The Use Of Negro Dialect In Films And Songs | Haryanti | PROCEEDING 841 1499 1 SM

ISSN: 2581-1940

PROCEEDINGS

st

The 1 International
Conference on English
Language, Linguistics,
and Literature (ICELLL 2017)
Digital Literacy As A Means of Publication
5-6 August 2017

Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
Institut Agama Islam Negeri Surakarta
E: icelllsolo@gmail.com

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KATA PENGANTAR
Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.

Literasi digital menjadi salah satu pilar penting untuk masa depan pendidikan dalam roadmap
UNESCO (2015-2020). Digital literacy merupakan masa depan dunia yang meruntuhkan
tradisi manual yang lambat. Literasi digital yang mulai populer sekitar tahun 2005 (Davis &
Shaw, 2011), secara umum bermakna kemampuan untuk berhubungan dengan informasi
hipertekstual dalam arti membaca non-sekuensial atau non-urutan berbantuan komputer.
Glister (2007) kemudian memperluas konsep literasi digital sebagai kemampuan memahami
dan menggunakan informasi dari berbagai sumber digital, mencakup pemahaman tentang
Web dan mesin pencari.
Literasi digital tidak dapat dipisahkan dari efektifitas dan produktifitas riset, setidaknya pada
tiga hal berikut ini. Pertama, kemampuan literasi digital dalam mencari informasi yang valid
dan berkualitas dari hasil penelitian yang terpublikasikan dengan baik, mudah diakses oleh
netizen akademisi. Kedua, kemampuan membaca, memahami dan menganalisa berbagai
sumber digital akan menghasilkan hasil penelitian yang berkualitas. Ketiga, kemampuan
mempublikasikan hasil penelitian merupakan salah satu indikator yang dapat dievaluasi
secara kuantitatif dari repositori lembaga, setidaknya pada perpustakaan digital yang dapat
diakses oleh seluruh civitas akademika. Ketiga hal inilah yang telah dijalankan di IAIN
Surakarta pada webometrics masuk dalam peringkat 61 se-Indonesia, 99 se-Asia Tenggara,
dan 1993 se-dunia. Hal itu merupakan salah satu kontribusi perpustakaan IAIN Surakarta
dalam rangka publikasi dan sosialisasi karya-karya civitas akademika. Sebagian besar jurnal
di IAIN Surakarta telah berbasis e-journal.

Pada perencanaan strategis untuk tahun 2018, telah dialokasikan berbagai kegiatan yang
mendukung literasi digital misalnya pada pendampingan webometrics dan omah jurnal. IAIN
Surakarta telah bertekad untuk melakukan investasi besar dibidang IT, menggenjot
produktivitas civitas akademika dalam publikasi karya ilmiah yang bermutu. Oleh karena itu,
IAIN Surakarta menyambut baik acara ini yang merupakan deklarasi bersama untuk
menghadapi digital disruption.
Empat kesalahan strategi akibat mispersepsi istilah digital disruption perlu disermati.
Mulai dari konsep “the winner takes all”, “era digital sudah datang dan bergerak cepat”, tidak
ada institusi yang kebal dengan gangguan digital”, “satu hal yang pasti dari transformasi
digital adalah perubahan besar bagi institusi dari semua sisi” atau “era digital akan
menggangu institusi kita”.
Setiap perguruan tinggi wajib mengantisipasi perubahan cepat ini dengan program-program
aksi untuk digital literacy. Semoga konferensi ini menghasilkan butir-butir terobosan untuk
membebaskan semua akademisi dari buta huruf digital.
Wassalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.

Rektor IAIN Surakarta

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The 1st ICELLL 2017

BOARD COMMITTEE STRUCTURE
THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS, AND LITERATURE
Digital Literacy as A Means of Publication

Patron
Dr, Mudhofir, S.Ag., M.Pd
(Rector of IAIN Surakarta)
Consultant
Dr. Giyoto, M.Hum
(Dean, FITK)
Dr. Khuriyah
(Vice Dean for Academic Affairs)
Dr. Purwanto, M.Pd
(Vice Dean for Finance and Administration Affairs)
Siti Choiriyah

(Vice Dean for Students’Affairs)
Conference Chairs
Dr. Imroatus Solikhah
Secretary
Wildan Mahir Muttaqin, M.A TESL
Treasure
Lilik Istiqomah, S.S., M.Hum

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The 1st International Conference on English Language, Linguistics and Literature

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DARKNESS IN EDGAR ALLAN POE’S A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM
Khusnul Khotimah, Crystal Tanjaya Kusuma Dewi, Samsul Ulum, Moechamad Faisal
Pratama Putra ~ 1
“PROJECT BASED LEARNING” CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN

ENHANCING STUDENTS‟ SPEAKING ABILITY FOR ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT
Ana Setyandari ~ 6
DIGITAL PEDAGOGY AND DIGITAL LITERACY OF ENGLISH AS FOREIGN
LANGUAGE (EFL) PRE-SERVICE TEACHER IN SURAKARTA
Nurul Iffakhatul Sholekhah ~ 21

THE USE OF NEGRO DIALECT IN FILMS AND SONGS
Sri Haryanti, Ana Setyandari

~ 28

IMPLEMENTING ICT TO ENGLISH CLASS FOR INDONESIAN STUDENTS
Andi Dian Rahmawan ~ 41
THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNET USAGE IN DIGITAL ERA ON STUDENTS‟
ABILITY TO TRANSLATE
Ayu Rizki Septiana , Moh. Hanafi ~ 46
COMMENT COLUMN ON FACEBOOK TO FOSTER STUDENTS‟ WRITING
ABILITY
Moh. Hanafi , Ayu Rizki Septiana ~ 52

