Argues that the mechanism of rule ordering, although sufficient to account for certain facts about linguistic change and variation, is not necessary. Different sequences of identical rules needed to account for dialectal facts in Catalan can be predicted by two independently motivated universal principles. (CHK)

Exploring the issue of black and white speech differences, the articles reprinted in this anthology span several decades and are to be viewed in a historical perspective. Turner (1948) examines Gullah, the creole language spoken off the coast of South Carolina. McDavid and McDavid (1951) attempt to identify the different influences on the speech…

Discusses the applicability of the notion of structured variability in language to contrastive analysis. (Author/AM)

Most studies of dialects in English-language literature have focused on works of the nineteenth century or earlier. However, modern literature can expand the scope of dialectological investigation. In John Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," use of non-standard dialect forms occurs when the author uses an unusually informal register…

There are two facets to the lyric rhythm of Taiwanese folk songs: beat alignment and metrical pattern selection. Because the lyrics are metrically derived from classical Chinese verse, a prosodic line may have syllable-beat symmetry. However, syllable-beat mismatches are also common. Lexical syllables have preference over functor syllables in beat…

A study of dialectal variation in Mexican Sign Language (MSL), the primary language for a large segment of Mexico's deaf community, is presented. Signs used by nine different sources representing various locations, ages, and social groups are compared. The first section reviews a number of previous informal assessments of dialectal variation in…

An overview of contemporary Hispanic dialectology, focusing on phonological phenomena, syntax, classification schemes, and bilingual communities, demonstrates that dialectology has long ceased to be the collection of innumerable surface deviations. It is suggested that dialectology is a theoretical discipline searching for universal principles to…

The computerized morphological parser, AMPLE, grew out of work in computer assisted dialect adaptation. AMPLE contains no language-specific code, but is controlled entirely through external, user-written files, the notations of which were designed for linguists. AMPLE's constructs are linguistic: e.g., allomorph, morpheme, conditioning…

The papers in this volume represent revised versions of presentations made at the First Workshop on Yuman Languages held at the University of California, San Diego, June 17-21, 1975. The focus was on the area of syntax, where the least amount of published information had previously been available. Papers presented were: "Syntactic Diversity…

This book contains essays which focus on the systems of communication that operate within and between various social segments of Afro-American communities in the United States. The essays are presented under the following headings: (1) "Getting Into It: Black Talk, Black Life and the Academic," (2) "'Talking My Talk': Black Talk Varieties and…

Many black students speak a nonprestige dialect called black English, which places them at a disadvantage academically and socially. This monograph describes the features of black English, defines its use, discusses several theories of its origin, and offers some methods for teaching black students standard spoken usage as another style of speech.…

This document contains three reports in prepublication form on research conducted by linguists at the University of Colorado. The first paper presents an argument against the theories concerning the concept of the distributional syllable. Such theories are based on the assumptions that the syllable can and should be defined formally, without…

Bernstein's theory of the relationships among social class, language "codes," family/school social structures, and school success is discussed, as is Labov's rejection of the "verbal deficit" concept. A relevant experiment is described. (Available in microfiche from: Carfax Publishing Company, Haddon House,…

An understanding of the structure and function of discourse in social communication and in its internal representation to the individuals is sought in this multidisciplinary collection of papers. The approaches are divided into theoretical orientations and empirical orientations. The theoretical papers deal with: (1) comprehension in conversation,…

This paper reports an investigation into the transitional dialect spoken by learners in the process of learning a second language. Theories concerning the psychology of second language learning which have been hypothesized by a small number of people in the field are discussed. These theories were first reported on from Scotland and England and…