Stanford University, Winter 2015 Prof. John R. Rickford (Linguistics)

LINGUISTICS 65/AFRICAAM21: AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH

TIME AND PLACE: M,W, 3:15-4:45 pm, Bldg 200, Rm 203. Attendance at one weekly 50 min section is also required (times and places to be arranged in first week). There is also a compulsory one-hour section meeting each week, and a field trip to a Black church Sun Jan 25 at 11 am that everyone is expected to attend.

COURSE CREDIT: 3-5 units. Normally 4 units; a 3rd unit is available for those with enrollment restrictions; a 5th unit is available for tutoring an AAVE speaker and writing an 8-page 2-spaced paper describing the experience and relating it to material covered in this course. Contact the Haas Center for placement in Ravenswood Tutoring program. Requirements for 3, 4 and 5 units are spelled out below.

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS (GERs): Fulfills GER:DB-Soc Sci (Disciplinary Breadth, Social Sciences), and GER:EC-Amer. Cul. (Education for Citizenship: American Cultures).

INSTRUCTOR'S OFFICE: Bldg 460, Rm 107; rickford@stanford.edu; 5-1565; T 3-5 or by appt.

TEACHING ASSISTANTS: Katherine Hilton (khilton@stanford.edu, 460-123, Drop-in Office Hr Wed 5-6 or by appointment; Kate Lindsey (klindsey@stanford.edu, 460-114, Drop-in Office Hr Wed 1-3 or http://klindsey.youcanbook.me for more times). Section times will be set using info collected at first class session.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course deals with the distinctive varieties of English used primarily by and among African Americans, particularly by members of the working class in informal interactions, and with their parallels in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The subject is approached from four perspectives:

(1) Present-Day Features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE, aka Ebonics), its vocabulary (lexicon), pronunciation (phonetics and phonology) and grammar (morphology and syntax), as exemplified primarily in the informal vernacular speech of African Americans. (2) The Living Art: How AAVE is expressively employed by writers, comedians, actors, singers, toasters and rappers, as well as its deployment in African American speech events (verbal routines and rituals) like rappin, signifyin, soundin, and boastin.(3) History of AAVE, exploring earlier examples of African American English, and its source in African languages, as well as the controversial question of its possible creole ancestry. Comparison with creole languages currently spoken in the Caribbean and off the S Carolina coast (Gullah) will be undertaken to shed light on this controversy. A related issue well explore is whether AAVE is currently diverging from Standard English and White Vernacular English. (4) Education/Ebonics and other applied issues connected with the use of AAVE; attitudes towards this variety and its effects on teachers expectations and students' progress; linguistic profiling and discrimination in employment, housing, and Disney cartoons; the extent to which AAVE affects the learning of Standard English and the acquisition of reading skills. Includes controversies about whether AAVE should be "wiped out" or used as a basis for the teaching of initial literacy skills and Standard English mastery in the classroom, e.g., in the Ann Arbor King case of 1977-79, and the Oakland Ebonics resolutions of 1996, including the response of the media, the public, humorists, legislative bodies at the state and federal level, and linguists.

READINGS: (1) Rickford, John R., & Russell J. Rickford. 2000. Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English. NY: Wiley;

(2) Supplementary readings, available online on Coursework (coursework.stanford.edu)

REQUIREMENTS: Attendance at and participation in all class sessions and section meetings is expected and counts for part of the course grade. The normal expectation is that this course will be taken for 4 units, with A, B, C and D below counting towards your course grade, worth 10%, 15%, 30% and 45% respectively. If for some reason you need to take it for 3 units, A, B and C and D1 or D2 (one assignment) will be considered, worth 10%, 25%, 50% and 15% respectively. If you wish to add the public service/tutoring component for a fifth unit, A, B, C, D3 and E will be considered, worth 10%, 15%, 30%, 25% and 20% respectively. Five-unit students should talk with Professor Rickford and contact the Haas Center for help finding a tutee in the first week.

