This paper consists chiefly of a list of 50 paired sentences illustrating three styles of spoken Brazilian Portuguese: Informal, neutral and formal. (Text is in Portuguese.) (CHK)

This article discusses the variable behavior of the silent "e" in French, in three different stylistic contexts: lecture, conversation, and reading. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Variationist account of how direct quotations are framed in spoken Spanish requires definition of variable and envelope of variation followed by investigation of linguistic, stylistic, and social constraints. Variable is defined as set of three strategies for directly quoting speech, gestures, and sound effects of people, animals, or things in…

A study examined the effect of language style and variation in speech rate on the vocalization of /l/ in local Cambridge English. This sociolinguistic feature has been described as marking southeastern varieties of British English and as a connected speech process (CSP) in its sensitivity to variation in speaking rate. Language style variables…

An examination of the social psychological basis of style shifting suggests that, contrary to Labovian theory, many style shifts are not a function of shifts in attention to speech and that there are other more explanatory ways of analyzing style shifts. Some reasons for this view are: (1) attention to speech is sometimes negatively correlated…

A study is reported which investigated the social consequences that follow when a speaker accommodates or fails to accommodate his speech style with reference to his interlocutor. (Author/RM)

Examines various approaches to textual description, and argues that the Prague model provides the most adequate criteria for describing communicative dynamism in, for example, narrative, descriptive, or discussion style. (AM)

Anthropological linguists often deal with language systems manifesting nonrandom variability. This article demonstrates that methods developed within the U.S. for the study of language variability are useful in the study of creole languages. This study was conducted on the island of Tobago in the West Indies. (CHK)

Comments on the effects technology and industrialization have on language change. (MM)

Drawing on recent work in variationist sociolinguistics, sociology of language and linguistic anthropology, focuses on new approaches to explaining gender differentiated patterns of sound change and language shift, the success or failure of planned linguistic reforms, and changes in the social evaluation of gendered speech styles. (Author/VWL)

Northern Andean Spanish (NAS) possesses a complex system of structures used in impositive speech. NAS speakers choose from several grammatical possibilities when asking their interlocutor to act. This article summarizes the grammatical possibilities and explains how the different forms are used to indicate different levels of politeness. (15…

This brochure discusses, in lay terms, how languages change and how English in particular has gone through much alteration over the ages. It explains that languages change because: the needs of its speakers change; individual experience differs, and, therefore, the uses of language differ; new words are brought in from other languages or created…

Surveys the various forms and applications of the French negatives. Discusses the tendency to omit "ne" in spoken French, which depends on form (conversation vs. narration), external circumstances (public vs. private), socio-cultural level (upper class vs. lower class), and attitude of speaker (spontaneity vs. affectation). (Text is in French.)…

The factors which underlie discussions of the legitimacy, pedagogy, and politics of the variants of Spanish spoken in the United States are discussed. [In Spanish] (Author/NQ)

Texts using actual current language are highly motivating, but they demand considerable knowledge of the language. "Authentic" language--regional, technical, or sociologically conditioned--need not be scorned. Even the written style merits attention. (IFS/WGA)