Doctoral Dissertation Research: Language and Community Change in Harlem

对语言及其变化的研究至关重要的是纵向研究，它允许随着时间的推移检查社区。这项研究的重点是非裔美国人的英语口语在哈莱姆，纽约市。非裔美国英语是指美国非裔美国人所特有的一种非标准英语。这个词涵盖了很广泛的说话方式，从非常随意到非常正式，由不同年龄、种族和社会经济背景的人使用。今天，由于中产阶级化，哈莱姆正在经历迅速的变化。随着新居民的到来，这导致了黑人占多数的减少。这项研究的目的是研究自20世纪60年代以来，哈莱姆区非裔美国居民的语言变化的方式，根据社区本身所经历的重大变化。也就是说，现在哈莱姆不再是非洲裔美国人的家园，非裔美国人的英语发生了什么变化？这项研究将观察和记录大约72名哈莱姆区的居民，他们来自不同的年龄组和社会经济阶层。社会和语言数据将通过对个人和群体的社会语言学访谈和民族志观察收集，然后将其与20世纪60年代在哈莱姆进行的先前语言研究进行比较。目前的研究有望建立一个更全面的语言接触和变化的图景，并将阐明有关语言传播媒介的问题。这项研究对教育也有影响，特别是在城市中心，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可以帮助教育者区分方言差异和实际学习缺陷，从而为学生提供必要的支持。

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.