As Labov points out (1971), language is a social phenomenon, and therefore must be studied in its social context; sex based language differences, being part of language, must be studied in the same way. Specifically, sex based language differences can be studied by modifying the sociolinguists' notion of speech community and speech continuum, and…

Linguists of various theoretical backgrounds have likened second language (L2) acquisition to pidginization (Ferguson 1971, Richards 1971, Bickerton 1975a). This paper examines these two processes and suggests areas where a study of the process of second language acquisition in a natural setting might contribute insights to a general theory of…

To determine whether children's language patterns are learned responses or inherently organized, this study observed children's responses to commands. The 13 subjects were middle class children aged 18 to 30 months. The children were rated as verbally mature, intermediate, or immature; and responses were classified as action, verbal, and relevant.…

This document presents some of the issues involved in deciding on a national language for the Philippines. It is noted that the Philippines needs a national language which would be accepted by most of the forty-five million Filipinos. If the trend continues for the next five years and if the trend in the Philippines to shift Pilipino (the national…

The role of the particle "o.k." in service encounter dialogue is discussed. A service encounter is defined as a situation of interaction between a "posted" server and a second party (a customer) who invokes the server's participation as an operator of a "serving post." It is suggested that approval or acceptance is often only part of what is being…

This paper describes the preliminary results of research currently underway concerning sex-based differences in written composition. Sixty themes written by college-age native speakers of English were chosen for study. The themes were typed exactly as they had been written. No corrections were made. They were numbered alphabetically by the names…

The first section of this paper is a general discussion of standard English. The nine sections which follow discuss the concept of correctness and the ideological differences between grammarians and purists; standard English in a historical perspective; Eric Partridge's (1969) taxonomy of the degrees and kinds of standard English, including…

This is an analysis of the stylistic variation in English of a wide range of speakers. A main point is that in analyzing speech styles it is important to elecit more than one style from each speaker, as both interview conditions and other factors may influence style. The paper presents some concrete examples of two major stylistic divisions,…

This volume presents a compilation and translation of folktales and other forms of oral literature in the Kupia, Kotia Oriya, and Parengi Languages of India. Kupia and Kotia Oriya are Indo-Aryan languages, while Parengi is a Munda language. Language family differences are particularly obvious in the vocabulary and syntax of the different groups of…

This workbook in Albanian grammar requires students to fill in missing words following a particular grammatical pattern, selected from Exercises in Grammar used in the "Albanian Basic Course," prepared by the Defense Language Institute. Drills include: (1) interrogative pronouns, (2) demonstrative adjectives; (3) declension of nouns, possessive…

This article discusses prepositive expressions, expressions whose meaning is equivalent to that of one single preposition, and preposition groups in French. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article discusses the use of the formal and informal forms of address in French from a sociolinguistic standpoint, and considers the implications of the issue for second language instruction. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article outlines a model of the two basic components of a text, namely, the system of formal linguistic rules, and the realization of these rules into concrete discourse, by means of particular transformations. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Discusses the transitional unilateral code-switching observed in speakers of Hakka when speaking Cantonese. (CLK)

Suggests that differences in verbal intelligence affect the speech of four-year-olds, necessitating that care be taken not to confuse verbal intelligence with social class when studying the speech of young children. (RL)