Thesis: Black Americans “code-switch” between standard English and African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a means of socioeconomic survival.
5 peer-reviewed sources MINIMUM APA 7 citation. I have linked a few sources for supplementary at bottom, but paper MUST reference the journal articles. I have attached 3 peer-reviewed sources, and some other resources you can referenence (powerpoint of course material – do not reference the powerpoint, only use as a guide to understand context if needed)
Research Questions to be answered:
What is AAVE and code switching? It’s origins?
What are some tangible and positive socioeconomic outcomes of code-switching for Black communities?
What are the positive social and psychological impacts of code-switching on Black people?
What are the negative social and psychological impacts of code-switching on Black people?
MUST connect to communications concepts (will attach Powerpoint files of course material, but need academic sources):
A few of Hockett’s design features:
vocal/auditory channel: create conception based on how person sounds. Construct world from sound.. Assumptions about how something sounds Association of aave with low class Code switching used to combat misconceptions
tradition: AAVE originates from when slave owners intentionally mixed up enslaved ppl from all different African tribes/cultures, slave owners intentionally kept them from communicating so they don’t revold. Eventually it formed into its own language. Now AAVE used to……..
productivity: aave has grammar and syntax
Semantics: AAVE is appropriated – meaning displaced/distored eg tik tok, music, gets attributed as “Gen Z culture” AAVE is decontextualized
encoded/decoded: AAVE is used by only ppl who can understand and have been brought up and; also encode – only they can understand
Dominant hegemonic position – have same meaning structures and able to decode messages in AAVE correctly
Oppositional position – different meaning structures, therefore you decode the message wrong (chile, cancel, etc)
source/reciever: There’s a disconnect between the sources [speaker] and receiver [listener] in the meaning of the words, said by one and misconstrued
semiotics:
What things mean is a matter of interpretation; how things mean is a matter of structure.
How do representational systems like languages create meaning at all? In other words, how does any language – with all its signs, symbols, codes and conventions – come to have meaning?
More sources that may be referenced (that are not peer-reviewed) as supplementary for contextualizing:
Faison, W. “Black Bodies, Black Language: Exploring the Use of Black Language as a Tool of Survival in the Writing Center.” The Peer Review, 1 June 2018, https://thepeerreview-iwca.org/issues/relationality-si/black-bodies-black-language-exploring-the-use-of-black-language-as-a-tool-of-survival-in-the-writing-center/
Younger, college-educated black Americans are most likely to feel need to ‘code-switch’
Younger, college-educated black Americans are most likely to feel need to ‘code-switch’
Baldwin, J (1979). If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?. New York Times. Retrieved from https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html?source=post_page—————————
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