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Convergence with divergence: A sound change in Vernacular Black English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Keith Denning
Keith Denning
Affiliation:
Eastern Michigan University
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Abstract

Some recent research proposes that changes observed in the morphology and syntax of Vernacular Black English (VBE), combined with the failure of VBE to participate in regional changes in the pronunciation of white speech, constitutes evidence for the divergence of VBE from white and standard varieties. The present article presents quantitative evidence for a change in VBE which appears to involve increasing similarity between VBE and other varieties: a marked tendency toward higher, fronter realizations of the final /i/ in words like happy in the speech of younger blacks. Evidence for the character of the change comes from English dialectology, historical phonology, and research conducted by the author on the speech of residents of East Palo Alto, California. It is proposed that whereas black and white varieties may remain distinct, undergoing some changes separately, this need not be regarded as absolute divergence. Distinct varieties in contact may, for complex sociological and linguistic reasons, be expected more realistically to appear to diverge and converge simultaneously.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , July 1989 , pp. 145 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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