5. Syntactic Variation of Black English dialect ................................... 12

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1 A. Background of the Study ....................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................. 4

C. Objectives of the Study .......................................................................... 4

D. Definition of Terms ............................................................................... 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW .................................................. 6 A. Review of Related Studies ..................................................................... 6

B. Reviews of Related Theories ................................................................. 8

  4. Theory on Subject-Verb Agreement ................................................ 11

  e. Noun ........................................................................................... 11

  d. Negation ..................................................................................... 11

  c. Pronoun ...................................................................................... 10

  b. Determiner ................................................................................. 10

  a. Verbs .......................................................................................... 9

  3. Theory on Grammar and Structure .................................................. 9

  2. Dialect .............................................................................................. 8

  1. Theory on Standard English ............................................................ 8

  1. Data Collection ................................................................................ 20 2. `Data Analysis ................................................................................. 22

  

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ........................................................................... 24

A. The feature of Black English Structure are Shown in Troy Maxon’s Utterances in August Wilson’s Fences ................................................. 24

  1. The Omission of Auxiliary Verb ..................................................... 25

  2. Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement ................................................... 26

  3. The Use of be .................................................................................. 29

  4. The Use of done .............................................................................. 29

  5. The Use of ain’t .............................................................................. 30

  6. Double Negation and Multiple Negations ....................................... 32

  7. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun ...................................... 33

  8. Incorrect Plural ................................................................................ 34

  9. Incorrect Past Participle ................................................................... 35

  10. Incorrect Use of Relative Clause ..................................................... 35

  B. The Effects of the Features of Black English Structure Toward the Understanding of the Story Based on the Questionnaires Distributed ............................................................................................. 36

  1. The Result of the Questionnaires Based on the Respondents’ Category .......................................................................................... 37 a. Answers from the Respondents whose L1 is English ............... 37 b. Answers from the Respondents whose L1 is not English ........

  38

  2. The Description of the Respondents’ Knowledge about Black English Features Based on the Questionnaires Distributed ......................... 48 a. The Score of the Respondents’ whose L1 is English ...............

  49

  b. The Score of the Respondents’ whose L1 is not English ......... 50

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................. 58

A. Conclusion ............................................................................................. 58

B. Suggestion ............................................................................................. 60

BIBLOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 61

APPENDICES ................................................................................................. 63

Appendix 1 The List of Non-Standard Black English Structure Spoken by Troy Maxon Taken from August Wilson’s Fences ............ 63

  

Appendix 2 The Sample of Questionnaire ................................................. 80

Appendix 3 Questionnaire results of the understanding in Black English Structure .......................................................... 84

  

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1 The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb be ............................ 25

Table 2 The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb do ............................ 25

Table 3 The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb have ........................ 26

Table 4 The finding of the lack of subject-verb agreement ......................... 27

Table 5 The finding of the use of –be .......................................................... 29

Table 6 The finding of the use done ............................................................ 30

Table 7 The finding of ain’t ........................................................................ 31

Table 8 The finding of double negation ...................................................... 32

Table 9 The finding of incorrect use of determiner and pronoun .............. 34

Table 10 The finding of incorrect plural ....................................................... 34

Table 11 The finding of incorrect past participle .......................................... 35

Table 12 The finding of incorrect relative clause ......................................... 36

Table 13 Comprehension Indicator .............................................................. 49

Table 14 The score of the respondents’ whose L1 is English ..................... 49

Table 15 The score of the students in 8 th semester ....................................... 50

Table 16 The score of the English trainers and the English teacher ............ 52

  Table 17 The score of the students in 2 nd semester ..................................... 54

  

ABSTRACT

Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani (2008). A Dialect Feature Seen in the

Structure of Black English Spoken by Troy Maxon and Its Effects toward the

Understanding of the Story of Wilson’s Fences. Yogyakarta: Department of

English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  English, as a language, is used by many people in the world. They called

English as an international language because English is used to communicate

when people speak with others who have different language. It means that English

is important in global communication. The use in global area causes English has

many different local dialects. One of those local dialects is Black English dialect.

