Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

NORTHERN AMERICAN DIALECTS

INTRODUCTION:
This research is based on Northern American Dialects. The fact that there are so many dialects in the United States made us to concentrate on the ones we considered the most important. The dialects we decided to cover are: African American Vernacular English, Chicano English, New York Latino English, Boston accent, Northeast Pennsylvania English and Vermont English. By the way, we divided the dialects we chose in two categories: Regional and Cultural. We did this classification according to the criteria established previously, but particularly, we are going to focus on the dialect called African American Vernacular English. We especially select this dialect because it called our attention and while we were looking for and gathering the information to do this work, we considered this dialect as being really interesting, its field of study is really huge as it is spoken by a large number of people in the United States. Before going deeper in the aforementioned dialects, it is important to know what a dialect is. According to the dictionary of Cambridge, a dialect is a form of a language that people speak in a particular part of a country, containing some different words and grammar , and Oxford dictionary establishes that it is a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group. Having specified the definition of this term, we can say that the dialects developed above, as we established previously, are classified according to a particular part of a country, that is to say a region, and a particular social group or culture. To begin with, within Cultural dialects we can find for instance: New York Latino English, Chicano English and African American Vernacular English.

NEW YORK LATINO ENGLISH:

New York Latino English (NYLE) is also called Nuyorican English and is an ethnolect of New York dialect. It is a term used to refer to the native varieties of English characteristic of Latino New Yorkers. However, not all Latinos in New York speak NYLE, nor are all NYLE speakers Latinos. This variety of English is also called as contact variety due to the fact that, as I mentioned before , it is a variety of English which has been influenced by contact with another language, in this case it is a mixture of African American English and local European American English with features from Spanish. We must not confuse this dialect with Spanglish, because some NYLE speakers even do not know how to speak Spanish. In addition, we must not associate this dialect with code switching, which m eans that you change back and forth from Spanish to English. In fact, as it was mentioned previously, here we are facing a native variety of English. The emergence of this dialect is with the post-war Puerto Rican immigration (which started in the th st second half of the 20 century and continued during the 21 century) to New York City and most particularly the subsequent generations born in the New York dialect region, who were native speakers of both English and Spanish. Last but not least, characteristics of this dialect include: Its rhythm tends to be syllable timed, which means that syllables take up the same amount of time with the same amount of stress).

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
/t/ and /d/ are realized as dental stops. Devoicing of voiced obstruent codas. Consonant cluster simplifications such as the loss of dental stops after nasals (for instance: bent). /l/ onsets are clear. Lack of inversion (e.g: I can go to the bathroom?) Calques and direct translations of Spanish expressions and words. /u/ after coronals is not fronted as in New York European American varieties. Pronunciation is predominantly non-rhotic.

CHICANO ENGLISH:
In addition, we can identify Chicano English as another native dialect of English. It refers to the dialect spoken by Mexican Americans. Its origins lie on the exodus of Mexican refugees to the U.S.A during th the 20 Century, specifically in 1991. This migration along with the segregated social conditions the immigrants found in California resulted in an ethnic community that is only partly assimilated to the matrix Anglo (European American) community. As Spanish-speaking people migrated from other parts of Hispanophone world to Southwest, Chicano English is now the customary dialect of many Hispanic Americans of diverse national heritages in Southwest. As Hispanic Americans are of diverse racial origins, Chicano English serves as the distinction from non-Hispanic and non-Latino Americans in Southwest. Although Chicano English retains symbolic links with Hispanic culture, at a linguistic level it is mostly an English-speaking rather than a Spanish-speaking community. In phonological terms, this dialect seems to be identical to that of the local Anglo community, for instance the long and short vowels are clearly distinguished, as are the relatively rare English vowel classes //. However, the main difference between Chicano accent and the local Anglo accent is for instance, that Chicanos are not participating in the ongoing phonetic changes in the Anglo communities (the raising of //. Here we can identify some phonological aspects, consonant variations and vowel structures that characterize this dialect:

Phonological aspects:
The influence of Spanish over Chicano English can be seen in some phonological features. For instance, vocabulary includes words like simon meaning yes, firme meaning good, flika meaning picture, vato meaning guy, and feria meaning money. Consonant variation: As New York Latino English, the rhythm of Chicano English also tends to be syllable-timed. t and d is reali ed as dental stops *t+ and *d+ rather than the standard American alveolars *t+ and *d+ (also found in many Romance languages, including Spanish). Dentalization is also common in European American dialect. The devoicing of [z] in all environments: Examples: [isi] for easy and [w s] for was. The devoicing of [v] in word-final position: Examples: [lf] for love, [hf] for have, and [wafs] for wives. Chicano speakers may pronounce b or instead of v : Examples: very *bi+ or *i+, invite *imbat] or *imat]. Absence of dental fricatives so that think may be pronounced *tik+, *fik+ or *sik+, Mexican and other Latin American Spanish dialects have an important feature called seseo wherein *+ merged with *s+. Poor distinction between /j/ and /d/ so that job may sound like yob and yes may sound like jes.

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
Poor distinction of nasals in the syllable coda so that seen and seem are pronounced alike. /t/ merges with // so sheep and cheap are pronounced alike. An inversion may also happen, causing sheep to sound like /tip/ and cheap to sound like /ip/.

Vowel structure:
Chicano English speakers may merge [] and [], before the [l]. / sounds like i : sink sounds like seenk and also sing sounds like seeng. The distinction between / and i before liquid consonants is frequently reduced, making feel and fill homophones. Final consonant deletion[edit source | editbeta] Syllable-final voiceless stops, in consonant clusters, may be pronounced as glottal stops, as unrelleased stops or, more commonly, be deleted. Most becomes [mos] or [mos]; Felt becomes [fl] or [fl], Start becomes [str+ or *str+. Chicano accent is a flat-BATH dialect, which means that it classes the BATH set with the TRAP set rather than with the PALM set. Because of phonetic similarity and complementary distribution, stressed and unstressed /e/ (NURSE, LETTER) are the same phonological class. Similarly, stressed and unstressed high-front-peripheral vowels (FLEECE, HAPPY) are classified together as i (unlike in older RP (cultivated Southern British), where HAPPY ends with the vowel in KIT). The non-high front vowels before intervocalic /r/ are presumably merged in this dialect. That is, Mary, merry, marry are pronounced identically. Since // does not exist in Spanish, the fall of /l/ cannot be attributed to Spanish influence. On the contrary, the fall of /l/ seems to be a purely English sound change that happens to occur in this particular ethnic group. Some reali ations of i , e , o and other long vowels were transcribed as monophthongs. Th is may be an effect of Spanish.

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

AAVE:
Furthermore, one of the most important dialects for us to concentrate on is AAVE, which means African American Vernacular English or the so called African American English, less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), or Black Vernacular English (BVE). We can identify this American English dialect as also being an ethnolect and a sociolect of American English. It is also called as Ebonics by non-linguists, a term that has other meanings and This dialect is particularly used by African Americans in certain settings. connotations.

What does this dialect mean?

The so-called Ebonics, means black speech (a blend of the words ebony which means black, and phonics sounds). The term was created in 1973 by a group of black scholars who disliked the negative connotations of terms like Nonstandard Negro English that had been coined in the 1960s when the first modern large scale linguistic studies of African American speech communities began. Although AAVE had never called the attention of linguistics, this changed in 1996 with the Ebonics controversy when the Oakland School Board recogni ed it as the primary language of its majority African American students and resolved to take it into account in teaching them standard or academic English. Most linguists refer to the distinctive speech of African Americans as Black English (AAE) or AAVE (African American Vernacular English). Although AAVE shares many characteristics with the African creole it is argued by some creolists including William Stewart, John Dillard and John Rickford that it is itself a creole. Before continuing talking about this topic, we have to know that we call creole to a language that has developed from a mixture of languages (Extracted from Cambridge dictionary).

