AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ESTU KUNCORO ISMARTONO Student Number: 054214033
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ESTU KUNCORO ISMARTONO Student Number: 054214033
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
B
B
E
E
A
A
S
S
H
H
I
I
N
N
I
I
N
N
G
G
L
L
I
I
G
G
H
H
T
T
I
I
N
N
E
E
V
V
E
E
R
R
Y
Y
L
L
I
I
F
F
E
E
T
All-Merciful for the blessing bestowed upon me. Thank You for all the people and the situations You have placed in my life to help me be the person I am today and for the strength You give me to lift me up when I fall.
I would like to express deep appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A., who has helped me and guided me in finishing this thesis. I thank him very much for the patience and precious time for me to consult my thesis. I am also indebted a gratitude to my co-advisor, Dra. B. Ria Lestari M.S., for her suggestion and willingness to do correction on my thesis. I thank my thesis examiner, Anna Fitriati, S.Pd., M.Hum, for the her questions and appreciation for my thesis. I also thank all lecturers in English Letters Department for providing their precious time and energy during my study.
I owe a great deal to my loving parents for their unconditional love, for the support since I was born, mentally and financially, and for their patience. No words can replace my love for both of you. My utmost gratitude is forwarded to my angelic sister, Mbak Kum, and my lovely brother, Dik Daru, who shared his computer with me this semester to finish this thesis. Thanks for being a push when I have stopped and a guide when I am searching. I also thank my husband, A. Danu Fratomo, who always gives his tender love and great support for me. Lastly, I thank my little angel, Damarjati Desta Pradana, to whom this thesis is dedicated. Thank you for making my life so meaningful.
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iii
MOTTO PAGE ... iv
DEDICATION PAGE... v
Lembar Pernyataan Persetujuan Publikasi Karya Ilmiah... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... viii
LIST OF TABLES... xi
LIST OF FIGURES... xii
ABSTRACT ... xiii
ABSTRAK ... xiv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of the Study... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 2
C. Objective of the Study... 3
D. Benefit of the Study ... 3
E. Definition of Terms... 4
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 7
B.1. Theories of Black English ... 7
B.1.a. History ... 8
B.1.b. The Growth of African-American English ... 9
B.2. Theories of Phonetics ... 11
B.2.a. Vocal Tract ... 11
B.2.b. Articulation ... 13
B.2.c. Manner of Articulation... 15
B.2.c.i. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds ... 15
B.2.c.ii. Nasal and Oral Sounds ... 15
B.2.c.iii. Stops... 16
B.2.c.iv. Fricatives ... 16
B.2.c.v. Affricates... 16
B.2.c.vi. Liquids ... 17
B.2.c.vii. Glides ... 17
B.2.d. Place of Articulation ... 17
B.2.d.i. Bilabial ... 18
B.2.d.ii. Labio-dental ... 18
B.2.d.iii. Dental ... 18
B.3.a. Phonemes and Allophones ... 19
B.3.b. The Rules of Phonology... 20
B.3.b.i. Assimilation Rules ... 21
B.3.b.ii. Dissimilation Rules ... 21
B.3.b.iii. Feature-changing Rules... 22
B.3.b.iv. Feature Addition Rules ... 22
B.3.b.v. Segment Insertion Rules ... 22
B.3.b.vi. Segment Deletion Rules... 23
B.3.c. Variation between Accent ... 23
B.4. Theories of Song Lyrics ... 24
B.5. Review of 50 Cent ... 26
C. Theoretical Framework ... 28
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 30
A. Object of the Study ... 30
B. Approach of the Study ... 30
C. Method of the Study ... 31
C.1. Population and Sample ... 31
C.2. Instrument and Data Collection... 31
C.3. Data Analysis... 32
CHAPTER IV: RESULT OF ANALYSIS ... 34
A. Phonological Processes Occurred in the Black English Words Pronunciation of 50 Cent’s Song Lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’... 35
A.1. Alveolarization ... 35
A.1.a. Velar Alveolarization ... 35
A.1.b. Voiced Continuant Alveolarization ... 36
A.1.c. Voiceless Continuant Alveolarization ... 37
A.2. Vowel Weakening ... 38
A.3. Deletion ... 39
A.3.a. Consonant Deletion... 39
A.3.b. Vowel Deletion ... 43
A.3.c. Monophtongization ... 44
A.3.d. Segment Deletion... 45
A.4. Affricatisation ... 45
B. Phonological Characteristics of Black English ... 46
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 51
A. Phonological Processes Occurred in the Black English Words Pronunciation of 50 Cent’s Song Lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’... 51
Rule (/ŋ/ Æ /n/)... 63
Appendix 3 List of Words Experiencing Vowel Weakening Rule ... 64
Appendix 4 List of Words Experiencing ð-deletion Rule... 65
Appendix 5 List of Words Experiencing r-deletion Rule ... 65
Appendix 6 List of Words Experiencing t-deletion Rule ... 65
Appendix 7 List of Words Experiencing Vowel Deletion Rule ... 65
Appendix 8 List of Words Experiencing Monophtongization Rule .... 66
Rule (/ŋ/ Æ /n/) ... 36
Table 3 Phonological Process Applying Voiced Continuant Alveolarization Rule (/ð/ Æ /d/) ... 37
Table 4 Phonological Process Applying Voiceless Continuant Alveolarization Rule (/θ/ Æ /t/) ... 37
Table 5 Phonological Process Applying Vowel Weakening Rule ... 38
Table 6 Phonological Process Applying ð-deletion Rule... 39
Table 7 Phonological Process Applying θ-deletion Rule... 40
Table 8 Phonological Process Applying r-deletion Rule ... 41
Table 9 Phonological Process Applying t-deletion Rule ... 41
Table 10 Phonological Process Applying v-deletion Rule... 42
Table 11 Phonological Process Applying Vowel Deletion Rule ... 43
Table 12 Phonological Process Applying Monophtongization Rule ... 44
Table 13 Phonological Process Applying Segment Deletion Rule ... 45
Nowadays, rap music which is mostly performed by Black artist is loved by millions of youth all around the world. One of the famous black rappers today is 50 Cent, the pseudonym of Curtis James Jackson III. He launched his newest album, ‘Curtis’ in 2007 and it has been sold for approximately 691,000 copies in USA in its first week of release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_50_Cent_
album accessed on March 19, 2009). Since 50 Cent’s songs use Black English,
which has different pronunciation from Standard English, it becomes interesting for the writer to analyze the lyrics to find their differences.
There are two problems to answer in this research. The first problem is what phonological processes occurred in the Black English words pronunciation of the 50 Cent’s song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’, and the second problem is what phonological characteristics of Black English that can be seen through the processes.
Some steps were taken in accomplishing the study. The writer firstly listed the Black English words found in the eighteen song lyrics. The writer included the phonetic transcriptions of both the Standard English (based on Oxford Advance
Learner’s Dictionary of Current English) and Black English (based on the
writer’s listening to the pronunciations of the songs). Secondly, from the comparison of the phonetic transcription of Standard and Black English, the writer analyzed each word into its phonological process by applying all possible phonological rules. From the analysis, the writer then categorized those possible processes in each table according to the phonological processes orderly. The next step was deriving notations from each classified process to state the general rule of its phonological process so that the writer could derive the characteristics of Black English phonology.
