Using selected dialect maps and explanatory comments, the Atlas Linguarum Europae aims to describe dialect variations in Europe and thus produce a clear typology of the spoken languages and dialects. (Author)

Discusses theories and findings concerning the status of the present perfect in American Spanish. In Spain, the present perfect is preferred to the preterite whereas the simple preterite is more frequently used in South America. The lessened usage of the past perfect parallels the narrower usage of the present perfect in Latin America. (Author/LMO)

A study examined the shift from standard spoken Japanese to dialect and compared it to the shift from formal to informal forms, within the context of several theories of code-switching and style-shifting. A five-minute segment was taken from a 30-minute conversation between three female native Japanese-speakers, all familiar with the Osaka…

Research supported by the Ford Foundation and the American Association of University Women. (DD)

The African concept of time is reinterpreted, emphasizing aspect rather than tense. Examples are taken from Black English. (MC)

Three instructional strategies for teaching nonstandard English speakers are discussed. It is explained that language programs which fail to take into account the linguistic characteristics of native Indian learners may be one of the reasons Indian students often perform poorly on language related school tasks. (Author/PHR)

Offers an optimality theoretic account for the phonological process of across-word regressive assimilation (AWRA) in Picard, a Gallo-Romance dialect spoken in the Picardie region in Northern France and Southern Belgium. Focuses on the varieties spoken in the Vimeu region of France. Examines one particular topic in the analysis of AWRA: the…

Defines "Estuary English," a fast-growing accent of British English that is spreading across England. Discusses its usage in the British business community; its acceptability and future; and its implications for business communicators, teachers, and consultants. (SR)

Tracing Appalachian speech to different areas of the British Isles entailed researching hard-to-find linguistic studies and original texts in Belfast, Edinburgh, and other locations. The Scotch-Irish contribution significantly outweighs that from Southern Britain and appears much more responsible for the grammatical features of Appalachian…

This paper draws from a number of sources, from Muhammad Ali to TV commercials, to demonstrate the quite different conceptions that black and white Americans have of the meaning of boasting and bragging. For blacks, boasting and bragging are two distinct ways of speaking and communication. Boasting is a joking, playful verbal bahavior, not to be…

Noting the close relationship among language, thought, culture, personality, and self awareness, anthropological linguistics acknowledges the powerful and real function language styles play in human life, the close attachment between the individual and his natural manner of speech, and the sensitivity that surrounds an individual's attachment to…

Initiated in 1965, the Standard Speech Development Program of the Pittsburgh Public Schools was designed to give junior high school students control of standard English speech through oral pattern drills based on particular phonetic or grammatical structures of standard English. By the end of the 1967-68 school year, pattern drills were part of…