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AN ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR DEVIATIONS IN

THE 2016 SONG LYRICS BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN SINGERS

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to obtain a Sarjana Pendidikan degree

in English Language Education

By

By

Maria Aurelia Tamara Setiawan

Student Number: 131214130

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTEMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

i

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR DEVIATIONS

IN THE 2016 SONG LYRICS BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN

SINGERS

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to obtain a Sarjana Pendidikan degree

in English Language Education

By

By


Student Number: 131214130

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTEMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018


vi

ABSTRACT

Setiawan, Maria Aurelia Tamara. (2018). An Analysis of the English Grammar

Deviations in the 2016 Song Lyrics by African-American Singers. English

Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts

Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Yogyakarta: Sanata

Dharma University.

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is one of the non-standard

varieties of English language which was created earlier by the Africans in the

period of slavery. AAVE was applied in some literary works such as poems,

novels, and song lyrics. It is still used by the youth, especially the students of the

English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) in Sanata Dharma

University who keep applying the AAVE in their academic writing in some

courses.

However, the application in the song lyrics inflicts two questions in this

research. They are: ―In what way do the 2016 song lyrics by African-American

singers show deviations from the English grammar?‖ and ―Why do the 2016 song

lyrics by African-American singers show deviations from the English grammar?‖

This research used the qualitative method and purposive sampling

because the singers whose song lyrics selected as the object were intentionally

chosen. The singers chosen were the singers whose songs were popular in 2016.

Documents and content analysis is the technique used to analyze the object of this

research.

There are seven deviations found in the song lyrics and four reasons why

the deviations occurred. The findings of this research are expected to be a proper

additional information or source for the learning and teaching process of some

courses in the ELESP.

Keywords: non-standard language, deviations, African-American Vernacular

English, song lyrics, singers, 2016


vii

ABSTRAK

Setiawan, Maria Aurelia Tamara. (2018). An Analysis of the English Grammar

Deviations in the 2016 Song Lyrics by African-American Singers. Program Studi

Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. JPSB. FKIP. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) adalah salah satu jenis

bahasa Inggris non-standar yang dibuat oleh orang-orang Afrika pada masa

perbudakan. AAVE digunakan dalam beberapa karya literatur seperti puisi, novel,

dan lirik lagu. AAVE masih digunakan oleh orang-orang muda, terutama

mahasiswa Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris (PBI) di Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Mereka kerap kali menggunakan AAVE dalam tulisan akademik mereka dalam

beberapa mata kuliah.

Bagaimanapun juga, penggunaan AAVE dalam lirik lagu menimbulkan

dua pertanyaan di dalam penelitian ini. Pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut adalah:

―Dalam hal apakah lagu-lagu di tahun 2016 yang dinyanyikan oleh penyanyi

Afrika-Amerika menunjukkan penyimpangan dari tata bahasa Inggris?‖ dan

―Mengapa lagu-lagu di tahun 2016 yang dinyanyikan oleh penyanyi Afrika-

Amerika menunjukkan penyimpangan dari tata bahasa Inggris?‖

Studi ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dan pengambilan sampel secara

sengaja karena penyanyi yang liriknya dipilih sebagi objek studi dipilih secara

sengaja. Penyanyi-penyanyi yang dipilih adalah penyanyi yang lagu-lagunya

populer di tahun 2016. Analisis dokumen dan isi adalah teknik yang digunakan

dalam studi ini untuk menganalisa objek dari studi ini.

Ada tujuh penyimpangan dan empat alasan mengapa penyimpangan-

penyimpangan tersebut muncul. Temuan dari studi ini diharapkan menjadi sebuah

tambahan informasi yang layak atau sumber bagi proses belajar mengajar pada

beberapa mata kuliah di PBI.

Kata kunci: non-standard language, deviations, African-American Vernacular

English, song lyrics, singers, 2016


viii

“There is surely a future hope for

you, and your hope

will not be cut off.”

-Proverbs 23:18

“If there is no struggle,

there is no process.”

-Frederick Douglass

“Never stop fighting no matter what

anyone says. If it’s in your gut,

your soul, there’s nothing,

no worldly possession

that should come between you

and your expression.”

-Kanye West

I dedicated this Thesis to:

My Dad, Fransiscus Doddy Setiawan

my Mom, Hilda Beatrix Motoh

my Grandma, Leny Hedwig Motoh

my Grandpa, Jacobus Motoh

my beloved sisters, Glady and Dinda

and myself.


ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to offer whole of my praise to the the great Jesus

Christ for His amazing love and guidance and to Our Lady of Perpetual Help,

Holy Mary who everlastingly conveys my prayers to Jesus. Because of the love,

I could get through the process of writing this thesis and finish it as well.

Secondly, I want to give my gratitude for Drs. Concilianus Laos Mbato,

M. A., Ed. D for being such a great advisor. His understanding, guidance and

suggestions help me faced and solved my problems in writing this thesis.

I would also express my gratitude to the greatest man ever lived, my Dad,

Fransiscus Doddy Setiawan who supports me in every condition, gives the best

for me, and who always believes that I can make him proud. A big thanks to my

Mom, Hilda Beatrix Motoh for her love, support and never-ending care to me.

Although sometimes we are involved in a dispute, but I always admire her

amazing love and patience to me. I also would like to thank my compassionate

Grandma, Leny Hedwig, for the endless support and care although sometimes I

forget to make a phone call with her. Special thanks for my Grandpa, Jacobus, for

his prayer and love from heaven, also for my beautiful and beloved sisters, Glady

and Dinda for their care and support to me.

Next, I would like to thank Deviona and Kartika who always support me

no matter what and listen to all of my complains. Big thanks for my friends Kak

Helen, Pater Paul, Suster Viannet, Fennie, Astri, Shinta, Bertha, Rika, Ovi,


x

Ece, Yesti, Devi, Merry, Mbak Agra, Berto, Ian, Mas Fabri, Dennis, Bianca,

Kak Ardy, Kak Igen, kak Rere, kak Dece, kak Dadi, kak Astrina, Mas Aris,

kak Itto, kak Vany, kak Andy, Vania, and Oma Toar for all the support and

care while I was writing this thesis.

I would like to thank Ernest Makatita for his love, advice, and care in the

process of writing this thesis. I can not get through all the obstacles without his

wisdom. Thank you for making me realize that everything has its time and never

tired to remind me to keep checking this thesis so I will not forget the content.

The last, I thank everyone whom I cannot mention one by one who supported me

in the completion of my thesis.



xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGES .............................................................................................. ii

STATEMENT OF WORK‘S ORIGINALITY ...................................................... iv

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ........................................................ v

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... vi

ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... xi

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES ....................................................................................... xv

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background ......................................................................... 1

1.2 Research Questions ............................................................................ 4

1.3 Research Significance ........................................................................ 4

1.4 Definition of Terms ............................................................................ 5

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Theoretical Description ...................................................................... 6

2.1.1 African-American Vernacular English is Substandard English .... 6

2.1.2 AAVE Characteristics/Features ..................................................... 8

2.1.3 The Application of AAVE in Literary Works and Songs ........... 11

2.1.4 The Language Identity ................................................................. 13

2.1.5 Sociological Theories .................................................................. 14

2.1.6 Rapper = Singer ........................................................................... 18

2.2 Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 19


xii

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Method .............................................................................. 21

3.2 Research Setting ............................................................................... 22

3.3 Data Source ...................................................................................... 22

3.4 Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ..................... 23

3.5 Data Analysis Technique .................................................................. 24

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 The Way 2016 Song Lyrics by African-American Singers Show

Deviations From The English Grammar ................................................ 26

4.1.1 Special uses of be and be omission ............................................. 26

4.1.2 Double negatives ......................................................................... 29

4.1.3 Verbal –s absence ........................................................................ 32

4.1.4 The use of I‟mma and gonna or gon‟ .......................................... 33

4.1.5 The use of ain‟t ............................................................................ 35

4.1.6 The use of finna ........................................................................... 38

4.1.7 The use of been ............................................................................ 39

4.2 The Reasons Why 2016 Song Lyrics by African-American Singers

Show Deviations from the English Grammar ........................................ 40

4.2.1 African-American people want to recall the period of slavery

years ago ............................................................................................... 42

4.2.2 African-American people want to state themselves as the real

Africans who use English ..................................................................... 44

4.2.3 African-American people want to show that their language is

systematic and rule-governed ............................................................... 45

4.2.4 African-American people want their language to be approved

as the other English language varieties ................................................ 47

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusions ...................................................................................... 49

5.2 Implications ...................................................................................... 51

5.3 Recommendations ............................................................................ 51


xiii

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 52

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................... 56


xiv

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

Table 2.1 Features of AAVE by Rickford (1999) .......................................... 11

Table 2.2 Use of selected AAVE features in Detroit, by social class by

Wolfram (1969) ............................................................................... 17


Wolfram (1969) ............................................................................... 48


xv

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

Appendix A Twitter status screenshot and photo ............................................ 56


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presented the background information about the reasons why

the researcher conducts this research. There are four aspects namely, research

background, research questions, research significance, and definition of terms.