Dewasa ini, musik rap yang banyak dinyanyikan oleh artis kulit hitam, sangat populer di kalangan kaum muda di seluruh dunia. Salah satu rapper kulit hitam yang terkenal saat ini adalah 50 Cent, atau Curtis James Jackson III, yang merilis album terbarunya ‘Curtis’ pada tahun 2007. Album tersebut terjual 691,000 copy pada minggu pertama setelah dirilis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_50_ Cent_ album, diakses pada tanggal 19 Maret 2009). Penulis tertarik untuk menganalisa lirik-lirik lagu 50 Cent karena
rapper tersebut menggunakan dialek Black English yang mempunyai pelafalan
dan ejaan yang berbeda dari Bahasa Inggris standar.
Ada dua permasalahan yang dibahas dalam penelitian ini. Permasalahan pertama adalah proses fonologi apa yang terjadi pada pelafalan kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black dalam lirik lagu 50 Cent di album ‘Curtis’. Permasalahan kedua adalah ciri khas fonologi apa yang terdapat dalam pelafalan kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek tersebut berdasarkan proses fonologi yang telah dianalisa.
Ada beberapa langkah yang dilakukan dalam menyelesaikan penelitian ini. Pertama, penulis membuat daftar kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black yang ada dalam delapan belas lagu di album ‘Curtis’. Penulis menyertakan transkrip fonetik, baik transkrip fonetik bahasa Inggris Standar (berdasarkan Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of Current English) maupun transkrip fonetik bahasa Inggris Black (berdasarkan pendengaran penulis terhadap pelafalan kata-kata dalam lagu). Kedua, berdasarkan perbandingan transkrip fonetik kedua dialek tersebut, penulis menganalisa setiap kata dengan menerapkan berbagai pola fonologi yang memungkinkan. Dari analisa tersebut, penulis dapat mengelompokkan proses fonologi yang terjadi ke dalam tabel secara berurutan. Langkah selanjutnya adalah membuat notasi dari setiap proses fonologi tersebut untuk menyatakan pola-pola fonologi umum sehingga penulis dapat menemukan ciri khas fonologi yang terdapat dalam kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black.
Berdasarkan analisa yang telah dilakukan, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa proses fonologi yang terjadi pada pelafalan kata-kata yang menggunakan dialek bahasa Inggris Black dalam lirik lagu 50 Cent di album ‘Curtis’ adalah proses alveolarisasi, pelemahan vokal, peluruhan, dan palatalisasi konsonan alveolar
henti. Dari proses-proses tersebut, penulis menemukan delapan ciri khas fonologi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Music has an important role in human life for it becomes a means of entertainment and self-expression. Nowadays, rap music, which is mostly performed by Black singers, are addicted by millions of youth all around the world. Robert McCrum et.al in their book The Story of English said that the word ‘rap’ itself gained its new meaning in 1960’s. To rap was used by Blacks to criticize whites, to demand Black rights and finally, by extension, ‘to talk’. It is very interesting for the word rap has meant ‘a rebuke’ or ‘blame’ in England since 1733 (1986: 229). Therefore, music can also be a tool to voice one’s demand. In this case, rap music was always associated with Black people that historically, it was used for criticizing the Whites. That is why the writer considers rap music appropriate to be the representation of Black English usage in daily conversation. One of the famous black rappers today is 50 Cent. He launched his newest album, ‘Curtis’in 2007 and it has been sold for approximately 691,000 copies in USA in its first week of release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_50_Cent_album
accessed on March 19, 2009).
writer can apply the linguistics study, in this case phonological study, to find some new facts on Black English phonology.
In addition to that, it is very interesting for the writer to study Black English phonology because the pronunciations of the words are so much different from the Standard-English-word pronunciations. As the effect, the spellings of Black English words also have some differences in comparison with the standard one. Emerging among slaves in the southern colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, Black English or often mentioned as Black English Vernacular, was considered as an ungrammatical language, or even suggests an inferior intelligent. Now, it is widely spoken by both White and Black people (McCrum, et.al, 1986: 195). Therefore, the writer chooses to study the phonological analysis on Black English words through the sample, i.e. the song lyric of 50 Cent in the album ‘Curtis’, since 50 Cent is a famous Black rapper nowadays who uses Black English as the style of his song lyrics. There are eighteen lyrics in the album. The lyrics that are going to be analyzed later are Intro, My Gun Go off, Man Down, I’ll Still Kill, I Get Money, Come & Go, Ayo Technology, Follow My Lead, Movin’ On Up,
Straight to the Bank, Amusement Park, Fully Loaded Clip, Peep Show, Fire, All of
Me, Curtis 187, Touch the Sky, and bonus track Hustler’s Ambition.
B. Problem Formulation
1. What phonological processes occurred in the Black English words pronunciation of the 50 Cent’s song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’?
2. What are the phonological characteristics of Black English as seen through the processes?
C. Objective of the Study
The aim of this thesis is to answer the questions set up in the Problem Formulations. The answers of the problems will result in deeper and better understanding on the Black English phonology. Since the album that consists of eighteen songs and all of them are written in Black English dialect, the album provides us with the data of Black English words.
The main objective of this thesis is, therefore, to know the phonological processes of the Black English word pronunciation that lead to different spellings. The other objective of this thesis is also to find out the phonological characteristics of Black English. Later, when the writer has already understood the characteristics of Black English phonology, the writer can find the differences between Black English and Standard English phonology.
D. Benefit of the Study
characteristics of a particular dialect, in this case, Black English Vernacular so that it can enrich our knowledge in pronouncing a word in different dialect. Basically, all human beings have the same structures in their vocal tracts and in their ears. By doing this research, the writer began to understand why dialects of one language are different one from the other.
Doing the research also improves the writer’s phonological knowledge, so that the writer understands the way to produce sounds which form meaningful utterances, to recognize a foreign ‘accent’, to know what is or is not a sound in her language, and to know that different phonetic strings may represent the same morpheme.
E. Definition of Terms
Before continuing the discussion, it is better for the writer to define some terms that are greatly used in this thesis. To avoid misunderstanding of each term, the writer gives the definitions below:
a. Phonological Analysis
Baverly Collins and Inger M. Mees in their book Practical Phonetics and
Phonology stated that phonological analysis is the analysis on the system and
sound patterning in a language (2003: 246). b. Black English
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In the second chapter, the writer will discuss three parts. The first is the review of the related studies, the second is review of the related theories, and the third will be the review of the theoretical framework. The review of the related studies contains the review on what others have done, especially those connected with the study on Black English phonology. The review of the related theories contains the theories taken from some sources that will be useful for the writer to conduct the analysis in order to answer the problems, while theoretical framework contains the role of the theories, which have been mentioned in the review of related theories, to solve the problems.
A. Review of Related Studies
In order to support the study, especially to conduct the analysis, it is necessary for the writer to state the previous studies that have been done related to the topic of this thesis. After searching for some sources, two related studies were found.
