Inheritance and Innovation in the Evolution of Rural African American English (Elements in World Englishes) - Softcover

Bailey, Guy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1009087711 ISBN 13: 9781009087711

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2022

Synopsis

This Element uses data from the Springville Project to explore how the functions of the inherited forms invariant be (from English sources) and zero (from creolization) have transformed during the twentieth century. Originally just alternative present tense copula/auxiliary forms, both features developed into aspectual markers – invariant be to mark durativity/habituality and zero to mark nonstativity. The motivation for these innovations were both socio-cultural and linguistic. The Great Migration and its consequences provided a demographic and socio-cultural context within which linguistic innovations could develop and spread. The mismatch between form and function within the present tense copula/auxiliary system and the grammatical ambiguities that affected both invariant be and zero provided linguistic triggers for this reanalysis. When taken together, the evolution of these forms illustrates how restructured linguistic subsystems (and eventually new varieties) emerge out of the interplay between inheritance and innovation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2022
• ISBN 10: 1009087711
• ISBN 13: 9781009087711
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 82