THE SYNTACTIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENGLISH IN REMEMBER THE TITANS FILM A Thesis Submitted to Faculty Adab and Humanities in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for Bachelor Degree (S1) Rt. Ana Najihatul Mamduhah 1113026000057 ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH JAKARTA 2017 ABSTRACT This research aims to analyze the syntactic differences between Standard American English and African-American English in Remember the Titans film. The important purpose of this research is to know the syntactic characteristic of English in America which are found in some sentences of the film. There are two kinds of English in America: Standard American English (SAE) and African-American English (AAE). Grammatical rules in Standard American English and African- American English theory and syntax theory by Noam Chomsky are used in this research to decide the syntactic differences found in “Remember the Titans” film. Grammatical rules in Standard American English are article, negation, marker s, and verbs am, is and are. And grammatical rules in African-American English are article, marker s, predication and copula, tenses, negation, habitual be, double subjects, double modals, and questions. In this research, there are 34 sentences found in the film as the data that contain of syntactic characteristics in Standard American English and African-American English categorized into five features, marker s, predication, copula, tenses and negation. The most frequently used is negation which is found in 18 sentences. Keywords: Syntactic characteristic, Grammatical rules, Negation, Predication, Copula. i DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. Jakarta, July 29th 2017 Rt. Ana Najihatul Mamduhah iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Bismillahirrahmanirrohim In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful All praises be to Allah, the Lord of the world, the creator of everything, who has given knowledge, healthiness, and ease to me in accomplishing this thesis. Peace and salutation be upon to our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam who has changed the world from ignorance to cleverness. I would like to express the deepest love to my parents who always give their love until this time and always pray for their daughter success. They are the biggest motivator in my life that I can finish my final task of this study. Thanks to all my family, my brothers and my sisters who always support and give my advices to be a good and smart girl until I can complete this thesis. I also wants to give my gratitude to Mr. Abdurrosyid, S.S., M.EIL as my thesis advisor who has given support, guidance, instructions, time, and beautiful scratches on the thesis sheets that make me able to finish this thesis about four months. Furthermore, I would like to deliver my gratitude to the following persons: 1. Prof. Dr. Syukran Kamil, M.Ag as the Dean of Faculty of Adab and Humanities. 2. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd as the Head of English Letters Department. 3. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum, as the Secretary of English Letters Department. 4. All Lecturers of English Letters Department who have taught and educated me during my study in the State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. 5. Bila, Aliza, Wulan, Iqbal, Syahrul, Dicky, and Riyandi for being the closest friends who always give the happiness and support during my study until the completion of this thesis. 6. Revi, a beautiful and smart girl who becomes my thesis grammar corrector that makes the thesis has a good structure. 7. KKN SUNRISE, Mirza, Bagus, Irfan, Rudi, Ivan, Ajeng, Aning, Melly, Rindi and Dewi for their precious and unforgettable experiences. 8. B-BRAVE for being my classmates and family from semesters 1 to 5 and LINGUISTICS CLASS who accompanied my study for one year, especially to Wicak as chairman who gives influence on my success in finishing this thesis. Ciputat, July 2017 Rt. Ana Najihatul Mamduhah vi LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Subject - Verb ......................................................................................... 10 Table 2 : Syntactic Differences between SAE and AAE ...................................... 17 Table 3 : The Syntactic Features of Corpus Data ................................................. 24 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. i APPROVEMENT ................................................................................................... ii LEGALIZATION .................................................................................................. iii DECLARATION ................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLE .................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I ............................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 A. Research Background................................................................................... 1 B. Research Focus............................................................................................. 3 C. Research Questions ...................................................................................... 4 D. Research Objectives ..................................................................................... 4 E. Research Significance .................................................................................. 4 F. Research Methodology................................................................................. 5 1. Research Method ...................................................................................... 5 2. Technique of Collecting and Analysis Data ............................................. 5 3. Research Instrument ................................................................................. 6 4. Unit of Analysis ........................................................................................ 6 viii CHAPTER II ........................................................................................................... 7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................... 7 A. Previous Research ........................................................................................ 7 B. Standard American English.......................................................................... 8 C. African-American English ......................................................................... 12 D. Syntax ......................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER III ....................................................................................................... 24 RESEARCH FINDINGS ...................................................................................... 24 A. Data Description......................................................................................... 24 B. Analysis ...................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER IV ....................................................................................................... 58 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................................................. 58 A. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 58 B. Suggestion .................................................................................................. 59 WORK CITED ...................................................................................................... 60 APPENDIXES ...................................................................................................... 63 ix