Although Black English dialect has phonological feature, lexical feature and

grammatical feature, in this thesis, the writer only focuses on the grammatical

feature that is Black English structure because the dialect feature that mostly

appeared in this play is grammatical feature.

  The object of the study is Fences, a play written by August Wilson. This

play describes the life of African American in 1957 which is proven by the

dialogue of the characters by spoken in Black English dialect. In this thesis, the

writer focuses on Troy Maxon’s utterances. He is the major character in this play.

Troy Maxon strongly shows the Black English structure in his utterances.

  The discussion in this thesis is made based on the objectives of this study

which describe the kinds of the feature of Black English structure are shown in

Troy Maxon’s utterances and to find out the effects of the feature of Black

English toward the understanding of the story.

  There were some steps conducted in this study. To answer the first

problem formulation, the writer listed down all Troy Maxon’s utterances, gave

mark to the dialect features and then analyzed the utterances based on the

grammatical feature. To answer the second problem, the writer distributed

questionnaires in the form of open-ended questions to anyone who have enough

understanding in English. These questionnaires were used to find the effects of

Black English features toward understanding of the story. Having gathered back

the questionnaires, the writer analyzed them by checking the answers based on the

correct understanding in the first analysis and the writer looked for what effects

which would be arisen by those Black English structure.

  Based on the analysis in this study, the writer has found ten features of

Black English Structure in the play. The ten features are the omission of auxiliary

verbs, lack of subject-verb agreement, the use of –be, the use of done, the use

ain’t , double negation, incorrect use of determiner and pronoun, incorrect plural,

past participle and relative clause. Having the data gathered back, those features

affect the meaning, the plot and the atmosphere of that play for 8 respondents.

  

ABSTRAK

Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani (2008). A Dialect Feature Seen in the

Structure of Black English Spoken by Troy Maxon and Its Effects toward the

Understanding of the Story of Wilson’s Fences. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra

Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Bahasa Inggris adalah sebuah bahasa yang digunakan oleh banyak orang

di seluruh dunia. Bahasa Inggris disebut sebagai bahasa internasional karena

bahasa Inggris digunakan untuk berkomunikasi ketika orang-orang berbicara

dengan sesama yang mempunyai bahasa yang berbeda. Ini berarti Bahasa Inggris

sangat penting di dunia komunikasi. Penggunaan Bahasa Inggris secara luas

menyebabkan Bahasa Inggris mempunyai banyak dialek. Salah satunya adalah

Black English (Bahasa Inggris yang digunakan oleh orang Afrika-Amerika).

  

Meskipun Black English mempunyai ciri khas dalam fonologi, leksikal dan

gramatikal namun dalam tesis ini penulis hanya memfokuskan pada gramatikal

dalam hal ini adalah struktur bahasa tersebut karena keistimewaan cirri-ciri bahasa

yang sering muncul dalam drama ini adalah keunikan gramaticalnya.

  Sasaran penelitian ini adalah Fences, sebuah drama yang ditulis oleh

August Wilson. Drama ini menggambarkan kehidupan orang-orang negro

Amerika pada tahun 1957 yang ditunjukkan pada dialog para tokoh yang

menggunakan Black English. Dalam tesis ini, penulis hanya mengamati dialek

yang dituturkan oleh Troy Maxon. Dia adalah tokoh utama dalam drama ini. Troy

Maxon menunjukkan struktur Black English dalam tuturannya dengan sangat

kental.

  Pembahasan dalam tesis ini dibuat berdasarkan pada tujuan dari penelitian

ini yaitu memaparkan berbagai jenis dari ciri-ciri struktur Black English yang

tampak pada tuturan Troy Maxon dan untuk menemukan efek yang ditimbulkan

oleh keunikan struktur Black English yang mempengaruhi pada pemahaman

cerita.