1.1 Research Background

There are many kinds of the English language variation. Wardhaugh (2006)

noted that ―ethnic variation can be seen in the United States, where one variety of

English has become so identified with an ethnic group that it is often referred to as

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)‖ (p. 50).

African-American Vernacular English is a language created earlier by the

Africans. It was happened when they were in the period of slavery in around

1650s (Healy & Vere-Hodge, 1967, p. 17). Africa was colonized by Britain at the

time and the Africans became their slaves. The Africans who became slaves had

difficulty in having a communication with their masters. Therefore, they tried to

absorb the language used by their masters and with the limited understanding of it,

they created their own language so that they can have an immediate and limited

communication with their masters. As time goes by, the language then got a name

and it is called AAVE or African-American Vernacular English.


2

The African-American English has already adapted into some literary

works. One of the examples is in Tyrone Williams‘ book (2009) titled African-

American Literature (Masterplots II). Moreover, the language also has been

applied to some songs which are sung by African-American singers until now.

The adopted language can be found in the song lyrics they have created.

African-American singers and rappers are famous nowadays. The songs

from singers or rappers like Wiz Khalifa, Drake, Rihanna, Chris Brown and Lil

Wayne have been booming worldwide. Their songs contain lyrics that can be both

beautiful and sarcastic. Somehow, the lyrics they sang are formed by English

grammar which is deviated. They use the language which is created by their

people in the period of the colonialization. Singers and rappers such as Kanye

West, Akon, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, and Wiz Khalifa are the examples of the

African-American singers and rappers. Their parents‘ origin is African but they

were born and raised in America. However, in April 2009, Minority Rights Group

showed the African Americans existence in the United States of America. They

are the second largest minority group and now called ‗black‘ Americans or

(evoking solidarity with other non-white minorities around the world) ‗people of

color', they are mainly descendants of slaves brought from Africa between the

seventeenth and nineteenth centuries (Minority Rights Group, 2015, para. 1).

Being a minority makes them pour the criticsm both explicitly or implicitly to the

African American Literature (see Eversley, 2004, p. xiii) and in the work of song

lyrics that they have made. I saw that there are many students who love to sing

English songs, especially the songs which are the new-release songs. Most of the


3

songs are from the African-American singer. They keep singing the lyrics and I

wonder why the lyrics sound like they are not included as the appropriate English

grammar which I have learnt from the grammar rules in Structure class in Sanata

Dharma University. For example, Backstreet Boys‘ song titled Shape of My Heart

show the lyrics ―Got nothing to hide no more". In the Standard English (SE), we

should change it into "Got nothing to hide anymore‖. In SE, when we use negative

words such as nobody, never or nothing, we do not commonly use a negative

verb, e.g. It was 10 am but there was nobody in the office, not: It was 10 am but

there wasn’t nobody in the office. Besides, when I was teaching Paragraph

Writing to the lower batch for Micro Teaching course, some students were using

the sentence from the song lyrics they have ever heard. In fact, from the

information told by some lecturers in English Language Study Program of Sanata

Dharma University, those kinds of writings are irrelevant to an academic writing.

It is because the language which is found in the lyrics is not included in

standardized English that we have learned. In 2002, Green said, ―Although

sentences with the verbal marker be adhere to rules of AAE, they are not

acceptable as school or professional language‖ (p. 35).

The reason I chose this topic for my research is that I like to learn the

English language that appeared in the other form of the British English and

American English, for example African-American English, Australian English,

etc. That is why I did a research on the African-American English that used in the

African-American song lyrics, especially the songs released in 2016.


4

This research discussed the language used by the African-American singers

and the reasons they use certain kind of language in their song lyrics. This

research also found out whether the lyrics were created just to express the singers

themselves or to deliver the message about how they recall the period of the

slavery in Africa a long time ago. This research analyzed and elaborated any

sociological reason of the song lyrics the African-American singer created and

any opposition they want to state through their song lyrics.

1.2 Research Questions

According to the argument in the background, some questions are

formulated:

1. In what way do the 2016 song lyrics by African-American singers

show deviations from the English grammar?

2. Why do the 2016 song lyrics by African-American singers show

deviations from the English grammar?

1.3 Research Significance

This research focused on analyzing the 2016 song lyrics by African-

American singers and showed whether the lyrics have some reasons why they

were deviated from the English grammar that has been established.

I expected this research to be a useful thing to my friends in Sanata Dharma

to see the reason why African-American singers have their lyrics deviated from


5

the appropriate English grammar. I hope this research will be useful in the

Sociolinguistics class or the other classes.

For the Sociolinguistics class, this research will help to give an explanation

about the deviations of the English grammar found in the song lyrics. In some

Writing courses (Basic Writing class, Paragraph Writing class, etc), when the

students are about to write an academic writing, this research can be a useful

information to the students who write their writing based on what they have heard

in the rap songs or African-American song lyrics which are recently released.

Through this research, I hope that the lecturers of Sanata Dharma will be

able to see that there are still some deviations found in the song lyrics of 2016

which were created by African-American singers. I also hope that there will be the

explanation for the students of English Language Education Study Program

(ELESP) of Sanata Dharma University about what are the reasons behind the

deviations.

1.4 Definition of Terms

There are some terms used in this research. They are:

1. Vernacular: language spoken by a particular group. In this research,

vernacular means the language spoken by the African-American people.

2. Deviations: something that turns away from what is usual or accepted. In

this research, deviations means the signs of the AAVE which are

irrelevant to the standardized English.


6

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter provided the theories related to this research. There are two

major parts provided in this chapter. The first part is theoretical description and

the second part is theoretical framework. In the theoretical description, the

researcher explained some theories related to African-American Vernacular

English (AAVE), Sociolinguistics, and singers. In the theoretical framework, the

researcher summarized and related the theories to answer the research questions.

2.1 Theoretical Description

This part talked about the theories used to be the source of this thesis. The

sources are used to answer the research questions provided in Chapter I. This part

contains six theories which will be elaborated below.

2.1.1 African-American Vernacular English is Substandard English

There are some popular names created by people to call the AAVE.

Linguists have referred to this variety of speech as Black English, Black

Vernacular English, and Afro-American Vernacular English. Today, the most-

used term is African American Vernacular English (AAVE) but Ebonics (a blend

of Ebony and phonics) has also recently achieved a certain currency (Wardhaugh,


7

2006, p. 342). There is also another abbreviation for AAVE which is AAE that

stands for African American English.

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) seems to be the language

that is bad (see Wheeler, 1999) because of the characteristics that contrast with the

English rules that have been established. Some people considered AAVE as the

―bad English‖. Wardhaugh (2006) has explained earlier about the definition of

bad English.

A common view of a pidginized variety of a language, for example,

Nigerian Pidgin English, is that it is some kind of ‗bad‘ English, that is,

English imperfectly learned and therefore of no possible interest.

Consequently, those who speak a pidgin are likely to be regarded as

deficient in some way, almost certainly socially and culturally, and

sometimes even cognitively (p. 62).

Both whites and blacks, regard any characteristics which seem to mark the

speech of US blacks as being instances of either ‗southern‘ speech or ‗lower-

class‘ speech. In other words, AAVE is now regarded as either a regional or social

variant of the standard language (Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 83).

Vaughn-Cooke (2007) noted that public has linguistically judged that

―Ebonics is inferior and unfit for classroom use, and that the children who speak it

have limited intelligence‖ (p. 255). Based on the characteristics which will be

explained in the next section, AAVE has considered as substandard English. The

AAVE language has deviated from the standardized English that people have

known. However, AAVE is actually systematic and has its own rules. Vaughn-

Cooke explained it in Lessons Learned from the Ebonics Controversy in

Sociolinguistics Variation: Theories, Methods, and Applications (2007) which is

edited by Robert Bayley and Ceil Lucas.


8

During the Ebonics debate, a simple but fundamental fact about Ebonics –

that it is systematic and rule-governed like all languages of the world – was

repeated on national and local television and on radio shows and in the print

media by some of the most respected linguistic scholars and language

specialists in the world. Yet a startling number of highly educated,

intelligent, and talented people with a high level of awareness about

language refused to accept this fact. (p. 261).

