Overview:1) Etymology

2) Social Variation (Yule ch. 20)3) The Jazz Vernacular (Yule ch. 18)

4) Regional Dialects(Yule ch. 19)4) Uses Today (Crystal)

Website for image: http://www.rochestercvb.org/includes/events/index.cfm?action=displayDetail&eventid=17882

What is Jazz?• No one knows!

-complex-living-moving target

• “The true spirit of jazz is a joyous revolt from convention, custom, authority, boredom, even sorrow- from everything that would confine the soul of man and hinder its riding free on the air.” -J.A. Rogers

Etymology of jazz

• jazz (n.) by 1912, American English, first attested in baseball slang; as a type of music, attested from 1913. Probably ultimately from Creole patois jass "strenuous activity," especially "sexual intercourse" but also used of Congo dances, from jasm (1860) "energy, drive," of African origin (cf. Mandingo jasi, Temne yas), also the source of slang jism. If the truth were known about the origin of the word 'Jazz' it would never be mentioned in polite society. ["Étude," Sept. 1924]All that jazz "et cetera" first recorded 1939.1

Social Variation

• Speech community: Group of people who share a set of norms and expectations regarding the use of language (Yule, 253)– Jazz musicians: improvising based on a set chord

structure – Jazz listeners: rebellious, youth culture– Jazz writers: rhythm and tempo– Jazz readers: interested in culture

Jazz Age Slang

• -ski, -avous: these are two suffixes (derived from Russian and French, respectively) used in flapper parlance to “dress up” normal words. The suffix could be added to any word. There was only one hard and fast rule: if you responded to a question containing a suffix, you had to use the same part of speech somehow. Example: “Would you like a drink-avous?” “No thanks, I’m on the wagon-avous.” “The sun-ski is so bright!” “Put on a hat-ski2

Words and Phrases from the Jazz Age

For crying out loud!Gams Real McCoyTeenagerWet blanketLevel with meJeepers creepersHeebie-jeebiesAttaboy!

http://www.phrases.org.uk/images/heebie.jpg

Jazz as Language

• Jazz = language of the soul• My Argument: The language of jazz (or

the jazz vernacular) can be studied through jazz lyrics and the jazz poetry of the Harlem Renaissance

What is the vernacular?

• “A general expression for a kind of social dialect, typically spoken by a lower-status group, which is treated as “non-standard” because of marked differences from the “standard” language” (Yule, 261).

“Hey! Hey!”

Sun’s a risin’,This is gonna be ma song.Sun’s a risin’, This is gonna be ma song.I could be blue butI been blue all night long.

-Langston Hughes

Jazz Poetry

http://thefabempire.com/2009/09/page/11/

Influence of AAVE

“Hey! Hey!”

Sun’s a risin’,This is gonna be ma song.Sun’s a risin’, This is gonna be ma song.I could be blue butI been blue all night long.

-Langston HughesHabitual action

Drops off “-ing”

Reduces final consonants

Regional Dialects

• Dialect = “Describes features of grammar and vocabulary as well as aspects of pronunciation” (Yule, 240).

• 3 Regions of the jazz movement:-New Orleans-Chicago-Harlem

http://www.jazz.com/page/2008/8/31/best-links-aug08

New Orleans“Basin Street Blues”Louis Armstrong

They'll be huggin'.... and a kissin' That's what I been missin' And all that musicLord, if you just listen' New OrleansI got them basin street blues

Now ain't you glad you went with me On down that Mississippi We took a boat to the land of dreams Heaven on earthThey call it Basin Street

musicstack.com

Dialect Patterns“Basin Street Blues”Louis Armstrong

They'll be huggin'.... and a kissin' That's what I been missin' And all that musicLord, if you just listen' New OrleansI got them basin street blues

Now ain't you glad you went with me On down that Mississippi We took a boat to the land of dreams Heaven on earthThey call it Basin Street

Drops “-ing”

“To be” verb variations

Chicago“The Widow’s Jazz”Mina Loy

The white flesh quakes to the negro soulChicago! Chicago! An uninterpretable wailstirs in a tangle of pale snakes to the lethargic ecstasy of stepsbacking into primeval goal White man quit his actin’ wisecolored folk hab de moon in dere eyes

http://hilobrow.com/2011/12/27/mina-loy/

Dialect Patterns“The Widow’s Jazz”Mina Loy

The white flesh quakes to the negro soulChicago! Chicago! An uninterpretable wailstirs in a tangle of pale snakes to the lethargic ecstasy of stepsbacking into primeval goal White man quit his actin’ wise Drops of “-ing”colored folk hab de moon in dere eyes

Dental consonants replaced by alveolar stops

Harlem

“Song”Gwendolyn B. Bennett

A-shoutin’ n de ole camp-meetin’ place,A-strummin’ o’ de ole banjo.Singin’ in de moonlight,Sobbin’ in de dark.Singin’, sobbin’, strummin’ slow…Singin’ slow; sobbin’ low.Strummin’, strummin’, strummin’ slow….

http://littleratridinghood.blogspot.com/2011/04/poetry-by-gwendolyn-b-bennett.html

Dialect Patterns

“Song”Gwendolyn B. Bennett

A-shoutin’ n de ole camp-meetin’ place,A-strummin’ o’ de ole banjo.Singin’ in de moonlight,Sobbin’ in de dark.Singin’, sobbin’, strummin slow…Singin’ slow; sobbin’ low.Strummin’, strummin’, strummin slow….

Drops end of word

Alveolar stops

Drops “-ing”

“A” attachment

The Story of English in 100 Words

– Originally jazz meant excitement (or nonsense talk)

– Musical term: 1920s– Now: “jazzy” = anything cool/awesome

http://www.ci.la-porte.tx.us/gov/parks/fitness_center_classes/jazzercise/default.asp

Pridemobility.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjkeliher/4110987966/http://500motivators.com/motivate/me/jazz-hands-universally-understood/

Sources• 1”Jazz.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, 2001-2012. Web. 22 October

2012. • 2“The Internet Guide to Jazz Age Slang.” Andrew Chong et al, n.d. Web. 22 October

2012.• Crystal, David. The Story of English in 100 Words. New York: St. Martin’s Press,

2012. Print.• Hughes, Langston. “Hey! Hey!” Fine Clothes to the Jew. Indiana University: Alfred

A.Knopf, 1927. Print.• “Louis Armstrong Basin Street Blues Lyrics.” Lyricsfreak.com. 2012. Web. 22

October 2012.• “Song.” Additional Gwendolyn Bennett Poems. N.d. Web. 22 October 2012.• “The Widow’s Jazz- Mina Loy.” Xanga.com. Ave Atque Vale, 2004. Web. 22 October

2012.• Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2010. Print.