Aristotle's four virtues of style--clarity, propriety, dignity, and purity--can serve as a useful model for teaching and for research in linguistic style. These virtues reflect the writer's careful consideration of the subject, the audience, the writer's voice, and the linguistic community for the writing. Unfortunately, these virtues have fallen…

Takes the view that psycholinguistics must consider the interaction of language and social structure to explain the emergence and choice of alternative linguistic forms, and discusses cases of up- and down-grading of concepts and the change of a morphological rule. These cases are considered linguistic indices of changing social attitudes.…

Discusses certain lexical features of South Asian English peculiar to this variety of English as opposed to its other native and non-native varieties. A taxonomic classification of hybrids which developed over years of cultural and linguistic contact with the English-speaking world is presented. (SCC)

From a survey of over a thousand "diapoints" emerges a clear distributional pattern of nasal vowels in the contemporary dialects of China. They tend to occupy the lower portion of the vowel space. Three hypotheses are proposed to explain this phenomenon and each hypothesis is examined against a broad data base. (Author/TL)

This article is a study examining the relationship between the Salish and Nez Perce languages, including a syntactic, semantic and phonological comparison. A historical and social background is also included. (CLK)

The linguistic behavior of a given individual varies; he will on different occasions speak (or write) differently according to what may be roughly described as different social situations: he will use a number of different registers. The application of such registers both in the field of text analysis and in the preparation of teaching materials…

The functional hypothesis of language, based on the assumption that the referential function of language is paramount, is discussed as it applies to interlanguage, the second language spoken by less than proficient native speakers of another language. The presentation includes: (1) a review of the evidence of previous empirical investigations of…

A discussion of the nature and process of phonological changes taking places in languages looks specifically at the merging of allophones and the reorganization of phonemes in response to pressures within the phonological system. The hypotheses of economy and reorganization are used to analyze the process of change within a phonological system.…

An analysis of high vowel variation in Quebec French shows that the phenomenon can generally be accounted for in terms of stress and syllabic closure. However, it is also proposed that by positing underlying lax high vowels in the language, a more insightful analysis is achieved, suggesting that a process of high vowel tensing is occurring…

At certain points in their historical development, languages are not adequately equipped to serve their societies and do not offer certain communicative functions. Political and cultural domination can influence the language community to adopt a foreign language for higher communication, leaving the vernacular underdeveloped for those…

An analysis of non-Arabic words used in two Kuwaiti daily newspapers reveals that (1) the newspapers often use loan words instead of their Arabic equivalents to emphasize that they are discussing something European; (2) the number and frequency of loan words relating to objects of daily use are much greater than those of abstract and technical…

The influence of educational background upon the variety of English as a second language speech was examined. Adults in a rural New Mexico community were interviewed in order to elicit data on phonological variation. Data were collected through free speech, controlled speech which required the informants to translate Spanish questions to English,…

A collection of articles on the kinds of variation in English that one finds within the language of one group or one person includes: "The English Language as Rule-Governed Behavior" (Timothy Shopen); "The English Language as Use-Governed Behavior" (Joseph M. Williams); "Styles" (Ann D. Zwicky); "The Organization…

English-as-second-language instructors should take into account the importance of context for the meaning of language and address the varieties of English that learners will encounter in their daily lives. The principal elements of language variation and their implications for learners are described for the benefit of second language teachers.…

The problem of investigating linguistic attitudes in urban speech communities is considered in connection with three studies, in New York, Quebec, and Glasgow. Methodological problems raise questions regarding the reliability of the conclusions, suggesting that a more systematic approach to the study of linguistic attitudes is needed. (Author/AM)