This paper has the same focus, that is the phonological study on back vowels’ lengthening of American-English pronunciation, but it is different in a way that the writer wants to do the research on the different object. In this case, the writer focuses the research on Black English Vernacular dialect through the song lyrics of rap singer, 50 Cent.
The writer also takes another thesis discussing Black English. The thesis entitled The Character’s Dialect and Their Social Background In Mark Twain’s
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Wivina Tomas. The writer takes this
thesis because it discussed Black English as the dialect that represents the character’s background. Black English, in the novel, is the dialect used by Jim, one of the major characters. Although Tomas study the same object of the study, i.e. Black English, the focus of the thesis is different in a way that it does not discuss the morphology of the Black English words.
B. Review of Related Theories
To analyze the object of the study, which means to answer the problems mentioned in the problem formulations, the writer will review some theories in order to find out which theories might be able to be used to answer those problems. From the problem formulations we can see that the possible theories might be used are those on Black English, phonetics, phonology, theory on lyrics, and the review of the singer of the songs, 50 Cent.
B.1. Theories of Black English
about what people refer to as Black English. What people refer to as ‘Black English’ is certainly one of the prominent vernacular dialects of English, but it is difficult to pick out one dialect as the most different.
Wolfram, et.al, in Dialect and Education, Issues and Answers said that Black English is a variety of English that has combined a number of the nonstandard English forms in a unique way. Its uniqueness lies not so much in the distinct language forms that are found only in that dialect, although there are a few, but in the particular combination of forms that make up the dialect (1986: 40).
B.1.a. History
Black English itself was the product of the slave trade. McCrum, et.al in The
Story of English stated that today, Black English speakers are members of a
scattered family that includes African pidgins, Caribbean creole, the English of Southern states of America and the Black English of the post-colonial British Isles (1986: 196).
According to David Crystal in his book Cambridge Encyclopedia of the
English Language, during the early years of American settlement, a highly
conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum, and molasses. The ships then returned to England, completing an ‘Atlantic triangle’ of journeys, and the process began again. The first 20 African slaves arrived in Virginia on a Dutch ship in 1619. By the time of the American Revolution (1776) their numbers had grown to half a million, and there were over 4 million by the time slavery was abolished, at the end of the US Civil War in 1865 (2005: 96).
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people of different language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plot rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidgin between the slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English. Once arrived in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication between the black population and the new landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when their children were born, the pidgin gradually began to be used as a mother tongue, producing the first black creole speech in the region.
It is this creole English, which rapidly came to be used throughout the southern plantations, and in many of the coastal towns, and islands. At the same time, standard British English was becoming a prestige variety throughout the area, as a consequence of the emerging political influence of Britain (Crystal, 2005:96).
B.1.b. The Growth of African-American English
said that black culture became known throughout the country, especially for its music following the widespread movement to the industrial cities of the northern states in the late 19th century in the USA. The linguistic result was a large influx of new, informal vocabulary into general use, as whites picked up the lively speech patterns of those who sang, played, and danced –from the early spirituals, through the many forms of jazz and blues, to later fashions in rapping, soul music, and break dancing. At the same time, there was a growth in educational opportunities for black people, and an increasing involvement in political and professional roles. The civil rights movement in the 1960s had its linguistic as well as its political successes, with school being obliged to take account of the distinctive character of Black English Vernacular, following the successful outcome of a test case at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1977 (Crystal, 2005: 97).
In the 1980s, the public use many expressions in the language for talking about this group of people. The current respectability of African-American (which dates from the 1980s) has replaced such forms as Afro-American,
Africo-American, Afro (all in evidence from the 1830s), colored (preferred in the period
B.2. Theories of Phonetics
Phonology can never be completely divorced from phonetics, since sound patterns can never be completely separated from how they are produced and heard. Phonetics is a part of phonology, and provides the means for describing speech sounds. The writer only takes the theory on articulatory phonetics, which deals with how the vocal tract produces the sounds of language.
B.2.a. Vocal Tract
Basically, sound is produced by vibrating air. Speaking means using the vocal tract (lungs, trachea, larynx, mouth, and nose) to get air moving and vibrating, and then shaping that movement in different ways. According to Elizabeth Zsiga in the compilation edited by Ralph Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton
An Introduction to Language and Linguistics,said that speech begins with breath
because most speech sounds are made with air exiting the lungs (2006: 14). That is why when we begin to speak; we pull down the diaphragm, the big muscle that separates our chest cavity from the stomach. This enlarges the lungs, which draws air in. then the diaphragm relaxes and the muscles around the ribs contract, slowly squeezing the lungs and forcing the air out and up the windpipe or trachea.
The payoff for the risk of a larynx located low in the throat is an open area at the back of the mouth, i.e. the pharynx. The pharynx allows the tongue freedom for front and back movement (2006: 15).
Inside the mouth itself, there are many different structures –active articulators and passive articulators- that we use to shape speech sounds as the air passes through the vocal tract. Active articulator is the organ that moves, and the passive articulator is the target of the articulation, i.e. the point towards which the active articulator is directed (Collins, Beverley and Inger M. Mees, 2003: 42).
The active articulators move toward the passive articulators in order to constrict and shape the air that is moving out from the lungs. Active articulators include the lips, which can be opened or closed, pursed or spread, and the tongue. The tongue front (including the tip and the blade, which extends a few centimeters back from the tip), the tongue body (the main mass of the tongue, also known as the dorsum), and the tongue root (the lowest part of the tongue, back in the pharynx), are considered separate active articulators.
back of the mouth when it is opened wide (2006: 16-17).
B.2.b. Articulation
McMahon in his book An Introduction to English Phonology stated that speech is audible because the movements of articulators cause the air to vibrate, forming sound waves which travel to the hearer’s ears, and set up vibrations in the inner ear, which are then translated into sounds again by the brain. Since sound waves need air, it follows that articulatory vibrations will only make sound waves if there is a moving body of air available. Airstreams can be set in motion in three ways; pulmonic egressive airstream, glottalic airstream, and velaric airstreams mechanism. However, only one is used in English, that is, pulmonic egressive airstream, and indeed is found in every language of the world (2002: 24).
According to Elizabeth Zsiga in the compilation edited by Ralph Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, stated that pulmonic egressive airstream is the way the air moving out from the lungs (2006: 18). All the sounds of English, both consonants and vowels, are produced on this pulmonic egressive airstream, where the initiator is the lungs and the rest of the respiratory system and the direction of airflow is out-wards.
what to do with the larynx, the speaker must decide whether the velum will be open or not. If the velum is open, so that air flows into the nose, the sound is nasal (like [m]). If the velum is close, the sound is oral (2006: 18). Figure 1 shows parts of the vocal tract and figure 2 shows the areas of the tongues. Both figures are taken from Practical Phonetics and Phonology by Baverley Collins and Inger M.Mees.
