The present study takes a variationist perspective to explore the varietal repertoires of adult learners of German as a second language (L2), that is, their variable use of standard German, Austro-Bavarian dialect, and mixture varieties. Forty L2 learners completed a virtual reality task involving interactions with dialect-speaking and…

This paper analyzes metalinguistic comments of two young Hmong Americans in the Minneapolis-St Paul area regarding their identity negotiation using tactics of intersubjectivity (Bucholtz & Hall 2004a, 2004b, 2005), the notion of brought-along identity (Williams 2008) and Zhang's (2017) sociohistorical perspectives in analyzing linguistic…

This paper analyzes the status of the Andalusian variety within Spanish language pluricentricity. It offers an example of the rise of new systems of normative stratification in the traditional 'linguistic peripheries' and of how the different linguistic agents deal with the vindication of social and linguistic identities. This fact makes us treat…

Syntactic priming studies in second language (L2) have contributed to understanding how L2 speakers' syntactic knowledge is represented and processed. However, little is known about social influences on L2 speakers' syntactic processing and learning. The present study investigated whether L2 speakers' syntactic priming is influenced by social…

This article takes a sociocultural linguistic approach to code switching in investigating discursive functions of shifts between Standard Japanese and a regional dialect (Iwate Dialect) in women's activity-centered, naturally occurring interactions. The paper extends previous scholarship to a consideration of how shifts are used for discursive…

This paper is concerned with young people's perceptions and reported use of the two language varieties that co-exist in the urban centre of Guangzhou in southern China, Putonghua (P) and Cantonese (C). P is a typical H-variety, promoted by the government and used as a lingua franca throughout China; C is the local L-variety but it also has some…

Diglossia, or the use of two forms of a language in a single speech community, is widespread. Differences between the nonstandard form, used for everyday conversations, and the standard form, used for formal occasions and writing, often extend to phonology as well as grammar and vocabulary. Most preschoolers from diglossic families are routinely…

Discusses colloquialism in conversation and gives a number of examples of colloquial speech. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

Numerous examples of Nigerian English." (SP)

In order to view the field of communication as a practical discipline, this paper examines the debate between linguistic prescriptivism (the belief that standards of correct language exist and can be warranted), and scientific linguistics (which rejects the idea of standards in the name of scientific objectivity). Following an introduction to the…

Discusses language usage among blacks and whites, pointing to some current theories. (RB)

While an aroused public applauds the exposure of civic corruption and environmental pollution, neither the public at large nor officialdom has any concern with the corruption and pollution of language except to contribute to it. (Author)

Provides varied examples of the use of idioms. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

The goal of this handbook of English usage and pronunciation is to save the job seeker from possible rejection, to improve the job holder's chances for promotion, to inspire the student to master the language, and to help everyone to avoid making errors in everyday conversation. Part one of the volume provides a "deletionary," a listing of words…

Argues that second language teaching that aims to foster speaking skills and natural spoken interaction should be based upon the grammar of spoken language, not on grammars that mainly reflect written norms. Using evidence from a mini-corpus of conversational English, it is shown that popular pedagogical grammars are deficient in conversational…