Answers to three of the questions used in gathering material for the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) are analyzed in this paper. The data was collected state by state, and the number studied in each state was based on the 1960 population figures and known patterns of settlements and migrations. In the first question, the informants…

Discusses the applicability of the notion of structured variability in language to contrastive analysis. (Author/AM)

Discusses the sociolinguistic hypotheses of deficit and difference, criticizing the latter for deriving a "functional equivalence" from clearly different social contexts, leading to passivity and lack of results in current school practice. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This article shows that the language situation in Quebec cannot be characterized as a diglossic one (as defined by Ferguson) because of the links existing between Standard Canadian French and "joual." Due to political factors, Quebec is moving toward a mixed standard language. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

The language situation in Quebec is discussed from the point of view of the influence of the British conquest, the history of education in the province, the make-up of the working class, and the position of Quebec in the North American continent. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

This article discusses the problem of choosing a language style for literary purposes in Quebec. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

Offers evidence that contradicts the idea of a relatively homogeneous North American dialect area in which vowel systems remain fairly stable. The article examines back vowel fronting in Canadian English and its relationship to the shift affecting the front lax vowels, as well as to the general principles of vowel chain shifting. (29 references)…

This research report deals with the transformations of stimulus sentences that primary grade speakers of Hawaii Creole English (HCE) made when they were asked to repeat sentences said to them in Standard English. The test used was the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) Standard English Repetition Test (SERT) which was administered to the 21…

This paper reviews how various nonstandard dialects of English may influence written products and how writing may be taught to speakers of such dialects. Sections of the literature review focus on the speech patterns of black English, of other English dialects, and of other languages, and on how these patterns manifest themselves in written…

A dialect survey of the transition between two major Indo-Aryan languages in Nepal, Bhojpuri and Maithili, was conducted focusing on both the linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of the various languages and dialects. The purpose of the study was to find out where and how this transition occurred between the pure Bhojpuri-speaking area and the…

The simplification of legal language is required by President Carter's Executive Order requiring "clear and simple English" in government regulations. A major problem in the simplification process is the absence of any adequate description or classification of legal language. This paper defines some specific features of legal language,…

The Pacific area is generally acknowledged to manifest great linguistic diversity. Such diversity is generally assumed to be dysfunctional, an obstacle to efficient functioning of society. Such diversity must, however, have its functions at least in the circumstances in which it arose. It is also generally assumed that such diversity is the result…

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…

This study investigates the relationship between social class membership and certain syntactic variables within a generative-transformational linguistic framework. Fourteen syntactic items are considered. Linguistic performance is more variable and complex within the higher ranking groups. (TL)