Page 107 - Difference or Disorder Digital Version

Difference or Disorder?

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS FOR SPEECH

There are numerous dialectal differences between African‐American English (AAE)

and Standard American English (SAE) in the areas of phonology, phonotactics, morphosyntax,

and semantics. Examples of common differences can be seen below.

PHONOLOGY AND PHONOTACTICS

Frequent Dialectal Difference Patterns: Example:
Replacement of voiced “th”(ð) with /d/ in the them – dem
initial position
Replacement of voiced “th” (ð) with /v/ in the brother – brover
medial position
Replacement of voiceless “th” (θ) with /f/ in birthday – birfday
medial and final positions south – souf
Omission of /ɹ/ after a vowel and in final fort – fought
position door – doe
Omission of /ɹ/ between a consonant and a throw – thow
back‐rounded vowel
Omission of /l/ in combination with cluster told – toe
simplification and final consonant deletion tool – too
Devoicing or omission of final consonants, cub – cup
including “g” dropping (i.e., replacing /ŋ/ his – hiss
(“ng”) with /n/) looking – lookin
man –maa
Reduction of final consonant clusters in test – tes
singular nouns hand – han

Pattern may not apply when final consonants
are voiced + voiceless (e.g., ‘nt’ in sent).
Reduction of final consonant clusters in plural tests – tesses
nouns wasps – wasses
Metathesis (sound reversal) within consonant ask – axe
clusters, with or without consonant escape – ekscape
reduplication
Replacement of consonant cluster “str” with street – skreet
“skr”
Omission of unstressed syllables in became – came
multisyllabic words
Addition of syllables forests – forestses
Reduction of certain diphthongs to boil – ball
monophthongs, long vowels to short vowels our – are
(especially before /l/ and /r/), and high feel – fill 95
vowels to low vowels (especially before thing – thang
nasals) pen – pin
This is also a feature of many Southern U.S.
dialects.

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