DEVELOPING MULTIMEDIA KIDS PLAY LEARNING MATERIALS FOR
STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Ageung Darajat, Muhammad Iqbal Ripo Putra, Sulaiman~ 58
THE TRANSLATION ANALYSIS OF INTERJECTION IN THE NOVEL EMMA
FROM PRAGMATIC POINT OF VIEW
Nunung Permata Istiqomah, Mangatur Nababan, Djatmika ~ 71

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING LITERACY
Agung Budi Kurniawan, Dwi Rahayu, Indah Puspitasari ~ 78
MOTIVATING NON – ENGLISH DEPARTMENT LEARNERS TO STUDY
ENGLISH THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Riyatno Riyatno ~ 86

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ISSN 2581-1940

The Use Of Negro Dialect In Films And Songs
Sri Haryanti 1), Ana Setyandari 2)
Universitas Widya Dharma Klaten
yanti.unwidha@yahoo.com
2
Universitas Widya Dharma Klaten
anasetyandari17@gmail.com

1

Abstract
In learning English the learners need to know the difference between standard English and nonstandard English. This study discusses the Negro dialect which is slightly different from the
standard English dialect. These differences are in the field of phonology and grammar.
However, this study focuses on grammar. In this study the writers propose the problems "How
is the use of Negro dialect in films and songs?", and "What construction is mostly used?‖ Those
problems will be solved by collecting data on constructions that have the characteristics of the
Negro dialect in films played by Negro actors and songs sung/composed by Negro
singers/composers; thus they are referred to as data sources which furthermore the data are
scrutinized and recorded. Then, the data are analyzed by qualitative descriptive method
proposed by Seliger and Shohamy. From the analysis, it can be seen the various constructions

that contain the characteristics of Negro dialect, which include: 1) The verb for a single third
person in present tense is not added -s / -es, 2) To be (am, is, are) as a copula in present tense is
not used, 3) Be is used as a copulative verb, 4) Past activity is indicated by the use of done
talked, activities that have been done long before the past and still done are indicated by the use
of been talked, 5) The use of two negative markers, 6) The absence of auxiliary verbs in
statements and questions, the use of was and do not for all subjects, the use of be as an auxiliary
verb; The construction mostly used in Negro dialect is the absence of to be as a copulative
verb, as in the phrase "We are good, This woman here, You all right."
Keywords: Use, Negro Dialect, Films and Songs
1. INTRODUCTION
It is widely known that English is one of the international languages. It is also a very
important means of establishing and maintaining relationship with other people especially
people from other country. English is used in education, commerce, business, politics, tourism,
technology, etc. Besides that, English is one of the foreign languages that has many functions
and used in several countries as a formal language and second language in the other countries.
So, why do people learn English? They learn English because English is very important to
human life aspects in the world.
People who want to communicate and to convey their meaning correctly must study one
of the linguistic fields, namely sociolinguistics. In English department, it is given to enrich the
students‘ knowledge in linguistics. Sociolinguistics is the study of social and cultural

phenomenon. One topic discussed in it is dialect. It concerns with pronunciation, vocabulary
and grammar. Negro dialect is one kind of dialect discussed. According to Wolfram the varied
labels AAL (African American Language) has been assigned over the last half-century are no
doubt indicative of the controversy and ambiguity that has followed this variety. Among the
labels since the 1960s in rough chronological order are Negro Dialect, Nonstandard Negro
English, Black English, Vernacular Black English, Afro-American English, Ebonics, African
American (Vernacular) English, and African American Language (2015:341-342). The
language variety in question was that spoken by most but not all African Americans, a dialect
known across the decades as nonstandard Negro English, Negro English, Black English

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Vernacular (BEV), Ebonics (Williams 1975), African American English (AAE), African
American Language (AAL), or African American Vernacular English (AAVE) (Wheeler,

2016:368). Zughoul and Abu-Melhim state AAEV (African-American English Vernacular), is
an African-American language form similar to SAE (Southern American English). This
language form is also referred to by some as jive or Ebonics. Its linguistic structure relates
strongly to that of SAE spoken by African-Americans and non-African-Americans throughout
the US (2016:31).
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has its many more grammatical and
phonological characteristics than is visible in written form and only some of those features
appear to be dominant on the internet. For this reason a research has been conducted to discover
which AAVE features appear regularly on the internet in its popular web-hosted places such as
YouTube and internet forums (Rajković, 2014:7). The conclusion of the research is ―As far as
the AAVE features are concerned, some of the more dominant grammatical features were
missing in the examples from the internet, features such as the use of invariant be for habitual
aspect, the use of had to mark the simple past, generalization of is and was to use with plural
and second person subjects, the absence of plural –s for nouns, and the use of double negatives.
Of the grammatical AAVE characteristics, the most popular proved to be the missing copula,
which was found in eight examples‖ (Rajković, 2014:25).
The use of Negro/Black dialect can be found in films and songs. Therefore, English
students sometimes consider the sentences are ungrammatical because they are accustomed to
learning and applying English dialect. They are demanded to know and apply British English
during their study. The writer thinks that by learning Black dialect, the students can understand

