Doctoral Dissertation Research: Language and Community Change in Harlem

博士论文研究：哈莱姆区的语言和社区变革

• 批准号: 1123975
• 负责人: Renee Blake
• 金额: $ 1.02万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1123975&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Language; Community

Critical to the study of languages and how they change are longitudinal studies, which allow for the examination of communities over time. This study focuses on African American English as spoken in Harlem, New York City. African American English refers to a nonstandard variety of English characteristically spoken by African Americans in the United States. This term covers a wide range of ways of speaking, from very casual to very formal, as spoken by a range of individuals from different age groups, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Today, Harlem is undergoing rapid change due to gentrification. This has resulted in a decrease of its black majority as new residents come in. The aim of this research is to examine the ways in which the language of Harlem's African American residents has changed since the 1960s, in light of the significant changes the neighborhood itself has undergone. That is, what is happening to African American English, now that Harlem is no longer home to just African Americans? This study will observe and record roughly seventy-two residents of Harlem, from a range of age groups and socioeconomic classes. Social and linguistic data will be collected through sociolinguistic interviews with individuals and groups and ethnographic observations, which will then be compared to previous linguistic research conducted in Harlem in the 1960s. The current research promises to build a more comprehensive picture of language contact and change, and will shed light on issues pertaining to mediums for language transmission. This study also has implications for education, especially in urban centers, where black students continue to struggle in schools throughout the United States. A better understanding of African American English and the social circumstances under which it is used can help educators to differentiate between dialectal differences and actual learning deficiencies, and thus provide the necessary support for students.

研究语言及其变化的关键是纵向研究，它允许随着时间的推移对社区进行检查。这项研究的重点是纽约市哈莱姆区的非裔美国人英语口语。非裔美国人英语指的是美国非裔美国人特有的非标准英语变体。这个术语涵盖了广泛的说话方式，从非常随意到非常正式，来自不同年龄段、种族和社会经济背景的一系列个人都说过这种话。今天，由于士绅化，哈莱姆正在经历快速的变化。这导致了随着新居民的到来，黑人占多数的人数减少了。这项研究的目的是考察自20世纪60年代以来，鉴于该社区本身所经历的重大变化，哈莱姆的非裔美国居民的语言发生了哪些变化。也就是说，既然哈莱姆区不再只是非裔美国人的家，非裔美国人的英语正在发生什么？这项研究将观察和记录哈莱姆的大约72名居民，他们来自不同的年龄段和社会经济阶层。将通过对个人和群体的社会语言学访谈和人种学观察来收集社会和语言数据，然后将其与上世纪60年代在哈莱姆进行的语言研究进行比较。目前的研究承诺建立一个更全面的语言接触和变化的图景，并将阐明与语言传播媒介有关的问题。这项研究对教育也有影响，特别是在城市中心，那里的黑人学生在美国各地的学校里继续挣扎。更好地了解非裔美国人英语及其使用的社会环境，有助于教育工作者区分方言差异和实际学习不足，从而为学生提供必要的支持。