A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH USED BY THE MAIN CHARACTER IN PRECIOUS MOVIE

Wita Wulandari, English Literature Study Program, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia

Abstract


Abstract

This research aims at identifying the variations of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) used by the main character in Precious movie, and at identifying the functions of utterances containing AAVE.This study applied qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the data. The data were in the form of utterances spoken by the main character of Precious movie. The data were derived from the original transcript. Triangulation by theories and other researchers was applied to check the credibility of the data in this research. The result of the research reveals two important points. First, the main character in Precious movie employed all of six variations of AAVE: 1) copula deletion 2) habitual be 3) double negative 4) negative form 5) irregular verb and 6) verb inflection. From the six variations, verb inflection is the dominant variation manifested in the African American Vernacular English utterances in Precious movie. Second, four out of six functions of language found in AAVE in Precious movie. They are 1) emotive function 2) referential function 3) phatic function and 4) metalingual function. Referential function is revealed to be the dominant function used by the main character in Precious movie.

 

Keywords: sociolinguistics, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Precious movie

 

Abstrak

            Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi variasi African American Vernacular English yang digunakan oleh tokoh utama dalam film Precious, dan mengidentifikasi fungsi dari ungkapan yang mengandung unsur AAVE tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode campuran kualitatif dan kuantitatif untuk analisis data. Data peneletian ini berupa ungkapan oleh tokoh utama dalam film. Data diperoleh dari transkrip asli film. Untuk memeriksa kredibilitas penelitian, peneliti menerapkan triangulasi menggunakan teori dan peneliti lain. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan dua poin penting. Pertama, tokoh utama dalam film Precious menggunakan semua enam variasi dari AAVE, yaitu: 1) copula deletion 2) habitual be 3) double negative 4) negative form 5) irregular verb dan 6) verb inflection. Dari enam variasi tersebut, verb inflection merupakan variasi yang paling banyak muncul dalam ungkapan yang mengandung unsur AAVE. Kedua, ditemukan empat dari enam fungsi dari AAVE dalam film ini, yaitu: 1) fungsi emotive 2) fungsi referential 3) fungsi phatic dan 4) fungsi metalingual. Fungsi referential adalah fungsi yang paling banyak digunakan oleh tokoh utama dalam film Precious.

 

Kata kunci: sosiolinguistik, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), film Precious


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