Verb Phrase Patterns in Black English and Creole (African American Life)

By Walter F. Edwards

This is the first book to present an in-depth examination and comparison of grammatical phenomena in both Black English and New World English-lexicon Creoles. The volume's concentration on verb phrase patterns adds focus and coherence to the discussion. The contributors include highly respected scholars and very promising younger scholars who have already made their presence felt. Most of the contributors are also native speakers of the languages they describe. Their insights, therefore, are drawn from an extremely rich data base of scholarship, personal experience, and intuition. The book provides a comprehensive treatment of several areas of predication in Black English and Creole, namely the copula system, modality, features of the tense/aspect system, and passivization. Several essays devote attention specifically to the relationships between Black English and Creole verb phrase patterns, including two classic essays that link the study of Black English to that of New World Creoles. The balance of the essays present original analyses of various aspects of predication and explore theoretical issues that have received little attention in the literature. Verb Phrase Patterns in Black English and Creole provides insight not only into areas of Black English and Creole grammar but also goes on to establish a basis for further research on these varieties, forging a link between the past and the future.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081432276X
• ISBN13: 9780814322765
• Release Date: July 1991
• Publisher: Wayne State University
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"