A sociolinguistic study of Ocracoke, an island community in North Carolina's Outer Banks, investigated the social dynamics of language change and variation. Data were gathered in interviews with 43 island residents aged 12-82, most of whose families have been on the island for several generations. Several major sociolinguistic issues were…

A study investigating the evolution in French of the unstressed "e" positioned between single consonants (e.g., "besoin") is presented. It is argued that stabilization of this pattern cannot be confirmed in the speech of educated Parisians but appears to be governed by sociolinguistic variables. Lexical conditioning is examined. (Author/MSE)

A construction occurring in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is examined: NPi "call" NPi V"-ing", as in "the woman call herself working." First, a number of reasons that such a form might be overlooked or dismissed as an AAVE dialect form are outlined. Then the sociolinguistic method is applied to the…

Bernstein's theory was tested in the homosexual's "closed" community to determine code-switching ability and its relationship to jargon. Subjects told a story based on homoerotic photographs where knowledge of sexual orientation was varied. Results suggest that homosexual homophyly encouraged elaboration. (Author)

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

This article discusses how and when children acquire and master various speech styles, and specifically deals with the development of sex-specific speech as influenced by role expectations. (CLK)

This dictionary is designed to provide an inventory of English usage in the Caribbean environment and lifestyle as known and spoken in each territory but not recorded in the standard British and American desk dictionaries. It cross-references different names for the same item throughout the anglophone Caribbean, identifies different items called…

Four aspects of English pragmatics that are often puzzling to students of English as a Second Language (ESL) are discussed and exemplified: certain mechanics (ellipsis; blended words; a-grammaticality); vague superordinates (generic verbs such as "get,""let,""do,""be,""have"; preposition with metaphoric extension such as "up,""in,""off,""through";…

A study explored, from a sociolinguistic perspective, the phenomenon of indoubill, patterns and usage of a special variety of Lingala, among a group of delinquent urban youth in Kinshasa (Zaire). It is proposed that: (1) at a particular moment in its social history, the community experienced sociocultural change that brought with it a special…

This volume is based on field work conducted in 1960 in Papeete and in a rural district of Tahiti, under the guidance of Douglas Oliver. Section two, which is based on a Ph.D. thesis (Kay 1963), develops the hypothesis that Tahitian words for social classification and the common French translations are semantically equivalent for most native…

Discusses the description of English discourse for teaching purposes, drawing on new information from analysis of CANCODE (Cambridge/Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English). Concludes that language teaching should be based on regularities and patterns, not rules, and that exposure to real, informal language of native speakers, with its…

A study investigated the distribution of post-vocalic /r/ in Singapore English as it may relate to social factors, particularly whether usage appears to be perceived as a prestige feature by those who use it. Informants were 21 subjects from various social backgrounds. Three speech styles representing a range of stylistic variation were elicited:…

This introduction to sociolinguistics is presented in four parts. The first part gives an overview of this branch of language study, its scope and principles of inquiry, and its basic and key concepts. This portion is written for individuals with no prior knowledge or expertise in the subject. Topics covered in this section include: the nature of…

This book contains essays which focus on the systems of communication that operate within and between various social segments of Afro-American communities in the United States. The essays are presented under the following headings: (1) "Getting Into It: Black Talk, Black Life and the Academic," (2) "'Talking My Talk': Black Talk Varieties and…

The Swedish address system is in a state of rapid change. Consequently, Swedes are now more than ever sensitive to the seeming lack of generally accepted rules of usage. This paper attempts to codify the rules for usage of the personal pronouns "du" and "ni." In so doing, it finds that "du" may be used to express…