Figure 1. Parts of the Vocal Tract (2003: 42)
Figure 2. Areas of the Tongue (2003: 54)
B.2.c. Manner of Articulation
According to Elizabeth Zsiga in the compilation edited by Ralph Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, manner of articulation is the type of constriction that is made for a speech sound (2006:507). To produce any consonant, an active articulator, usually located somewhere along the base of the vocal tract, moves towards a passive articulator, somewhere along the top. How close the active and passive articulators get, determines the manner of articulation. Victoria Fromkin et.al in An Introduction to Language stated that there are six main manners of articulation (2003: 244-250). The explanations are given below.
B.2.c.i. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds
Voiceless sounds are sounds produced in a way that the vocal cords are apart during the airflow, so that the air flows freely through the glottis and supraglottal cavities (the parts of the vocal tract above the glottis). The voiceless sounds in English are /p/, /t/, /k/, and /s/. If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. The sounds produced in this way are voiced sounds: /b/, /d/, /g/, and /z/. Voiceless sounds may also be aspirated or unaspirated. In the production of aspirated sounds, the vocal cords remain apart for a brief time after the stop closure is released, resulting in a puff of air at the time of the release. The /p/ in pit is aspirated, while the /p/ in spit is unaspirated. B.2.c.ii. Nasal and Oral Sounds
the velum is not in its raised position, air escapes through both the nose and the mouth. Sounds produced this way are nasal sounds. Voiceless oral sounds include /p/, /t/, and /k/, and voiced oral sounds are /b/, /d/, and /g/. Nasal sounds in English are usually voiced. They are /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/.
B.2.c.iii. Stops
A stop occurs when the active and passive articulators actually touch, stopping airflow through the oral cavity completely for a brief period. Nasal sounds /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ are classified as stops because nasals have a structure of complete
closure in the oral cavity although the soft palate is lowered allowing the airstream to escape through the nose. Nonnasal, or oral stops are also called plosive because the air that is blocked in the mouth ‘explodes’ when the closure is released. Stops are classified into bilabial stops /p/, /b/, /m/, alveolar stops /t/, /d/, /n/, velar stops
/k/, /g/, /ŋ/, glottal stop /ʔ/ as in butter, and palatal affricates with complete stop
closures /t∫/ and /d /.
B.2.c.iv. Fricatives
If the articulators are brought close together but not closed completely, so that the stream of air that is forced between them becomes turbulent and noisy, the manner of articulation is fricative. The sounds /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /ð/, /θ/, /∫/, and / / are
fricatives. The sounds /f/ and /v/ are labiodental fricatives, /s/ and /z/ are alveolar fricatives, /ð/ and /θ/ are interdental fricatives, /∫/ and / / are palatal fricatives.
B.2.c.v. Affricates
closure that produces an effect characteristic of a fricative. The two relevant
sounds for English are /t∫/, at the beginning and end of church, and its voiced equivalent /d / found at the beginning and end of judge.
B.2.c.vi. Liquids
Liquids are sounds produced with some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not enough to cause any real constriction or friction. For lateral liquid /l/, the tip of the tongue rises to the alveolar ridge leaving the rest of the tongue down, permitting the air to escape laterally over its sides. Retoflex liquid /r/ is produced by curling the tip of the tongue back behind the alveolar ridge. In some languages, the /r/ may be an alveolar trill, produced by the tip of the tongue vibrating against the roof of the mouth. It may be produced by a single tap or flap of the tongue against the alveolar ridge and it sometimes called ‘a flap’. The IPA symbol for the
alveolar tap or flap is /ɽ/.
B.2.c.vii. Glides
Glides produced with little or no obstruction of the airstream in the mouth. The sounds /j/ and /w/ are glides. They are transitional sounds that are sometimes called semivowels. The glide /j/ is a palatal sound; while /w/ is produced by both raising the back of the tongue toward the velum and simultaneously rounding the lips. Therefore, the glide /w/ is a labio-velar glide, or a rounded velar glide.
B.2.d. Place of Articulation
B.2.d.i. Bilabial
The active articulator for a bilabial sound is the bottom lip, and the passive articulator is the top lip. Bilabial sound occurs if the lower and upper lip comes together. Bilabial sound includes /p/, /b/, and /m/. /p/ is voiceless and /b/ and /m/ are voiced.
B.2.d.ii. Labio-dental
For labio-dental sound, the active articulator is the lower lip and the passive articulator is the upper teeth. /f/ and /v/ are labio-dental. /f/ is voiceless and /v/ is voiced.
B.2.d.iii. Dental
The dental sound is produced when the active articulator, tongue tip or blade, moves forward to the upper teeth that becomes the passive articulator. The dental sound includes /θ/ (voiceless) and /ð/ (voiced).
B.2.d.iv. Alveolar
Alveolar sounds are produced by the tip or blade of the tongue (active articulator) moving up towards the alveolar ridge (passive articulator). The alveolar sounds include /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /r/, and /l/.
B.2.d.v. Postalveolar
Postalveoloar sounds are produced with the blade of the tongue as the active articulator, and the adjoining parts of the alveolar ridge and the hard palate as the
passive one. The postalveolar sounds are/∫/, / /, /t∫/, and /d /.
B.2.d.vi. Palatal
/j/ in you is the example of palatal sound. B.2.d.vii. Velar
For velar sounds, the active articulator is the back of the tongue, and passive articulator is the velum, or soft palate. The velar sounds include /k/, /g/, /ŋ/ and voiceless velar fricative /x/ in Scottish word loch.
B.2.d.viii. Glottal
Glottal sounds do not involve the tongue. The articulators are the vocal folds, which constitute a place of articulation as well as having a crucial role in voicing. The glottal sounds in English are /g/ and one allophonic representation of /t/ in
many accents, namely the glottal stop [ʔ] as in butter.
B.3. Theories of Phonology
Phonology is concerned with the ways in which the speech sounds form systems and patterns in human language.
B.3.a. Phonemes and Allophones
The importance of phonology is shown by the fact that one can change one word into another simply by changing one sound. It can be seen from the forms and meanings of the following English words:
sip – zip fine – vine chunk – junk
distinctive sounds are called phonemes. A phoneme can be described as a label for a group of sounds that are perceived by the speaker to be the ‘same’ sound, and the allophones are the different ways of pronouncing that sound depending upon the context in which it is produced. Phonemes are indicated by slashes, while allophones are indicated by brackets (Zsiga, 2006: 39).
It can be said that each phoneme is therefore really composed of a number of different sounds which are interpreted as one meaningful unit by a native speaker of the language. This range is termed allophonic variation, and the variants themselves are called allophones. Only the allophones of a phoneme can exist in reality as concrete entities. Allophones are real, since they can be recorded, stored and reproduced, and analyzed in acoustic or articulatory terms. Phonemes are
abstract units and exist only in the mind of the speaker/listener. As the phoneme
is an abstraction, one can only in fact, produce an allophone of the phoneme (Collins, Beverley and Inger M. Mees, 2003: 11).