A. Attendance at and participation in all classes, field trips, and pop quizzes B. Mid-term exam (also known as The [Minor] Celebration of Knowledge), Wed. Feb 4. C. Final exam (also known as The [Major] Celebration of Knowledge), 12:15-3:15 pm, Wedrsday March 19.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------D. Written Assignments (D3 is for 4-unit and 5-unit students only):#1, due Wednesday Jan 14, involves a short (3 to 4 pgs, double spaced) critique of Smithermans Word from the Mother, Chapter 2 (on coursework), pp. 20-48, and considering three questions: (a) What words/expressions do you think should be left out because they dont strike you as exclusively or primarily used by African Americans? (b) Are there any words/expressions that should have been included but were not? (c) Do any of her definitions need modification? (10 points) #2, due Wednesday Jan 28 involves a brief (3 to 4 pgs, double spaced) report on your visit to the Black church, discussing any linguistic and rhetorical/expressive features you noticed that were covered (or not) in the assigned readings on aspects of the Black church experience. (10 points)#3, due Mon March 11 or Wed March 13 (presentations), and Mon Mar 16 (paper). For Four and Five Unit students only. Working in a group of 3-4 students, prepare a 6-10 page double-spaced paper on some aspect of African American language of interest to you, e.g. in literature, rap, movies, politics, and so on. Submit a one-page prospectus, outlining your topic, listing your sources, and naming all group members, by Wednesday Feb 18, and present your findings in-class (at the AAVE Happenin) in a 15-min presentation [+ 5 min for questions] on Monday Mar 11 or Wednesday Mar 13. Submit written version of paper by M Mar 18. (25 points) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------E. Tutoring (for 5-unit students): Tutor an AAVE-speaking student for at least five sessions, and write an 8-page double-spaced paper, to be turned in by Fri March 20, describing the experience and relating it to material covered in this course. (20 points)

Table 1: Overview of topics and activities in Ling 65: AAVE

Wk Sunday Monday Wednesday

1

Jan 5: Intro, overview of syllabus, How Language Varies, Features I: Lexicon, sections

Jan 7: Features I: American Tongues video (view in Green a/v if miss class). Quiz.

2

Jan 12 Features II: Lexicon & Phonetics, Black Twitter (Taylor Jones, U of Pennsylvania)

Jan 14: Features III Phonetics; The Living Art I: Writers. Assig. #1 on AAVE Lexicon due

3 Jan 19: Martin Luther King, Jr. HOLIDAY, NO CLASSJan 21: The Living Art II: Preachers & (Holy) Singers;

4 Jan 25: BlkChurch,EPAJan 26: Features IV: Grammar (Aspect markers)

Jan 28: The Living Art III: Comedians,Singers, Toasters and Rappers Assig. #2 due: Black Church

5 Feb 2: Features V: Grammar (Morphology and Syntax)

Feb 4: Mid-term exam (Minor Celebration of Knowledge)

6Feb 9: The Living Art IV AAVE in Film (Qiuana Lopez, UC Santa Barbara)

Feb 11 History I: GullahA Non-Controversial African American Creole

7 Feb 16 HOLIDAY, NO CLASS

Feb 18: History II: The Creolist/Anglicist, Diver-gence and Uniformity Controversies [4 & 5 unit students: AAVE Happenin group prospecti due]

8Feb 23: Education/Ebonics I: Overview of Problems and Linguistic Solutions

Feb 25: Education/Ebonics II: Attitudes, focusing on Oprah Winfreys Blk English show

9

Mar 2: Education/Ebonics III: Ann Arbor & Oakland, Media Coverage & Lx Profiling

Mar 4: TA lectures: AAVE in Disney Cartoons; The AAVE of Rachel Jeantel in the Zimmerman Trial

10Mar 9: AAVE Happenin #1 [=Assig #3 for four and five unit students]

Mar 11 AAVE Happenin #2 [=Assig #3 for four and five unit students]; Closing remarks

11 Thursday March 19, 12:15-3:15 pm: Final exam (major Celebration of Knowledge)

Wk Sunday Monday Wednesday

1

Jan 5: Intro, overview of syllabus, How Language Varies, Features I: Lexicon, sections

Jan 7: Features I: American Tongues video (view in Green a/v if miss class). Quiz.