Where does AAVE come from?

Its origins are still a matter of debate. There are two major explanations that have dominated the modern debate over the origin and early development of AAVE. One of the hypotheses, called The Anglicist was originally set forth by prominent American dialectologists during the mid-twentieth century. This hypothesis argues that the origin of AAVE can be traced to the same sources as earlier European American dialects of English (the varieties of English spoken in the British Isles). This position or theory claims that slaves speaking different African languages simply learned the regional and social varieties of the adjacent groups of white speakers as they acquired English. It also establishes that over the course of a couple of generations only a few minor traces of these ancestral languages remained, as in the typical American immigrant model of language shift. But all that glitters is not gold, during the mid-60 and 70s the Anglicist theory was challenged by the Creolist hypothesis. Researchers of creole languages noted that the early languages situation for African descendants circumscribed by the conditions of slavery was hardly like that of Europeans who came by choice and blended with other European groups. Instead, the extreme circumstances of subordination and segregation led to the development of a creole language, a specially adapted language formed when groups not sharing a common language need to communicate. This Creolist theory establishes that an English-based creole language spread throughout the African diaspora and today creoles are still spoken in many regions such as Sierra Leone and Liberia. Nowadays, due to new historical information about the theories of the origins of AAVE, it has been discovered that, in comparison with the time it was originated and the contemporary one, there are some

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
differences. The Neo- Anglicist position claims that these differences are owing to the evolving nature of th African American speech during the 20 century.

What are the characteristics that differentiate AAVE from other dialects?
Although AAVE shares many characteristics with Creole English, dialects spoken in the American South and West African languages such as pronunciation, grammatical structures and vocabulary, it has many features that separate it from others (especially from Standard American English). These features are: Distinctive vocabulary. Distinctive use of verb tenses. Use of double negatives. Specific pronunciation features. To begin with, the distinction between AAVE and Standard American English is clear to those people who speak it; there are some other features which are characteristic of general colloquial American English. For instance, there are some phonological characteristics that set AAVE apart from forms of Standard English, which includes: Word-final devoicing of /b/, /d/ and /g/, for example cub sounds like cup. Reduction of certain diphthongs forms to monophtongs (/ai/ is monophtongized to [a:]. AAVE speakers may not use the fricatives *+ (the th in thin) and *+ (the th of then) that are present in SE. Word-initially, is normally the same as in SE (so thin is *n]). Word-initially, // is [d] (so this is [ds]). Word-medially and -finally, is reali ed as either *f+ or *t+ (so *mmf] or [mnt] for month); // as either *v+ or *d+ (so *smuv+ for smooth). Reali ation of final ng , the velar nasal as alveolar nasal *n+ in function morphemes and content morphemes with two syllables like ing, for instance tripping is pronounced as trippin. It has to be clear that this change does not occur in one-syllable content such as sing. Final consonant cluster reduction. For instance clusters that are homorganic, which means that they have the same place of articulation, and share the same voicing, are reduced. For example test is pronounced [ts] since /t/ and /s/ are both voiceless. Also word-final /sp/, /st/, and /sk/ are reduced, again with the final element being deleted rather than the former. And for younger speakers, /skr/ also occurs in words that other varieties of English have /str/ so that, for example, street is pronounced [skrit]. In addition, clusters ending in /s/ or /z/ exhibit variation in whether the first or second element is deleted. Another reduced item is final consonants, which are deleted. Use of methathesised forms such as aks for ask or graps for grasp. The rhotic consonant r is usually dropped when it is not followed by a vowel or when it is between vowels, for example story ([stri]) may be pronounced [st.i]. Before nasal consonants (/m/, n , and ), / and // are both pronounced [], making pen and pin homophones The distinction between / and i before liquid consonants is frequently reduced, making feel and fill homophones. Lowering of / before causing pronunciations such as *+ or *+ for thing.