its characteristics or differences from the British dialect. So, they will get more understanding
about dialect. The difference in grammar can be seen in the following example:
British dialect : The girl plays a piano.
Black dialect: The girl play a piano.
Based on the phenomenon above, the writers need to know the use of Black dialect in
films and songs by the hope that the result of study can give some contribution in attempting to
give a horizon to the students in learning dialect. Here are examples of the song lyrics applying
Black dialect by Whitney Houston in ‗I look to you‘ album in 2009:
a. If he make you feel like a million dollar bill. (Title: Million Dollar Bill)
b. Kind of love we got, it just don‘t stop. (Title: Like I never Left)
c. See you think that your sh don‘t stink, well it do, yeah. (Title: Salute)
Rickford (1999a, p. 9) in Wheeler (2016:370) observes that [n]ot every African
American speaks AAVE, and no one uses all of the features . . . 100% of the time. Although it is
often said that 80% of African Americans speak AAVE (Dillard 1972, p. 229), this is a
guesstimate rather than a systematic empirical finding. In general, the phonological and
grammatical features . . . are used most often by younger lower- and working-class speakers in
urban areas and in informal styles, but the extent to which this is true, and how often the
features are used varies from one feature to another.
We choose the title of this study as The Use of Negro Dialect in Films and Songs for
three reasons as follows:
1. The writers are interested in observing the use of Negro dialect in films and songs because it
is different from the usual use in which it can cause the Indonesian students tend to use it
rather than the official one.
2. The students‘ inclination to use Negro dialect needs to be avoided when the students
communicate in formal occasion because it is unacceptable.
3. The teaching and learning of sociolinguistics needs to be increased by taking the benefit of
analysis result.

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The problems concerning with this research can be formulated into the following
questions: How is the use of Negro dialect in English films and songs? and What is the most
construction used in them?
We hope that the result of research will be useful for the development of English
teaching in general and sociolinguistics in particular. Besides, the students can understand that
the theories proposed by some experts are still relevant with the real life. One conclusion of
Simmons‘ research is that the lack of motivation to learn is another factor that contributes to the
stability of Black English. Certain issues within a family remained intact due to past
generations. Many students were raised by grandparents - the older generation still
encompassing a Black English from their times and still refusing to assimilate to modern
standards (2014:127).
Sociolinguistics is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the
characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three
constantly interact, change, and change one another within a speech community (Fishman,
1972:4). Sociolinguistics is that part of linguistics which is concerned with language as a social
and cultural phenomenon (Trudgill, 1974b:32). Sociolinguistics is the study of the social aspects
of language. Thus, the field of sociolinguistics treats the social aspects of language use. It
includes three principal types of speech variety: sociolects, regional dialects, and registers,
along with a number of related phenomena. All languages have such varieties, but in many
communities one variety, the standard, has more prestige than the others.
Holmes states that when people belong to the same group, they often speak similarly.
But there are many different groups in a community, and so any individual may share linguistic
features with a range of other speakers. There are also linguistic clues to a person‘s ethnicity,
and closely related to all these are linguistic features which reflect the regular interactions
people have – those they talk to most often (2001:175).
According to Fishman, 1972:22) those varieties that initially and basically represent
divergent feographic origins are knowns as dialects (Ferguson and Gumperz 1960, Halliday
1964). A dialect must be a regional subunit in relation to a language, particularly in its
vernacular or spoken realization (Fishman, 1972:17). 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 the variety which is normally spoken by educated
people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situations (Trudgill, 1974b:17).
The scientific study of language has convinced most scholars that all languages, and
correspondingly all dialects, are equally ‗good‘ as linguistic systems. All varieties of a language
are structured, complex, rule-governed systems which are wholly adequate for the needs of their
speakers. It follows that value judgements concerning the correctness and purity of linguistic
varieties are social rather than linguistic (Trudgill, 1974b:20). One variety is different from
other variety because some factors influencing it. As stated by Holmes many ethnic groups use a
distinctive language associated with their ethnic identity. Where a choice of language is
available for communication, it is often possible for an individual to signal their ethnicity by the
language they choose to use. Even when a complete conversation in an ethnic language is not
possible, people may use short phrases, verbal fillers or linguistic tags, which signal ethnicity
(2001:175).
There are two ethnic groups discussed here: white and black. People do not speak as
they do because they are white or black. What does happen is that speakers acquire the
linguistic characteristics of those they live in close contact with. There is no racial or
physiological basis of any kind for linguistic differences of this type. According to Sevinj
(2015:3) Black English as the variety of English language is not only the English of black
people, but also is the main language of white people. Black English was formed within the
standards and rules of English language. Some American scientists (e.g., L. William) insist on
that Black English is the part of American English and can‘t be divided into regional dialects

