Event Arguments and 'Be' in Child African American English

Lisa Green, University of Massachusetts
Toya A. Wyatt, California State University
Qiuana Lopez, University of Texas

Abstract

This paper builds on previous sociolinguistic descriptions of the distribution of the copula and auxiliary be in African American English (AAE) and Becker’s (2000) analysis of be forms in child mainstream American English. An event argument analysis is proposed to account for the high occurrence of Ø auxiliary be preceding V-ing and gon V in child AAE. The event argument, which is based on work by Kratzer (1995), is similar to the one associated with aspectual be constructions (Green 2000). One advantage of the analysis is that it formalizes the observation that Ø auxiliary be is linked to the -ing on the verb following the auxiliary. Finally, we raise questions about the extent to which the account of auxiliary be in AAE can be extended to the copula.