Talking black in public spaces: an investigation of identity and the use of preaching style in black pubic speech

摘要

This dissertation utilizes a sociocultural linguistic approach that combines sociolinguistic, discourse analytic and ethnographic methods in order to examine how black public figures use African American English (AAE) to express complex identities in interaction. This study explores the interaction between phonological, grammatical, suprasegmental and rhetorical features of black speech and situational factors related to event structuring, speaker goals, and audience composition. Overall, this study illustrates how shifts in speaking style can help speakers manage the presentation of controversial political and social messages. While the speakers in this study make limited use of hallmark vernacular features of AAE (such as copula deletion and invariant be), they consistently draw from a black stylistic repertoire, specifically black preaching style, that allows them to take controversial political stances as they express their ethnic, religious, and philosophical affiliation with members of the black community.