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because this language is the spoken variety of one ethnic group of black people in an
appropriate place.
In the Unites States, though their distinct languages disappeared centuries ago, African
Americans do not need a distinct variety or code as a symbolic way of differentiating
themselves from the majority group. They are visibly different. Nevertheless, this group has
developed a distinct variety of English known as African American Vernacular English
(AAVE). This dialect has a number of features which do not occur very much less frequently in
the standard variety. These linguistic differences act as symbols of ethnicity (Holmes,
2001:177).
The connection between language and ethnic group may be a simple one of habitual
association, reinforced by social barriers between the groups, where language is an important
identifying characteristic – the separate identity of ethnic group is signalled, not by different
languages, but by different varieties of the same language.
Ethnic group differences may be correlated with phonological or grammatical features,
as well as instead of with lexical differences, e.g. from Labov‘s New York study, there were
significant differences in the English pronunciation of speakers from Jewish, Italian and Negro
backgrounds (beard = bad). Italian tend to use an [a] type vowel.
Destefano (1973) in Simmons (2014:125) says that linguistic research has found five
systematic differences between the black nonstandard dialect and Standard English: optional
copula deletion, negative concord, invariant ―be,‖ dummy ―it,‖ and negative inversion.
The followings are the phonological characteristics of BEV (Trudgill, 1974b:68-69):
1. Many black speakers do not have postvocalic /r/ in cart or car. Some Negro speakers also
show loss of /r/ after initial consonants, in certain cases, e.g. f‘om = from, p‘otect = protect.
2. Many black speakers often do not have /θ/, as in thing or /ð/, as in that. In initial position
they may be merged with /t/ (rarely) and /d/ respectively, so that this is dis, for example. It
is worth noting that it is also a feature of Caribbean creoles. In other position, /θ/ and /ð/
may be merged with /f/ and /v/, so that pronunciations such as b‘uvvuh /bəvə/, for ‗brother‘
may occur. This feature is well-known in London speech. It also occurs in other British
varieties, and in the speech of whites in Kentucky.
3. In BEV simplification of final consonant clusters in words like lost, west, end can take
place, so that pronunciations like los‘ time, wes‘ coast, los‘ elephant, wes‘ end may occur.
In BEV plurals of nouns ending in standard English in -st, -sp, -sk are often formed on the
pattern of class: classes rather than of clasp: clasps. For example, the plural of desk may be
desses.
4. There are the nasalization of vowels before nasal consonants and subsequent loss of the
consonant: run, rum, rung = [rã]; vocalization and loss of postvocalic /l/: told may be
pronounced identically with toe; and devoicing of final /b/, /d/, /g/ (bud and but may be
distinguished only by the slightly longer vowel of the former).
Zughoul and Abu-Melhim (2016:34) state phonology-aspects that differentiate AAEV
from SAE are:
1. The devoicing of word-endings; for example, of /ɡ/, /d/ and /b/ - cub would sound like cup
(Green, 2002).
2. The changing of diphthongs to monophthong forms; for example, /aɪ/ becomes/aː/ (Labov,
1972).
3. Failure to use dental-fricatives /θ/ (for example, the th in thin) in addition to /ð/ th as in
then; (Green, 2002, p.117).
4. Actualization of final-ng /ŋ/, velar-nasal, given the alveolar-nasal/n/‘s function in
morphemes and content-morphemes with 'ing'; as an example, shopping sounds like
shoppin.
5. The cluster reduction of final-consonants; for example, /st/, /sk/ and /sp/ become deleted
(Labov, 1972).

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6. Similar to SAE, /n/, /m/ and /ŋ/ make pin-and-pen homophone sounds.
Wolfram (1972) in Sevinj (2015:3) shows us that the final sound [t] in some words is
omitted in Black English. For example: list [lis], missed [mis], left [lef], act [ᴂk]. We have to
point that in black English other sounds like [p,k,d] may be omitted too, e.g., desk [des], find
[fain], cold [koul] and so on. In some words the final consonant preceding the plural suffix is
not pronounced as in kids [ki:z].
Wolfram notes that it is commonly assumed that the vernacular core of AAL comprises
an array of distinctive structural features that sets it apart from cohort European American
vernacular varieties. The ordained list of features is primarily grammatical—the so-called
distinctively Black grammatical features (DBGF) (2015:343). The grammatical differences
between BEV and other forms of English are as follows (Trudgill, 1974b:69-73):
1. Many black speakers do not have –s in the third person singular present-tense forms, so that
forms such as he go, it come, she like are usual.
2. The absence of copula – the verb to be – in the present tense. In BEV, as in Russian,
Hungarian, Thai and many other languages including, crucially, creoles, the following type
of sentence is grammatical:
She real nice.
They out there.
He not American.
If you good, you going to heaven.
It is therefore possible to conclude that copula deletion may be a phonological innovation
of BEV which continues the older process of deletion, thus: he is > he‘s > he; they are >
they‘re > they.
3. Perhaps the most important characteristic of BEV is the so-called ‗invariant be‘: the use of
the form be as a finite verb form. For example, He usually be around; Sometime he be
fighting; She be nice and happy. BEV has two further forms: I done talked, which has been
called ‗completive aspect‘, indicating that the action is completed; and I been talked, the
‗remote aspect‘, indicating an event that occurred in the remote past.
4. Three final grammatical characteristics of BEV worthy of mentioning are: BEV question
inversion (I asked Mary where did she go), ‗existential it‘ (It‘s a boy in my class name
Joey), and ‗negativized auxiliary pre-position‘ (Doesn‘t nobody know that it‘s a God (with
statement intonation).
According to Zughoul and Abu-Melhim (2016:35) the characteristic associated with
'been', such as remote-phase, remote-past and perfect-phase is stressed for the purpose of
differentiating it from un-stressed markers (Rickford, 1999). For example, been sounds like BIN
(Green 2002). Been‘s role in non-stative verbs is that it puts the action in past-tense, or
completes the action. When it is used with gerund formulations, however, it can signify that
what seem to be past actions are in fact occurring now (Rickford, 1999). For example, I been
bought her clothes refers to "I bought her clothes a long time ago" and I been buyin' her clothes
refers to ―I've been buying her clothes for a long time". Additionally, negative-usages are
formulated in a manner other than in SAE (Howe & Walker, 2000):
 Aint‘s use as a general-negative (Labov, 1972, p.284).
 "double-negation", or negative concord
 Negative-construction: As an example, Ain't much goin' on here (Winford, 1992)
Wolfram states that the developing tradition of AAL description naturally has
consequences for the social construction of AAL that has evolved over the decades. For
example, these structural descriptions emphasize the uniformity of AAL vis-à-vis its variation in
regional and social space. Labov (1972), thus, observes that it is ―the relatively uniform dialect
spoken by the majority of black young in most parts of the United States today. … It is also
spoken in most rural areas and used in the casual, intimate speech of many adults‖ (xiii). One of
the conclusions that emerged from the first wave of AAL descriptive studies was the