2

Jan 12 Features II: Lexicon & Phonetics, Black Twitter (Taylor Jones, U of Pennsylvania)

Jan 14: Features III Phonetics; The Living Art I: Writers. Assig. #1 on AAVE Lexicon due

3 Jan 19: Martin Luther King, Jr. HOLIDAY, NO CLASSJan 21: The Living Art II: Preachers & (Holy) Singers;

4 Jan 25: BlkChurch,EPAJan 26: Features IV: Grammar (Aspect markers)

Jan 28: The Living Art III: Comedians,Singers, Toasters and Rappers Assig. #2 due: Black Church

5 Feb 2: Features V: Grammar (Morphology and Syntax)

Feb 4: Mid-term exam (Minor Celebration of Knowledge)

6Feb 9: The Living Art IV AAVE in Film (Qiuana Lopez, UC Santa Barbara)

Feb 11 History I: GullahA Non-Controversial African American Creole

7 Feb 16 HOLIDAY, NO CLASS

Feb 18: History II: The Creolist/Anglicist, Diver-gence and Uniformity Controversies [4 & 5 unit students: AAVE Happenin group prospecti due]

8Feb 23: Education/Ebonics I: Overview of Problems and Linguistic Solutions

Feb 25: Education/Ebonics II: Attitudes, focusing on Oprah Winfreys Blk English show

9

Mar 2: Education/Ebonics III: Ann Arbor & Oakland, Media Coverage & Lx Profiling

Mar 4: TA lectures: AAVE in Disney Cartoons; The AAVE of Rachel Jeantel in the Zimmerman Trial

10Mar 9: AAVE Happenin #1 [=Assig #3 for four and five unit students]

Mar 11 AAVE Happenin #2 [=Assig #3 for four and five unit students]; Closing remarks

11 Thursday March 19, 12:15-3:15 pm: Final exam (major Celebration of Knowledge)

Ling 65:African American Vernacular English Detailed Syllabus, Win 2011 (assigned readings for each day should be done before classexcept on M Jan 5, when they may be done after; Tot.=Total # of pages assigned for each day; shaded readings are on AfAm21/L65 Coursework site)

Week 1: [Section focus: Amer dialects & Lexicon]

Mon Jan 5: Introduction, course descrip; section times, American dialects; Present-Day Features I: Lexicon

Read: Rickford ms 2011, How linguists approach the study of language; Rickford and Rickford Spoken Soul, ch. 1:3-10, ch. 6, first section, 91-98; [Tot.=48 pgs]

Wed Jan 7: AmericanTongues [followed by quiz on American Tongues video and discussion]Read: Green 2002, chapter 2, Lexicons 12-33, Smitherman, 2006 Word, ch. 2, 20-48; [Tot.= 49 pgs]

Week 2: [Section focus: AAVE Lexicon & Phonetics/Phonology]

Mon Jan 12 Present Day Features II: Lexicon & Phonetics, Black Twitter (Taylor Jones, U of Pennsylvania)

Read: Ohio Language Files, 9th ed., 2004: Files 3.1-3.5, pp. 41-60, and 3.6, 63-5; and Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul ch 6, second half, 98-108; [Tot.=31 pgs]

Wed Jan 14: Features III Phonetics & Phonology (contd), and the Living Art I: WritersRead: Rickford 1999, Phonological and Grammatical Features, 3-5, Jordan 2010 [1971], His

Own Where, pp. 1-9, Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch. 2, Writers, pp. 13-38 [TOT=50 pgs.]. Assignment 1 on AAVE lexicon due; submit via Coursework by start of class

Week 3: [Section focus: The Living Art: Writers, Preachers]

Mon Jan 19: Martin Luther King, Jr. HOLIDAY, NO CLASS Read Smitherman 1986, ch. 5, The forms of things Unknown 1-1-66 [Tot. 65] as you while

away the hours on your ski trip bus. The Reverend MLK would have liked that. And youll need this reading for the Wed Jan 21 class and the visit to the Black church on Sun Jan 25.

Wed Jan 21: The Living Art II: Preachers and (Holy) Singers Read: Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch..3, pp. 39-56, & ch. 5, first part: 73-80; Holt 1972, 189-204; Green African American English ch 5, 146-154; [Tot.= 49 pgs] Optional readings, by Britt 2011, Niles 1984, Wharry 2003 in Black Preaching and Worship folder in Readings folder too.

