Section the fourth

1. Section the fourth Questions? Tylers@stanford.edu

2. Agenda • By now you should feel pretty familiar with: • The basics of what the “lexicon” is • The IPA • Various features of sounds (for consonants: place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicing; for vowels: high/low, front/back) • Some of the major grammatical features (zero copula, BIN, done, absence of 3 sgs) • Today we’re going to: • Talk about the church visit • “Speech acts” • Field questions about the midterm next week (grammar especially)

3. Why go to a Black church at all? • What did you notice? • Volume • Lots and lots of song • Pass the mic thing, always starting with “Praise the Lord” • Old ladies really dressed up, up in the front • Call and response • Tambourines • Dancing • Jars, irrigation, lots of metaphors

4. Why go to a Black church at all? • Things noticed by the first section • Different cadence of speech • The “huh” as punctuation for the phrases • There seemed to be a relationships to catching breath • Lot of women to the front right, men to the front left. Seniors were at the front. • Pastor and congregation co-created what happened. Minister wanted/demanded feedback; lots of participation (turn to your neighbor and repeat; hold hands) • No bibles and hymnals in the pews for reference, less focus on the literal text; focus on a small section. Lots of hymns that were shared knowledge. • Repetition • Questions that wanted a response • Pauses came with organ noises • Vernacular as emotion built • Vernacular in anecdotes • Make it more real

5. Some elements you might’ve noticed • Why you doin’ that? • About knowing the Word yourself • You don’t know nothin’ • What a woman in labor says to her husband • Like you done lost your mind • Lots of call and response • My God, my God • The church mother’s awesome feathered hat

6. The Reverends • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92-r05TH9qs • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZebOyzkym9s • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPxPciXcJvc • This is mostly just for fun, but you might notice how strong Jackson’s style is…keep listening til you get to there for example.

7. Proverbs and aphoristic • Proverb: A short popular saying, usually of unknown and ancient origin. It communicates a commonplace truth or useful thought. • In the Biblical sense, it is a profound saying that requires interpretation. • Aphorism: A short saying meant to embody a general truth. It can also just be an astute observation. • Still Water Runs Deep • Smiling Faces Sometimes Tell Lies • A hard head make a soft behind

8. Important theme! • Preaching has a rigid structure but is seemingly spontaneous. • Mostly about discourse features and rhetorical style versus linguistic features

9. Have you heard examples of these? • Have any of them “crossed-over”? • Signifying • The dozens • Rapping • Marking • Loud-Talking • Woofing • Toasting

10. Dell Hymes on communication • Try thinking about what happens in a church, on a comedy stage, or on a corner where guys are playing the dozens in terms of these things: • Speech Event: a unit of analysis defined by a speech activity, with various aspects including: situation, participants, ends/goals, genre, etc. (example: a toast at a party) • Speech Acts: a minimal unit of communication (example: a joke) • Speech Situation: a setting in which a speech event might occur (example: a party)

11. Midterm • What do you want to know?

12. Appendix (some practice)

13. What do you notice here? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMkydF99cUA

14. Some phonological options How do you decide between options? Well, how do you like the pros and cons? • [haend] • Pro: we don't have to make any changes • Con: has a difficult consonant cluster. • [haendo] • Pro: gets rid of the consonant cluster • Con: adds something new • [haen] • Pro: gets rid of the consonant cluster • Con: deletes something • Languages and dialects have different priorities. • Japanese: I'd rather add something new. • AAVE: I'd rather delete. • Standard English: I'd rather not have to make changes.

15. What’s going on here? • Dora, ‘virtue’ • San-dora, ‘covenant’ • Teketi, ‘to flow’ • San-taka, ‘confluence’ • Kabe, ‘hook’ • Saŋ-kaba, ‘connection’ • You can add a prefix to some Lithuanian words to get new, related words. • Burys, ‘crowd’ • Sam-buris, ‘assembly’ • Pilnas, ‘full’ • Sam-pilnas, ‘stock’

16. Similarity and variation • Which of these is most likely to undergo monophthongization? Why? • Tie • Tight • Tide

17. Which of these is voiced? • /θ/ • /ʧ/ • /ʤ/ • /ð/ • /ε/ • /č/ • /ž/ • /f/ • What’s the “voiced version” of /p/?

18. Practice with literature • Talk something like “The Party” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (it’s the last page of one of the hand-outs) and see what sort of features you notice. • And what’s the point of writing in AAVE, anyhow? What does it get you? • DEY had a gread big pahty down to Tom’s de othah night; • Was I dah? You bet! I neveh in my life see sich a sight; • All de folks f’om fou’ plantations was invited, an’ dey come, • Dey come troopin’ thick ez chillun when dey hyeahs a fife an’ drum

19. Vocab • Give an example of these: • Consonant cluster • Diphthong • Zero copula • Auxiliary • Negative concord • How would you describe what’s going on in Why I can’t play?

20. Tense/aspect/mood • Describe these sentences in terms of tense, aspect, and mood. • For example: I am working. • (present tense, progressive aspect, declarative mood) • If I were working • I work • I have worked