Eberhardt & Vdoviak-Markow (2020)

What does “language is a performance” mean?

• We use language to fake being someone we are not

• We design how we speak according to how we want to present ourselves to others

• We design how we speak in order to entertain others

What is style-shifting?

• Changing how we speak according to different contexts or interlocutors

• Using two or more languages within the same sentence

• When African American speakers use AAVE with white people

• Putting on an accent

Which one of the cases below is part of the envelope of variation for zero copula in AAVE?

• I'm so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress

• Your love is bright as ever

• He always played it cool, but Daddy was no fool

• Boy, nothing real can be threatened

• It’s all over your breath as you pass it off so cavalier

True or False? Foxy Boston produced zero copula more frequently when speaking with a white person.

• True

• False

True or False? Tupac Shakur used zero copula more when he was speaking than when he was rapping.

• True

• False

Which one of these propositions is true?

• Taking all her albums together, Beyoncé uses zero copula more often before -ing verbs than before noun phrases.

• Beyoncé’s earlier work is more likely to have zero copula than her recent albums.

• The hierarchy of grammatical constraints on zero copula remains the same across all albums.