This article uncovers some problems involved in culling and translating non-western texts--written in other languages, at particular times, for specific audiences, and rooted in particular local milieus--before assembling them into academic arguments in English in the west. Based on my longterm, evolving endeavour regarding English- and…

English as spoken as a second language in India has developed distinct sound patterns in terms of both segmental and prosodic characteristics. We investigate the differences between two groups varying in native language (Gujarati, Tamil) to evaluate to what extent Indian English (IE) accents are based on a single target phonological-phonetic…

This study investigated syllable duration as a measure of speech rhythm in the English spoken by Hong Kong Cantonese speakers. A computer dataset of Hong Kong English speech data amounting to 4,404 syllables was used. Measurements of syllable duration were taken, investigated statistically, and then compared with measurements of 1,847 syllables…

Contemporary views of literacy as a wide range of sociocultural practices acknowledge a comprehensive account of adolescents' literate lives, which includes previously unrecognised vernacular literacies. Contrasting descriptors such as official/unofficial and sanctioned/unsanctioned have been used to describe adolescent writing from different…

A framework is presented for grammar instruction based on sociocultural theory and critical pedagogy. It is argued that restricting students' learning to the standard German of the monolingual, educated native speaker is both insufficient and inappropriate. It is proposed that grammar teaching and learning should support learners as developing…

A study investigated the evolution of the use of "devil" (or as it is often spelled to represent the vernacular, divil) as part of a negation "Divil a one" (= "not a one") in Irish and Hiberno-English and traces the influence of language contact in this history. While it is found that multiple causes resulted in the…

Claiming that understanding the social context in which words are formed is necessary to appreciate the richness and vitality of language, this book presents an informal, discursive examination of how and why American speech came to be the way it is, and in particular where the words came from. The book follows a roughly chronological format from…

The study examines origins of the usage patterns of "be" forms (conjugated and invariant forms of the copula) in Black English as they developed over a period of about 30 years. The corpus studied consists of selected interviews from a collection of recordings about Hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, and rootwork made by a white priest with almost…

Problems in the translation of Judeo-Spanish texts go beyond the problems normally associated with translation. Aside from near-native control of two languages, the translator must have knowledge of vocabulary that is not completely Spanish and an understanding of the unique orthographic history of the Judeo-Spanish dialect. There are Spanish…

This paper provides examples of a variety of phonological, orthographical, and morphological changes in current popular French are noted. They include: dropping of silent vowels in spelling, particularly in advertising and product names; changes in the pronunciation of vowels due to manipulation for product names; combinations of otherwise…

Students of English around the world are commonly taught according to one of two models, "British" English, and "American" English. Indeed, there is a persistent popular myth (present in many linguistics and second-language texts) that a single "Midwestern" variety of American English exists. The usage of the term…

This reader is the basic text for a set of instructional materials in Pashto. It consists of 45 authentic passages in Pashto script, each accompanied by background information, a vocabulary list, hints for scanning, comprehension exercises, and notes for detailed rereading. An introductory section offers study suggestions for the student. The…

A 2-year project to develop a dictionary of modern Nepali is described. The Nepali-English dictionary was designed to include high-frequency vocabulary and to treat entries thoroughly, including associated collocations, semantic and/or grammatical restrictions, and other information essential to their use in sentences. Contents include 3,642 main…

An integrated analysis of the syntax and semantics of serial verb constructions (SVCs) in a group of West African languages is presented. With data from Dagaare and closest relatives, a structural definition for SVCs is developed (two or more lexical verbs that share grammatical categories within a clause), establishing SVCs as complex predicates.…

To be culturally valid, the characteristics identified by dialectologists as distinctive of black English must correspond to the terms members of the black community use to characterize their speech. Not all of the patterns that characterize black English within the dialectal framework are equal in their social or ethnic significance--the speech…