  Terdapat beberapa langkah yang ditempuh dalam penyelesaian penelitian

ini. Guna menjawab pertanyaan pertama, penulis menulis seluruh tuturan Troy

Maxon kemudian memberi tanda pada ciri-ciri dialek dan menganalisanya

berdasarkan pada ciri-ciri gramatikalnya. Pada pertanyaan kedua, penulis

membagikan kuesioner yang terdiri atas pertanyaan terbuka kepada siapa pun

ynag mempunyai pengetahuan tentang bahasa Inggris. Kuesioner tersebut

digunakan untuk menemukan efek-efek yang ditimbulkan oleh dialek ini dalam

pemahaman cerita. Setelah kuesioner dikembalikan, penulis menganalisanya

dengan cara memeriksa jawaban koresponden berdasarkan pemahaman yang

benar pada analisa pertanyaan pertama dan melihat efek apa yang akan

ditimbulkan oleh struktur Black English.

  Berdasarkan analisis penelitian ini, penulis menemukan sepuluh ciri-ciri

sruktur Black English dalam drama ini. Ciri-ciri tersebut adalah penghilangan

penggunaan kata kerja bantu, kurangnya pengetahuan dalam penggunaan subyek

dan kata kerja yang benar, penggunaan kata –be, done, ain’t, dan negative ganda;

penyalahgunaan bentuk pewatas dan kata ganti, penyalahgunaan bentuk jamak,

kata kerja bentuk tiga dan klausa yang berfungsi sebagai kata sifat. Berdasarkan

  

data yang diperoleh, penggunaan struktur Black English mempengaruhi makna,

alur cerita dan atmosfir cerita pada delapan responden.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study English is known as a language which is used by people in the world who

  have different mother tongues. Because of this English becomes lingua franca (Wardhaugh, 1992: 56). Many people called English as an international language because English is used to communicate in trading, asking or giving information and at formal meeting when they speak with others who have different language. It shows that English is important in global communication.

  The use of English in wide areas in the world causes English has many varieties, such as: Black English or Non-Standard Negro English, Chinese English, Scottish English or Texas English. Those varieties are called dialect. Here, dialect exists because many people learn English in many different backgrounds related to their culture or mother tongues. The background creates different pronunciation, vocabulary, and structure that are pretty different from Standard English. In this thesis the writer will analyze Nonstandard Negro English or Black English structure.

  It is very interesting to study about Nonstandard Negro English or Black English dialect because Black English dialect has many differences from Standard English that actually “grammatical differences between different dialects of English are not considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but rather as systematic, rule-governed we apply our knowledge of sociolinguistics, we will know that the differences of many English dialects are the result of different geographical regions, different social groups, different social cultures, etc.

  Theoretically, Black English has many aspects similar to other languages. They have own structure, lexical, and phonology that is different from the Standard English. However the writer will focus on the study of Black English structure. The writer wants to show what features in Black English structure which are different from Standard English. It could be the sentences which do not use the verb tenses correctly. According to Holmes (1992: 194), speakers of Black English delete the verb be or the copula be. They do not use to be at all; for instance, they say “She very nice” or “He a teacher”. In Standard American English (SAE), the sentences should be “She is very nice” and “He is a teacher”. Chaika (1982: 150) exemplifies Nonstandard Negro English speakers who say “I is”, “I be”, “You is”, “You was”, and “You be”. In Standard American English, the sentences should be “I am” and “You are” or “You were”. Black English dialect sentences are different from Standard American English sentences. However, this thesis will analyze not only in using the incorrect verbs tenses, deleting the verb be or the copula be; and the other features of Black English structure that omit the Standard English rules but also analyze how such features effect to understand a story.

  A literary work often provides good example of language in use. A literary work usually is made according to the decade, the economic or social situation that is message or the situation in the literary work. One of the examples that clearly displays one of English dialects, in this case is Black English, is the play of August Wilson’s Fences. The play describes the life of African Americans in 1957, who “sold the use of their muscles and their bodies” (Barranger, 532) to be able to live.

  The characters are a poor Black family, most of them are uneducated. All characters speak Black English. However, the writer will focus on Troy’s utterances because he is the major character and he is an appropriate example of a person who speaks Black English dialect. What makes his utterances interesting to be analyzed is that almost his utterances are ungrammatically correct. The writer will give examples of Black English dialect in the dialogue of Troy, such as: “What you worried about what we getting into for?” (535) and “He walking around with his shoes all run over bumming money for cigarettes” (542). Both sentences omit the auxiliary verb be (are and is).