Week 4: [Section focus: Grammar and Comedians, Actors, Singers, Toasters and Rappers

Sun Jan 25: Visit to a Black Church (St John Baptist Church, EPA, 11 am)Reread Smitherman 1986, ch. 5, The forms of things Unknown 1-1-66 [Tot. 65]

Mon Jan 26: Present Day Features III: Grammar Aspectual markersRead Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch. 7, first section, 109-122; Rickford 1999, Phonological and Grammatical Features, 6-7; Green African American English ch 2, Verbal Markers, 34-75 (more advanced) [Tot.=56 pgs]

Wed Jan 28: The Living Art III: Comedians, Singers, Toasters and RappersRead: Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch. 4, ch. 5, 57-88; Alim, Lee and Carris 2010, Race

and ethnicity in freestyle rap battles, 116-132 [Tot 48 pgs] Assignment 2 on Black Church due; submit via Coursework by start of class

Week 5: [Section focus: Grammar and review for Mid-term exam/Celeb. of Knowledge]

Mon Feb 2: Present Day Features IV: GrammarSyntax & MorphosyntaxRead Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch. 7, second section, 122-8; Rickford 1999, Phonological and Grammatical Features, 7-14, green 2002, chap 3, Syntactic and Morphosyntactic properties in AAE, 76-105 [TOT=43 pgs]

Wed Feb 4: Mid-term exam (Minor Celebration of Knowledge, in class)

Week 6: [Section focus: Mid-term questions; HistoryGullah]

Mon Feb 9: The Living Art IV: AAVE in Film & Hip Hop (Qiuana Lopez, UC Santa Barbara)Read: Green 2002 Ch. 7, AAVE in the media, 200-214. Plus another tba.

Wed Feb 11: History I: Gullah (A Non-controversial Afr Amer. Creole) & other CreolesRead Nichols 2004: 133-152; Rickford 2006:259-276; Weldon 2006: 178-82 [Tot.=40 pgs]

Week 7: [Section focus: Creolist/Anglicist controversies, & Divergence controversy]

Mon Feb 16: Presidents Day: HOLIDAY, NO CLASS

Read Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch. 8, History, pp. 129-160; ; Ohio Lg Files, 9th ed., 346-52, Blake 2006, Speaking Strictly Roots, W. Indies, 172-7 [TOT=42 pgs]

Wed Feb 18: The Creolist/Aglicist, Divergence and Uniformity controversies.Read Wolfram 2003. Reexamining the Development of African American English: Evidence from Isolated Communities. Language 79:282-316 [Tot=34 pgs]

Note: AAVE Happenin paper prospectuses due for 4 & 5 unit students; email to TAs & JRR by midnight

Week 8: [Section focus: Education/Ebonics/Attitudes]

Mon Feb 23: Education/Ebonics I: Overview of Problems and Linguistic SolutionsRead Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch 9:163-81; Smitherman 2006 Word, ch 7, 121-45

[Tot=42 pgs]

Wed Feb 25: Education/Ebonics II: Attitudes, focusing on Oprah Winfrey 1987 show about Black English

Read: Jordan 1985: Nobody mean more to me than you & the future life of Willie Jordan. In On Call: Political essays, 123-39; Lippi-Green, ch. 9, The real trouble with Black English, 176-201 [Tot=41 pgs]

Week 9: [Section focus: Ann Arbor & Oakland controversies; Linguistic profiling]

Mon Mar 2: Education/Ebonics III: The Ann Arbor King case, Media Coverage of and Humorous reactions to the Oakland Ebonics controversy; Linguistic Profiling (Housing, Employment) etc. Read Terrell and Terrell. 1983. Effects of speaking Black English upon employment opportunities. ASHA (Journal of the American Speech and Hearing Assn.) 26:27-9. Baugh 2003:155-168; Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, chs.10 11; 181-218; [TOT= 48 pgs]

Wed Mar 4: TA Lectures: AAVE in Disney Cartoons; The AAVE of Rachel Jeantel in the Zimmerman Trial. (Note: Topics may be changed. An additional reading may be assigned.)

Read: Lippi-Green, ch. 5, Teaching Children How to Discriminate, 79-103 [24pp]

Week 10: [Section focus: Happenin presentations; Review for final exam] Mon Mar 9: AAVE Happenin, part I

Wed Mar 11: AAVE Happenin, part II, Closing remarksRead Rickford & Rickford, Spoken Soul, ch.11, 12:204-229 [Tot=25 pgs]

Week 11: FINAL EXAM

Thursday March 19, 12:15-3:15 pm: Final exam (major Celebration of Knowledge)