The present article aims at serving as a reference work in the field of sociolinguistics. It also provides a concise summary of the sociolinguistic situation in an Algerian stereotyped speech community named Tlemcen. In addition, it sheds light on the status of its dialect, which most people consider as one of the most distinguished and…

In response to globalisation, the United Arab Emirates has invested tremendous resources into their budding education system. Such investment has resulted in the increased use of a bilingual curriculum where Arabic and English are held in high regard. Unfortunately, such investment has not resulted in successful Arabic literacy among much of the…

This paper has two aims. One aim is to consider non-structural (language attitude and use) variables as valid in the field of dialect and linguistic geography in an inner Himalayan valley of Nepal, where four languages have traditionally coexisted asymmetrically and which demonstrate different degrees of vitality vs. endangerment. The other aim is…

Through the analysis of survey and interview data, we investigated the attitudes and perceptions of 32 multilingual teachers of Spanish in Belize, a code-switching (CS) context where Spanish is in intense contact with English and Belizean Kriol. More specifically, we examined teachers' and students' attitudes toward Spanish and CS and teachers'…

In diglossic contexts, when speakers typically use two different languages on a regular basis, bilingual speakers display a wide array of attitudes towards each of their languages and associated cultures (Galindo, 1995) and such variability in attitudes can affect their linguistic behaviors (Lambert, Hodgson, Gardner & Fillenbaum, 1960).…

Language attitudes are learned and formed in our social environment through hearing others referring to certain groups or people's languages and cultures, and also by exposure to particular varieties spoken in the context. This might lead to stereotyping English and its native speakers (McKenzie, 2008). In this sense, it is pedagogically…

This article presents the findings of a study of English-Spanish mediation in hospital and court settings in the USA. The study is based on two main issues: the linguistic and cultural diversity of Hispanics, and the specialized nature of the health and judicial systems. When encountering new or different health care and judicial systems in the…

The present study focuses on the language attitudes underlying patterns of stylistic variation in the speech of a female former President of the Spanish local Government of Murcia. We build on previous quantitative work demonstrating that this speaker shows unexpectedly high usage levels for nonstandard Murcian Spanish features in public speech,…

The paradigm of forms of address in Modern Spanish is subject to dialectal variation. Many Latin American varieties of Spanish, i.e. Costa Rican, Argentinean, Chilean, among others, display a tripartite system of second person pronouns comprised of "tú," "usted" and "vos." The case of Colombian Spanish is particularly…

To validate the "power of language" theory, the authors set out to ascertain whether there is any relationship between dialect (language) and intelligence rating. This study suggests that language is a barometer by which people measure one's intelligence and education. The study further suggests that nonstandard English may influence the…

This study used data from questionnaires completed by teachers employed in North Carolina schools (N = 370) to determine if teachers felt that non-school-related or school-related factors served as barriers that limited the number of African American male children from participating in gifted programs. The majority of the teachers taught 3rd- to…

This questionnaire presents about 450 phonological, lexical, and grammatical items that are used in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In composing the dialect survey, terms pertaining to climate, topography, and ethnic groups were taken into account, as were other words and phrases which might be used by Upper Peninsula native speakers. The survey…

What has been labelled mainstream dialectology has been criticized soundly on theoretical grounds, yet mainstream dialectologists have responded with the assertion that their critics have not been intimately familiar with dialect methodology and are therefore not qualified to criticize. Claiming that while theoretical issues are far from being…

Progress made in the DARE Project, begun in 1965 with the purpose of producing a "Dictionary of American Regional English," is described. Phase 1, the collection of necessary materials, has been completed. Ten Spoken Sources of this material and 12 Written Sources are listed and annotated. It is estimated that the grand total of items in…

This study examines the lexical and phonological features in the speech of 27 native informants of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama which show distinctive regional or social distribution. The questionnaire used in the study is based on the short work sheets of the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada, and the methodology is similar to that…