What are the grammatical features that make this dialect so particular?
The distinctive characteristics, both grammatical and in the phonological aspect, may make us to think that the dialect is mistaken. But far from being random errors, its grammatical forms and the pronunciation of certain words are peculiar of this dialect. AAVE has an optional tense system with four past and two future tenses or phases. The table above shows the different tenses or phases of AAVE:

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
Phases/Tenses of AAVE

Phase

Example

Pre-recent

I been flown it

Recent Past Pre-present

I done fly ita

I did fly it

Past Inceptive

I do fly it

Present

I be flyin it

Immediate

I'm a-fly it

Futur e Post-immediate I'm a-gonna fly it

Indefinite future

I gonna fly it

AAVE particularly positions the auxiliary verbs been and done as occurring as the first auxiliary. And when they occur as the second, they carry additional aspects. For example: He been done work, which means he finished work a long time ago. He done been work, which means until recently, he worked over long period of time. In these cases been places action in the distant past and that it is continuing now. The use of be explained before is one of the most distinguishing features of AAVE, which is used to indicate that performance of the verb is of a habitual nature. Within this dialect, only the forms is and are can be omitted but in some specific situations. For example these forms cannot be omitted when they would be pronounced with stress in Standard English, and also they cannot be omitted when the corresponding form in Standard English cannot show contraction and vice versa. For instance I dont know where he is cannot be reduced to I dont know where he just as in Standard English the corresponding reduction I dont know where hes is likewise impossible. Present-tense verbs are uninflected for number person: there is no s ending in the present tense third-person singular. For example: She write poetry (She writes poetry). The genitive s ending may or may not be used. The words it and they denote the existence of something, equivalent to Standard English there is or there are. Altered syntax in questions, for example: Why they aint growing? (Why they arent growing?) Usage of personal pronoun them instead of definite article those. Last but not least, another remarkable grammatical feature of this dialect is the use of negation, because they are formed differently from Standard American English. It uses aint as a general negative indicator. Speakers of AAVE use aint instead of dont, doesnt or didnt. Aint has its origins in

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
common English, but became increasingly stigmatized since the 19 century. Furthermore, the use of double negation, which is considered incorrect, is characteristic of AAVE, for example: I didnt go nowhere.
th

How is this dialect considered in the educational scenario?

AAVE has produced many controversies within the education of African American youths and the role it should play in public schools. Educators claim that attempts should be made by educators to eliminate AAVE usage through the public education system. They justify themselves by asserting that this dialect is an intrinsically deficient form of speech, unacceptable in most cultural contexts and socially limiting. Many pedagogical techniques and programs were tried to be implemented, for instance texts in both AAVE and SAE, but due to social and political reasons they were rejected.

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

On the other hand, within Regional dialects we have: Boston Accent, Northeast English and Vermont English.

