Analysis of Unexpected but Authentic Use of an Ethnically-Marked Dialect by Julie Sweetland - Essay Example

A Critical Review of “Unexpected But Authentic Use of an Ethnically- Marked Dialect” In Unexpected but Authentic Use of an Ethnically: Marked Dialect, Julie Sweetland talks about the various uses of sociolinguistics and its importance. She discusses ‘African American Vernacular English’ (AAVE) speaking by the black and white youths, also, sociolinguistic features. The importance of studying the types of sociolinguistic is because it allows someone to be accepted as a member by other people from differing races. This essay represents a critical scrutiny of the use of various sociolinguistic features and how whites obtain their knowledge of speaking AAVE. Noteworthy information to the reader is to recognize that the interaction of philosophies of race, category, localness and verbal communication, are vital for the social life of an individual with people from dissimilar races. The kinds of study that Sweetland uses are extensive research on editorials from other writers, to obtain the necessary information. She observes the language patterns of a White female, Delilah, who has matured in a Black area and distinguishes them from those of a youthful white, Carla, and other White users of the AAVE (Sweetland, 515). The contributor is the author and acquirement of the information is through written literature as well as observation. Presentation of the results of the study is through exemplification. The article is about the use of AAVE in speeches of the whites who have lived in the neighborhood of Blacks and the other Europeans or non-black users. Sweetland brings about a complicated interpretation of the term type as used in sociolinguistic literature. Though most linguists classify language variations in terms of gender, this approach has shown to have limitations on the study of AVVE. Linguists consider the language of young males as authentic, while vernacular speakers refers to blacks and the whites as typical English speakers (Sweetland, 515). However, Sweetland views this notion of language speaking in terms of social contacts and personal characteristics. Julie examines a typical speaker, Delilah, who makes eloquent, constant utilization of vernacular, linked to a racial group, which she would never log on a sample form. Sweetland argues that, the connection of ideologies concerning race, speech, and type motivates Delilah’s peers to recognize her AAVE use as authentic (Sweetland, 516). Delilah’s speech of AVVE is not a simulation but comes out typically, unlike the one for Carla. The article analyses how Whites make efforts to obtain minority dialects. Sweetland uses the term “code-crossing” to describe the practice of verbal communication sharing between youths from different races. The article outlines that in social interactions, the usual social policies like greetings, as well as ‘thank- you’s, should be considered. However, Sweetland highlights that language crossing need the speakers to have some competency in the second language. Entertainment industries such as TV shows reveals that the conscious utilization of Creole by whites may include direct quotes as of the most civic outside of the culture of blacks. The article also examines if whites can naturally, as well as fully, acquire the AAVE use. This is done by studying the correspondence of whites’ association with reggae in the United Kingdom and that with hip-hop in the US, also their language-crossing with the blacks. The white teenagers familiarize themselves to black ethnicity by use of their music and clothes consumption design, but mostly, through their speech. The white speakers who do not interact with the blacks obtain their AAVE knowledge by use of rap lyrics and additional types of black popular ethos. However, these individuals’ speeches are unsystematic and inauthentic since they utilize little features of AVVE because of their lack of social interaction with the target language speakers (Sweetland 517-518). Carla’s interaction with the Blacks in the school also results to her incorporation of ‘Black English Vernacular’, to be acknowledged among the Black populace. This reveals itself when she uses morphosyntatic AAVE characteristics such as ain’t, to mean ‘didn’t’. However, she uses the verbal, prosodic, as well as syntactic AVVE features but does not sufficiently use tenses and the aspect scheme. This shows that it is difficult for whites who interact with blacks, and progressively acquire the blacks’ norm on language patterns of AAVE (Sweetland, 519). In addition, the article explains the differences in styles of language application and fluency in utilization of a variety of syntactic characteristics. Sweetland highlights the morphosyntatic aspects of AAVE by evaluating the speech of Delilah. The editorial highlights the use of different futures of the AAVE. For example, she uses words like, “ain’t”, “I don’t be messin with them”, and many more morphosyntatic characteristics. In addition, the article outlines the use of tone by the blacks’ speakers of AAVE. For instance, Delilah shows anger when she uses the term “and I am like, / damn? Why Sasha ain’t helpin/?” (Sweetland, 521). For instance, In her speech, she uses morphosyntatic features of AAVE such as Copula deletion when she says; “we drinking and playing cards” and “she a grown woman”. In these cases, she removes the words ‘are’ and ‘is’ respectively. Also, she uses the ‘Habitual be’, like when she says “He be killin Matt”, “He be like”, and many more. She as well uses the phonological features such as the deletion of the initial /d/, when she says, “He on’t know”, instead of “he don’t know’ (Sweetland, 522-523). Delilah’s accent and dependence on phonology in her speech make her be identified as a black. Her fluency in AAVE is due to her long-term interaction with the blacks (Sweetland, 524). Therefore, Sweetland portrays black’s users of AAVE as using it naturally, as their usual style of language, unlike the White users (Sweetland, 525). The article also outlines the variation among ghetto and suburbs speeches. Where the ‘ghettos’ refers to real, poor, black, and potentially harmful and the ‘suburbs refers to the privileged, whites and of regular class. These references portray racism in the communities. The results show that social interaction with other races is essential in learning a second language. The implication of the study reveals that whites’ speakers can learn AAVE fully and make use of it naturally given sufficient time, inspiration, effort as well as feedback. Conversely, future studies need to outline a few examples from a variety of speakers of each race instead of highlighting several examples from the speech of one speaker. The outcome shows that there is the utilization of sociolinguistics characteristics to portray the images of Blacks and Whites. Racism depicts itself as one of the hitches to interaction of people from different communities and should be discouraged. The objective of the observation is essential in the field of sociolinguistic. The article’s strengths are such as examples of speeches that the author has provided in order to explain the key issue on discussion. For example, Delilah’s story about ‘Unexpected and Unorthodox fight”, shows how fluent Delilah is, in using the morphosyntatic features of AAVE (Sweetland, 521). In addition, Delilah’s conversation with her white friends about their mutual pal D’andre is useful in differentiating the use of AAVE features by the blacks from the whites. The weaknesses found in this article are the use of limited research through observation instead of exploring from different methods such as use of questionnaires and experiments. I would recommend that the approaches of assessing information should be enhanced by using a variety of them to obtain sufficient information. Works Cited Sweetland, Julie. Unexpected But Authentic Use of an Ethnically- Marked Dialect, 2002. Journal of Sociolinguistics. Vol. 6(4). Pp. 514-536. Read More