  Hopefully, this study will give contribution to the development of English learners. This study will enrich the knowledge in the field of sociolinguistics for the learners and enrich the example of Black English dialect that can be useful for the development of the language. Studying English will be not complete if the learners do not recognize any kind of English dialect. Knowing Standard English is not enough to understand English deeply. This thesis also contributes what effects that might be arisen by those features toward the understanding of the story.

B. Problem Formulation

  To guide and to limit the subjects that will be discussed in this thesis, the

  1. What features of Nonstandard Negro English or Black English structure are shown in Troy’s speeches in August Wilson’s Fences?

  2. What are the effects of such feature of Black English structure toward the understanding of the dialect for the readers?

  C. Objectives at the Study

  Based on the problems formulation above, there are two objectives of the study. First is to describe the kinds of the features of Nonstandard Negro English or Black English structure are shown in the characters’ dialogue in August Wilson’s

  

Fences . The second is to analyze the effects of the feature of Black English toward

the understanding of the story.

  D. Definition of Term

  The writer will give some definition of linguistics terminologies in order to avoid misleading in analyzing the data. The terms used in this analysis are, Black

  English dialect, varieties, grammar and Standard English.

  The most important point to analyze the data is we must have good understanding about Black English dialect. Firstly, the writer will give the definition of varieties to help the learners understand what Black English dialect is. According to Hudson in Sociolinguistics, variety is a set of linguistics terms or ‘human speech patterns’ (presumable sounds, words, and grammatical features) which we can according to Wardhaugh in his an Introduction to Sociolinguistics is “one variety of English that has become so identified with the African-American ethnic group in America” (Wardhaugh, 1986: 46-47). It is considered as probably the most significant linguistic code in the United State refers to black people in America.

  Geoffrey Finch in his Linguistics Terms and Concepts defines grammar as “a set of internal rules which guide speakers of a language to produce well-formed constructions.” (Finch, 2000: 20). “The rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences.” (Finch, 2000: 77). Grammar is a part of language features in this case is English. Like any other languages which have standard language to standardize theirs dialects, English has Standard English. The definition of Standard English based on Freeborn in Varieties of English is “one dialect among many, which is known as the educated variety of English, and is taught to foreign learners of English” (1993: 39).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part is the review of related

  studies that presents some studies done by other researchers that have the relationships with the studies. These studies will give advantages for the writer to run the analysis. The second part contains the related theories that are going to use in solving the two problems formulation of the analysis. The next part is theoretical framework. This part describes how the related theories are applied to answer the problems. The last part is research framework. It is a diagram which describes the framework of the research.

A. Review of Related Studies

  Black English, also known as African-American Vernacular English, is one variety of English that has become so identified with the African-American ethnic group in America (Wardhaugh, 1986: 46-47). Since the language features of Black English are quite different from Standard English, there has been a research done on this subject. An undergraduate thesis in the syntactic variation of Nonstandard Negro English Dialect entitled The Syntactic Variation of Nonstandard Negro English

  

Dialect in Novel the Color Purple written by Usep Supriyadi from State University of

  Yogyakarta. The thesis describes and identifies the kinds of syntactic variation of the simple declarative sentences of the Nonstandard Negro English or Black English dialect in the novel the Color Purple and the patterns of the simple declarative sentences of the Nonstandard Negro English or Black English dialect in that novel.

  He analyzes how the Nonstandard Negro English (NNE) or Black English (BE) dialect differs in its syntactic variation compared with Standard American English (SAE). It has many kinds of syntactic variation. It does not employ verb tenses at all or it does not use the verb tenses correctly.

  Another undergraduate thesis which is used as the related study is English Negation as a Dialect Feature in Tom Sawyer’s Speech in Mark Twain’s the

  

Adventure of Huckleberry Finn done by Ignatius Bagus Widyatmoko. His thesis

  focuses on a description of nonstandard English, the dialect of English, which is used by Tom Sawyer. In his analysis, he finds out some specific features of Tom Sawyer’s dialect. He also seeks Tom Sawyer’s reasons to choose certain dialect among the others and what the effect is toward Tom Sawyer himself and the listeners. Here, Tom Sawyer is a person who speaks in some different dialect. Language choice is the biggest matter in this thesis.

