Analyzes the speech of three speakers of Linxian Chinese, indicating the dialect's features and the problems involved in communication between speakers of Linxian and speakers of Putonghua (or Standard Mandarin). (Author/AM)

Although research and the court have established the viability of Black English as a communication system, scholars and educators have not rallied for institutional support of its use and acceptance in society. A rational language policy must be developed that recognizes the legitimacy of all languages and dialects in America.(Author/MJL)

The linguistic embedding, transition, and actuation of the obliteration of the gerund ending "-e" in the West Flemish dialect of Bruges is examined. The study shows that deflection (loss of inflections) started in the fourteenth century and is almost complete today. (33 references) (Author/LB)

Explores problems involved in defining Black South African English, such as whether it is a new variety of English or a dialect and relating to whose English it is: the English of those learners who have encountered only a smattering of English in informal contexts or the variety of English acquired during formal schooling. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the most important problem translators are faced with when translating Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" into German: how can the speech of The African-American Jim be rendered? Examines both orthographic and other linguistic strategies that have been used to differentiate Jim's voice over the last hundred years. (Author/VWL)

Discusses research that demonstrates the theoretical and practical value of a dialect contact framewrk. Examines questions that can be addressed using the analytic and conceptual tools of this framework. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the role that Sociolinguistics should play with respect to the Ebonics debate in the United States. Argues that the fundamental perspective Sociolinguistics has taken with respect to this issue is sound, namely that Ebonics like any other linguistic variety is just as rule-governed and systematic. (Author/VWL)

Until the 1880s, the language of instruction and that spoken by students was dictated by the culture of the community. Although public officials advised immigrants to use American English rather than their mother tongues, no legislation was enacted mandating English as the official language of education. However, with sizeable groups of immigrants…

This study investigated the effects of interference of a native dialect in the acquisition of a second dialect. Four groups of subjects were used: Five white preschool children from an intergrated nursery school, five Black preschool children from a Head Start program, five white, middle-class 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds, and five Black 16-, 17-,…

This report is intended as a preliminary survey of the problems in the collection and sociological analysis of student slang. Dealing with the notion that every speaker handles a variety of registers and tends to choose among them in accordance with the particular social situation in which he finds himself, this study isolates some of the…

This volume consists of the following ten papers, which were presented at the second Hokan-Yuman Languages Workshop, held at the University of California at San Diego in June 1976: (1) "The Havasupai Writing System," by Rena Crook, Leanne Hinton, and Nancy Stenson; (2) "The Upland Yuman Numeral System," by Martha B. Kendall;…

Discursive functions are seldom expressed in an absolutely neutral way. In most cases, various colorings - expressive, affective or social - are superimposed on the utterance by which a function is conveyed. In so far as these colorings are not random shades, but can be regarded as graded nuances within given ranges, selected in order to fit the…

Using as a framework Ferguson's diglossia model with its division into a high and a low variety of the language used, the linguistic situation in the Sudan in described as a continuum. At one end is found the very formal classical Arabic, used for special occasions. At the other end is a casual form which dominates meetings and social gatherings…

This volume presents principles and models for describing language variation, and introduces a time-based, dynamic framework for linguistic description. The book first summarizes some of the problems of grammatical description encountered from Saussure through the present and then outlines possibilities for new descriptions of language which take…

Based on experimental research, examines the relationship between American Sign Language and French Sign Language, and sociolinguistic variation in both sign languages. (AM)