BOSTON ACCENT
The Boston Accent is not just an accent, it's a lifestyle. Everyone in New England who speaks with varying degrees of this "No R" accent has a swagger about them, because they know they're better than people from other parts of the US. We all live the No R Lifestyle. The Boston dialect is the dialect characteristic of English spoken in the city of Boston and much of Eastern Massachusetts. The most important features in this accent are non-rhoticity and broad A. According to the first characteristic, Non-rhoticity, it means that the phoneme /r/ does not appear in coda position, in other words, after high and mid-high vowels, the /r/ is replaced by schwa or another neutral central vowel like *i+. For instance, weird *wiid+. A good example also can be The park the car in Harvard Yard, where the words park, Harvard and yard are pronounced *pak+; *hav d+; and *jad+. On the other hand, the word car is pronounced in this case because the following word begin with a vowel (linking R) The Boston accent possesses both linking R and intrusive R. That is to say, a /r/ will not be lost at the end of a word if the next word begins with a vowel as in the previous example. And it can has indeed a /r/ will be inserted after a word ending with a central or low vowel if the next word begins with a vowel sound. Taking into account the vowels, this kind of accent has a highly distinctive system of low vowels. Eastern New England is the only region in North America where the distinction between the vowels in words like father on the one hand and words like bother on the other is securely maintained the former. The vowels quality is different. The RP of England, like Boston English, distinguishes the classes, using [+ in father and *+ in bother. Secondly, we have the other characteristic called Broad A. In some words that in other accents have [] such as half and bath, that vowel is replaced with *a+. Boston accents make a greater variety of distinctions between short and long vowels before medial [r] than many other modern American accents do. These Boston Accents are used in films such as The friends of Eddie Coley, Mystic River and The Fighter. Some famous speakers of it are Ben Affleck, Lenny Clarke and Jim Moran. There are many words used in the Boston areas for instance, banger means a very bad headache, Pissa means something akin to great either realistically or sarcastically, a time a social event, usual ly a retirement party or political function. Some useful steps to have a Boston Accent: 12Dont drop the Rs at the beginning of the word. Pronounce your Os like aw. Pronounce your As like ah.

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA ENGLISH

Northeast Pennsylvania English is the local dialect of American English spoken in northeastern Pennsylvania, specifically in the Coal Region, which includes the cities of Hazleton, Pottsville, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Taking into consideration the phonological characteristics of this dialect, there are several things to say. This dialect undergoes the Northern cities vowel shift, but not to the same extent as, say, Buffalo English. The vowel // shows considerable raising and diphthongization before nasal consonants, for example ban is pronounced approximately [ben]. The transitional nature of Northeast Pennsylvania English between the North and the Midland is shown clearly by the pronunciation of the diphthongs /a / (as in pine) and /a/ (as in town). In the North, the nucleus of /a/ is considerably further back than that of /a/, so that town is pronounced [tn+. In the Midland (and indeed most of the rest of the United States), it is the nucleus of a that is further back, so that pine is *pn+. But in northeastern Pennsylvania, the nuclei of the two diphthongs are pronounced in nearly the same position, as an open central vowel, so that pine is [p n] and town is [tn+. Three are some lexical characteristic to consider. For instance, to the extent that northeastern Pennsylvanian speakers do pronounce pairs like Don and dawn differently, they pronounce the word onto rhyme with Don, not with dawn (i.e., they use the / vowel rather than ). In this regard, the accent patterns with the northern accents, not with the rest of Pennsylvania. With respect to the phenomenon of "positive anymore", Northeast Pennsylvania English patterns with the Midland rather than the North.

VERMONT ENGLISH
Vermont English is a dialect of English language spoken in the U.S. state of Vermont. Although a New England state, the variety of English spoken in most parts of the state generally has more in common with the accent spoken in nearby New York State and parts of the Midwest. Some features of this dialect are, the // in words like 'bad' and 'cat' is tensed in most environments to [e], though rarely to the same extreme as the Inland Northdialect. As with Connecticut, Western Massachusetts and some Great Lakes English, glottal replacement oft is common. This is heavily seen in words such as "mountain" (pronounced mou-in), and even the state's name: "Vermont." It is pronounced, by a Vermonter, something like /vr'm ("ver-mahn'"). Also the words ending in the letter 'a' are pronounced as if the word ended in 'er', for instance the word area would be pronounced 'air-ee-er'. Finally, deep rural Vermont speakers demonstrate similarities with dialects in South West England, for instance pronunciation of the words "cow" and "cider".

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

CONCLUSION:
By carrying out this investigation, we were able to know a little bit more about the different existing dialects and how they are performed in the society. It was really interesting to go deep into these dialects, as we as teachers have to be aware not only of the grammatical aspects of the English language, but also of the many variations it has. What is amazing and called our attention about these dialects, particularly AAVE, is how they are deformed and mixed in a way, according to many factors such as cultu re, ethnicity, politics, social aspects and even other languages.