There are some works by linguists that shows AAVE which has considered

as substandard English affected teachers‘ behavior and attitudes toward the child

who speaks AAVE. They had proven this statement through the practices and

strategies they have done in a classroom. The responses to early work on AAE by

linguists such as Beryl Bailey, Ralph Fasold, William Labov, Claudia Mitchell-

Kernan and William Stewart ranged from labels such as bad English to a socially

unacceptable way of speaking that prevented African Americans from competing

in mainstream America (Green, 2002).

2.1.2 AAVE Characteristics/Features

Every language has their characteristics which differentiate each of them.

For example the grammar, the intonation, etc. AAVE also has the characteristics

which make it unique. AAVE has certain phonological, morphological, and

syntactic characteristics.

Words like thing and this may be pronounced as ting and dis. ... Cold may

show loss of the final d (col‟) or even loss of both l and d (co‟), because l

after a vowel is often deleted. The result may be that bold and bowl become

homophonous with bow. Vowels may be nasalized and nasal consonants

lost: run and end may just be in the first case an r followed by a nasalized

vowel and in the second case a simple nasalized vowel with no

pronunciation at all of the final nd (Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 342).


9

Syntactically, AAVE has an obvious characteristic which is the special uses

and the omission of be. Green (2002) noted that this kind of character is ―very

common and has been used to show how AAE differs from other varieties of

English‖ (p. 35). The elaboration about this will be explained in chapter IV in this

research. Chapter IV will be talking about the way African American song lyrics

show deviation from the standardized English.

AAVE uses ain‟t frequently as well. For example, ‗if I ain‟t got you‟

(appears in the song If I Ain‟t Got You by Alicia Keys in 2004). Ain‟t is the

negative form of all „be‟s . In 2002, Green stated, ―Ain‟t is the negator in other

contexts, so whereas it may be used in present perfect paradigms, it is not used

solely in that context‖ (p. 39). The use of ain‟t also indicate the past context. For

example, ‗He ain‟t ate‟ which means ‗He didn‟t eat‟.

The process until AAVE created was through the pidginization and

creolization. Pidginization is the process of a pidgin forming. A pidgin is a

language with no native speakers: it is no one‘s first language but is a contact

language (Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 61). While creolization is the process of a creole

forming and a creole is often defined as a pidgin that has become the first

language of a new generation of speakers (Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 63).

Pidginization covers up most characteristics of AAVE. According to

Wardhaugh (2006), pidginization generally involves some kind of ‗simplification‘

of a language, e.g., reduction in morphology (word structure) and syntax

(grammatical structure), tolerance of considerable phonological variation

(pronunciation), reduction in the number of functions for which the pidgin is used


10

(e.g., you usually do not attempt to write novels in a pidgin), and extensive

borrowing of words from local mother tongues (p. 63).

There are also the features of AAVE which put forward by Rickford (1999).

The features were put in two tables; table 1.1 identifies the main distinctive

phonological features of AAVE, and table 1.2 the main distinctive grammatical

features of AAVE (pp. 4-9). However, this research will only focus on the

grammar of the AAVE. Therefore, this part will only show the shotened table of

the main distinctive grammatical features of AAVE and take some parts to be the

comparison to the grammar in the song lyrics that have been analyzed.

Table 1.2 Distinctive grammatical (morphological and syntactic)

features of AAVE

19 Pre-verbal markers of tense, mood, and aspect

19a Absence of copula/auxiliary is and are for present tense states and

actions, as in ―He Ø tall‖ for SE ―He‘s tall‖ or ―They Ø running‖ for

SE ―They are running.‖ (see Labov 1969 and Rickford et al. 1988,

reprinted in this volume.)

19b Use of invariant be (sometimes bees) for habitual aspect, as in ―He be

walkin‖ (usually, regularly, versus ―He Ø walkin‖ right now) for SE

―He is usually walking/usually walks.‖ Used with auxiliary do in

questions, negatives, and tag questions, as in ―Do he be walking every

day?‖ or ―She don‟t be sick, do she?‖ (Fasold 1972: 150-84, Dayton

1996, Green 1998).

19e Use of unstressed been or bin for SE ―has/have been‖ (present

perfects), as in ―He been sick‖ for ―He has been sick.‖ Unlike stressed

BIN, unstressed been can co-occur with time adverbials (e.g. ―since

last week‖), and does not connote remoteness (Rickford 1975).

19f Use of stressed BIN to mark remote phase (that the action happened or

the state came into being long ago) as in ―She BIN married‖ for SE

―She has been married for a long time (and still is),‖ or ―He BIN ate

it‖ for SE ―He ate it a long time ago‖ (Rickford 1975, Baugh 1983:

80-2).


11

Continued

19i Use of finna (sometimes fitna, derived from ―fixin‘ to‖) to mark the

immediate future, as in ―He finna go‖ for SE ―He‘s about to go.‖

20 Other aspects of verbal tense marking

20a Absence of third person singular present tense –s, as in ―He walkØ‖

for SE ―He walks.‖ The use of don‟t instead of ―doesn‘t‖ as in ―He

don‟t sing‖ or have instead of ―has‖, as in ―She have it‖ is related,

since ―doesn‘t‖ and ―hasn‘t‖ include 3rd singular –s (Fasold 1972:

121-49).

22 Negation

22a Use of ain‟(t) as a general preverbal negator, for SE ―am not,‖ ―isn‘t,‖

―aren‘t,‖ ―hasn‘t,‖ ―haven‘t,‖ and ―didn‘t,‖ as in ―He ain‟ here‖ for SE

―He isn‘t here,‖ or ―He ain‟ do it‖ for SE ―He didn‘t do it.‖

22b Multiple negation or negative concord (that is, negating the auxiliary

verb and all indefinite pronouns in the sentence), as in ―He don‟ do

nothin‖ for SE ―He doesn‘t do anything‖ (Labov 1972a, 1972c; 130-

96).

22c Negative inversion (inversion of the auxiliary and indefinite pronoun

subject), as in ―Can‟t nobody say nothin‖ or ―Ain‟t nobody home‖

from ―Nobody ain‘t home‖ for SE ―Nobody is home‖ (Sells, Rickford

and Wasow 1996a, b).

22d Use of ain‟t but and don‟t but for ―only,‖ as in ―He ain‘t but fourteen

years old‖ for SE ―He‘s only fourteen years old‖ or ―They didn‘t take

but three dollars‖ for ―They only took three dollars‖ (Wolfram et al.

1993: 14).

Table 2.1 Features of AAVE by Rickford (1999)

2.1.3 The Application of AAVE in Literary Works and Songs

AAVE was created by the Africans earlier in the period of slavery.

However, the language is still applied in some literary works such as novels,

poems, and in some song lyrics as well. There were people called the SNCC

Freedom Singers. They were found by Bernice Johnson Reagon who once


12

referred to the Freedom Singers as ‗a singing newspaper‘. To borrow and extend

Reagon‘s analogy, Kennedy‟s Blues can be said to feature a series of musical

―editorials‖ on the state of black America and its collective investment in the

promise of the Kennedy administration during the early 1960s. These songs offer

tremendous insights into the consciousness of a roused black community, buoyed

by a new sense of self-respect and determined to confront racial discrimination in

every aspect of American life (van Rijn, 2007, p. x).

AAVE, as in novels has its own way to deliver the message attached to the

stories to the reader. Some novelists tried to tell something which is cultivated to

be as invisible as possible. Graham (2004) believes that the AAVE novel

continues to serve both an ideological and a social purpose, affirming the need to

reflect lived reality across class and gender lines, attending to its own

improvisational nature, embracing and resisting the past, deepening our sense of

who and what it means to be black in a postmodern, postcolonial world, and

demanding all the while to be seen as art (p. 7).

Moreover, AAVE is also applied in some poems or words by famous

people. In those kinds of literary works, they poured their critics against the

inequity they experienced. Eversley in 2004 stated about the critics in the African

American literature.

Many African American critics have implicitly and explicitly confirmed the

idea of racial authenticity as a measure of black literary and cultural

achievement. In his discussion of music and Afro-American literature,

Houston A. Baker, Jr., for example, describes the blues as a vernacular

tradition that distinguishes a ―black‖ tradition from a ―white‖ idea of

America. (Eversley, 2004, pp. xii-xiii)


13

Intra-group variation in use of AAE phonological features is evident within

the sample; participants also vary with regard to their adoption of other semiotic

practices linked to African American ethnicity (Sonya Fix, 2014). This statement

could be an evidence why African-American English is still famous and still

applied in the songs.

