The Syntax of Earlier and Contemporary African-American English

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, University of Duisburg-Essen (Anglistik), language: English, abstract: This term paper focuses on the grammar of early and today¿s African-American English, as well as its origin, its history, its development and the areas in which it is commonly spoken today. More precisely the paper will outline the construction of African-American English and will further provide a comparison of early and contemporary AAE by discussing the lyrics of a slave song in contrast to two songs by Nicki Minaj and 50 Cent in regards to syntax. Even though AAE consists of more than just grammatical distinctions such as the phonological, morphological and semantical, the focus here will solely lie on the syntax.