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observation that a common set of structural features represents the vernacular speech of African
Americans. These features include a set of canonical morphosyntactic structures such as
invariant be with a habitual denotation (e.g., They always be playing); the absence of copula
and auxiliary be (e.g., She _ nice; she _ playing ball); verbal ฀s (e.g., She play_ ball);
possessive –s (e.g., The man_ hat); and plural –s (e.g., Three dog_) (2015:342). There are
African-American singers, composers, rappers, pianists, and other musicians who have
contributed to the world of music, including Count Basie, Akon, Natalie Cole, Missy Elliot,
Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, and more.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
Arikunto states that the researcher can do the research in the passive form which just
researches the object which is researched in one place to the kind of research which makes
researcher do something (2013:02). Research method in this study means a method used to find
the new facts, through a research object in the passive form to solve a problem. Collecting data
in the research intends to gain relevant, accurate and reliable materials. There
are
some
research strategies which can be used to support the research method, they are: quantitative,
qualitative, narrative, descriptive, etc. This study applies qualitative strategy. According to
Seliger and Shohamy, in qualitative research, where qualitative data have been collected by
procedures such as unstructured observation, open interviews, examining records, diaries, and
other document, the data are usually in the form of words in oral or written modes (1989:204).
According to Ritchie and Lewis (2003:5) that qualitative methods are used to address
research questions that require explanation or understanding of social phenomena and their
contexts. As an addition, Merriam (2009:14-16) states that there are four characteristics which
are identified by most as key to understanding the nature of qualitative research: the focus is on
process, understanding, and meaning; the researcher is the primary instrument of data collection
and analysis; the process is inductive; and the product is richly descriptive. In this research, the
data are the phrases/sentences having grammatical characteristics of Black/Negro dialect.
According to Arikunto (2013: 102) the source of the data is the subject where the data
can be taken. In this research, the sources of the data are the songs composed and or sung by
Africans-Americans and films in which most of the actors are Africans-Americans.
Sudaryanto (2001: 133) states that there are two methods in collecting the data, they
are: simak method and cakap method. According to Sudaryanto (2001: 133) metode ‗simak‘
atau ‗penyimakan‘ merupakan kegiatan yang dilakukan dengan menyimak, yaitu menyimak
penggunaan bahasa, ini dapat disejajarkan dengan metode pengamatan atau observasi dalam
ilmu sosial, khususnya antropologi. (Simak‘ method is the method done by observing
attentively the use of language, it can be paralleled with observation method in social science,
especially anthropology.
In this study, the writers use ‗simak method‘ to collect the data of the phrases/sentences
having grammatical characteristics of Black/Negro dialect. To validate data, we apply source
triangulation. Patton (1984) in Sutopo states that source triangulation has similar meaning as
data triangulation. Source triangulation can be defined as a technique to collect the data from
various sources (2006:93). In this case, the writers take some different singers/composers and
different actors.
Qualitative research is a research which is concerned with providing description of
phenomena that occurs naturally, without the intervention of an experiment or an artificially
contrived treatment (Seliger and Shohamy, 1989: 116). The data are usually in the form of
words in oral or written models. These units though come in different forms: some are words
within a specific context, or text segments, such as ―meaning units‖; others are structural
segments of text, such as individual phonemes, morphemes, parts of words, lexical and
grammatical elements, sentences, phrases, or paragraph; other again are holistic and represent

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longer text such as narratives (Seliger and Shohamy, 1989: 204-205). In this research, the
writers analyze the data by descriptive qualitative analysis.
To make the analysis easy, we apply the steps as follows:
a. Classifying the data into the kind of grammatical characteristic,
b. Comparing the data to the standard dialect,
c. Describing the differences,
d. Counting the number of each characteristic,
e. Giving the conclusion of study.
3. DISCUSSION
In this analysis we divide into analyzing data gotten from songs and from films.
3.1 Data from songs
The data from songs are presented below.
3.1.1 Many black speakers do not have –s in the third person singular present-tense forms
(1) East coast feel me. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Are You that Somebody‖ 2003)
(2) West coast feel me. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Are You that Somebody‖ 2003)
(3) My best friend say. (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Best Friends‖)
In data (1) and (2) the verb feel is not added suffix –s and in data (3) the verb say is not
added suffix –s. The subject of three sentences above is the third person singular and the
sentence is in present tense. Therefore, they need suffix –s for standard/British dialect. Viewed
from the rule in standard dialect, data (1) should be ―East coast feels me‖, data (2) ―West coast
feels me‖, and data (3) ―My best friend says‖. Earlier studies (Wolfram & Schilling-Estes,
1998) identified AAE features in the writing of AA children and included the absence of the –s
marker (e.g. she go____) (Bethea, 2015:17).
3.1.2 The absence of copula – the verb to be – in the present tense
(1) You up and left me. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―I Miss You‖ 2007)
(2) No one here to love me. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―I Miss You‖ 2007)
(3) But we good. (singer ―Chris Brown‖, title ―Don‘t Think They Know‖)
(4) Say hey, if you down with me. (singer ―Aaliyah, title ―Beats 4 da Streets‖ 2008)
(5) She sick of me. (singer ―Chris Brown‖, title ―Don‘t Think They Know‖)
(6) Just tell ‗em that we gon‘ work at it, we good. (singer ―Chris Brown‖, title ―Don‘t Think
They Know‖)
Data (1) to (6) do not have linking verb as the copula to denote that the activity happens
in present tense. If we express in standard dialect, all sentences above need linking verb. Data
(1), (3), (4), (6) need ‗are‘ because the subjects are plural, and data (2) and (5) need ‗is‘ because
the subjects are singular. Smitherman (1999a) in Wheeler (2016:371) finds the absence of
copula in AAVE, such as ―He ___ a real good citizen‖.
3.1.3 The most important characteristic of BEV is the so-called „invariant be‟: the use of the
form be as a finite verb form
Damn, she be the bomb, damn. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Beats 4 da Streets‖ 2008) ‗Be‘
in the sentence above is used as a finite verb without being suited to the subject. In standard
dialect the sentence may be ―Damn, she was the bomb, damn‖.
3.1.4 BEV has two further forms: I done talked, which has been called „completive aspect‟,
indicating that the action is completed; and I been talked, the „remote aspect‟, indicating an
event that occurred in the remote past
(1) Boy, I been watching you like a hawk in the sky. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Are You that
Somebody‖ 2003)
(2) I been holding back this secret from you. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Are You that Somebody‖
2003)