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/AAVE/worldscollide/ http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english http://www.cal.org/topics/dialects/aae.html http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~mnewman/Site/NYLE.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano_English http://dialectblog.com/2011/11/07/chicano-english/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Latino_English en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont English www.urbandictionary.com/define.php? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston accent www.wikihow.com/speak-with-a-Bostonian-Accent en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast- Pennsylvania-English http://www.multimedia-english.com/videos/music/gangstas-paradise-3734

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade

GANGSTA'S PARADISE COOLIO GROUP

1Put the verses in order. I take a look at my life and realize there's not much left 'Coz I've been blastin' and laughin' so long, that As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death Even my mama thinks that my mind is gone Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk You better watch how you're talkin', and where you're walkin' Me be treated like a punk you know that's unheard of But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it

On my knees in the night, sayin' prayers in the streetlight As I grow I see myself in the pistol smoke, fool I really hate to trip but I gotta, loc I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like 2Fill in the gaps. Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise They got the situation, they got me facin' I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the stripes So I ____________ be down with the hood team Too much ____________ watchin' got me chasin' dreams I'm an ___________ fool with money on my mind Got my 10 in my ______________ and a gleam in my ____________ I'm a loc'd out ________________ set trippin' banger And my homies is down so don't arouse my anger, fool ___________ ain't nothin' but a heartbeat away I'm livin' life, do or die, what can I say I'm ___________________ now, but will I live to see twenty-four The way things are going I don't know Tell me why are we, so __________to see That the one's we hurt, are you and me Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise 3Put the words in order. Money/and/power/the/power/money/and/the Hour/minute/after/minute/hour/after Them/half/runnin/but/aint/everybodys/lookin/of Kitchen/whats/cookin/the/on/in/I/know/but/going/whats/dont Learn/nobody`s/teach/but/here/me/gotta/say/they/I/to

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
Understand/how/they/reach/can/it/can`t/if/they/me guess/can`t/they/guess/I/won`t/they/I front/life/luck/fool/that`s/know/why/I/they/guess/out/is/of/I/my Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives, livin' in the gangsta's paradise Tell me why are we, so blind to see That the one's we hurt, are you and me Tell me why are we, so blind to see That the one's we hurt, are you and me Songwriters IVEY, ARTIS L JR / LAWRENCE, SANDERS / RASHEED, DOUG / WONDER, STEVIE Read more: Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Description: Here's the most successful rap song of all time, from 1995, featuring in the movie "Dangerous Minds". The music is a remake of Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise" and uses the same tune, though a different orchestration of the same backing music. Coolio changed the lyrics to be more relevant to life on the streets. This is black American English, so get ready for a different pronunciation sometimes, a lot of differences in grammar, vocabulary and expressions, with many colloquialism and plenty of slang, so read the explanations below carefully (and also under the Meaning tab). Explanations: AS I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH= As I live in this dangerous and sad place (this metaphor was composed by King David 3000 years ago. Read under the MEANING tab to learn more about this) BLASTING= (slang) To blast is to have a wild time, partying and all that. MOMMA= (AmE) BrE mamma, mum. MY MIND HAS GONE= I am crazy, insane. AINT= (slang) The negative form of the verb to be or have in the present: - I aint bin to London never = I have never been to London. - You aint no better than me = You arent better than me I AINT NEVER CROSSED A MAN= I have never met known a man. ME= (black AmE) I. ME BE TREATED= I am treated (they treat me) A PUNK= Someone who is worthless, not important. YOU BETTER= (coll.) Youd better = You had better = You should. HOMIES= (slang, originally homeboy homegirl) Close friends.