2.1.4 The Language Identity

The identity we talk about here is the identity of a person who used the

language, especially the second language or foreign language, both to show or

cover their identity (e.g. their originality and tribe). A promising research about

the interlanguage pragmatics of the second language learner or SLL done by

David Block, in his book titled The Social Turn in Second Language Acquisition

(2003), focuses not only on the aspects of language as grammatical system, but on

the sociocultural context and identity issues as well. He provided some other

researchers to support his argument in his book Second Language Identities which

was published in 2007. One of the examples is in the ―work of Julie Belz (2002)

who explores the hypothesis that ‗multilingual lang uage play (i.e. language play

that involves hybridizations or combinations of L1 and TL) may function as a

textual indication of changes in learner self-conceptualizations‘‖ (as cited in

Block, 2007, p. 120). A text entitled ‗meine Sprache‘ (‗my Language‘) from a

student who studied German for five semesters said “..knowing German makes

everything even better! What I do without German? I wouldn‟t be able to speak

my language. I couldn‟t express myself for real, precisely..” According to Block,


14

―..these students can be said to have developed a new subject position and a new

discourse of self-expression‖ (p. 122).

‗Identity‘ refers to an understanding of who we are and where we stand in

relation to other people. This could deduced the findings of Sung‘s research in

2013. Sung interviewed 15 participants from Hong Kong and categorized the

Hong Kongnese into two groups; Hong Kong identity with a local accent and

Hong Kong identity with a native or near-native accent. The Hong Kongnese with

a local accent tends to display their Hong Kong identity through the use of a

unique local accent. Juno, one of the participants of Sung‘s research said, ―when I

speak English, I hope other people can identify me as a Hong Kong person.‖

However, the other participants who categorized as the Hong Kongnese with a

native or near-native accent identified themselves primarily as global citizens and

indicated their preference to background their local identities in English as a

Lingua Franca (ELF) settings. They want to express their desire to free themselves

from the constraints of their Hong Kong identity.

This research found out in what category the African-American singers and

rappers should be placed according to the theory of language identity. The placing

was based on how they interpret the second language and how the language

applied in their daily life.

2.1.5 Sociological Theories

There are some connections between sociolinguistics and sociology.

William Labov, a sociolinguist, hoped that they as the sociolinguists ―will take


15

more advantage of their (sociologists‘) skill in the future‖ (as cited in Mallinson in

Language and Linguistics Compass, p. 1035). This section will discuss how the

sociological theories are connected with the AAVE as a language which is

deviated from the standardized English. The theories are structural functionalism

or simply called functionalism, critical, and the symbolic interactionism.

David Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) was a French sociologist who

developed a sociology theory called the functionalism. Macionis and Gerber

(2010) suggested that functionalism is a framework for building theory that sees

society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and

stability (p. 14). Functionalism is adhered by a group of people who live as parts

of a majority in a place. A certain place is dominated by them. They lived

following some things that are standardized, as noted by Durkheim (1993),

―functional theorists tended to assume that values were basically constant and

therefore equally problematic‖ (p. 13). Functionalism is structured of elements,

such as customs, norms, institutions, and traditions. Vaughn-Cooke suggested the

13 Lessons Learned from the Ebonics Controversy which can tell that the people

of United States, in this case, is the people of the majority and therefore are the

functional theorists.

The next sociology theory is called the critical. This theory was developed

by Karl Marx (1818-1883), a Prussian-born sociologist. According to Geuss

(1981), ―Critical theory maintains that ideology is the principal obstacle to human

liberation‖. Critical theory is a normative approach that is based on the judgment

that domination is a problem, that a domination-free society is needed (Fuchs,


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_systems

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology

16

2015). These statements explained about the position of African American people

and the Africans earlier that they are the community which being oppressed. The

language they used is never considered systematic and rule-governed (Vaughn-

Cooke, 2007). It happened because the people of United States have their rule of

language or we usually called standardized English which makes the AAVE or

Ebonics seems deviated.

There is also a theory called symbolic interactionism. In 2007, Hall noted

that symbolic interactionism is an American theory that develops from practical

considerations and that alludes to people‘s particular utilization of dialect to make

images, normal implications, for deduction and correspondence with others. This

theory was developed earlier by George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) who was an

American sociologist. According to this theory, people inhabit the world that is in

large part socially constructed; however, the meaning of objects, events, and

behaviors comes from the interpretation others tell and may vary to one another

(―Symbolic Interactionism,‖ n.d., para. 1). This theory shows that people who are

the symbolic interactionism theorists are people who behaved based on what they

believe and not just on what is objectively true. Crossman (2017) had described an

example of how those things above are connected with the problem of race, in this

case, the argument between the black people (Africa as their origin) and African-

American people (Africans who born and raised in America).

One shocking example of how this theoretical concept plays out within the

social construct of race is manifested in the fact that many people,

regardless of race, believe that lighter skinned blacks and Latinos are

smarter than their darker skinned counterparts. This phenomenon occurs

because of the racist stereotype—the meaning—that has been encoded in

skin color—the symbol—over centuries.


17

Wolfram‘s (1969) study in Detroit (as cited in Rickford‘s African American

Vernacular English in 1999) according to the social class can also support this

research to relate between the sociology things and the matter of AAVE as a

language. The study informed about the class stratification in AAVE. The table

will be a reference for the discussion in Chapter IV. It will be used as a proof that

the language use is related to the social life of the people living in a city or even a

country.

Table 1.3 Use of selected AAVE features in Detroit, by social class

FEATURE LWC UWC LMC UMC

Consonant cluster simplification NOT in past

tense (60)

84% 79% 66% 51%

Voiceless th [θ] → f, t or Ø (84) 71% 59% 17% 12%

Multiple negation (156) 78% 55% 12% 8%

Absence of copula/auxiliary is, are

(169)

57% 37% 11% 5%

Absence of third person present tense –s

(136)

71% 57% 10% 1%

Absence of possessive –s (141) 27% 25% 6% 0%

Absence of plural –s (143) 6% 4% 1% 0%

Notes: LWC = lower working-class (e.g. laborers and other unskilled workers),

UWC = upper working-class (e.g. carpenters and other skilled workers), LMC =

lower middle-class (e.g. high school teachers and many white collar workers),

UMC = upper middle-class (e.g. lawyers and doctors). Numbers represent mean

percentages of use in recordings with 12 individuals from each class.

Source: Wolfram, 1969


Wolfram (1969)


18

The table above will be a reference for the discussion in Chapter IV. It will

be used as a proof that the language use is related to the social life of the people

living in a city or even a country.

2.1.6 Rapper = Singer

Sing is making musical sounds with the voice, especially words with a set

tune. When we are singing, we are delivering something in a secret language that

people unconsciously understand (Marek, 2007, p. xix). A person who sings is a

singer. A singer sings along with the musical tune as the background. Adele,

Celine Dion, and Jason Mraz are the examples of a solo singer. One Direction,

Backstreet Boys, and Westlife are the examples of the group of singers who

performed together in a show.

Moreover, there is a familiar term when we are talking about singers. It is

rapper. A rapper refers to a performer who ―raps‖. Rap is a type of popular music

of US black origin in which words are recited rapidly and rhythmically over an

instrumental backing. Rapping is a musical form of vocal delivery that

incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular", which is performed

or chanted in a variety of ways, usually over a backbeat or musical

accompaniment (Keyes, 2004, p. 1). Stylistically, rap occupies a gray area

between speech, prose, poetry, and singing.

Krims (2000) stated that singing was something other than the bracketed,

historicizing sampling technique so commonly used to frame soul style in much

rap music (p. 148). This could make the relation between singing and rapping.


19

Rapping is singing because we have to develop vocal presence, enunciation, and

breath control in order to successfully deliver a rap. A singer should pay attention

to the breath control (see Lehmann, 1930, pp. 104-106), the tones (see Surmani,

1995, p. 40), and the articulation (see Howard, 2006, p. 33), just like a rapper

should do. So rappers are singers, considered the similarity they have.

2.2 Theoretical Framework

This sub-chapter consists of all the theories which are related to analyze the

English grammar deviations in the 2016 song lyrics by African-American singers.

The researcher wants to find out the way 2016 song lyrics show the deviations of

Standard English grammar and why are the deviations occurred. The researcher

gives explanation of the theoretical framework used in the research as follows in

order to show the contribution of each theory in the theoretical description part.

The researcher employs theory of African-American Vernacular English

(AAVE) to show the grammar uses which are not suitable with the Standard

English. AAVE seems to be the language that is bad (see Wheeler, 1999) because

of the characteristics that contrast with the English rules that have been

established. However, we can find AAVE in literary works such as poems and

novels. Besides, AAVE can be found in song lyrics, especially the popular songs

in 2016.


20

In addition, the researcher uses a theory of language identity which will

answer the questions about why the deviations occurred. ‗Identity‘ refers to an

understanding of who we are and where we stand in relation to other people.