B.3.b. The Rules of Phonology
According to Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams in An
Introduction to Language, the phonological rules relate the phonemic
B.3.b.i. Assimilation rules
Assimilation is the adaptation of a phoneme to another under the phonetic conditioning. Beverley Collins and Inger M. Mees in Practical Phonetics and
Phonology described phonetic conditioning as a term used to cover the in which
speech segments are influenced by adjacent or near-adjacent segments, causing phonemes to vary in their realization according to the phonetic context. Assimilation may replace a phoneme by another phoneme. If green bag is said as [’gri:m bæg], then /n/ is said to assimilate to /m/ under the influence of the following /b/ (2003: 102). The same is true in the word impolite, which is constructed from the root polite and prefix in. The surface representation of the word is [‘Impəlt] because the /n/ is said to assimilate to /m/ under the influence
of the following voiceless stop /p/.
Therefore, it can be said that assimilation rules change feature values of segments, thus spreading phonetic properties. The rule that nasalizes vowels in English before nasal consonants is such a rule (Fromkin et.al., 2003: 328).
B.3.b.ii. Dissimilation rules
Languages also have dissimilation rules, rules in which a segment becomes less similar to another segment. An example of easing pronunciation through dissimilation is found in some varieties of English, where there is a fricative dissimilation rule. This rule applies to sequences /fθ/ and /sθ/, changing them to [ft] and [st]. Here, the fricative /θ/ becomes dissimilar to the preceding fricative by
B.3.b.iii. Feature-changing rules
The English vowel nasalization and vowel weakening rules change feature specifications. That is, in English the [-nasal] value of phonemic vowel is changed to [+nasal] phonetically through an assimilation process when the vowels occur before nasals. The Japanese vowel weakening rule also changes the feature specification. Vowels in Japanese are phonemically voiced, and the rule changes vowels that occur in the specified environment into phonetically voiceless segments. Assimilation rules as described above often have the function of changing the value of phonemic features. They are changing or feature-spreading rules.
B.3.b.iv. Feature addition rules
Phonological rules in grammar may add nondistinctive features, which are predictable from the context. The example is the rule that aspirates voiceless stops at the beginning of words and syllables in English. Generally, aspiration occurs only if the following vowel is stresses. For example, the /p/ in pit and repeat is aspirated, but the /p/ in inspect and compass is not. Therefore, the rule can be stated as ‘voiceless stops ([-continuant, -voiced] segments) becomes aspirated when they occur syllable initially before stressed vowels.
B.3.b.v. Segment insertion rules
B.3.b.vi. Segment deletion rules
It is the opposite of insertion. Phonological rules may delete phonemic segments in certain context. Instead of breaking up a sequence of consonants with a vowel, a language may choose to delete one of the consonants, as in the loss of the initial /p/ in pneumonia. Grand ends with /nd/, mother starts with [m], but when the two words are put together, the medial /d/ is usually deleted and it becomes [grænmʌðər]. The /n/ may then assimilate to the /m/, resulting in [græmmʌðər]. Deletion rules also show up as optional rules in fast speech or casual speech in English. Contraction rules in English are deletion rules. They result, for example, in the common contractions changing he is [hi Iz] to he’s [hIz]and I will [aI wIl] to
I’ll [aIl].
B.3.c. Variation between Accents
McMahon in An Introduction to English Phonology (2002) stated that accent is clearly extremely important, as one of the major tools we use in drawing inferences about humans, and in projecting particular images of ourselves. An accent, in phonological terms, is an idealized system which speakers of that variety share. Although slight differences in its use may be apparent, both across and within individuals, its speakers will still share more in common with one another, and with that idealized accent system, than with speakers of any other idealized accent system (2002: 93).
phonemes, so different phonemic oppositions can be established from them: these are systemic differences. Second, the same phonemes may have different allophones: these are realisational differences. The last one, there are distributional differences, whereby the same lexical item may have different phonemes in two different varieties; or alternatively, the same phoneme may have a phonological restriction on its distribution in one variety but not another (2002: 94).
B.4. Theories of Song Lyrics
Music is the universal language as a vehicle to engage, inspire, and reinforce the magic of literature and the power of reading. Song-lyric, therefore, is also a means of communication because it is also a kind of a language use. As well as the lyric in poetry, song-lyric also has metaphor.
Simpson in his book Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students said mixing the literary, with the manifestly ‘non-literature’, the set, which features both metaphor and metonymy, draws in material from journalism, song lyrics, spoken discourse and, off course, literary text (2004: 142).
There is no set way to write the lyrics to a song, but according to the article entitled How to Write Rap Lyrics posted in http://www.ehow.com/
how_2140038_write-rap-lyrics.html by eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
approach writing rap lyrics like he or she would approach the process of writing poetry.
To write good rap lyrics, the songwriter needs to combine interesting subject matter with a clever lyrical delivery. The first step is writing about a subject the songwriter knows intimately. The best rap songs are born out of personal experience. The second step is varying the meter and phrasing. The simple, repetitive rap beats will provide a solid foundation upon which a rapper can create incredibly complex polyrhythmic flourishes with his lyrics. The songwriter should try to avoid writing rhythmically stagnant verses with rigid meters.
The next step is to write all the time. Successful rappers are constantly coming up with phrases, rhymes or lyrical ideas. The songwriter should keep a notebook handy throughout the day so he or she can scribble down ideas whenever inspiration strikes. The fourth step is to become an observer. The songwriter should be sensitive to people and conflicts that surround him or her at all times. Next, is to create a simple chorus that encapsulates the themes and ideas of the song. The best choruses are short and catchy. After that, the songwriter should come up with a unique turn of phrase or wordplay. He or she should think of clichés or familiar phrases and find clever ways to put fresh spins on them.
The next step is building the rhymes within individual lines. Unlike rock or country lyrics, rap lyrics do not limit rhymes to the end of each line. By incorporating a series of rapid-fire rhymes within a single line of a verse, rappers give themselves plenty of opportunities to create fast-paced rhythmic syncopations and patterns.
Step number nine is manipulating alliteration. In addition to rhymes, many rappers get a lot of creative mileage out of alliteration. The songwriter should try and repeat the initial consonant sounds with as many words as possible within a single lyrical passage. The last step is reading the lyrics from great rappers carefully. The songwriter should take notes on the techniques and styles used by successful rappers.
Since raps are talk songs, they are not sung but spoken. They have a very heavy beat and a lot of rhyme. There might be original music, “scratching” sounds, and parts of other people’ songs behind the speaker of a rap.
B.5. Review of 50 Cent
Born in the South Jamaica section of Queens, "50 Cent", whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III has lived in New York City all his life. His grandparents raised him after his father ran out and his mother was shot when he was only eight. Growing up, the Queens rapper originally wanted to be a heavyweight boxer, but eventually fell back on rapping. In 1999 his album Power of the Dollar, was heavily bootlegged and Trackmasters/Columbia never released it.
"In Da Club," which, at press time, holds the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100, R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and Hot Rap Tracks charts, the previously released bonus track "Wanksta," and the recently released "21 Questions" featuring Nate Dogg, it is not surprising that 50 Cent moved roughly 872, 000 units the first week. Internationally, 50 Cent remains on the Top Ten album charts in Canada and Australia, while "In Da Club" proves to be a smash in the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Ireland (http://www.ascap.com/playback/ 2003/july/radar-50cent.html).
