Old patterns through a new medium: Assessing gender differences and diachronic change in the use of African- American English by celebrities on Twitter

Pieterse, Tommy

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/118068 Copy

Description

Title

Old patterns through a new medium: Assessing gender differences and diachronic change in the use of African- American English by celebrities on Twitter

Author(s)

Pieterse, Tommy

Issue Date

2023-05-19

Keyword(s)

Linguistics

Abstract

Previous sociolinguistic studies concerning the speech of African- Americans have established that how African-Americans place themselves on the spectrum between African-American English (AAE) and Standard American English (SAE) depends on demographic factors, one of which is gender. Other studies indicate that male African-American celebrities place themselves closer to AAE on the AAE-SAE spectrum than their female counterparts. While AAE has gained in cultural capital over the last decades, anecdotal evidence hints at the possibility of a diachronic decline in its use by celebrities. The relatively recent rise of social media provides new opportunities to research the impact of these factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of gender and time on the use of AAErelated features by African-American celebrities on Twitter. Data was collected from the Twitter accounts of 100 African-American celebrities. The analysis of the data revealed a significant effect of gender on the use of AAE-related features, with male celebrities using more features. This indicates a link between the use of AAE by celebrities and the general African-American population. It also indicates that demographic factors that influence the use of AAErelated features in spoken language carry over onto social media, which offers future research possibilities for the study of AAE and other dialects. No significant diachronic change in the use of AAE on Twitter was found.

Publisher

Studies in the Linguistic Sciences: Illinois Working Papers

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

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