We expect that word knowledge accumulates gradually. This article draws on earlier approaches to assessing depth, but focuses on one dimension: richness of semantic knowledge. We present results from a study in which three distinct item types were developed at three levels of depth: knowledge of common usage patterns, knowledge of broad topical…

A study analyzed the use of six nonstandard linguistic variables by eight adolescent and eight adult African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), each group equally divided into males and females, from Muncie, Indiana. The study was designed to investigate whether occupation, a social variable, also determines AAVE speakers' use of nonstandard…