In September 11, 2007, 50 Cent released his newest album ‘Curtis’. The album's title was changed twice. The first time, it was changed from "Curtis" to "Curtis S.S.K.". The second time, it was changed back to "Curtis". The "S.S.K.", which stood for "SoundScan Killer", was intended to show the pressure 50 Cent felt to succeed. The "S.S.K." also stands for "SouthSide King" and "Shoot, Stab, Kill". 50 Cent stated that the album was inspired by his life before his commercial debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. He also stated that he chose the album's title because he was known as "Curtis" before he became famous.
50 Cent wrote parts of the album in his grandmother's old house in South Jamaica, Queens and he also flew to Florida to work on Ayo Technology with Justin Timberlake, and finished the song in Houston. 50 Cent wrote a significant amount of the guests' lyrics.
but later being outsold by the Eagle's Long Road Out of Eden, which moved 711,000 units and later Alicia Keys' As I Am bringing in 742,000 copies). However, Curtis brought in the lowest first week sales of 50 Cent's career, with
Get Rich or Die Tryin' selling 872,000 and The Massacre moving 1.1 million
copies. Curtis sells 5 million after a year and a half (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Curtis_50_Cent_album).
C. Theoretical Framework
There are two main points to be analyzed in this thesis. The points concern on the phonological processes occurred in the Black English words pronunciation of the song-lyrics, and the characteristics of Black English phonology that later differ it from Standard English. The writer needs some theories that will help the writer in analyzing the points.
The first point needs the theories of Black English. These theories help the writer in understanding the definition of Black English itself so that the writer does not have any difficulty in determining the particular words in the song lyrics that are typically Black English since the object of study is song-lyrics written in Black English dialect. The second theory is on phonetics and phonology. These theories help the writer in defining what phonological processes are found in the pronunciation of the words. The idea of song-lyric is also needed in order to support the analysis of the first point mentioned above.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Data of the Study
In this paper, the writer is going to analyze the phonological processes in 50 Cent song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’. This is the latest album of 50 Cent and was released in September 11, 2007. There are eighteen songs in the album. The songs
are Intro, My Gun Go off, Man Down, I’ll Still Kill, I Get Money, Come & Go,
Ayo Technology, Follow My Lead, Movin’ On Up, Straight to the Bank,
Amusement Park, Fully Loaded Clip, Peep Show, Fire, All of Me, Curtis 187,
Touch the Sky, and bonus track Hustler’s Ambition.
The writer analyzes only the pronunciation of words, which are typically Black English, or in other words, the words that are found only in Black English Vernacular. The writer listed those words and wrote the phonetic transcriptions based on the writer’s listening. As the comparison to the Standard one, the writer also gave the spellings and the phonetic transcriptions of the words based on
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English.
B. Approach of the Study
C. Method of the Study C.1. Population and Sample
In doing a research, a researcher must need objects to be investigated. It is impossible for the writer to find all the populations in doing research. Sprinthall defines the term “population” as the entire group of person, things, or events that share at least one common trait (1992: 27), while “sample” are only parts of the population that are used to be the representative of the population’s characteristics. The writer considers this research as the sampling one because the writer will do the phonological study on Black English only through the pronunciations of the word in 50 Cent’s eighteen song lyrics in the album Curtis.
C.2. Instrument and Data Collection
C.3. Data Analysis
There are two problems to answer in this research, which are the phonological processes of Black English words pronunciations and how the characteristics of Black English phonology seen through the processes. To answer the problems, the writer did the analysis in some steps.
The first problem deals with the phonological processes. The writer firstly listed the Black English words found in the eighteen song lyrics. The table was divided into eighteen parts, each of them is for Black English words found in each song lyric, since the album ‘Curtis’ consists of eighteen songs. The writer included the phonetic transcriptions of both the Standard English (based on
Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, 2007) and Black
English (based on the writer’s listening to the pronunciations of the songs). Secondly, from the comparison of the phonetic transcription of Standard and Black English, the writer analyzed each word into its phonological process by applying all possible phonological rules. From the analysis, the writer then categorized those possible processes in each table according to the phonological processes orderly, for instance alveolarization process, vowel deletion, and nasal assimilation. By doing these steps, the writer could answer the problem number one that was finding the phonological processes of Black English words.
step, the writer could derive the characteristics of Black English phonology that differ them from the Standard one. For instance, one of the characteristics of Black English phonology is that the /ŋ/ is pronounced to /n/ if it occurs in the last
CHAPTER IV RESULT OF ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer tries to answer the problems formulated in the first chapter. The problems are about the phonological processes that are used in the word-formations of 50 Cent’s song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’, and the phonological characteristics of Black English as seen through the pronunciation of the lyrics. The lyrics, which are the main data for this study, are taken from
http://www.lyrics007.com/50%20Cent%20lyrics/Intro%20(Curtis)%20lyrics.html,
accessed on September 12, 2008. This album ‘Curtis’, contains eighteen songs, which are entitled Intro, My Gun Go Off, Man Down, I’ll Still Kill, I Get Money, Come & Go, Ayo Technology, Follow My Lead, Movin’ On Up, Straight to the
Bank, Amusement Park, Fully Loaded Clip, Peep Show, Fire, All of Me, 187,
Touch the Sky, and bonus track Hustler Ambition. The writer gives the some
examples of the data below.
Table 1. The Examples of the Analyzed Data
Song Title Black English
words Phonetic Transcription Standard English words Phonetic Transcription
packin' [‘pækIn] packing [‘pækIŋ]
Intro
bout [‘bt] about [ə‘bt]
nigga [’nIgə] nigger [’nIgər]
turnin' [‘tnIn] turning [‘tnIŋ]
My Gun Go Off
beatin' [‘bi:tn] beating [‘bi:tIŋ]
creepin [‘krIpIn] creeping [‘krIpIŋ]
I’ll Still Kill
wearin [‘wIərIn] wearing [‘wIərIŋ]
tryna [’trnə] trying to [’trjIŋtə]
I Get Money
gangsta [‘gæŋstə] gangster [‘gæŋstər]
bring’em [‘brIŋ,əm] bring them [‘brIŋ,ðəm]
Come & Go
A. Phonological Processes Occurred in the Black English Words Pronunciation of 50 Cent’s Song Lyrics in the Album ‘Curtis’.
To answer the first problem, that is the phonological processes of the Black English word pronunciations, the writer first classified the Black English words of each lyric. The words then were transcribed into the phonetic transcription. The first problem deals with the phonological processes. Therefore, the writer analyzed the data by applying all possible phonological rules and classified them according to the phonological processes by comparing the transcriptions of Black English words to those of Standard English. The phonetic transcriptions of the Standard English words are taken from Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of
Current English (2007), while the phonetic transcription of the Black English
words are based on the writer’s listening to the songs.
