Features of African American English in D. F. Wallace’s Novel Infinite Jest

Research objective. The article examines the markers of African American English (AAE) in David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest, focusing on their use in literature and their role in shaping the cultural and social identity of African American characters. The main issue is how a non-African American author reproduces the speech of African American characters and what implications this has for the perception of AAE. The goal of the study is to determine how authentically and grammatically correct the markers of AAE are represented in the novel and to assess their impact on the perception of the characters.
Methods. The research employs a lexical and grammatical analysis of the text, identifying and classifying AAE markers such as the absence of the third person singular -s, zero copula, habitual be, double negative, and others. The data for the study is comprised of the sixth chapter of the novel Infinite Jest that is narrated by an AAE speaker named Clenette.
Results. It is revealed that the novel contains both authentic AAE markers – the most frequent being the absence of the third person singular -s – and “inauthentic” forms, which may create an impression of a character’s illiteracy.
Conclusion. This is a novel study since what is analyzed is AAE usage in works of fiction, particularly in the context of works by non-African American authors. The authors conclude that the use of AAE is important for creating the image of characters, but the presence of “inauthentic” forms may cause ambiguous reactions from readers, which highlights the need for a more careful approach to the use of language varieties and dialects in literature.

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