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
LINED IN CHALK= (slang) Killed. When someone is killed, the police draws a white line around the corps with chalk to mark the exact place and position of the body before removing it. TRIP= to consume drugs to get a hallucinatory experience. I GOTTA= Ive got to = I must. LOC= (slang) man, buddy, mate (a way of addressing your friends from the band) - Wassup*, loc? (= How are you, man?) - Not much, man. (= Im ok) CROAK= Die. THE KINDA G= (coll.) The kind of gangster. THE LITTLE HOMIES= buddies, friends (here little is not about size, but about feelings, so this means something like dear friends) WANNA BE LIKE= (coll.) Want to imitate. ON MY KNEES= Kneeling down. GANGSTA= (black AmE) Gangster = A member of a mafia or a criminal association; a hooligan. In fact, this spelling is only a way of reflecting black American pronunciation. In standard American English, people pronounce the letter R everywhere (for example in rose and in car) in black American English (same as in British English), the R is only pronounced when followed by a vowel (so they pronounce it in rose but not in car). So in gangster they dont pronounce the final R, so it sounds like gangsta, and this spelling is trying to reflect that pronunciation. A GANGSTAS PARADISE= A gangsters haven, a place perfect for gangsters. I WAS RAISED BY THE STREETS= If your parents raise you, they take care of you and educate you. If the streets raise you, you learn everything from criminals, hooligans and bad people. THE HOOD TEAM= I suppose he refers to people wearing hoods. A hoody (a sweater with a hood) is the typical thing street gangsters or hooligans wear. CHASING DREAMS= Trying to make your wishes come true. WITH MONEY ON MY MIND= Who wants to get rich. MY TEN= A 10 is a perfect woman (physically perfect, that is), but here it is a slang word for a ten millimetre automatic pistol. GLEAM= Jewellery, gold. I have a gleam in my eye means I can see jewellery (so I have it, or my perfect girl has it on). It could also refer to that spark of light you get in your eyes when you are excited about something or have a brilliant (or evil) idea. LOKD OUT= (slang) Cra y. NOTHING BUT A HEART BEAT AWAY= Only a moment away (= you can die any moment)

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
DO OR DIE= (coll.) If you do something do or die, you are desperate. THINGS IS GOING= (black AmE) Things are going. In black AmE the present tense of the verb to be can use the forms is, are or be for any person (but am can only be used for I) - She be a ten, bro! = Shes so hot, man! - Yep, you is loco = Yeah, you are crazy. - I be livin wit them bros = I am living with those people. GOING ON= Happening. IN THE KITCHEN= (slang) A mental place where your brain is running at its highest level of power. If you have something in the kitchen, you are thinking very hard about it. To continue with the kitchen metaphor, he then says but I dont know whats cooking. So he means that there is something very intense happening in his brain, like an idea trying to get shape, but he doesnt know exactly what it is yet. I GUESS= (coll.) I suppose. THEY FRONT= (slang) They are hypocrites, they pretend to be what they are not. EXPLANATION: The song starts with a verse from the Bible: As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, which is from Psalm 23 in the Bible, composed by King David (2nd king of Israel) in 1000BC. David here refers to life as a dangerous place (full of physical and spiritual dangers). The original Bible verse says: though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art (= you are) with me The psalm begins the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (= I will have everything I need), so David is talking about how God is protecting him in the middle of all his dangers. Coolio changed this to say As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and reali e theres not much left. So where David sees hope, Coolio sees hopelessness and despair. And that marks the tone for the rest of the song. He is a gangster, a criminal, and for him life is a very dangerous place, and though he wishes he could change his life, he cant, because he doesnt know how to and nobody is going to help him. The chorus says: Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me So he knows the life of a gangster is destructive, and though a gangster causes pain to other people, he is also causing pain to himself, destroying himself. The moral of the song is: beware, a gangsters life may look cool and successful (lots of money, lots of beautiful girls, and lots of power), but in fact, deep inside, that life is destroying you, its all a faade. -----------------------------------

Final Test- Linguistics/ Victoria Fajardo- Alejandra Peyrot- English 3rd Grade
PSALM 23 (complete) (King James Version) 1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (New Revised Standard) 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.