The writer found that there are four phonological processes occur in the pronunciations of Black English words found in 50 Cent’s song lyrics in the album ‘Curtis’. The phonological processes are alveolarization, vowel weakening, deletion, and palatalisation. The processes are described as follows:
A.1. Alveolarization
After doing the analysis, the writer found that there are three kinds of alveolarization processes. They are velar alveolarization, voiced continuant alveolarization, and voiceless continuant alveolarization.
A.1.a. Velar alveolarization
is [+ alveolar]. It means that the final velar stop is alveolarized. The process is described on the table below.
Table 2. Phonological Process Applying Velar Alveolarization rule (/ŋ/ Æ /n/) Standard English Black English Phonological process
saying sayin’ Underlying Form /’seIjIŋ/ /’seIjIŋ/
Alveolarization NA /’seIjIn/
Surface representation [’seIjIŋ] [’seIjIn]
In the word sayin’ above, the /ŋ/ is alveolarized and it becomes /n/. Therefore,
there is a different surface representation between the word sayin’ in Black English and saying in Standard English. This same rule of velar alveolarization is also applied in other words of the lyrics. Most of the verbs in continuous form applied this rule. For example the word crawlin’ is pronounced [‘krlIn] instead
of [‘krlIŋ] and blowin’ is pronounced [‘blwIn] instead of [‘blwIŋ]. The
writer gives the complete data of the words experiencing this rule in the appendix. Therefore, from the data analyzed above, it can be said that in Black English Vernacular, the consonant velar /ŋ/ is alveolarized to /n/ if it occurs in the final position of a word.
A.1.b. Voiced continuant alveolarization
Table 3. Phonological Process Applying Voiced Continuant Alveolarization Rule (/ð/ Æ /d/)
Standard English Black English Phonological process
them dem
Underlying Form /ðəm/ /ðəm/ Alveolarization NA /dəm/ Surface representation [ðəm] [dəm]
In the phonological process above, the initial phoneme /ð/ in word dem, which in Standard English pronounced as [ðəm] is alveolarized so that it becomes /d/.
The final surface representation therefore, is [dəm]. Another word experiencing this rule is Black English word da, which pronounced [‘da]. In Standard English, it is written the, and pronounced [‘ðə]. This rule is also applied in the word that
and these. Therefore, it can be said that voice continuant /ð/ is alveolarized to
alveolar stop /d/ if it occur in the initial position of the word. A.1.c. Voiceless continuant alveolarization
Another alveolarization rule is applied on the Black English word throwing
and nuttin. There is an alveolarization from the phoneme /θ/ to phoneme /t/. The
process is described in the table below.
Table 4. Phonological Process Applying Voiceless Continuant Alveolarization Rule (/θ/ Æ /t/)
Standard English Black English
Phonological process
throwing throwin’
Underlying Form /θrwIŋ/ /θrwIŋ/
Alveolarization NA /trwIn/
Standard English Black English Phonological process
nothing nuttin’
Underlying Form /‘nʌθIŋ/ /‘nʌθIŋ/
Velar alveolarization NA /‘nʌθIn/
Voiceless continuant alv. NA /‘nʌtIn/
Surface representation [‘nʌθIŋ] [‘nʌtIn]
At the beginning of a word, the phoneme /θ/ is typically realized as a
corresponding stop, such as [dəm] for dem. The voiceless interdental fricative /θ/ for throwing is alveolarized so it becomes an alveolar stop /t/. The same is true in the word nuttin’ (pronounced ‘nʌtIn), which in Standard English is pronounced as
[‘nʌθIŋ].
A.2. Vowel weakening
Vowel weakening occurs when the vowel changes its form, from the strong form into its weak form. The example is the word ya in Black English which is derived from the word you pronounced as [jə], while in Standard English it is pronounced [ju:]. The high long vowel /u:/ becomes weaken and changes its form into schwa /ə/. The process is described in the table below.
Table 5. Phonological Process Applying Vowel Weakening Rule
Standard English Black English Phonological process
you ya
Underlying Form /’ju:/ /’ju:/
Vowel weakening NA /’jə/
Surface representation [’ju:] [’jə]
Standard English Black English Phonological process
mark merk
Underlying Form /‘mα:rk/ /‘mα:rk/
Vowel weakening NA /’mərk/
In the phonological process applying this rule above, there is a vowel weakening from the high back vowel /u:/ in Standard English you becomes /ə/ in Black English ya. The same is true in the word merk, which is pronounced [‘mərk].
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that the vowel is weakened if it occurs before retroflex /r/ or if it occurs in the last syllable of a word.
A.3. Deletion
The writer has done the analysis on the data collected and the writer found that there are four kinds of deletion rules applied in the phonological processes of Black English words pronunciation. The rules are consonant deletion, vowel deletion, monophtongization, and segment deletion.
A.3.a. Consonant deletion
Consonant deletion occurs when a consonant is deleted as the result of the use of Black English. The writer found four kinds of consonant deletion, which are ð -deletion, θ-deletion, r-deletion, t-deletion, and v-deletion. The processes are described in the tables below.
Table 6. Phonological Process Applying ð-deletion Rule
Standard English Black English
Phonological process
at them at em
Underlying Form / ‘æt,ðəm/ /‘æt,ðəm/
ð –deletion NA /’æt,əm/
Surface representation [‘æt,ðəm] [‘æt,əm]
Standard English Black English
Phonological process
kick them kick ‘em
Underlying Form [‘kIk,ðəm] [‘kIk,ðəm]
ð –deletion NA /‘kIk,əm/
Unlike the word dem which applied alveolarization rule, the word em applied the ð-deletion because the /ð/ in /ðəm/ (them) is deleted and it becomes only /əm/ in the word em. The word em in the lyric is preceded by words in which its final syllable have final alveolar stop like /t/ in the phrase at em, /k/ in the phrase kick em, and /ŋ/ in the phrase bring em. The words experiencing this rule are listed in the appendix (same words are not repeated).
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that the voiced interdental fricative
/ð/ is deleted if it is preceded by velar stop /k/ or /ŋ/, voiceless alveolar stop /t/,
lateral /l/, or voiced labiodental fricative /v/ and followed by a mid central vowel.
Table 7. Phonological Process Applying θ-deletion Rule
Standard English Black English
Phonological process
something summin’
Underlying Form /’sʌmθIŋ/ /’sʌmθIŋ/
Velar alveolarization NA /’sʌmθIn/
θ –deletion NA /’sʌmIn/
Vowel deletion NA /’sʌmn/
Surface representation [’sʌmθIŋ] [’sʌmn]
There are three rules applied in the phonological process of the word summin’
which is pronounced [’sʌmn]. The velar alveolarization is one of the rules which is firstly applied because the sound /ŋ/ occurs in the final position of the word. The
second rule applied is θ-deletion and the phonetic transcription becomes /’sʌmIn/.
Table 8. Phonological Process Applying r-deletion Rule
Standard English Black English Phonological process
nigger nigga Underlying Form /’nIgər/ /’nIgər/
r-deletion NA /’nIgə/
Surface representation [’nIgər] [’nIgə] Standard English Black English Phonological process
your ya
Underlying Form /’jr/ /’jr/
r-deletion NA /’j/
Vowel reduction NA /’jə/
Surface representation [‘jr] [’jə]
Another process of deletion which is also found in the lyrics is r-deletion.
R-deletion occurs in Black English words nigga and ya above. The sound r is deleted and therefore, it is not pronounced. As the result, the word nigga is pronounced [’nIgə] and ya is pronounced [’jə], after applying vowel reduction rule
(vowel // becomes /ə/). Other words experiencing r-deletion rule are as listed in the appendix.
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that /r/ is deleted if it occurs after central mid vowel /ə/ or low back vowel //.
Table 9. Phonological Process Applying t-deletion Rule
Standard English Black English Phonological process
trying to tryna Underlying Form /’trjIŋtə/ /’trjIŋtə/
Velar alveolarization NA /’trjIntə/ t-deletion NA /’trjInə/
Standard English Black English Phonological process
want to wanna Underlying Form /’wɒnt,tə/ /’wɒnt,tə/
t-deletion NA /’wɒnə/ Surface representation [’wɒnt,tə] [’wɒnə]
The writer learnt from the context of the songs that the word tryna is the Black English form of the words trying to which is pronounced [’trjIŋtə]. The
phonological process of the word tryna applied three rules, which are alveolarization, t-deletion, and segment deletion. The first process is velar alveolarization, when the final velar stop /ŋ/ becomes /n/. The result is that the transcription becomes /’trjIntə/. The second process is t-deletion where the
consonant /t/ is deleted and therefore, the transcription becomes /’trjIntə/. The
last process is segment deletion. It is a process which deletes more than one phoneme. It results on the final surface representation [’trnə]. The rule t-deletion is also applied in the word wanna. After the /t/ is deleted, the surface representation becomes [’wɒnə]. The words experiencing t-deletion rule are listed in the appendix.
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that the alveolar stop /t/ is deleted if it is preceded by a nasal alveolar /n/ and followed by a central mid vowel /ə/.
Table 10. Phonological Process Applying v-deletion Rule
The word gimme applied v-deletion rule because the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ is deleted. The second rule applied is vowel weakening which reduces
Standard English Black English Phonological process
give me gimme Underlying Form /’gIvmI/ /’gIvmI/
V-deletion NA /’gImI/
Vowel weakening NA /’gImə/
the high front vowel /I/ into schwa /ə/. Therefore, the final surface representation
for the Black English word gimme is [’gImə].
A.3.b. Vowel deletion
Vowel deletion occurs when a vowel is deleted as the result of the use of Black English. The phonological process applying vowel deletion rule is described in the table below.
Table 11. Phonological Process Applying Vowel Deletion Rule
Standard English Black English Phonological process
sitting sittin’ Underlying Form /’sItIŋ/ /’sItIŋ/
Velar alveolarization NA /’sItIn/
Vowel deletion NA /’sItn/
Surface representation [’sItIŋ] [’sItn] Standard English Black English Phonological process
getting gettin’ Underlying Form /’getIŋ/ /’getIŋ/
Velar alveolarization NA /’getIn/
Vowel deletion NA /’getn/
Surface representation [’getIŋ] [’getn]
Vowel deletion is applied on the above phonological process along with velar alveolarization rule. The word sittin’ applied alveolarization rule first for the /ŋ/ is alveolarized and becomes /n/. The vowel /I/ then deleted and the final surface
representation for sittin’ is [’sItn]. It can be said that the rule occurs to the high
front vowel /I/ when it is preceded by a voiceless alveolar stop /t/ and followed by
Other words in the song lyrics applying the same rules are listed in the appendix. The same words are not repeated.
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that in Black English Vernacular, the high front vowel /I/ is deleted it occurs between voiceless alveolar stop and a
nasal alveolar /n/ in the last syllable of a word. A.3.c. Monophtongization
Monophtongization rule in English is deletion rule because it simplifies diphthong by deleting particular phoneme in certain context.
Table 12. Phonological Process Applying Monophtongization Rule Standard English Black English Phonological process
I will Ill
Underlying Form /,aI’wIl/ /,aI’wIl/
Segment deletion NA / ‘aIl /
Monophtongization NA /’al/
Surface representation [,aI’wIl] [’al] Standard English Black English Phonological process
high high
Underlying Form /’haI/ /’haI/
Monophtongization NA /’ha/
Surface representation [’haI] [’ha]
In the word Ill, there are two rules applied. The first one is segment deletion which deletes phonemic segment /w/ and /I/ so that the representation of the word
Ill becomes /‘aIl /. Then, the diphthong /aI/ is simplified into a monophtong /a/.
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that the diphthong /aI/ becomes
simply /a/ without the glide if it occurs in the last syllable of a word or if it occurs before a nasal alveolar /n/ or a lateral /l/.
A.3.d. Segment deletion
Segment deletion is a process which deletes more than one phoneme. The word tryna [’trnə] is often used in the lyrics. In this word, as well as in gonna,
the segment deleted the phonemes /j/ and /I/. Another word experiencing this rule
is the word bustin’. The processes are described in the table below.
Table 13. Phonological Process Applying Segment Deletion Rule Standard English Black English Phonological process
busting bustin’ Underlying Form /’bʌstIŋ/ /’bʌstIŋ/
Velar alveolarization NA /’bʌstIn/
Segment deletion NA /’bʌsn/ Surface representation [’bʌstIŋ] [’bʌsn]
The word bustin’ first applied velar alveolarization rule which alveolarized the final nasal stop /ŋ/ so it becomes /n/ and the transcription becomes /’bʌstIn/. The
phoneme /t/ and /I/ then deleted because those phonemes /t/ and /I/ are preceded by voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and followed by a nasal alveolar stop /n/. Therefore, the final surface representation for Black English word bustin’ is [’bʌsn].
A.4. Affricatisation
Table 14. Phonological Process Applying Affricatisation Rule
Standard English Black English
Phonological process
get you get’cha
Underlying Form /’get,ju:/ /’get,ju:/
Affricatisation NA /’get∫u:/
Vowel weakening NA /’get∫ə/
Surface representation [’get,ju:] [’get∫ə]
Standard English Black English
Phonological process
hold you hold ya
Underlying Form /‘hld,ju:/ /‘hld,ju:/
Affricatisation NA /’ hld u:/
Vowel weakening NA /’ hld ə/
Surface representation [‘hld,ju:] [‘hld ə]
In the Black English word get’cha, there are two phonological rules applied. The first one is affricatisation rule, which change the voiceless alveolar stop /t/
into palatal /t∫/. The second process is vowel weakening which changes the high long vowel /u:/ into schwa /ə/. The surface representation for the word get’cha
then becomes [’get∫ə]. The Black English word hold ya applied the same rule.
Therefore, its final representation is [‘hld ə]. Other words experiencing palatalisation rule are listed in the appendix.
From the data analyzed above, it can be said that voiced and voiceless alveolar
stops /t/ and /d/ becomes palatal affricates /t∫/ and /d / if they occur before palatal glide /j/.
B. Phonological Characteristics of Black English
1. Black English words alveolarized velar nasal if it occurs in the final position of a word. The notation can be written:
/ŋ/ [n]