The researcher uses the theory of sociology as well. There are three

sociological theories; the first is functionalism which is developed by David

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), critical by Karl Marx (1818-1883), and symbolic

interactionism by George Herbert Mead (1863-1931). These theories will help to

answer the research question; why the 2016 song lyrics show deviations from the

English grammar.


21

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter provided the methodology of this research. It presented the

description of research method, research setting, data source, instruments and data

gathering techniques, and data analysis technique.

3.1 Research Method

The researcher used the qualitative method for this research. According to

Clissett, (2008, p. 100) qualitative research covers a wide range of approaches for

the exploration of "human experience, perceptions, motivations and behaviors"

and is concerned with the collection and analysis of words whether in the form of

speech or writing. In addition, Leedy and Ormrod (2005) believe that the

qualitative research method is used in the following conditions; (a) when there is

rarely any information available about the topic, (b) when the researcher‘s

variables are unclear and unknown, and (c) when a relevant theory base is missing

in any sense. According to Jefferies (2005), the qualitative researcher tries to

understand the overall environment and ultimately help others gain a better

understanding of how the involved participants are seeing what is really going on

in that specific situation on a day to day living.


22

3.2 Research Setting

This research was conducted in 2016 when the researcher analyzed the song

lyrics by African-American singers. This research also used the billboard.com that

became the source to see the 2016 songs which are able to be analyzed.

3.3 Data Source

The source which is used to get the data in this research is these songs in the

list below. The data is the song lyrics from the 2016 songs that performed by

African-American singers which lyrics contain the deviations of the English

grammar. There are 17 songs which lyrics were analyzed. The songs are:

1. Back To Sleep by Chris Brown

2. Broccoli by D.R.A.M and Lil Yachty

3. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul

4. Don‟t by Bryson Tiller

5. Don‟t Mind by Kent Jones

6. Down In The DM (remix) by Yo Gotti and Nicki Minaj

7. Famous by Kanye West featuring Rihanna and Swizz Beatz

8. Hotline Bling by Drake

9. LUV by Tory Lanez

10. My House by Flo Rida

11. Panda by Desiigner

12. Say It by Tory Lanez

13. Sorry by Beyonce


23

14. Sucker For Pain by Imagine Dragons, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, Logic,

Ty Dolla Sign and X Ambassadors

15. Watch Me by Silento

16. Work by Rihanna featuring Drake

17. Work From Home by Fifth Harmony featuring Ty Dolla Sign

This research used the purposive sampling because there will be some

singers that are purposively selected. The singers created the songs which lyrics

will become the object to be analyzed. Purposive sampling is a non-probability

sampling method and it occurs when ―elements selected for the sample are chosen

by the judgment of the researcher; researchers often believe that they can obtain a

representative sample by using a sound judgment, which will result in saving time

and money‖ (Black, 2010).

3.4 Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique

I collected the data using the documents and content analysis techniques.

Tavakoli (2012) explained that document analysis can be written or text based

artifacts (textbooks, novels, journals, meeting minutes, logs, announcements,

policy statements, newspapers, transcripts, birth certificates, marriage records,

budgets, letters, e-mail messages, etc.) or of nonwritten records (photographs,

audiotapes, videotapes, computer images, websites, musical performances,

televised political speeches, virtual world settings, etc.). In this thesis, the

researcher analyzed the data of music lyrics, especially the song lyrics by African-


24

American singers or rappers. However, whatever the meaning derived from the

data, the qualitative researcher does not make any attempt to control their subject.

I used the data and content of the 2016 songs by and the interview with

Akon (one of the African-American singers) that I found on Youtube. The songs

chosen are performed by the singers whose songs are included in the 100 top

songs on billboard.com. The interview showed Akon‘s feeling of being a part of

minority in a place of majority. Such sources gave the researcher the information

about the reasons behind the deviated English grammar found in their song lyrics.

3.5 Data Analysis Technique

The researcher used the song lyrics of 2016, especially songs which were

sung by African-American singers. From the information from wikipedia, the

researcher found out some singers and rappers whose songs were popular in 2016

are African Americans. They are Rihanna, Desiigner, Flo Rida, Drake,

D.R.A.M., Lil Yachty, Bryson Tiller, Kent Jones, X Ambassadors, Wiz

Khalifa, Lil Wayne, Logic, Ty Dolla $ign, Nicki Minaj, Yo Gotti, Tory Lanez,

Beyonce, Silento, Chris Brown, Sean Paul, and Kanye West. The songs from

those singers then became the songs chosen from billboard.com. Billboard.com is

the website that provides the 100 popular or top songs in the chart at a certain

year.

After listing the songs which are chosen, the researcher listened to 17 songs

purposively chosen to be analyzed. In the listening process, the researcher found

some grammatical deviations from the Standard English which has been learned


25

from the English Language Education Study Program (ELESP). Next, the

researcher analyzed the lyrics which have been listened and opened a website

called azlyrics.com which provides song lyrics. The researcher consistently used

the website to be the reference of the 2016 song lyrics.

After listening to the songs and reading the lyrics from the website, the

researcher listed the grammatical deviations that have been listened and read.

Then, the researcher decided to take some signs of deviations of the song lyrics

that most often appeared. It was done after the researcher comparing the signs

found with the list of AAVE features or characteristics in table which is suggested

by Rickford (1999). There are 7 signs of English grammar deviations found and

they will be explained in chapter IV.

Referred to the signs which have been found, the researcher analyzed the

lyrics and related them to the theories in chapter II. There was an interview with

Akon as well, which gave information about the African-American‘s life in the

land of America.


26

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter reported results and discussion of the research. The data

obtained from the song lyrics are used to answer the research question about in

what way the 2016 song lyrics by African-American singers show deviations from

the English grammar. To support the results, the researcher provided a brief

discussion about why song lyrics by African-American singers show deviations

from the English grammar. The relation between research results and theories are

also provided clearly in this chapter.

4.1 The Way 2016 Song Lyrics by African-American Singers Show

Deviations From The English Grammar

This section elaborated the signs of the deviation of (SE) Standard English

found in 2016 song lyrics by African American singers and rappers. There are 7

signs found. This research focused on the song lyrics which are sung by some

African-American singers and rappers show deviations from the English

standardized grammar, especially in the words‘ morphology.

4.1.1 Special uses of be and be omission

There are some signs of standard English deviations. One of them is be

omission and the special use of be. According to Wardhaugh (2006), AAVE has


27

special uses of be or lack of be (the zero copula), as in a contrast between ‗He

nice‘ (‗He is nice right now‘) and ‗He be nice‘ (‗He is nice sometimes‘). The

absence of be is detected in the present tense states and actions (see Labov 1969

and Rickford et al. 1988). This kind of deviation was found in the lyrics from

some singers. The lyrics within the song show the signs of standard English

deviation. Below is the explanation.

1. (a) I be Puerto Rican day parade floatin‘

(b) We never gonna die, whoo!

(c) How you feelin‘ right now?

(Kanye West, ―Famous‖)

2. (a) They be asking ‗round town who be clapping shit

(b) I be pullin‘ up stuff in the Phantom shit

(c) It dancing bigger than a Pandie

(d) We gon‘ kill the bank

(e) She doin‘ her business

(f) I be getting to the chicken

(Desiigner, ―Panda‖)

3. (a) She the bae

(b) And she down to break the rules

(c) She gon‘ go


28

(d) She finesse

(Ty Dolla Sign, ―Work From Home‖)

4. (a) Why you never alone?

(b) Why you always touching road?

(Drake, ―Hotline Bling‖)

5. (a) All these niggas clones tryna copy what I‘m on

(b) Shawty staring at my necklace ‗cause my diamonds really froze

(c) She trying to leave with me

(D.R.A.M, ―Broccoli‖)

All the lyrics which written above are showing the signs of AAE and those

are the signs of a language. However, in 2002, Green said, ―Although sentences

with the verbal marker be adhere to rules of AAE, they are not acceptable as

school or professional language‖ (p. 35). From the explanation above, this matter

could be a reason why African-American singers and rappers are still using the

AAE which will be explained in the second part.

Points 1 (a) and 2 (a), (b), (f) are showing the signs of the AAVE

characteristic which is the special use of be. The word be above will be replaced

by is, are, was, or were according to the rule of standardized English. In an article

in The New Yorker, Louis Menand explains that be is used ―to indicate a habitual


29

condition, as in ‗Johnny be good,‘ meaning ‗Johnny is a good person‘‖ (p.5) (see

Green, 2002, p. 35).

