Reports results of an instrumental acoustic examination of the vowel systems of ten Jamaican Creole (or Basilect-) dominant and nine Jamaican English (or Acrolect-) dominant speakers, and links phonetic features with sociolinguistic factors. Nature and relative role of vowel quantity and quality differences in phonemic contrast are considered.…

Provides acoustic evidence that in the last 50 years New Zealand English (NZE) has undergone a substantial vowel shift. Two sets of data are studied: the Otago corpus, recorded in 1995, and the Mobile Unit Corpus, recorded in 1948. (Author/VWL)

Demonstrates the importance of investigating language variation and change both within and across ethnic groups, especially those that have been relatively insular historically. Focus is on the variable patterning of /ay/ in the variety of English spoken by the Lumbee Indians in tri-ethic Robeson County, North Carolina. (Author/VWL)

Quantitative evidence is presented for a change in vernacular Black English (VBE) that appears to involve increasing similarities between VBE and other varieties. It is suggested that, although Black varieties and White varieties of English remain distinct and undergo certain changes separately, this need not be regarded as absolute divergence.…

Expansion of the progressive (be+ing periphrastic form, where "be" is at the same time the copula and a statement of existence) was a major feature of modernization of the English verb system in the 19th century. A survey (1787-1880) of a collection of private letters, most from famous writers, reveals that linguistic factors played a small role…

Addresses Labov's claim that sound changes that are not stigmatized are led especially by young women who are the "movers and shakers" in the community, people with energy and enterprise. Investigated the claim by comparing the pronunciation of non-stigmatized front vowels with that of stigmatized diphthongs in New Zealand English.…

Aims to contribute new data on verbal "-s" by systematically examining its behavior in Devon English (DE), a variety spoken in Southwest England, and a broader historical and cross-dialectal perspective for understanding the origin and function of verbal "-s" in nonstandard varieties of English in North America. (Author/VWL)

Sociolinguistic research on linguistic change, i.e., the use of high rising terminal contours (HRTs) in declarative clauses, is reported based on interviews from 75 inhabitants of Porirua. Results show that linguistic change is in progress, with HRTs favored by young Maori and young Pakeha women. Results are explained in terms of HRTs as positive…

A social dialect survey of a New Zealand community documented a change in progress in the pronunciation of the vowels in words such as "air" and "ear." The data support a tentative interpretation that a shift to the variant with the closer onset for AIR words was initiated by middle-aged Pakeha women. (38 references) (Author/LB)

Describes a new research project on York English, a variety in northeast England. Conducted a quantitative analysis of a linguistic feature that recurs pervasively in varieties of English worldwide--"was/were" variation in the past tense paradigm. (Author/ER)

Investigates the redundantly marked comparative "worser" in relation to its irregular, but etymologically justified, counterpart, "worse." Examines the diachronic development of the form as well as its distribution in the written language of the 16th and 17th centuries. (Author/VWL)

Recipes exhibit a phenomenon nonexistent in other commonly studied varieties, (for example, conversational discourse), namely, zero anaphors as direct objects. This article examines this phenomenon and explores its consequences for linguistic theory. Results reveal that stylistic, semantic, and discourse factors are the most important in the…

Studies of (TD) and (ING) in King of Prussia (Pennsylvania) families show that children have matched their parents' patterns of variation by age seven, before many categorical phonological and grammatical rules can be established. Some dialect-specific and socially marked constraints are acquired before constraints with general articulatory…

The marking of past temporal reference in Black English Vernacular (BEV) and Trinidadian English is compared. Similarities in the patterns of variation according to verb type and phonological conditioning suggest that past marking in contemporary BEV preserves traces of an earlier shift from a creole pattern to one approximating the Standard…

Variations in the use of perfect "have" and its alternatives in the Trinidadian creole continuum are examined, based on data from a sample of speakers from different social backgrounds. The findings have implications for the study of morphosyntactic variation in other divergent dialect situations. (Contains 56 references.) (Author/LB)