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(3) Said I been needin‘ you, wantin‘ you. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―I Miss You‖ 2007)
(4) And I been wondering. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Come over‖ 2003)
(5) Because the way you been actin‘ lately. (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Stickin‘ Chickens‖)
Theoretically, ‗been‘ is followed by past participle. In data above it is followed by
present participle. ‗Been‘ in all data above maybe is used to denote that the activity is in
progress. It can be substituted by ‗am‘ for data (1) to (4) and ‗are‘ for data (5). Therefore, the
writer does not find the data concerning with the theory.
3.1.5 BEV question inversion
The writers do not find the data concerning with the theory.
3.1.6 Existential it
The writers do not find the data concerning with the theory.
3.1.7 Negativized auxiliary pre-position/Double negative
(1) You trickin‘ off with these chickens, I thought you ain‘t have no flaws. (singer ―Missy
Elliott‖, title ―Stickin‘ Chickens‖)
(2) Oh, love aint never looked so good on ya. (singer ―Miguel Jontel Pimentel‖, title ―Adorn‖)
‗Ain‘t‘ can be ‗am/is/are not‘ or ‗has/have not‘. In data (1) there are two markers of
negative namely ‗ain‘t‘ and ‗no‘. In data (2) there are two markers of negative namely ‗aint‘ and
‗never‘. Data (1) can be expressed ―You are trickin‘ off with these chickens, I thought you have
no flaws‖. Data (2) can be expressed ―Oh, love never looked so good on ya‖. Smitherman
(1999a) in Wheeler finds that there is multiple negation in AAVE: ―Last night there was a
straight-looking new bird in the neighborhood no one never seen before nowhere‖( 2016:371).
3.1.8 Miscellaneous
3.1.8.1 No auxiliary in statement and question
(1) We goin‘ hook it up while we talk on the phone. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―Are You that
Somebody‖ 2003)
(2) Girls that becoming ladies, and my friends are having babies. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title
―Beats 4 da Streets‖ 2008)
(3) All the girls you runnin‘ through, yeah ... (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Stickin‘
Chickens‖)
(4) You stickin‘ them chickens till I get home. (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Stickin‘
Chickens‖)
(5) You trickin‘ off with these chickens, ... (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Stickin‘
Chickens‖)
(6) They goin‘ talk about it. (singer ―Chris Brown‖, title ―Don‘t Think They Know‖)
(7) What you got, boo? (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Stickin‘ Chickens‖)
(8) Why you lookin‘ so down? (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ――I Care for You‖ 2006)
(9) Tell me, why you cry? (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ――I Care for You‖ 2006)
(10) What you saying, 3x, huh? (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖ 1996)
In data (1) to (6) the present participle verb is not preceded by auxiliary verb. The verb
‗going‘ in data (1) needs to be preceded by auxiliary verb ‗are‘ because the subject is ‗we‘. In
data (2) the verb ‗becoming‘ should be preceded by auxiliary verb ‗are‘ because the subject is
‗girls‘. Data (3) to (6) need ‗are‘ as the auxiliary verb when we use standard dialect.
Data (7) to (10) are questions. Based on the rule, wh-question begins with question
word, auxiliary verb, and is followed by subject. Data (7) needs auxiliary verb ‗have‘ before
subject ‗you‘. Data (8) needs auxiliary verb ‗are‘. Data (9) needs auxiliary verb ‗do‘. Data (10)
needs auxiliary verb ‗are‘.
3.1.8.2 The use of was for all subjects
(1) That you was trying to get with me. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖ 1996)
(2) That you was dissin‘ her to talk to me. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖
1996)