The rest, which are the points number 1 (c), (d), 2 (c), (d), (f), 3 (a), (b), (c),

(d), 4 (a), (b), and 5 (a), (b), (c) are the examples of the omission of be or the

absence of the copula. The absence of copula is the most identifiable feature of

AAVE. Although the copula absence is occurred in other American dialects, no

dialects have a high rate of the absence of is like what we found in AAVE (Fasold

et al, 1970).

4.1.2 Double negatives

One of the characteristics of AAVE is the double negatives. Up to the 18th

century, double negatives were used to emphasize negation (Kirby, 2009, p. 2).

The example of the use of double negatives is I don‟t need no money (from the

lyrics of Cheap Thrills performed by Sia and Sean Paul in 2016). In standardized

English, the sentence will be; I don‟t need money. However, in AAVE we will see

the two signs of negative, they are don‟t and no. We can see that ―in AAE both the

auxiliary and object can be negative‖ (Green, 2002, p. 76).

We are still able to find this AAVE characteristic in the song lyrics in 2016.

In fact, there were some song lyrics from some singers which show this kind of

deviation of standardized English, but this research will focus on the song lyrics

sung by African-American singers and rappers. Below are the lyrics from the

songs sung by African-American singers and rappers that show the double

negatives.


30

1. (a) It ain‘t nothing but pain

(b) Ain‘t got no other way so we started and finished it

(Lil Wayne (a) and Wiz Khalifa (b), ―Sucker For Pain‖)

2. (a) I ain‘t no saint

(Bryson Tiller, ―Don‘t‖)

3. (a) Ain‘t no telling what I‘m finna be on


4. (a) You don‘t need no one else

(b) You don‘t need nobody else

(Drake, ―Hotline Bling‖)

5. (a) It ain‘t no holding back

(Flo Rida, ―My House‖)

6. (a) Don‘t give that away to no one

(Rihanna, ―Work‖)

From the data above, we could see the lyrics in some songs that marked as

the lyrics contain one of the AAVE characteristics; the double negatives. In the


31

points number 1, 2, 3 and 5, we can see the word ain‟t. Ain‟t is a negator (see

Green, 2002, p. 39). Ain‟t is one of the characters of AAVE which will be

explained in the next three sections. Besides, in the points number 4 and 6, there

are two negative markers in each sentence. There are don‟t and no. Both have

roles to emphasize the negation.

From centuries ago, we have been using the double and even triple

negatives to express negation. In 2012, James Harbeck wrote a poem which has

been printed in a book Songs of Love and Grammar by James Harbeck and

Jonathan Lu. The poem stated the double negatives clearly on the title, Don‟t Tell

Me No Lies (p. 28). Don‟t is used to express the negative thing; we are not

supposed to do something (or in this case the verb) which put behind the word

don‟t. The same thing has also occurred in the use of no. No acts as the marker of

the negative sentence. However, these two negative markers were put in the same

line of a sentence since the emergence of African-American Vernacular English.

The double negatives have been a contrary to the standardized English. In

standard English, when we are about to write or say something in a negative form,

we should put one negative marker. The rule of AAVE showed the different thing.

As what have written above, the double negatives are used to emphasize negation.

The ―non-standard rule‖ itself is still used in this century. We can find it in 2016

song lyrics.


32

4.1.3 Verbal –s absence

Verbal –s absence refers to the absence of the –s suffix on present tense

verbs with third person singular subjects (see Rickford 1999: 7). According to

Azar (2002), a singular verb ends in –s (p. 12); for example, a bird sings.

However, we will see that there is a different case in the verb application of

AAVE. In AAVE, the –s is rarely used which is the contrast with what the SE

(Standard English) has ruled.

1. (a) Now Flex drop bombs when he spin it


2. (a) She ride it like a ‗63


3. (a) She feel it in her toes


4. (a) If she respond to this DM

(b) It go down in the DM

(c) But he flip a brick fast

(d) Then he put his hands in my pants

(e) Do he make more dough than the pizza shop?


33

(f) Do he dress every day like it‘s Easter Sunday?

(Nicki Minaj, ―Down In The DM‖)

As we can see in all the points above, the verbs (drop, spin, ride, feel,

respond, go, flip, and put) were put after the third person singular subjects (Flex,

he, she, and it). There is an exception for the sentences in the interrogative form in

point 4 (e) and (f). The do acts as the question word and it acts as the verb in the

question. The subjects there are he. He is one of the third person singular subjects.

Therefore, the do there should be replaced by does according to standard English.

4.1.4 The use of I‟mma and gonna or gon‟

I‟mma is the shortened version of I am going to and sometimes written as

I‟ma. Gonna or gon‟ is the shortened version of going to. This kind of words has

been used by some singers and rappers, both by African-Americans and the

Americans as well. Seymour and Roeper (1999) stated that the forms of I‟mma

and gonna are the reduced forms of I am going to. The use of these words can be

found in some lyrics in the song by African-American and American singers and

rapper. However, this section will focus only on the song lyrics sung by African-

American singer or rapper.

1. I‟mma

1.1 (a) I‘mma buy her no Celine



34

1.2 (a) I‘mma show you that where you from don‘t matter to me

(Kent Jones, ―Don‘t Mind‖)

1.3 (a) I‘mma jump from a plane or stand in front of a train

(Lil Wayne, ―Sucker For Pain‖)

2. Gonna or gon‟

2.1 (a) Gon‘ gimme that spare key

(Chris Brown, ―Back To Sleep‖)

2.2 (a) Gonna do it for me

(Silentó, ―Watch Me‖)

2.3 (a) We gon‘ live a good life

(Beyoncé, ―Sorry‖)

2.4 (a) You gon‘ have to do more than just (say it)

(b) You gon‘ have to do less when you (do it)

(Tory Lanez, ―Say It‖)

2.5 (a) We gon‘ go to war

(b) Who gon‘ try us?

(Ty Dolla Sign, ―Sucker For Pain‖)


35

2.6 (a) You gon‘ go where you supposed to go

(Kent Jones, ―Don‘t Mind‖)

2.7 (a) Gon‘ fill the bank

(b) Gon‘ drill the bank

(c) We gon‘ kill the bank

(d) Bobby gon‘ trend it


In the points number 2.1, 2.2, and 2.7 (a and b) the sentences don‘t have any

subject in front of the word gonna or gon‟. However, in the points number 2.3,

2.4, 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7 (c and d) the sentences have subjects and are followed by

gonna or gon‟. If we connect this matter to the section a (special uses of be and be

omission), those sentences above also showed another characteristic of the

AAVE, which is the omission of be. In Standard English, generally, we need to

put be or to be after the subject, as what I learned in the Structure classes in

English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The

pattern is subject + be/to be + verbing.

4.1.5 The use of ain‟t

This AAVE characteristic can be found in some speech, songs, or literature

works nowadays. Ain‟t could be the contractions of to be not, to have not, and to

do not. Chesire (1982) stated that ―the development of ain‟t for to be not and to


36

have not is a diachronic coincidence‖ (p. 53); in other words, they were

independent developments at different times. Ain‟t earlier form as amn‟t (am not)

appeared in 1618, while ain‟t as han‟t (has not/have not) appeared in the work of

English Restoration playwrights (Merriam-Webster. Inc, 1991, pp. 7-9). Besides,

ain‟t is the contractions of to do not or in the past form is didn‟t. Here is the

explanation from Howe (2005) in page 185.

Altogether, then, the regular use of ain‟t for didn‟t in modern AAVE

appears to be a recent development. More specifically, I suggest that the

dramatic rise of ain‟t usage for didn‟t was initiated by urban African

American baby boomers. For instance, Labov et al. (1968) reported that

in the sixties African American adolescents in Harlem made equal use

ain‟t and didn‟t. By contrast, adults use didn‟t primarily, and make very

little use of ain‟t‖ (p.255).

1. (a) „cause nuttin in this world ain‟t more dan what u worth

(Sean Paul, ―Cheap Thrills‖)

2. (a) It ain‘t no holding back

(Flo Rida, ―My House‖)


(b) If I ain‘t about guap I‘m gone

(c) I don‘t smoke if it ain‘t fuego


4. (a) Your dick ain‘t good enough to be stylin‘ on me

(b) I ain‘t talkin‘ pancakes


37

(c) A bunch of bad bitches, ain‘t doin the dab

(Nicki Minaj, ―Down In The DM‖)

5. (a) But it ain‘t a crime

(Tory Lanez, ―LUV‖)

6. (a) You know I know that this ain‘t right

(b) Ain't goin' act like you ain't bout

(c) My door you know ain‘t open girl


7. (a) I ain‘t sorry

(b) I ain‘t picking up

(c) I ain‘t thinking ‗bout you

(d) But I ain‘t fucking with anybody

(Beyoncé, ―Sorry‖)

8. (a) Ain‘t sorry that I woke ya

(b) I ain‘t sorry ‗bout your job

(Chris Brown, ―Back To Sleep‖)

Although ain‟t is rarely found in normal writing (especially, in this case,

academic writing), it is often used in more informal writing, such as popular song


38

lyrics. German (2011) stated that in genres such as traditional country music,

blues, rock n' roll, and hip-hop, lyrics often include non-standard features such as

ain‟t (p. 154). Ain‟t is often showed as the sign of double negation (section b), as

in points number 1, 2, and 3 (a). In points number 3 (b and c), 4 (b), 7, and 8, ain‟t

means am not. Ain‟t in the points number 1, 2, 4 (a and c), 5, and 6 (a and c)

means is not.

