This dissertation aims to analyze the Western Armenian (WA) verbal morphology from a diachronic perspective and perform an internal reconstruction to trace the modern Western dialects back to Classical Armenian (CA) or an older, unattested variant of Armenian. The dissertation's methodology (Chapter 1) is based on comparative dialectology (Chapter…

Discusses the terms "regional,""dialectal,""semidialectal,""non-dialectal ," and "a-dialectal." Makes suggestions for new definitions for these terms. (EKN)

Summarizes the major concepts, issues, materials, methods, and recommendations related to dialects and dialect instruction. (DP)

PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING SUITABLE DICTIONARIES OF PASHTO WERE REPORTED. PASHTO WAS DESCRIBED AS A MEMBER OF THE IRANIAN BRANCH OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN AND IN NORTHEASTERN PAKISTAN. FIVE TOPICS DEALING WITH THE PASHTO LANGUAGE WERE DISCUSSED--(1) STATISTICS, (2) WRITTEN CORPUS AND LEXICAL STUDIES, (3)…

Examines the concept and practice of returning linguistic favors to host research communities, the so-called "linguistic gratuity principle" (Wolfram,1993). Uses a case study format as the basis for scrutinizing researcher-community relationships. Presents research from the post-insular dialect community of Ocracoke Island in North…

Compares Chicano English and Anglo English speech in both linguistic and social terms. (CK)

A study examined what trained phoneticians do when they are presented with a transcription task to carry out without any knowledge of the dialect they are listening to and without any explicit phonological theory as a point of departure. The "best" tokens of three categories of potential assimilation (full, partial, and zero alveolar)…

Discusses common deletions of initial syllables in ordinary English language conversation and provides numerous examples of each category of deletion. (TO)

Analyzes various apparently synonymous words for "friend" (e.g., "homes,""bro") as they are used by one former gang-member to persuade two current gang-members to stop "gangbanging." The article's analysis shows how the meanings of these disparate reference terms are made and remade through talk as…

TESTS TO DETERMINE SPOKEN EQUIVALENTS OF ENGLISH CONCEPTS USED IN INTERVIEWS WITH FRANCO-AMERICANS OF FRENCH-CANADIAN DESCENT ARE PRESENTED. THEY INCLUDE A PRELIMINARY CLASSIFICATION TEST, A VOCABULARY TEST, AND A PHONETICS TEST. THE INTERVIEWS WERE DESIGNED TO ILLUSTRATE THE CHIEF FEATURES OF THE FRENCH SPOKEN BY NEW ENGLAND FRANCO-AMERICANS AND…