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(3) I bet she‘d be glad that you was gone. (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖
1996)
(4) If she was me she would let you go long time ago. (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Best
Friends‖)
The subject of data (1) to (3) is ‗you‘ which grammatically needs auxiliary verb ‗were‘
to denote past activity. Whereas, the sentence in data (4) is conditional type 2 which needs
auxiliary ‗were‘ for all subjects. It is different from the fact. In general subject ‗he/she/it‘ uses
‗was‘, and subject ‗I/you/we/they‘ uses ‗were‘ as the linking verb. In his research, Harris
(1995:127) in Andrews and Snell (2014:13) found the sentence ‗My friend and I was walking
home‘. The students found the auxiliary verb form ‗was‘ more natural than ‗were‘ in this
context because ‗It represents an extremely common grammatical pattern with London English.
3.1.8.3The use of don‟t for all subjects
(1) Even when the sun don‘t shine. (singer ―Miguel Jontel Pimentel‖, title ―Sure Thing‖)
The subject of the sentence in data above is ‗sun‘ which is singular, so it needs auxiliary verb
‗does‘.
3.2 Data from Films
The data from films are presented below.
3.2.1 Many black speakers do not have –s in the third person singular present- tense forms
(1) Somebody put that animal out of its misery. (title ―The Last King of Scotland‖ 153)
(2) He gonna hit her in the one that stink and not the one that wink. (title ― Welcome Home‖
460)
(3) Now, somebody help that white girl. (title ― Welcome Home‖ 619)
(4) She drive me crazy. (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 416)
(5) And then he lie and say he did, but I know he didn‘t. (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI‖
428)
(6) Nobody move. (title ―Radio‖ 12517)
(7) He tell you his name yet? (title ―Radio‖ 36031)
(8) She still does. She love the Radio. (title ―Radio‖ 115694)
Wheeler (2016:371) states that syntactic structures of AAVE from Smitherman (1999a)
include the verb without –s for the third person singular in present tense.
3.2.1 2 The absence of copula – the verb to be – in the present tense
(1) A goat up your arse and your face in someone‘s armpit. (title ―The Last King of
Scotland‖ 42)
(2) You ready? Now, come on, Angela. (title ―The Last King of Scotland‖ 71)
(3) But which we Africans, we find this quite disgusting. (title ―The Last King of Scotland‖
167)
(4) Can you hold his knees up against his chest? The other handback here. (title ―The Last
King of Scotland‖ 472)
(5) Look at him. Everything the same, except ... (title ―The Last King of Scotland‖ 654)
(6) Yeah. This woman here. (title ―The Last King of Scotland‖ 929)
(7) Look like you a lucky fool. (title ― Welcome Home‖ 277)
(8) You all skin and bone. (title ― Welcome Home‖ 302)
(9) Wear some deodorant, you litlle fake-ass Conan! (title ― Welcome Home‖ 362)
(10) ‗Cause, see, we a lot alike, Binaca ! (title ― Welcome Home‖ 377)
(11) ‗Cause we too much woman for one man! (title ― Welcome Home‖ 378)
(12) You still alive? (title ― Welcome Home‖ 416)
(13) He good at scooping up behind you. (title ― Welcome Home‖ 461)
(14) Why? You muslim now? (title ― Welcome Home‖ 484)
(15) You a Five Percenter? (title ― Welcome Home‖ 485)
(16) You on that Hollywood Shit. (title ― Welcome Home‖ 491)
(17) Boy, you crazy.. (title ― Welcome Home‖ 508)

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(18) You dead. Goddamn! (title ―Welcome Home‖ 526)
(19) You sure you our relative? (title ―Welcome Home‖ 645)
(20) Be a man and tell her to stop talking to me like she crazy. (title ―Why Did I Get Married
CDI‖ 206)
(21) You too busy staring at her ass. (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 211)
(22) You all right? (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 298)
(23) Oh, man. We good. (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 380)
(24) So, Marcus, y‘all still at it, huh? (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 396)
(25) Johny Clay behind a convoy of Hanna blockers. (title ‗Radio‖ 26656)
(26) Marcum back to pass. (title ‗Radio‖ 27042)
(27) He a nice man? (title ‗Radio‖ 41934)
(28) You hungry? (title ‗Radio‖ 42068)
(29) She right there? (title ‗Radio‖ 48355)
(30) Say he the same as everybody else, I just a little slower than most. (title ‗Radio‖ 49968)
(31) Where my pie? (title ‗Radio‖ 57806)
(32) Snead back to pass for west side. (title ‗Radio‖ 60889)
(33) That good, huh? (title ‗Radio‖ 70175)
(34) No, she not here. (title ‗Radio‖ 81104)
(35) Coach Honeycutt, he around? (title ‗Radio‖ 102752)
Whereas, according to Silalahi (2016:41) verb is one element of a class of words that
are very universal owned by every language and all languages distinguish it from nouns
(Whaley L.J 1997: 32) even though the number of divisions, sub-categories, and functions are
not the same in each language (Larson 1984: 18).
3.2.3 „invariant be‟: the use of the form be as a finite verb form
(1) Like, they be 12. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 342)
3.2.4 BEV has two further forms: I done talked, which has been called „completive aspect‟,
indicating that the action is completed; and I been talked, the „remote aspect‟, indicating an
event that occurred in the remote past
(1) Country boy done good returns home with his survivor queen. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 134)
(2) You done messed around and got old, huh, Bucky? (title ―Welcome
Home‖ 415)
(3) The black Paris Hilton done sissified you off the pig. (title ―Welcome
Home‖ 489)
(4) Roscoe, you been eating? (title ―Welcome Home‖ 302)
(5) We all done. (title ―Radio‖ 72182)
3.2.5 BEV question inversion
We do not find the data with this characteristic.
3.2.6 Existential it
We also do not find the data of it.
3.2.7 Negativized auxiliary pre-position/Double negative
(1) No, I know you ain‘t no damn fool. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 275)
(2) This ain‘ Man, I ain‘t no bellhop. Plus, I ain‘t had my steroids today. (title ―Welcome
Home‖ 358)
(3) I‘m telling you right now, this tea right here ain‘t no joke, Balolo. (title ―Welcome Home‖
383)
(4) This ain‘t no kennel. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 404)
(5) Farrakhan ain‘t no where around here. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 502)
(6) I ain‘t never seen Mama and Daddy so proud as that day. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 565)
(7) Don‘t nobody want no crunchy-ass potato salad. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 622)
(8) Y‘ll ain‘t never seen black people on a train? (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI?‖ 194)