4.1.6 The use of finna

The earlier form of finna is fixing to. Finna (including variants fixina, fixna

and fitna) indicates that the event is imminent; it will happen in the immediate

future (Green, p. 70).

On the work of Julia Thomas and Timothy Grinsell from The University of

Chicago, we can see that finna behaves like a performative modal in AAVE,

giving rise to a proximate future interpretation (following Ninan 2005, Kaufmann

2012). However, it is formally distinct from the future marker gonna. Finna is

often paraphrased as about to. A Twitter account, @chanhoagland on July 17,

2016, posted a status which has been viral in the social media, "so my foreign

exchange student has been keeping notes of words/phrases he hears so he can

study them..." along with the pictures of the words list and her student's photo. In

the list, we can see that he wrote: "finna= about to" (see Appendix 1). Bouta as

about to occurs broadly in Northern Cities dialects among White and African

American speakers, while finna occurs only among African American speakers.


39

This is why finna becomes one of the AAVE characteristics. The lyric below

shows the use of finna in the musical works.



4.1.7 The use of been

There are two kinds of been; the stressed and the unstressed been. The

stressed use of been or BIN with a past tense form of the verb may denote a

special aspectual function that marks an activity that took place in distant past

(Wolfram, p. 120). While the unstressed been or bin in SE is ―has/have been‖ and

it is different with the stressed been because unstressed been can co-occur with

time adverbials and does not connote remoteness (see Rickford 1999: 6).

1. (a) This what they all been waitin‘ for

(b) They been waitin‘ for this shit for a long time, didn‘t they?


2. (a) Lately you say he been killing the vibe

(b) You deserve what you been missing

(Bryson Tiller, ―Don‘t‖)

3. (a) I been at it with my homies


40

(b) I been rollin‘ with my team

(c) I been riding ‗round the city with my squad

(d) We been loyal, we been fam

(e) I know I been bustin‘

(Logic, ―Sucker For Pain‖)

4. (a) But I been on it


As what I have learned in the Structure classes in the university, I found that

been need to have an antecedent which are have, has, or had, depend on the

subject and time. However, the lyrics above show the opposite. Points number 1

up to 4 don‘t enclose have, has, or had in front of been. In points 1 (a), 2 (b), 3 (a-

e) and 4, there is no time adverbials so the lyrics in those points could be

considered as the sentences using the unstressed been or bin. While the points 1

(b) and 2 (a) show the time adverbials (for a long time and lately). Therefore, they

are considered as the stressed been or BIN.

4.2 The Reasons Why 2016 Song Lyrics by African-American Singers Show

Deviations from the English Grammar

The part above explained about how 2016 song lyrics by African-American

singers show deviations from the English grammar or SE (Standard English). We

have seen the signs of AAVE characteristics which appeared in the song lyrics.


41

This part tells about the reasons why 2016 song lyrics by African-American

singers show deviations from the standardized English.

Before moving on the reasons I have found, this part will show the

controversy of Ebonics or AAVE. In 2007, A. Fay Vaughn-Cooke wrote about

Lessons learned from the Ebonics controversy: implications for language

assessment in Sociolinguistics Variation: Theories, Methods and Applications by

Robert Bayley and Ceil Lucas. There are 13 ‗lessons learned‘. They are:

1. The majority of people in the United States do not believe that all

languages are equal.

2. The majority of people believe that Ebonics and other non-standard

varieties of English are deficient.

3. Many people believe that Ebonics is only slang.

4. Many people believe that Ebonics is street language.

5. Many people believe that Ebonics speakers have limited intelligence.

6. Many people believe that listeners cannot understand Ebonics.

7. The evidence that Ebonics is systematic and rule-governed is often

rejected or ignored.

8. Many people believe that is acceptable to ridicule and to make jokes

about Ebonics and other non-standard varieties of English.

9. Many people think that the differences between Ebonics and Standard

English are minimal and can be learned without formal instruction.

10. Many people believe that federal and state funds should not be used to

pay for Standard English instruction for Ebonics speakers.

11. Many people ignore and even ridicule language experts when they

present the facts about Ebonics.

12. The intricate relationships between language and power in the United

States are hidden from most people.

13. A relatively small but persistent chorus of voices has resisted the

subordination of Ebonics for more than thirty years, and they continued

this resistance during the debate.

Some points listed above are supporting my findings. Therefore, I need to

put these ‗lessons learned‘ so the readers can compare with what the earlier

researchers have found on their works. The African-American singers somehow

represent the feelings of all African who raised or lived in America. The word


42

―African-American people‖ in the discussion below refers to African-American;

mostly the singers or rappers. Below are the reasons why 2016 song lyrics are still

using the ‗non-standard English‘ in the application of their work of songs.

4.2.1 African-American people want to recall the period of slavery years ago

“The system in America was never built for black people.., this is

my personal opinion..., because that system has never been

changed, those documents has never been altered”

- Akon, 2015

From the interview with Al-Jazeera English

The period of slavery in Africa by white people happened in around 1650s

(Healy & Vere-Hodge, 1967, p. 17). The Africans became the whites‘ slaves. In

order to have a suffice communication with their masters, the Africans tried to

learn the language they heard daily from the master. Their self-taught language is

then known as the African American Vernacular English.

This language is still used until now, especially in daily conversation,

informal writing (music), and literary works. The singers whose parents' origin is

Africa and raised in America or Europe applied the language in their musical

works. However, the language they kept using is considered deviated from the

Standard English. The people, especially who are linguistically naive, consider

that Ebonics is inferior and unfit for classroom use, and that the children who

speak it have limited intelligence (Vaughn-Cooke, 2007). In other words, people

considered the AAVE as the language for uneducated people.


43

There is a famous singer and sometimes a rapper who still active until now.

In 2016, he just released a single titled Heatwave together with a famous DJ (Disc

Jockey), Robin Schulz. He is Akon. He is an African who raised in America and

while doing his musical work, he is trying to make a better Africa as well. Akon

stated in his interview with Al-Jazeera English in 2015, ―...because there's a

paternalistic view that still exists today and this is like decades after colonialism

and so on that Africa still must be saved by the way‖. African-Americans who live

in America are still feeling the sense of slavery years ago. The large influx of

African Americans in these metropolitan areas (such as New York, Chicago,

Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and Baltimore; according to

Bailey, 2001) led to intensified racial isolation and, along with other social and

cultural ramifications of such de facto segregation, a social environment

conducive to the maintenance of ethnolinguistic differences.

There is a matter of power as well. In Vaughn-Cooke‘s 13 lessons learned

from the Ebonics controversy, in point number 12 is written: "the intricate

relationships between language and power in the United States are hidden from

most people‖. The African Americans realize that ―the domination and oppression

started during slavery and continues to this very day, although not to the same

degree‖ (see Bayley and Lucas, 2007, p. 268). The descendants of African slaves

are trying to show that they still remember the time of slavery of their ancestors.

They are making literature works or musical works to pour their thoughts through

their deviated-from-Standard-English song lyrics they were ‗intentionally' made.

Actually, pouring thoughts to the song already occurred since the time of slavery.


44

William Trotter, the Lake Company‘s overseer at the canals digging for Phelps

Lake in Washington County in 1786, said that ―at night they (the Africans) would

begin to sing their native songs‖ (see G. White & S. White, 2005, p. x).

4.2.2 African-American people want to state themselves as the real Africans who

use English

The English language has been voted as the language we use internationally.

We can see English languages applied in products, advertisements, etc. Even in

Indonesia, some local products use English to promote their products. Almost all

people in the world use English. However, there are some people who use English

nicely but still want to attach their accent. Besides, there are some people who use

English perfectly and want others to see themselves as the global people.

According to Sung‘s research in 2013, there are two groups of people

showing their identity. There are two kinds of identity discussed in the research;

local identity and global identity. The people with local identity want others to see

them as the real people from their place. For example, from Sung‘s research, a

participant said that he wants people to identify him as a Hong Kongnese when he

speaks English (p. 47). Whereas, there are people with global identity who speak

English with a native or near-native accent and do not want to make English

‗looks bad' when they use Hong Kong accent in speaking English. From Sung's

research, one of the participants said that it is not a good identity when she/he uses

a Hong Kong accent and does not want people in other countries to think that

Hong Kong people can write English well, but cannot speak English well.