  All of these related studies above discuss about the variety of English. This thesis is different from those studies in that it analyzes the contrast between Black English structure and Standard English structure in order to know what effects that might be caused by those features toward the understanding of the story.

B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory on Standard English

  In his Sociolinguistics: an Introduction (1983), Peter Trudgill defines Standard English is “that variety of English which is usually used in print, and which is normally taught in schools and to non-native speakers learning the language. It is also known as the variety which is normally spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situation” (Trudgill, 1983: 17).

  While according to Peter Strevens, Standard English is “a particular dialect of English, being the only non-localized dialect, of global currency without significant variation, universally accepted as appropriate educational target in teaching English; which may be spoken with an unrestricted choice of accent” (Strevens, 1982: 2).

2. Dialect

  Wardhaugh defines dialect as “a subordinate variety of language” associated with a social group, class (social dialect) or place (regional dialect), sometimes with different syntactic forms or vocabulary. Vernacular is “a form of speech transmitted from parent to child as a primary medium of communication” (Wardhaugh,1986: 37).

  According to Fromkin and Rodman, dialect is described as When the English spoken by speakers in different geographical regions and from different social groups shows systematic differences, the groups are said to speak different dialects of the same language. The dialects of a single language may thus be defined as mutually intelligible forms of that language which differ in systematic ways from each other (1983: 245).

3. Theory on Grammar and Structure

  According to Finch (2000: 20), grammar is a set of internal rules which guide speakers of a language to produce well-formed constructions. Here, the writer gives explanations of some rules that are appropriate to analyze the problem formulations. They are:

  a. Verbs Verbs are divided into two main groups, lexical and auxiliary. i. Lexical verbs

  According to Finch (2000: 130), lexical verbs are verbs that can act as the main verb in a verb phrase. ii. Auxiliary verbs

  Finch says that auxiliary verbs are “helping verbs” that occur with a lexical verb. Some functions of the auxiliary verbs are to construct contrasts of aspect and voice and to determine the tense of the phrase.

  While, Jack E. Conner in his book A Grammar of Standard

  English states an auxiliary verb is a verb which is neither a copula nor a notional verb, and which convey none but grammatical information.

  The auxiliary verb is accompanied by verbal adjective or a verbal noun (Conner, 1986: 159-160). Based on the form of verbs are divided into two classes. iii. Regular Basic Forms

  Here, the writer will focus on a basic form of a verb that can stand by itself as the past tense. It means the action took place and came to the end in the past. The form of a verb will be added ed or d form simple past tense (Guth, 1965: 27). iv. Irregular Basic Forms

  Irregular verb usually have not two but three basic forms. The irregular verb may be either confusingly different or confusingly similar (Guth, 1965:27). First the difference between simple present and simple past is not merely a matter of adding –ed. Sometimes there is also a choice of two acceptable forms. For instance, the simple past tense and the past participle of dive which are dove and dived are acceptable.

  b. Determiner It is “a class of words which always occur with a noun and serve to specify, or ‘determine’, its number or definiteness” (Finch, 2000: 91). It consists of articles, possessives, demonstratives, and quantifiers.

  c. Pronoun It is “a word which can be used to substitute for a single noun or complete noun phrase” (Finch, 2000: 114). There are several types of pronouns which can be used depending on the function of the pronoun in the sentence. Pronouns are used as demonstrative: this, that, these, those; interrogative: who, which, what, where; negation: no. nobody, no one,

  nothing ; personal and reflexive pronouns: I, my, mine, myself; reciprocal

  pronouns: each other, one other; relative pronouns: that, which, who,

  whom, whose ; quantifier: some, any, each, all, both, either and every that can be combined with –one, -thing and –body.

  d. Negation Negation is used to deny something. “It is a single negative particle can serve to deny long and complicated rhetorical sentences”

  (Conner, 1986: 199). The most “conspicuous device for negation” is the negative particle not. People also use never, no, none, and other words “which incorporate the basic negative particle (1986: 199).

  e. Noun According to Guth, nouns usually have two forms, one referring to a single item or singular, the other referring to more than one item of the same kind or plural (1965: 17).