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(9) You ain‘t never heard of the underground rail road? (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI?‖
195)
(10) Y‘ll ain‘t never gonna change. (title ―Why Did I Get Married CDI?‖ 398)
(11) Ain‘t nobody makes a half million dollars for playing basket ball one year. (title ―Radio‖
94614)
(12) Radio, ain‘t nothing I can say is gonna make you feel any better. (title ―Radio‖ 115287)
(13) Lord, we ain‘t never seen no christmas like this. (title ―Radio‖ 88292)
Legum et al. also contains a third section on the lexicon (87–106) that says more about
features like ain‘t, have/had, and invariant habitual be (e.g., He be here on Sundays ‗He‘s
usually here on Sundays‘) than one finds in the grammatical section of Labov et al (Rickford,
2014:125).
3.2.8 Miscellaneous
3.2.8.1 No auxiliary in statement and question
(1) You standing there with that beautiful lady, right there. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 276)
(2) And next time you grabbing on people, (title ―Welcome Home‖ 361)
(3) Tell me the truth, ‗cause it‘s you and me. We relating (title ―Welcome Home‖ 376)
(4) Now, see, we trying to bond with you and everything, welcome you in, but you getting
me twisted. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 401-402)
(5) Girl, you tripping. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 515)
(6) You looking sharp. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 638)
(7) Y‘all gonna talk. (title ― Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 136)
(8) She sleeping, or she working. (title ― Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 303)
(9) Nobody still working here. (title ―Radio‖ 16512)
(10) Yellow jackets still looking to get on track. (title ―Radio‖ 45149)
(11) Coach Jones. It raining hard. Radio. Radio. (title ―Radio‖ 52946)
(12) Jones signalling for time, but Marcum doesn‘t. (title ―Radio‖ 60065)
(13) She working tonight. (title ―Radio‖ 81140)
(14) This is nice. You getting folks to help Radio out. (title ―Radio‖ 83561)
(15) No shortage of people feeling sorry for him. (title ―Radio‖ 83653)
(16) You taking care of it? (title ―Radio‖ 16821)
(17) Laird, son, how many years you been playing for me? (title ―Radio‖ 5524)
(18) How they know that, coach? (title ―Radio‖ 60741)
(19) You going over to the shop? (title ―Radio‖ 66459)
(20) You see how much they paying for Dr. J? (title ―Radio‖ 94355)
(21) Why not stay with the other wives? (title ―The Last King of Scotland‖ 494)
(22) How you doing? (title ―Welcome Home‖ 223)
(23) So everything is ... Hey, boy, what the ... What you doing? (title ―Welcome Home‖ 258)
(24) Hey, mama. How you doing? (title ―Welcome Home‖ 292)
(25) He gonna hit her in the one ... (title ―Welcome Home‖ 460)
(26) Papa J? How you doing, man? (title ―Welcome Home‖ 654)
(27) How you guys doing? (title ― Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 241)
(28) Hey, Monica, how you doing? (title ― Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 287)
(29) How you been, man? (title ― Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 302)
(30) What you gonna do? (title ― Why Did I Get Married CDI‖ 365)
3.2.8.2 The use of was for all subjects
(1) That you was trying to get with me (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖ 1996)
(2) That you was dissin‘ her to talk to me (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖
1996)
(3) I bet she‘d be glad that you was gone (singer ―Aaliyah‖, title ―If Your Girl only Knew‖
1996)

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(4) If she was me she would let you go long time ago (singer ―Missy Elliott‖, title ―Best
Friends‖)
(5) Well, Frank, if I was to tell you that, y‘all wouldn‘t have a thing to talk about all week. (title
Radio‖ 30449)
3.2.8.3 The use of don‟t for all subjects
(1) That don‘t look like $300 worth of ice. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 446)
3.2.8.4 The use of be as auxiliary
(1) It ain‘t the sweet tea. It‘s them short skirts you be wearing. (title ―Welcome Home‖ 392)
It is in line with what Smith and Bellon-Harn (2014:3) state that the context following
the BE verb influences whether or not BE is overtly marked in AAE. Several succeeding
contexts for copula and auxiliary BE have been studied including noun phrase, predicate
adjectives, predicate locatives, progressive V-ing forms, and gonna/gon. In adults, studies
indicate high variability of BE forms with both a succeeding V-ing element and gonna/gon
(Fasold & Wolfram, 1972; Labov, 1969b). However, the highest rates of zero marking occurs
with gonna/gon.
4. CONCLUSION
Based on the findings, the writers can answer the problems of study: How is the use of
Negro dialect in English films and songs? and What is the most construction used in them? The
conclusions are:
1. The use of Negro dialect in songs and films is relatively frequent. Most of the
grammatical characteristics of Nengro dialect can be found in songs and films.
2. The most construction used in them is that doesn‘t use copula – the verb ‗be‘.
5. REFERENCES
Andrews, Richard and Julia Snell. 2014. To What Extent does a Regional Dialect and Accent
Impact on the Development of Reading and Writing Skills?. Promoting Access to
White
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Research.
Papers.eprints@whiterose.ac.uk.
http://
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Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2013. Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek. Jakarta: Rineka
Cipta.
Bethea, June Graham. 2015. The Impact of African American English on Language
Proficiency in Adolescent Speakers (Dissertation). Greensboro: The University of
North Carolina GrahamBethea_uncg_0154D_11754.
Fishman, A. Joshua. 1972. Sociolinguistics, A Brief Introduction. Massachusetts: Newbury
House Publishers.
Holmes, Janet. 2001. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Second Edition. England: Pearson
Education Limited.
Hymes, Dell. 1974. Foundations in Sociolinguistics. Philadephia: University of Pensylvania
Press.
Merriam, Sharan B. 2009. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation.
Inited States of America: John Wi