Regional and ethnic differences in morphosyntactic variation among black high school students in two US cities

Abstract This paper presents a study of regional and ethnic variation in the use of morphosyntactic features associated with African American English (AAE) among 35 Black high school students in Philadelphia and Boston. Twenty-five morphosyntactic features are examined by three measures of use: range of features, dialect density measure, and copula deletion rates. Results demonstrate marked differences in the use of AAE morphosyntax between cities, with Philadelphia speakers showing wider ranges, higher dialect density measures, and higher rates of copula deletion. Within ethnically diverse Boston, speakers with Afro-Latinx ancestry have the most restricted use of AAE features. This work represents the first description of AAE morphosyntax in Boston, and contributes to the study of diversity both within and between Black communities.