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)

Analyzes Salish independent pronouns and attempts to reconstruct the Proto-Salish forms as well as to trace the history of the innovative changes that have taken place in the daughter languages. (Author/NCR)

A study of Black American spirituals focuses on African linguistic patterns that have persisted in them. The analysis begins with a brief account of the history and nature of Black spirituals, the sacred songs created by Americans of African descent during the time of slavery (1619-1864). Six elements of spirituals are identified and discussed,…

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 volume contains working papers on a variety of topics in linguistics. They include: "A View of Phonology from a Cognitive and Functional Perspective" (Joan Bybee); "The Geography of Language Shift: Distance from the Mexican Border and Spanish Language Claiming in the Southwestern United States" (Garland D. Bills, Eduardo…

This study attempts to provide a systematic mapping of the linguistic structural properties of North American Indian languages. The study includes: (1) the history of areal-typological linguistic studies in North America; (2) a framework for the presentation of areal linguistic phenomena in North America; (3) a presentation and discussion of the…

This study investigated the hypothesis that in language contact situations, bilinguals develop strategies aimed at lightening the cognitive load of having to remember and use two different linguistic systems, resulting in changes in the secondary language. The study examined four specific strategies (simplification of grammatical categories and…

This comprehensive dictionary draws on ethnographic and linguistic work of the Aleut language and culture dating to 1745. An introductory section explains the dictionary's format, offers a brief historical survey, and contains notes on Aleut phonology and orthography, dialectal differences and developments, Eskimo-Aleut phonological…

An ongoing longitudinal study, 15 years old at the time of publication, is reported. It is a sociolinguistic, developmental study of the acquisition of two languages, Spanish and English, by a boy from birth, with data drawn from direct observation and occasional tape recordings of speech. An introductory chapter outlines the objectives and method…

This instructional guide for Sesotho (spoken in several areas of Africa by about 6 million people) is designed for the training of Peace Corps volunteers in Africa. The first two chapters outline Sesotho phonology (phonetics, articulation, and speech sounds and patterns not present in English) and tone and length, grammatical structure (class and…

The textbook in introductory and intermediate Moroccan Arabic is designed for the language and cultural training of Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco and is intended for both teacher and student use. The contents and design are based on a competency-based curriculum model. An introductory section presents general principles for use of Arabic…