45

Although AAVE is considered stigmatized (see Ball, Makoni, Smitherman,

and Spears, 2003, p. 30) and a bad English according to most English speakers

(see Wheeler, 1999, p. 40), the Black Americans and even white people and some

people in this world are still using it in their daily life and in the literary works or

musical works as well. However, in Affinity magazine (May 2016), Collazo

wrote: "AAVE is for black people". Looking at the way the African American

singers and rappers using AAVE (in this case the accent and linguistics features)

continuously in their song lyrics, we can see that they want people who heard their

songs to identify them as the Africans who sing using the English language.

4.2.3 African-American people want to show that their language is systematic and

rule-governed

Systematic is done or acting according to a fixed plan or system; methodical.

While rule-governed is according to custom or rule or natural law. African-

American English (AAE) is a systematic, rule-governed linguistic system that is

spoken by many African-American people in the United States (Washington,

n.d.). In contrast to the explanation from the previous sentence, ―the majority of

people in the United States believe that Ebonics is inferior‖ (Bayley and Lucas, p.

256). These two understandings are very oppositional. However, Rickford (2012)

stated that the opinions about Ebonics depend on whom we ask.

Black writers from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Zora Neale Hurston to

August Wilson have made extensive use of it in their work, and some,

like James Baldwin ("this passion, this skill, ... this incredible music."),

Toni Morrison, and June Jordan have praised it explicitly. Black

preachers and comedians and singers, especially rappers, also use it for


46

dramatic or realistic effect. But many other people, black and white,

regard it as a sign of limited education or sophistication, as a legacy of

slavery or an impediment to socioeconomic mobility.

Talking about AAVE means we are talking about the English language that

generated and developed by the Africans years ago. There are some arguments

when we are talking about Standard English and AAVE. ―There is a strong

temptation, especially when one of the two has higher prestige, to take one to be

the correct way to speak and the other to be incorrect‖ Wheeler (1999, p. 41).

Some people see AAVE as a deviated language from the standardized English and

should be avoided to use as much as possible. It is happened because of the

different ‗level‘, which in this case AAVE is placed in the lower level and

Standard English is placed higher than AAVE. A linguistic scholar, Fayvaughn-

Cooke was often invited to appear on talk shows. He said, ―I was stunned by the

responses of many talk shows hosts and members of the audience to my carefully

selected linguistic examples that provided incontrovertible evidence that Ebonics

is a systematic and rule-governed language. Most people flatly rejected the

evidence.‖ (Bayley and Lucas, p. 266).

However, from the discussion in the previous section, we can see in the

song lyrics that actually AAVE has its rules and systems. The singers and rappers

constantly use the rules in their song lyrics. For example the use of ain‟t in the

double negatives or finna and other signs of AAVE in the 2016 song lyrics

discussed before. From that point of view, we can see that the African Americans

want to show that their language is systematic and rule-governed.


47

4.2.4 African-American people want their language to be approved as the other

English language varieties

There are some varieties of English language, e.g. American English,

Australian English, etc. Some of the varieties have been approved as the official

English dialects. However, since years ago, AAVE is considered unofficial

because ―AAVE is the everyday spoken speech of African Americans, composed

of grammatical elements and linguistic structures that contrast with the official

standard‖ (ed. Juang and Morrissette, 2008, p. 415). There is a gap between SE

(Standard English) and AAVE that makes people who speak using the language

‗judged‘ by the language preference.

The linguist Max Weinreich once said that a language is a dialect with an

army and a navy. The students of Oakland school (who are predominantly African

American) do not have the kind of power that brings their speech linguistic

prestige. New York Representative Peter King (R-Seaford) revealed his ignorance

and contempt for the variety when he claimed that ―Ebonics is a verbal stew of

inner-city street slang and bad grammar – it is not a language‖ (Evans 1997: A17,

as cited from Bayley and Lucas, 2007). Referring to the table of the use of the

selected AAVE features in Detroit (by social class) by Wolfram (1969), people in

the upper middle-class avoided using AAVE in their speech.


48

Table 1.3 Use of selected AAVE features in Detroit, by social class

FEATURE LWC UWC LMC UMC

Consonant cluster simplification NOT in past

tense (60)

84% 79% 66% 51%

Voiceless th [θ] → f, t or Ø (84) 71% 59% 17% 12%

Multiple negation (156) 78% 55% 12% 8%

Absence of copula/auxiliary is, are (169) 57% 37% 11% 5%

Absence of third person present tense –s

(136)

71% 57% 10% 1%

Absence of possessive –s (141) 27% 25% 6% 0%

Absence of plural –s (143) 6% 4% 1% 0%

Notes: LWC = lower working-class (e.g. laborers and other unskilled workers),

UWC = upper working-class (e.g. carpenters and other skilled workers), LMC =

lower middle-class (e.g. high school teachers and many white collar workers),

UMC = upper middle-class (e.g. lawyers and doctors). Numbers represent mean

percentages of use in recordings with 12 individuals from each class. Source: Wolfram, 1969

Table 4.1 Use of selected AAVE features in Detroit, by social class by Wolfram

(1969)

Facts that AAVE is considered as a bad dialect, powerless and even not a

language, lead to a vision that people who speak AAVE will have to ‗work hard‘

in order to show others that AAVE is deserved the official label. The struggle to

maintain AAVE and make it official has been done years ago. As the struggle is

going on, ―passionate appeals from distinguished linguistic researchers to end the

cruel mockery of the language of Ebonics speakers, many of whom are young

children, fell on deaf ears‖ (Bayley and Lucas, p. 263). There are a number of

ways to actualize it. One of them is through musical works; through the constant


49

and systematic features of AAVE that singers and rappers attach to their song

lyrics.


49

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presented the conclusions, the implications, and the

recommendations of the research findings. This chapter is divided into three parts.

The first is the conclusion related to the research questions, the second is the

implications, and the third is the recommendations for teachers, students, and

further research.

5.1 Conclusions

From the background, we can see that this research is focused on the

deviations from SE (Standard English) found in some song lyrics by African-

American singers or rappers. This research found out in what way the song lyrics

show the deviations of the English grammar that has been established and what

are the reasons. This research is expected to have contribution is some courses in

ELESP of Sanata Dharma University such as Basic Writing, Paragraph Writing

and other courses which have been explained in chapter I.

Based on the results and discussions in chapter IV, some conclusions can be

drawn. They are stated as follows:

1. There are seven markers of morphological features of AAVE found in the

2016 popular (based on billboard) song lyrics purposively selected. They

are special uses of be and be omission, double negatives, verbal –s


50

absence, special uses of be and be omission in I’mma and gonna or gon’,

ain’t act as present and past marker, the use of finna, and the use of

two kinds of been which are BIN and bin.

2. There are four reasons why 2016 song lyrics by African-American singers

show deviations from the English grammar. They are:

a. African-American people want to recall the period of slavery years ago,

b. African-American people want to state themselves as the real Africans

who use English,

c. African-American people want to show that their language is systematic

and rule-governed, and

d. African-American people want their language to be approved as the other

English language varieties.

There are some literatures reviewed to be the sources of data needed for this

research and some literatures that give theories related to this research. The

theories used in chapter II to be reviewed are about AAVE as a bad English,

AAVE Characteristics, the application of AAVE in literature works, language

identity, sociological theories, and the relation between singers and rappers.

This research used the qualitative method as the methodology for this

research and purposive sampling for the selected data. To collect the data I used

the documents and content analysis as the process explained in chapter III.


51

5.2 Implications

This research is expected to contribute in the teaching and learning process

in Sanata Dharma University, especially in the English Language Education Study

Program (ELESP). There are some courses in ELESP which will be the focus of

this thesis: Introduction to Sociolinguistics and Sociolinguistics course.

The reason of this thesis expectation is because this thesis is talking about

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) which will be introduced in those

two courses.

5.3 Recommendations

According to the conclusions above, there are some recommendations

related to this research.

a. Students of ELESP in Sanata Dharma University are to learn more about the

requirement of an academic writing. They are expected to understand that

some song lyrics are not applicable in academic writing.

b. Students of ELESP in Sanata Dharma University are to learn more about

Sociolinguistics because as the English speakers, we need to be aware about

the linguistic variation according to the social matter.

c. Students of ELESP in Sanata Dharma University are to read about AAVE

because it is one of the English language varieties.


52

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APPENDIX

Appendix A Twitter Screenshot


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