Syntax part 1: verbal markers in AAE

Abstract

Focal point Part of knowing a word involves knowing how to use it in sentences. As explained in the preceding chapter, speakers of AAE use some of the same words that occur in other varieties of English, but they may use them with different meanings. In addition, these words must occur in specific environments in a sentence. For example, the verbal marker be can precede words from any grammatical class such as verb ( That computer be crashing ), adjective ( Those computers be light ) and preposition ( Her computer be in her carry on bag ). On the other hand, the verbal marker dәn can only precede verbs ( They dәn bought all the sale books ). Jesus is mine; Jesus is mine; Everywhere I go, Everywhere I be, Jesus is mine. [from a gospel song] Introduction The preceding chapter characterizes a part of the system of AAE, the lexical component. In continuing to put the pieces together to form a complete picture of the AAE system in this chapter, I present a description of verbal markers and try to make explicit how they fit into the syntactic component. Many of the well-known features of AAE are from the syntactic component of the language system, that part of the system that deals with the way words are put together to form sentences. In many cases, words in AAE that are identical or quite similar in pronunciation to words in other varieties of English are used differently and may combine with other words in sentences in different ways.