4. Theory on Subject-Verb Agreement

  Agreement is a property of grammatical organization found in pair of words (in English it is between a subject and a verb and between a determiner and a noun). According to subject–verb agreement rule, a verb has to “agree” with its subject. Here is what is meant by “agree” (Fromkin, 2000: 237):

  The form of a verb is sensitive to the kind of DP it takes as subject. In English, if the subject of a verb is third-person singular, the verb in the present tense must appear with a particular marking – a final s – if it can (if it cannot, like the auxiliary verb will, it remains unchanged).

5. Syntactic Variation of Black English dialect

  a. Omission of Auxiliary Verb One of the syntactic variation of Black English is the absence of the copula verb be. It is in line with a statement by Holmes, who says that Black English is heard especially in the northern cities of the United States. One of its most distinctive features is the complete absence of the copula verb be in some social and linguistic contexts. In most speech contexts, speakers of Standard English use shortened or reduced forms of the verb be. In other words, people do not usually say She is very nice but rather She’s very

  nice . They reduce or contract the is to s. In the same kinds of

  contexts speakers of Black English omit the verb be, . . . (1992: 193 -194) He also mentions that “white Americans never delete the verb be, such as is, am, or are, whereas Afro-Americans or Black Americans, especially those who are from lower socio-economic groups, regularly do (Holmes, 1992: 194).

  Wardhaugh conveys the same statement; he says that syntactically, Black English (BE) has no copula verb to be or it has zero copula), as in the sentence He nice which means He is nice right now. He states “one of the most interesting characteristics of Black English is mentioned use of the zero copulas or omitting the auxiliary verb (Wardhaugh, 1986: 334).

  b. Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement In morphology, there may be no overt signaling of the past tense, the final t and d. There may also be no signaling of the third singular in the present tense of the verb, the final –s. The use of be in present tense (is, am, and are) and in past tense (was and were) sometimes it is incorrect.

  c. The use of be is placed before adjective, adverb, and verb in the –ing form.

  Be

  Sometimes the sentences containing this feature are added with adverbs such as usually, sometimes, every, steady, always, and all the time. Black English speaker usually uses the word be to substituted is, am, are, was, and were (Holmes, 2001: 178-179). However, the use of be has different meaning. This be in Black English is used to signal actions which are repeated. According to Trudgill (1983: 65), invariant be (i.e., the use of the form be as a finite verb form) is probably the most important characteristic of Black English. Trudgill also says that be is used in Black English to indicate ‘habitual aspect’, since the adverbs usually and in the sentence used. Trudgill gives example of the use of be:

  sometimes

  1) He usually be around. 2) Sometimes when they do it, most of the problems always be wrong.

  Trudgill’s statement about the use be is also supported by Holmes’ statement. He states that another distinctive variation of Black English (BE) is the use of be to give signs that the actions are repeated (1992: 194). For example: She be at school on weekdays.

  d. The use of done According to Baugh, “functionally speaking, we find that done is a perfective marker” (1983:74). He adds that:

  Done is used to substitute the word have and has before past participle. In Baugh’s book states that . . . done is essentially

  “completive” in nature, referring to a characteristic of its meaning. Other proposals concerning the meaning of this form have been made and many simply suggest a close synonym, like the perfective auxiliary have or the adverb already (Baugh, 1983: 75).

  e. The use of ain’t Ain’t is a contraction of the negative forms of be, have, and do.

  Ain’t can be used to replace am not, isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t, hasn’t, haven’t, hadn’t, and didn’t (Wardhaugh, 1986: 335).

  Black English uses ain’t to negate the verb in a simple sentence. Black English uses ain’t while Standard English sentences use haven’t or him”. Black English speakers also sometimes use ain’t to replace didn’t.

  f. Double Negation and Multiple Negations Another syntactic variation of the Black English dialect is the double and multiple negations. This syntactic variation is unique. Double negation is the combination of negative auxiliary verb (usually ain’t) and another word with negative sense (no, nothing, etc). It is called double negation because there are two negative words, while actually the intended meaning is identical to an ordinary negative sentence with one negative word, thus creating redundancy (Fromkin and Rodman, 1983: 256). Fromkin and Rodman state: