A GRAMMATICAL FEATURE SEEN IN THE STRUCTURE OF BLACK ENGLISH SPOKEN BY TROY MAXON AND ITS EFFECTS TOWARD THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLAY OF WILSON’S FENCES

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THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLAY OF WILSON’S

FENCES

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani Student Number: 044214029

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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OF BLACK ENGLISH SPOKEN BY TROY MAXON AND ITS EFFECTS TOWARD THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLAY

OF WILSON’S FENCES

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani

Student Number: 044214029

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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There are

three words

I like to

repeat to

myself:

glass

half full

. Just

to remind

myself to be

grateful for

everything I

have.

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I proudly dedicate this thesis to

My beloved family

and

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This thesis owes to the supports, helps, care, love and inspiration of God

and many people since I realize without them it is impossible to finish this

graduating thesis.

In the first place, I would like to thank my beloved Jesus Christ for His

blessing and His love. I realize without His help I cannot finish my study. I also

thank Him for giving guidance during my wonderful life. I would like to thank the

Holy Mary for being my mother and my best friend who always listens when I am

in a difficulty.

I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my advisor, Harris

Hermansyah Setiajid, S.S., M. Hum. for his suggestion, correction, support,

kindness, and time. I owe him much. To my co-advisor, Adventina Putranti S.S.,

M. Hum., I would like tothank for her time to read and to correct my thesis. I

also really appreciate her suggestions in my thesis. I really appreciate her help.

My deep gratitude is also dedicated to my beloved parents Y. Sugeng

Darmadi and Susana Sri Setiyati who always support and give spirit and prayer

during my education program. Then, I also have to thank my beloved brothers,

Didit and Terry and my sister, Maria, who always love me.

I am really grateful to all lecturers who have taught me and all the

secretarial staff in English Letters who have been so nice to me and always ready

to help me.

I also extend my appreciation to my beloved Yosef Krisnanda for his

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Trefalt, Tini, Just Nofi, Dita Ndutz, Diah, Nelly, miss M, Pak Turut, Pak

Sugiono, Dion, Sukma, Marita, Nova, and Nana for being my respondents. I

thank Mbak Mawar, Mbak Kurnia, Mbak Anti, Mas Koko, and Mas Adi, for

the inspirations.

Thanks my beloved friends, Caca, Tata, Intan, Amel, Elin, Nanang, and

Astrid “my roommate” for their kindness to me and support. For Sing’04: Ka’

Ison, Feme, Edward, Dede, Ririn, Corry, Mas Jati, Sony, Ucok, Sisca, Deasy,

Indri, Rani, Disty, Lutfi, Sheila, Patrick, Rizky, 612, Eka IP4, Pita, Tony “Mr.

Item”; thank for giving the nicest moment during in university. Thanks to the

Selvita Gals who always make me laugh with their attitude especially Rina

Moxer, Bule Sragen, and Anak Sintang. They successfully cheer me up when I

really need it during finishing my thesis.

Lastly, I would like to thank all whose name I cannot mention one by one.

Thanks very much for the awesome moment that has colored my days in

Yogyakarta. I will miss it.

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TITLE PAGE ………... i

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………... ix

LIST OF TABLE ... xi

ABSTRACT ... xii

ABSTRAK ………... xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 4

C. Objectives of the Study ... 4

D. Definition of Terms ... 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 6

A. Review of Related Studies ... 6

4. Theory on Subject-Verb Agreement ... 11

5. Syntactic Variation of Black English dialect ... 12

a. Omission of Auxiliary Verb ... 12

b. Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement ... 13

c. The sue of be ... 13

d. The use of done ... 14

e. The use of ain’t ... 14

f. Double Negation and Multiple Negations ... 15

g. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun ... 15

C. Theoretical Framework ... 16

D. Research Framework ... 17

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 18

A. Object of the Study ... 18

B. Method of the Study ... 19

C. Research Procedure ... 20

1. Data Collection ... 20

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Utterances in August Wilson’s Fences ... 24

1. The Omission of Auxiliary Verb ... 25

2. Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement ... 26

3. The Use of be ... 29

4. The Use of done ... 29

5. The Use of ain’t ... 30

6. Double Negation and Multiple Negations ... 32

7. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun ... 33

8. Incorrect Plural ... 34

9. Incorrect Past Participle ... 35

10.Incorrect Use of Relative Clause ... 35

B. The Effects of the Features of Black English Structure Toward the Understanding of the Story Based on the Questionnaires Distributed ... 36

1. The Result of the Questionnaires Based on the Respondents’ Category ... 37

a. Answers from the Respondents whose L1 is English ... 37

b. Answers from the Respondents whose L1 is not English ... 38

2. The Description of the Respondents’ Knowledge about Black English Features Based on the Questionnaires Distributed ... 48

a. The Score of the Respondents’ whose L1 is English ... 49

b. The Score of the Respondents’ whose L1 is not English ... 50

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 58

A. Conclusion ... 58

B. Suggestion ... 60

BIBLOGRAPHY ... 61

APPENDICES ... 63

Appendix 1 The List of Non-Standard Black English Structure Spoken by Troy Maxon Taken from August Wilson’s Fences ... 63

Appendix 2 The Sample of Questionnaire ... 80

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Table 1 The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb be ... 25

Table 2 The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb do ... 25

Table 3 The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb have ... 26

Table 4 The finding of the lack of subject-verb agreement ... 27

Table 5 The finding of the use of –be ... 29

Table 6 The finding of the use done ... 30

Table 7 The finding of ain’t ... 31

Table 8 The finding of double negation ... 32

Table 9 The finding of incorrect use of determiner and pronoun ... 34

Table 10 The finding of incorrect plural ... 34

Table 11 The finding of incorrect past participle ... 35

Table 12 The finding of incorrect relative clause ... 36

Table 13 Comprehension Indicator ... 49

Table 14 The score of the respondents’ whose L1 is English ... 49

Table 15 The score of the students in 8th semester ... 50

Table 16 The score of the English trainers and the English teacher ... 52

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Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani (2008). A Dialect Feature Seen in the Structure of Black English Spoken by Troy Maxon and Its Effects toward the Understanding of the Story of Wilson’s Fences. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

English, as a language, is used by many people in the world. They called English as an international language because English is used to communicate when people speak with others who have different language. It means that English is important in global communication. The use in global area causes English has many different local dialects. One of those local dialects is Black English dialect. Although Black English dialect has phonological feature, lexical feature and grammatical feature, in this thesis, the writer only focuses on the grammatical feature that is Black English structure because the dialect feature that mostly appeared in this play is grammatical feature.

The object of the study is Fences, a play written by August Wilson. This play describes the life of African American in 1957 which is proven by the dialogue of the characters by spoken in Black English dialect. In this thesis, the writer focuses on Troy Maxon’s utterances. He is the major character in this play. Troy Maxon strongly shows the Black English structure in his utterances.

The discussion in this thesis is made based on the objectives of this study which describe the kinds of the feature of Black English structure are shown in Troy Maxon’s utterances and to find out the effects of the feature of Black English toward the understanding of the story.

There were some steps conducted in this study. To answer the first problem formulation, the writer listed down all Troy Maxon’s utterances, gave mark to the dialect features and then analyzed the utterances based on the grammatical feature. To answer the second problem, the writer distributed questionnaires in the form of open-ended questions to anyone who have enough understanding in English. These questionnaires were used to find the effects of Black English features toward understanding of the story. Having gathered back the questionnaires, the writer analyzed them by checking the answers based on the correct understanding in the first analysis and the writer looked for what effects which would be arisen by those Black English structure.

Based on the analysis in this study, the writer has found ten features of Black English Structure in the play. The ten features are the omission of auxiliary verbs, lack of subject-verb agreement, the use of –be, the use of done, the use

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Bernadeta Adityaningsih Nugrahani (2008). A Dialect Feature Seen in the Structure of Black English Spoken by Troy Maxon and Its Effects toward the Understanding of the Story of Wilson’s Fences. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa Inggris adalah sebuah bahasa yang digunakan oleh banyak orang di seluruh dunia. Bahasa Inggris disebut sebagai bahasa internasional karena bahasa Inggris digunakan untuk berkomunikasi ketika orang-orang berbicara dengan sesama yang mempunyai bahasa yang berbeda. Ini berarti Bahasa Inggris sangat penting di dunia komunikasi. Penggunaan Bahasa Inggris secara luas menyebabkan Bahasa Inggris mempunyai banyak dialek. Salah satunya adalah

Black English (Bahasa Inggris yang digunakan oleh orang Afrika-Amerika). Meskipun Black English mempunyai ciri khas dalam fonologi, leksikal dan gramatikal namun dalam tesis ini penulis hanya memfokuskan pada gramatikal dalam hal ini adalah struktur bahasa tersebut karena keistimewaan cirri-ciri bahasa yang sering muncul dalam drama ini adalah keunikan gramaticalnya.

Sasaran penelitian ini adalah Fences, sebuah drama yang ditulis oleh August Wilson. Drama ini menggambarkan kehidupan orang-orang negro Amerika pada tahun 1957 yang ditunjukkan pada dialog para tokoh yang menggunakan Black English. Dalam tesis ini, penulis hanya mengamati dialek yang dituturkan oleh Troy Maxon. Dia adalah tokoh utama dalam drama ini. Troy Maxon menunjukkan struktur Black English dalam tuturannya dengan sangat kental.

Pembahasan dalam tesis ini dibuat berdasarkan pada tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu memaparkan berbagai jenis dari ciri-ciri struktur Black English yang tampak pada tuturan Troy Maxon dan untuk menemukan efek yang ditimbulkan oleh keunikan struktur Black English yang mempengaruhi pada pemahaman cerita.

Terdapat beberapa langkah yang ditempuh dalam penyelesaian penelitian ini. Guna menjawab pertanyaan pertama, penulis menulis seluruh tuturan Troy Maxon kemudian memberi tanda pada ciri-ciri dialek dan menganalisanya berdasarkan pada ciri-ciri gramatikalnya. Pada pertanyaan kedua, penulis membagikan kuesioner yang terdiri atas pertanyaan terbuka kepada siapa pun ynag mempunyai pengetahuan tentang bahasa Inggris. Kuesioner tersebut digunakan untuk menemukan efek-efek yang ditimbulkan oleh dialek ini dalam pemahaman cerita. Setelah kuesioner dikembalikan, penulis menganalisanya dengan cara memeriksa jawaban koresponden berdasarkan pemahaman yang benar pada analisa pertanyaan pertama dan melihat efek apa yang akan ditimbulkan oleh struktur Black English.

Berdasarkan analisis penelitian ini, penulis menemukan sepuluh ciri-ciri sruktur Black English dalam drama ini. Ciri-ciri tersebut adalah penghilangan penggunaan kata kerja bantu, kurangnya pengetahuan dalam penggunaan subyek dan kata kerja yang benar, penggunaan kata –be, done, ain’t, dan negative ganda; penyalahgunaan bentuk pewatas dan kata ganti, penyalahgunaan bentuk jamak,

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1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

English is known as a language which is used by people in the world who

have different mother tongues. Because of this English becomes lingua franca

(Wardhaugh, 1992: 56). Many people called English as an international language

because English is used to communicate in trading, asking or giving information and

at formal meeting when they speak with others who have different language. It

shows that English is important in global communication.

The use of English in wide areas in the world causes English has many

varieties, such as: Black English or Non-Standard Negro English, Chinese English,

Scottish English or Texas English. Those varieties are called dialect. Here, dialect

exists because many people learn English in many different backgrounds related to

their culture or mother tongues. The background creates different pronunciation,

vocabulary, and structure that are pretty different from Standard English. In this

thesis the writer will analyze Nonstandard Negro English or Black English structure.

It is very interesting to study about Nonstandard Negro English or Black

English dialect because Black English dialect has many differences from Standard

English that actually “grammatical differences between different dialects of English

are not considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but rather as systematic, rule-governed

differences” (Simpson, 1997: 201). As students of English Department we can enrich

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we apply our knowledge of sociolinguistics, we will know that the differences of

many English dialects are the result of different geographical regions, different social

groups, different social cultures, etc.

Theoretically, Black English has many aspects similar to other languages.

They have own structure, lexical, and phonology that is different from the Standard

English. However the writer will focus on the study of Black English structure. The

writer wants to show what features in Black English structure which are different

from Standard English. It could be the sentences which do not use the verb tenses

correctly. According to Holmes (1992: 194), speakers of Black English delete the

verb be or the copula be. They do not use to be at all; for instance, they say “She

very nice” or “He a teacher”. In Standard American English (SAE), the sentences

should be “She is very nice” and “He is a teacher”. Chaika (1982: 150) exemplifies

Nonstandard Negro English speakers who say “I is”, “I be”, “You is”, “You was”,

and “You be”. In Standard American English, the sentences should be “I am” and

“You are” or “You were”. Black English dialect sentences are different from

Standard American English sentences. However, this thesis will analyze not only in

using the incorrect verbs tenses, deleting the verb be or the copula be; and the other

features of Black English structure that omit the Standard English rules but also

analyze how such features effect to understand a story.

A literary work often provides good example of language in use. A literary

work usually is made according to the decade, the economic or social situation that is

happening, and the area where the literary work is told. Dialect is one of the

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message or the situation in the literary work. One of the examples that clearly

displays one of English dialects, in this case is Black English, is the play of August

Wilson’s Fences. The play describes the life of African Americans in 1957, who “sold the use of their muscles and their bodies” (Barranger, 532) to be able to live.

The characters are a poor Black family, most of them are uneducated. All characters

speak Black English. However, the writer will focus on Troy’s utterances because he

is the major character and he is an appropriate example of a person who speaks Black

English dialect. What makes his utterances interesting to be analyzed is that almost

his utterances are ungrammatically correct. The writer will give examples of Black

English dialect in the dialogue of Troy, such as: “What you worried about what we

getting into for?” (535) and “He walking around with his shoes all run over bumming

money for cigarettes” (542). Both sentences omit the auxiliary verb be (are and is).

Hopefully, this study will give contribution to the development of English

learners. This study will enrich the knowledge in the field of sociolinguistics for the

learners and enrich the example of Black English dialect that can be useful for the

development of the language. Studying English will be not complete if the learners

do not recognize any kind of English dialect. Knowing Standard English is not

enough to understand English deeply. This thesis also contributes what effects that

might be arisen by those features toward the understanding of the story.

B. Problem Formulation

To guide and to limit the subjects that will be discussed in this thesis, the

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1. What features of Nonstandard Negro English or Black English structure are shown

in Troy’s speeches in August Wilson’s Fences?

2. What are the effects of such feature of Black English structure toward the

understanding of the dialect for the readers?

C. Objectives at the Study

Based on the problems formulation above, there are two objectives of the

study. First is to describe the kinds of the features of Nonstandard Negro English or

Black English structure are shown in the characters’ dialogue in August Wilson’s

Fences. The second is to analyze the effects of the feature of Black English toward the understanding of the story.

D. Definition of Term

The writer will give some definition of linguistics terminologies in order to

avoid misleading in analyzing the data. The terms used in this analysis are, Black

English dialect, varieties, grammar and Standard English.

The most important point to analyze the data is we must have good

understanding about Black English dialect. Firstly, the writer will give the definition

of varieties to help the learners understand what Black English dialect is. According

to Hudson in Sociolinguistics, variety is a set of linguistics terms or ‘human speech

patterns’ (presumable sounds, words, and grammatical features) which we can

uniquely associate with some external factors such as most likely a geographical area

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according to Wardhaugh in his an Introduction to Sociolinguistics is “one variety of

English that has become so identified with the African-American ethnic group in

America” (Wardhaugh, 1986: 46-47). It is considered as probably the most

significant linguistic code in the United State refers to black people in America.

Geoffrey Finch in his Linguistics Terms and Concepts defines grammar as “a

set of internal rules which guide speakers of a language to produce well-formed

constructions.” (Finch, 2000: 20). “The rules governing the way words are combined

to form sentences.” (Finch, 2000: 77). Grammar is a part of language features in this

case is English. Like any other languages which have standard language to

standardize theirs dialects, English has Standard English. The definition of Standard

English based on Freeborn in Varieties of English is “one dialect among many,

which is known as the educated variety of English, and is taught to foreign learners

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part is the review of related

studies that presents some studies done by other researchers that have the

relationships with the studies. These studies will give advantages for the writer to run

the analysis. The second part contains the related theories that are going to use in

solving the two problems formulation of the analysis. The next part is theoretical

framework. This part describes how the related theories are applied to answer the

problems. The last part is research framework. It is a diagram which describes the

framework of the research.

A. Review of Related Studies

Black English, also known as African-American Vernacular English, is one

variety of English that has become so identified with the African-American ethnic

group in America (Wardhaugh, 1986: 46-47). Since the language features of Black

English are quite different from Standard English, there has been a research done on

this subject. An undergraduate thesis in the syntactic variation of Nonstandard Negro

English Dialect entitled The Syntactic Variation of Nonstandard Negro English

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simple declarative sentences of the Nonstandard Negro English or Black English

dialect in the novel the Color Purple and the patterns of the simple declarative

sentences of the Nonstandard Negro English or Black English dialect in that novel.

He analyzes how the Nonstandard Negro English (NNE) or Black English

(BE) dialect differs in its syntactic variation compared with Standard American

English (SAE). It has many kinds of syntactic variation. It does not employ verb

tenses at all or it does not use the verb tenses correctly.

Another undergraduate thesis which is used as the related study is English

Negation as a Dialect Feature in Tom Sawyer’s Speech in Mark Twain’s the

Adventure of Huckleberry Finn done by Ignatius Bagus Widyatmoko. His thesis focuses on a description of nonstandard English, the dialect of English, which is used

by Tom Sawyer. In his analysis, he finds out some specific features of Tom Sawyer’s

dialect. He also seeks Tom Sawyer’s reasons to choose certain dialect among the

others and what the effect is toward Tom Sawyer himself and the listeners. Here,

Tom Sawyer is a person who speaks in some different dialect. Language choice is the

biggest matter in this thesis.

All of these related studies above discuss about the variety of English. This

thesis is different from those studies in that it analyzes the contrast between Black

English structure and Standard English structure in order to know what effects that

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B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory on Standard English

In his Sociolinguistics: an Introduction (1983), Peter Trudgill defines

Standard English is “that variety of English which is usually used in print, and which

is normally taught in schools and to non-native speakers learning the language. It is

also known as the variety which is normally spoken by educated people and used in

news broadcasts and other similar situation” (Trudgill, 1983: 17).

While according to Peter Strevens, Standard English is “a particular dialect of

English, being the only non-localized dialect, of global currency without significant

variation, universally accepted as appropriate educational target in teaching English;

which may be spoken with an unrestricted choice of accent” (Strevens, 1982: 2).

2. Dialect

Wardhaugh defines dialect as “a subordinate variety of language” associated

with a social group, class (social dialect) or place (regional dialect), sometimes with

different syntactic forms or vocabulary. Vernacular is “a form of speech transmitted

from parent to child as a primary medium of communication” (Wardhaugh,1986: 37).

According to Fromkin and Rodman, dialect is described as

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3. Theory on Grammar and Structure

According to Finch (2000: 20), grammar is a set of internal rules which guide

speakers of a language to produce well-formed constructions. Here, the writer gives

explanations of some rules that are appropriate to analyze the problem formulations.

They are:

a. Verbs

Verbs are divided into two main groups, lexical and auxiliary.

i. Lexical verbs

According to Finch (2000: 130), lexical verbs are verbs that

can act as the main verb in a verb phrase.

ii. Auxiliary verbs

Finch says that auxiliary verbs are “helping verbs” that occur

with a lexical verb. Some functions of the auxiliary verbs are to

construct contrasts of aspect and voice and to determine the tense of

the phrase.

While, Jack E. Conner in his book A Grammar of Standard

English states an auxiliary verb is a verb which is neither a copula nor a notional verb, and which convey none but grammatical information.

The auxiliary verb is accompanied by verbal adjective or a verbal

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Based on the form of verbs are divided into two classes.

iii. Regular Basic Forms

Here, the writer will focus on a basic form of a verb that can

stand by itself as the past tense. It means the action took place and

came to the end in the past. The form of a verb will be added ed or d

form simple past tense (Guth, 1965: 27).

iv. Irregular Basic Forms

Irregular verb usually have not two but three basic forms. The

irregular verb may be either confusingly different or confusingly

similar (Guth, 1965:27). First the difference between simple present

and simple past is not merely a matter of adding –ed. Sometimes there

is also a choice of two acceptable forms. For instance, the simple past

tense and the past participle of dive which are dove and dived are acceptable.

b. Determiner

It is “a class of words which always occur with a noun and serve

to specify, or ‘determine’, its number or definiteness” (Finch, 2000: 91). It

consists of articles, possessives, demonstratives, and quantifiers.

c. Pronoun

It is “a word which can be used to substitute for a single noun or

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pronouns which can be used depending on the function of the pronoun in

the sentence. Pronouns are used as demonstrative: this, that, these, those;

interrogative: who, which, what, where; negation: no. nobody, no one, nothing; personal and reflexive pronouns: I, my, mine, myself; reciprocal pronouns: each other, one other; relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, whose; quantifier: some, any, each, all, both, either and every that can be combined with –one, -thing and –body.

d. Negation

Negation is used to deny something. “It is a single negative

particle can serve to deny long and complicated rhetorical sentences”

(Conner, 1986: 199). The most “conspicuous device for negation” is the

negative particle not. People also use never, no, none, and other words

“which incorporate the basic negative particle (1986: 199).

e. Noun

According to Guth, nouns usually have two forms, one referring

to a single item or singular, the other referring to more than one item of

the same kind or plural (1965: 17).

4. Theory on Subject-Verb Agreement

Agreement is a property of grammatical organization found in pair of words

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According to subject–verb agreement rule, a verb has to “agree” with its subject.

Here is what is meant by “agree” (Fromkin, 2000: 237):

The form of a verb is sensitive to the kind of DP it takes as subject. In English, if the subject of a verb is third-person singular, the verb in the present tense must appear with a particular marking – a final s – if it can (if it cannot, like the auxiliary verb will, it remains unchanged).

5. Syntactic Variation of Black English dialect a. Omission of Auxiliary Verb

One of the syntactic variation of Black English is the absence of

the copula verb be. It is in line with a statement by Holmes, who says that

Black English is heard especially in the northern cities of the United States. One of its most distinctive features is the complete absence of the copula verb be in some social and linguistic contexts. In most speech contexts, speakers of Standard English use shortened or reduced forms of the verb be. In other words, people do not usually say She is very nice but rather She’s very nice. They reduce or contract the is to s. In the same kinds of contexts speakers of Black English omit the verb be, . . . (1992: 193 -194)

He also mentions that “white Americans never delete the verb be,

such as is, am, or are, whereas Afro-Americans or Black Americans, especially those who are from lower socio-economic groups, regularly do

(Holmes, 1992: 194).

Wardhaugh conveys the same statement; he says that

syntactically, Black English (BE) has no copula verb to be or it has zero

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states “one of the most interesting characteristics of Black English is

mentioned use of the zero copulas or omitting the auxiliary verb

(Wardhaugh, 1986: 334).

b. Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement

In morphology, there may be no overt signaling of the past tense,

the final t and d. There may also be no signaling of the third singular in the present tense of the verb, the final –s. The use of be in present tense

(is, am, and are) and in past tense (was and were) sometimes it is incorrect.

c. The use of be

Be is placed before adjective, adverb, and verb in the –ing form. Sometimes the sentences containing this feature are added with adverbs

such as usually, sometimes, every, steady, always, and all the time. Black

English speaker usually uses the word be to substituted is, am, are, was,

and were (Holmes, 2001: 178-179). However, the use of be has different

meaning. This be in Black English is used to signal actions which are

repeated. According to Trudgill (1983: 65), invariant be (i.e., the use of

the form be as a finite verb form) is probably the most important

characteristic of Black English. Trudgill also says that be is used in Black

English to indicate ‘habitual aspect’, since the adverbs usually and

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1) He usually be around.

2) Sometimes when they do it, most of the problems always be

wrong.

Trudgill’s statement about the use be is also supported by

Holmes’ statement. He states that another distinctive variation of Black

English (BE) is the use of be to give signs that the actions are repeated

(1992: 194). For example: She be at school on weekdays.

d. The use of done

According to Baugh, “functionally speaking, we find that done is

a perfective marker” (1983:74). He adds that:

Done is used to substitute the word have and has before past participle. In Baugh’s book states that . . . done is essentially “completive” in nature, referring to a characteristic of its meaning. Other proposals concerning the meaning of this form have been made and many simply suggest a close synonym, like the perfective auxiliary have or the adverb already (Baugh, 1983: 75).

e. The use of ain’t

Ain’t is a contraction of the negative forms of be, have, and do. Ain’t can be used to replace am not, isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t, hasn’t, haven’t, hadn’t, and didn’t (Wardhaugh, 1986: 335).

Black English uses ain’t to negate the verb in a simple sentence.

Black English uses ain’t while Standard English sentences use haven’t or

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him”. Black English speakers also sometimes use ain’t to replace didn’t.

f. Double Negation and Multiple Negations

Another syntactic variation of the Black English dialect is the

double and multiple negations. This syntactic variation is unique. Double

negation is the combination of negative auxiliary verb (usually ain’t) and

another word with negative sense (no, nothing, etc). It is called double

negation because there are two negative words, while actually the

intended meaning is identical to an ordinary negative sentence with one

negative word, thus creating redundancy (Fromkin and Rodman, 1983:

256). Fromkin and Rodman state:

Following the lead of early “prescriptive” grammarians, some “scholars” and teachers conclude that it is illogical to say he don’t know nothing because two negatives make a positive. Since such negative constructions occur in BE, it has been concluded by some “educators” that speakers of BE are deficient because they use language “illogically” (1983: 256).

g. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun

Accusative pronoun (pronoun that is used as complement of verb)

is often used in place of definite article the or demonstratives (this, that,

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C. Theoretical Framework

The theories mentioned above is used to analyze how Black English Structure

is different from Standard English. The theories are also used to analyze the mistakes

of Black English features that are not appropriate with Standard English.

The theory on Standard English is used to know what Standard English

means. To know what features that can make sentences included as Standard English.

By using the theory, the reader may know why Black English is called non Standard

English.

To know the elements or features of correct sentences also needs the theory

on grammar and structure. On the analysis, the writer uses verb, determiner, pronoun,

auxiliary verb, and negation as the elements. The writer only uses these elements

because not all the elements are appropriate to analyze Black English.

Theory on syntactic variation of Black English helps the writer to know what

features that make Black English different from Standard English. It is useful because

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D. Research Framework

This diagram describes the framework of the research.

The Play August Wilson’s Fences

Dialect feature spoken by Troy Maxon

Analysis Black English structure

Readers

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This part gives information on the research procedure. It contains information

about the object of the study and method of the study. This chapter also discusses

data gathering and data analysis of this study.

A. Object of the Study

August Wilson’s Fences is the source of this research. It had been published

in 1990 by Allyn and Bacon. This play consists of 46 pages including the

introduction and notes by August Wilson.

The object of the study is the structure of Black English dialect which occurs

in Troy Maxon’s utterances, the major character of Fences. The writer only chooses

Troy Maxon because the character can represent the dialect clearly. Those Black

English structure used in this play compared with Standard English Structure is

intended to analyze the effect of Black English features toward the understanding of

the story.

Based on Chapter II, the writer finds ten syntactic variations of Black English

dialect. They are omission of auxiliary verb, lack of subject verb agreement, the use

of be, the use of done, the use ain’t, double negation and multiple negations, incorrect

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use of relative clause. All those features will be used in order to know the effects

toward the understanding of the story.

B. Method of the Study

The method that the writer uses for this study is an empirical research since

the research relies on the primary data that are used. The writer used a literary text,

August Wilson’s Fences, as the primary data because all of the data are taken from

this literary work.

The writer also uses library research and field research. The library research is

carried out in order to answer the first problem formulation since it needs to collect

many books, thesis, and dictionary to provide the complete data. The writer carries

out this research by reading some theory books and thesis concerning with the topic

to help the writer in conducting this research. Field research is used by the writer to

answer the second problem formulation because to find the effects of those Black

English features toward understanding of the play cannot be answered based on

library research. Conducting a questionnaire distribution is done to help the writer in

finding the effects that might be arisen.

Another method that the writer uses is the contrastive method. In this case the

writer tries to contrast the Black English Structure and the Standard English

Structure. The next step is that the writer classified the differences. Then the writer

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C. Research Procedure

1. Data Collection

To support the writer in answering the two problem formulations, there would

be one main source and one supportive source. The main source used by the writer to

collect the data of the mistaken structures of Black English was a play written by

August Wilson’s as the primary source. It was Fences taken from Understanding

Plays published by Milly S. Barranger in 1990. Fences was a story about the life of African American in 1957 in an American “big-city neighborhood” (Barranger, 533)

who “sold the use of their muscles and their bodies” (Barranger, 532) to be able to

live. All of the characters were a poor Black English family; most of them were

uneducated and spoke in distinctive Black English. Here, the writer only chooses

Troy Maxon’s utterances as the data.

This thesis used that play because the writer thought that Fences could represent the lives of Black People using the Black English structure which was quite different

from Standard English and that play contained enough data for the writer to be

analyzed. From that play the writer found the features of Black English Structure that

were different from Standard English.

The other source considered as the supportive source was concerned on the

respondents who were filled questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of

open-ended questions were distributed in May-June 2008. The respondents were everyone

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discussing Black English and the study gives benefit to enrich students’

understanding in English varieties. The respondents consisted of 15 respondents that

came from different backgrounds of education. These fifteen respondents were

enough for the writer to distribute any opinion that the play was understandable or

not. They were asked to fill the questionnaires that had been prepared by the writer.

The respondents are two persons whose L1 is English. They are chosen to be the

respondents because the writer wants to know how they understand the Black

English. They are an American native speaker and a Swiss girl. The first respondent

(R1) is an American native speaker who lectures in Sanata Dharma University. She

teaches Cross Cultural Understanding. The second respondent (R2) is the other

Native speaker who leaves in Indonesia since she was born. She is called Native

speaker because her mother tongue is English. Her citizenship is Swiss. The writer

also has six respondents who are the students of English Letters in Sanata Dharma

University. They consist of four students who always get GPA above 3 (R3, R4, R5

and R6) and two students who do not always get GPA above 3 (R7 and R8). They are

in 8th semester. The reason why the writer chooses 6 students is that the play was

discussed in their class. Other respondents are 2 Senior High School teachers in Solo

(R9 and R10) and two English trainers in LEAVES (Learning English as A Vital

Enhancing) who give a training to Panti Rapih Hospital’ staff (R11 and R12). Since

they are teachers who focus on teaching Standard English, the writer asks them to be

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English might be seen in filling the questionnaires. The last respondents are students

in 2nd semester from Sanata Dharma University (R13, R14 and R15). Since there is an

assumption that senior students have better knowledge in English than junior

students, they have function as central variable.

2. Data Analysis

The first step in analyzing the data was examining all the dialogues in the play

then identifying Troy Maxon’s utterances which belong to Black English structure.

The identification was done through examining the utterances and looking at the

feature of Black English structure.

To answer the first problem formulation, the first step was classifying the

utterances. The classification of the data was made based on the similar mistaken

structure in that play. Next was deciding the features of Black English structure in

what way they were different from Standard English Structure. Such as: omission of

auxiliary verb, lack of subject-verb agreement, the use of be and done, the use ain’t,

double negation and multiple negation, incorrect use of determiner and pronoun,

incorrect plural, incorrect past participle and incorrect use of relative clause. The next

step was classifying the data into the group of the feature of Black English. The last

step was comparing Black English structure with Standard English structure and

correcting the data into correct sentences based on Standard English structure.

For answering the second problem formulation, the writer used questionnaire

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understanding of the story. Written questionnaires were used as the technique of

collecting data to the informants. The written questionnaires were sent to the

respondents and the respondents will give back the questionnaires to the data

researcher, in this case was the writer, after the questions were answered (Sutopo,

2002: 70). The questionnaires contained open-ended questions. After getting back the

questionnaires, the writer analyzed the data and found the conclusion as the result.

Here, the data which was collected must be guaranteed its correctness and its validity.

To reach the validity of the data, the writer used data triangulation methodology. This

diagram would explain how this methodology worked.

1st respondent

data questionnaire/interview 2nd respondent

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

This chapter will cover the analysis of Troy Maxon’s speeches in August

Wilson’s Fences. It will present the result of analysis and the discussion of the analysis. There are two findings based on the two problem formulations. The first

problem asks the feature of Black English structure of Troy Maxon’s dialect. Then

the analysis continued to discuss the second problem about the effects of those

feature toward the understanding of the story.

A. The Feature of Black English Structure Shown in Troy Maxon’s Utterances in August Wilson’s Fences

The result of the analysis will answer the first problem formulation, which

is looking at the specific feature of Troy Maxon’s dialect which regard to the

characteristics of non-standard English. This part shows the specific feature of

Black English structure. From all the utterances of Troy Maxon which were

collected from the play, there are a lot of incorrect grammatically sentences. Here,

the writer divides Troy’s utterances into eight categories based on the criteria of

Standard English structure and the grammatical feature of Black English in

Sociolinguistics. From the contrasting grammatical between Standard English and

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By referring to Standard English theories of Finch, Conner, Guth and Fromkin, the

analysis will be hopefully acceptable and accurate.

1. The Omission of Auxiliary Verb

In Troy Maxon’s utterances, auxiliary verbs like be (is, are, was, were), have

(have, has, had), and do (do, does, did) are very frequently omitted from the sentence.

Below are some examples of sentences with the auxiliary verb be omitted:

Table 1. The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb be

Number of data

The use of non-standard auxiliary

The use of standard auxiliary

9 What you worried about what we getting into for?

What are you worried about what we are getting into for?

10 Nigger, you in my way. You blocking the view!

Nigger, you’re in my way. You’re blocking the view!

14 She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet.

She was walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet.

23 You telling the truth there. You were telling the truth there. 25 I don’t care if she working. I don’t care if she is working.

Table 2. The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb do

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Table 3. The finding of the omission of auxiliary verb have

42 He gone out ‘cause he know I me…you ever known me to chase after women?

Look here, as long as you have known me…have you ever known me to chase after women? 20 We wrestled for three days and

three nights.

We had wrestled for three days and three nights.

48 He gone off somewhere. He has gone off somewhere. 106 Some folks seen him and called

the police.

Some folks had seen him and called the police.

Sometimes, in the same sentence, an auxiliary verb is omitted while another

auxiliary verb in not. It means when the sentence consists of more than one clause.

Below are the examples:

Naw, I,m talking about since I been married to Rose? (6)

Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I’m gonna die, Bono’s gonna die. Hell we all gonna die. (15)

In the first sentence, the auxiliary verb have respectively are dropped, but am (I’m

talking about..) is not dropped. In the second sentence, the auxiliary verbs after everybody, you and we are dropped, but the words I and Bono are followed with the correct verb.

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Agreement is a property of grammatical organization found in a pair of words

(in English it is between a subject and a verb, and between a determiner and a noun).

Here, a verb has to agree with its subject. For example; if the subject is third-person

singular, the verb in present tense must appear with a particular marking –a final s-

(Fromkin, 2000: 237). Subject-verb agreement is not only for the rule of present tense

or past tense but also the auxiliary be must be appropriate with the subject. For the

past tense, the basic irregular forms of verbs must be remembered. The adding –ed at

the end of a verb can’t be used.

Apart from those rules, there are other rules concerning subject-verb

agreement, for instance agreement between the number of subject an d the form of

verb, etc. below are some example of violation of those rules:

Table 4. The finding of the lack of subject-verb agreement

Tenses The use of non-standard subject-verb agreement

The use of standard subject-verb agreement 129 Present

tense

Getting just as much as we is.

Getting just as much as we are.

She doesn’t mind that rent he be paying…

130 Past tense

Well, go on back in the house and let me and Bono finish what we was talking about

Well, go on back in the house and let me and Bono finish what we were talking about

132 Me and Bono was talking about baseball…

Me and Bono were talking about baseball…

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went off to look for his sickle.

Looking at the use of incorrect tenses, the analysis concludes that Troy

Maxon cannot master in correct tenses well. It is shown by the non-standard tenses

used by Troy Maxon. The analysis observes that it is about incorrect subject-verb

agreement which has the correlation with the tenses. For example in present tense

sentences there are the sentences like I spends my money where I treated right, and

Here he come…

Focusing the analysis on the way Troy Maxon produces present tense

sentences, it is shown how he cannot differentiate what kind of subject followed by

verb with suffix –s. the presence of suffix –s, which is normally used for third person

singular, in first person singular occurs in Troy Maxon’s utterance, for example: I

spends my money where I treated right. On the other hand, suffix –s is not used in third person singular. For instance in a present tense sentence there is the sentence

like She give it to me.

In this analysis as seen from the table above, it is about the grammatical

feature which has been found in the study of the varieties of English spoken by Troy

Maxon in August Wilson’s Fences, Troy Maxon in speaking Black English also

sometimes uses non-standard auxiliary. As the agreement of English auxiliaries in

English grammar, the auxiliary verb do must be used for a second person singular or

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person singular. Another use of non-standard auxiliary verb is the auxiliary verb is in

present tense and was in past tense is used for a first person plural. The auxiliary

verbs that must be applied are are in present tense and were in past tense.

Troy Maxon also finds difficulty to differentiate between regular verbs and

irregular verbs. The verb throw is included in irregular verbs, but he just adds suffix –

ed to symbolize past tense by changing into throwed. The correct form is threw. From the analysis, it is shown that Troy Maxon finds difficulty when he must

differentiate the function of the auxiliary verbs and he sometimes reverses in the use

of auxiliary verbs for singular and plural pronouns.

3. The Use of –be

Table 5. The finding of the use of –be

Non-standard English Standard English 166 If you had got anywhere near the

gal, twenty minutes later you be looking to tell somebody.

If you had got anywhere near the gal, twenty minutes later you would have been looking to tell somebody. 167 You be wanting me? You were wanting me?

168 I be here every night. I am here every night. 169 I be ready for you…but I ain’t

gonna be easy.

I am ready for you…but I ain’t gonna be easy.

One particular form of lack of agreement found in Black English is the

incorrect use of the auxiliary verbs be. The words am, is, are, was, were, etc are

substituted by be. According to the play, Troy Maxon seldom use –be to replace am,

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The use of done is one of the common grammatical features occurring in

Black English. Instead of the use of done that can be found in Troy Maxon’s

utterance, the words have and has before past participle are substituted by done.

Table 6. The finding of the use of done

Number Non-standard form Standard form

170 Gabe done moved out and things getting tight around here.

Gabe has moved out and things getting tight around here.

172 How in hell they done changed? How in hell they have changed? 179 Aw hell, I done paid for it. I done

paid for it ten times over!

Aw hell, I have paid for it. I have paid for it ten times over!

182 I done learned my mistake and learned to do what’s right by it.

I have learned my mistake and learned to do what it’s right.

184 I done told you what I’m gonna be doing.

I have told you what I’m gonna be doing.

190 I done lost touch with everybody except Gabriel.

I had lost touch with everybody except Gabriel.

Table 6 contains the utterance using done. It happens specifically in present or

past perfect tense. From the sentences above, they indicate that done have the closest

meaning to the perfective function of have in Standard English. Done is used to

indicate that the action is completed. For instance, in the sentence I done learned my

mistake and learned to do what’s right by it shows that the subject, Troy Maxon, completely learn his mistake and he has known what to do. The form of the use done

in those sentences is appeared in the present perfect tense and past perfect tense.

5. The use of ain’t

Another dominant feature in Black English is the frequent use of

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forms of be, have, and do. Troy Maxon uses ain’t in daily conversation with the other

characters, however, it is not used in Standard English structure.

Table 7. The finding of ain’t

Auxiliary verb+negation

Sentence

226 am not Naw, I ain’t mad at you, Gabe.

211 isn’t The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football.

230 aren’t Ain’t you supposed to be working down there after school?

237 wasn’t Boy ain’t working down there. 218 weren’t Why ain’t you working?

236 hasn’t He ain’t got to know. The man ain’t got to know my business.

209 haven’t We ain’t finished this pint.

245 hadn’t You ain’t wanted to talk to me for months. You ain’t wanted to talk to me last night. 225 didn’t I ain’t said anything about that.

Negative simple sentences in this play are negated by inserting ain’t as the

negator. It seems that Troy Maxon does not differentiate the category of the subject in

the sentence. He does not give attention to the right form of negator whether the

subject of the sentence is a first person singular, or second person singular, or third

person singular, or plural subject, and he also uses the word ain’t to produce present

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The use of ain’t can be known that ain’t belongs to am not, isn’t, aren’t,

wasn’t and weren’t by paying attention to the subject that is attached and the word category that follows the word ain’t. Be in negative form is usually followed by present participle or active participle (V-ing) and adjective or adjective phrase. For

instance, am not is used by first person singular pronoun (I); isn’t is normally used by

he, she and it for present tense and wasn’t is used for past tense; aren’t for present tense and weren’t for past tense are used when the subjects are second person singular

pronoun and second person plural pronoun (you, we and they).

Troy Maxon also uses ain’t to replace didn’t. Ain’t is similar to didn’t when

ain’t is followed by infinitive (Vo). As seen in the table above, ain’t also may replace haven’t, hasn’t and hadn’t. This finding is related to Wardhaugh who say that a sentence containing ain’t is similar to a sentence containing haven’t or hasn’t (1986: 335).

6. Double Negation and Multiple Negations

Double negation in present day dialect is a survival of older forms of the

language (Freeborn, 1993: 41). Double negation, here, means the sentence is still

negative.

Table 8. The finding of double negation

Non-standard form Standard form

258 Legs don’t mean nothing. You don’t mean nothing. You don’t do nothing but push them out of

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the way. way.

259 We ain’t had no yard! We had no yard!

296 I can’t give nothing else. I can’t give anything else.

The double negation in Wilson’s Fences is made by the occurrence of two

negative items. According to Quirk, the effect of the double negation is to understate,

as was rather expected (Quirk, 1985: 791). Those sentences can be paraphrase into

positive, such as: I can’t give nothing else can be paraphrase I can give something

else. Double negation can be constructed by two negative items for instance the use double negation for negating the clause and negating the object there is a sentence

like We ain’t had no yard! The double negation in this sentence is a negative clause

since the word ain’t is presented to deny the whole sentence. In the sentence I can’t

give nothing else, the speaker adds nothing in his speech to emphasize that the sentence is totally negative. The use of double negation above does not have positive

meaning since the function of the second negative to emphasize the negative

sentence.

The form of double or multiple negations that is usually used is the sentence

consists of a negative item to negate the clause and a negative clause to negate the

object. For instance, the sentence contains two negative items namely the negator not

to negate the clause and the use of negator no before the object of the sentence to

make object negations. The other examples taken from the play are:

(1) I ain’t got no extra money. (p. 540)

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The negation of the sentences above are expressed by the use of two negators

ain’t before the verb and no before the object. In fact, the two double negation above belongs to clause negation since the two negator is intended to stress the negative

sentence.

7. Incorrect Use of Determiner and Pronoun

Most of Black English native speakers use incorrect determiner and pronoun.

Them occurs mostly in the plural form, such as those.

Table 9. The finding of incorrect use of determiner and pronoun

The use of non-standard determiner and pronoun

The use of standard determiner and pronoun

344 You can look at her and tell she one of them Florida gals.

You can look at her and tell she (is) one of those Florida gals.

355 She’s my daughter, Rose. My own flesh and blood. I can’t deny her no more than I can deny them boys. You and them boys (is) my family.

She’s my daughter, Rose. My own flesh and blood. I can’t deny her no more than I can deny those boys. You and those boys (are) my family.

346 Next day a truck pulled up here and two men unloaded them three rooms

Next day a truck pulled up here and two men unloaded the three rooms

The table above contains the speech using non-standard determiner and

pronoun. It happens repeatedly in the use of pronoun those. Troy Maxon substitutes

the pronoun those with pronoun them. Here, pronoun those has function as a

demonstrative pronoun. The pronoun them itself has function as an object pronoun.

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substitute a determiner. For example: Next day a truck pulled up here and two men

unloaded them three rooms. The word them three rooms should be the three rooms. 8. Incorrect Plural

In Troy Maxon’s utterance, it is found an incorrect plural form.

Table 10. The finding of incorrect plural

The use of non-standard plural form

The use of standard plural form

358 Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?

Why you got the white men driving and the colored lifting? 359 Man would sit down and eat two

chickens and give you the wing.

Man would sit down and eat two chicken and give you the wing.

This table shows that Troy Maxon cannot use a correct plural form of a noun

man. According to Oxford Dictionary, the plural of the noun man is men and chicken has shown plural because it is uncountable. Chicken in this sentence means food. In

Standard English that not all the form of plural nouns always are added by suffix –s.

He adds suffix –s to show some nouns are plural. What happen to Troy Maxon is that

he forms the ungrammatical plural form.

9. Incorrect Past Participle

Table 11. The finding of incorrect past participle

The use of non-standard past participle

The use of standard past participle

360 He ain’t throwed his money away.

He has not thrown his money away.

361 That makes six or seven times I done went down there and got him.

That makes six or seven times I have gone down there and got him.

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got.

As seen in table 11, Troy Maxon forms the present perfect tense in incorrect

form. The word throwed means the past participle of the verb throw. The verb throw

is included to the irregular basic form. The correct past participle form of throw is

thrown. In sentence 361, the past participle of the verb go must be gone and the past participle of the verb give is given.

10. Incorrect Use of Relative Clause

Sometimes, the incorrect form of relative clause appears in Troy Maxon’s

utterance.

Table 12. The finding of incorrect relative clause

The use of non-standard relative pronoun

The use of standard relative pronoun

364 Man what drove the truck give me a book.

Man who drove the truck give me a book.

Here, the relative clauses that are common to use are who, whom, and whose. In

Finch’s theory on relative clause, what which is found in the table above is not

allowed to be Standard English relative clause. The correct relative pronoun which

must be used is who.

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To answer the second problem formulation, the open-ended questions are

used to know how respondents catch what the characters speak. The questionnaire is

an indicator toward the understanding of the story. The questionnaire sheets

distributed were 15 sheets. All the questionnaires were returned.

In order to know the understanding toward the story, the writer makes a

questionnaire which consists of 22 open-ended questions. Those questions contain the

structure features of Black English which there are two or three example of each

feature. Here, the respondents are asked to paraphrase the question based on their

understanding in English. Paraphrasing is chosen to check the respondents

understanding because it can be a measure how deep they understand those questions

which consist of Black English features.

1. The Result of the Questionnaires Based on the Respondents’ Category

The analysis of the result of the study will be defined into two groups; they

are the respondents whose L1 is English and the respondents whose L1 is not

English.

a. Answers from the respondents whose L1 is English

First, the writer will analyze the American Native Speaker (R1). The writer

finds only one mistake in the questionnaire that was filled by the American

Native speaker. Actually it surprises the writer that the mistake lies on the S20

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twenty one questions correctly and perfectly. She also can paraphrase those

sentences well. For examples:

No. Sentences Paraphrases

258. Legs don’t mean nothing. You don’t mean nothing. You don’t do nothing but push them out of the way.

You’re not important.

344. You can look at her and tell she one of them Florida gals.

You can tell she’s from Florida.

358. Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?

Why are the white men doing the easy work?

Her answer shows that she can understand what the sentences mean. Such as

in sentence number 258, she does not revise the double negation but she just

changes into a simple sentence which is easier to accept the meaning. She also

can answer the Black English feature of the use incorrect determiner and pronoun

correctly. Although she does not change them into those, she can catch the meaning that the girl in that sentence looks like a girl comes from Florida.

The next analysis is the answer from the Swiss’ girl (R2). Although she is

from Swiss, she only speaks English. She has answered the questionnaires

perfectly because the writer does not find any mistakes in her answers. Her

experience speaking English in correct structure makes her revise all the

sentences into good sentences based on the Standard English structure.

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The analysis focuses on the results from the students in 8th semester from

Sanata Dharma University and always gets GPA above 3 who have ever got

Sociolinguistics in 5th semester. They are called as R3, R4, R5 and R6. From the

answer sheets that have been distributed to those students, the writer finds three

students answer those sentences mostly correct and only one student gives three

wrong answers. R3, R4 and R5 have paraphrased most of all sentences correctly.

Their answers are quite similar because they just revise the sentences into

Standard English sentences. They have good knowledge in the features of Black

English structure proven by their ability to fill the questionnaires with little

mistakes although they need more or less an hour to do it.

The writer will move to show the answers given by the clever respondent in

8th semester (R6) who has made three wrong answers in the questionnaire.

The list below shows her mistakes.

207. I ain’t lying. I am lying.

209. We ain’t finished this pint. We finished this pint.

360. He ain’t throwed his money away.

He throwed his money away.

The tables above shows that her answer can change the understanding of the

story toward the meaning because the word ain’t means the negative forms of be,

have, and do while her answer means those sentences are positive. Her answer in S207 seems that ain’t is an auxiliary verb be. However in S209 and S360, she just

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mistake in the exact meaning of ain’t might have an effect on the understanding

toward the story because she cannot catch what the characters are talking about. It

might affect her comprehension because the dialogues among the characters seem

incoherent.

After checking her answer, the writer finds a peculiar answer. The respondent

gives correct answer for S259.

No. Sentence Paraphrase

259. We ain’t had no yard! We don’t have any yard!

This answer sounds strange because she cannot answer S207, S209 and 360

correctly. In this case, the existence of ain’t does not affect a wrong answer

because the sentence has a negation mark no which can help her to paraphrase the