2012 Diversity Conference: Change the Conversation

An Analysis of Prominent Prosodic Features in African-American English - Paul Del Prato, Katherine McLean, Cihangir Okuyan and Catherine Chu

African-American English (AAE) is a variety of spoken English. Documenting prosodic features of AAE has the broader impact of promoting understanding of linguistic diversity. Prosody in speech refers to the rhythm and stress patterns of how individuals produce language. Here, we present an annotation system that marks for prosodic features of the AAE variety, in two samples of communication between AAE speakers. Close analysis of these samples found increased usage of a falsetto speech register, sweeping pitch variations for certain utterances, and examples of elongated vowel quality. These results provide insights into prosodic features of the AAE variety of English.

The Historical Development of African-American English - Aleksandra Fazlipour, Eric Aniag, Edward Bezerra, Melissa Ciurzynski, and Erin Longstreet

African American English (AAE) is a variety of American English spoken by many African American adults and children. There are clear distinctions between AAE and Standard American English. The goal of this study is to learn about and document the grammatical and syntactic roots and historical development of contemporary AAE by analyzing slave narratives and applying modern theories of language change to explain the mechanisms of this language variation’s evolution. The narratives-- recordings of former African American slaves taken in the early twentieth century-- are the oldest data available on AAE. This study demonstrates the impact of language divergence throughout history, displaying how features and characteristics of languages develop over time into the many different varieties present today.

Speech Rhythm in African-American English - Stacy Kravitz, Timothy Dozat, Stacy Garston, Darcey Riley and Kellan Head

This project aims to look at the differences in speech rhythm between native African American English (AAE) speakers speaking AAE, the same speakers speaking Standard American English (SAE), and European American SAE speakers. The measure of rhythm to be used is the normalized Pairwise Variability Index (nPVI) introduced in Grabe, Low, and Nolan (2000). We predict that the rhythm of AAE will significantly differ from European American speakers’ SAE, having a lower nPVI; if this should obtain, we then plan to explore how much their AAE rhythm can be perceived in their SAE speech.

African-American English Vowels - Leah Miller , Christine Wingrove, Stephen Beckley, Eric Meinhardt, and Jared O'Laughlin

Due to perceived social stigma, many native speakers of African American English (AAE) use Mainstream American English (MAE) outside of their AAE-speaking environments. Despite this, AAE speakers retain many vowel features specific to AAE. We present a quantitative study of AAE vowels seen in natural speech by measuring and characterizing them based on their specific acoustic properties. Data were collected from a conversation between two male native AAE speakers. We compare the acoustic measures of the vowels in their speech with those found in previous studies of MAE. In doing so we hope to find vowel characteristics specific to AAE.

Workshop: Understanding Language Diversity: Creating Inclusive Linguistic Communities - Scott Paauw, Joyce McDonough and Wilson Silva Schlegel Hall Room 107, 3:45-4:45

This workshop examines the role of language diversity in the community. We’ll discuss the diversity of languages, and attitudes toward this diversity in our community. Issues concerning what linguistic diversity is, how it affects us, the role it plays, the need for tolerance and inclusion of language differences.

2012 University of Rochester Undergraduate Research Exposition

Poster Presentations are 2:00-3:45, in the Welles-Brown and Hawkins-Carlson Rooms of Rush Rhees Library

There will also be posters from Linguistics students Tyia Clark, Sharath Koorathota, Celia Litovsky, and Mary Abbe Roe

There is also a talk by Linguistics Minor Angela Ketterer, Amplitude Modulation Detection Thresholds of the Budgerigar (Lattimore 210, 12:50)

Undergraduate Research Conference in Gender and Women Studies

Gamble Room, Rush Rhees Library

11:15 Women of Color Circle: Safe Spaces and Voice, Facilitator - Sasha Eloi

      Panelists: Sharese King (Linguistics Major) , Melika Butcher (Linguistics student), Tsion Girum, Lecora Massamba

(Also, at 2:00, Linguistics student April Daniels will give a presentation entitled Born in a Closet... I Mean Trunk )