Tracking down old relatives: Zero relatives in subject and non-subject function in early African American English.

Abstract

Relativization has been overlooked in the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) origins debate, perhaps because its variants are neither particularly stigmatized nor associated with AAVE. This thesis, a contribution to the origins debate and the understanding of relativization in English, examines relativization in Early African American English (AAE) by extending an analysis of the Ex-Slave Recordings to African Nova Scotian English and Samana English. Examination of syntactic, grammatical, discourse-contextual and semantic factors demonstrates interaction between factors and the necessity of separating subject and non-subject relatives. Nevertheless, these varieties of Early AAE appear to share a common relativization system. The sparse, contradictory evidence on relativization in AAVE and creoles precludes strong conclusions about their relation to Early AAE, but its similarities to other English varieties support an English, not creole, origin and parallel accumulating evidence for its resemblance to colonial white varieties with which it was in contact.