Examines the nature of language diversity in the small, isolated community of Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, where a lone African American family has resided for over 130 years. (57 references) (Author/CK)

Compares the attitudes towards divided or debatable usages between Hong Kong teachers and their students. Data were collected via elicitation tests. Findings showed significant differences between teachers' and students' attitudes towards debatable usages. (Author/VWL)

A study of Hebrew poems for children revealed elements of the historical and sociolinguistic dilemmas encountered in the revival of spoken Hebrew, including conflicts concerning usage and change. (MSE)

Examines such universal linguistic phenomena as simplification, overgeneralization, transfer, analysis, and convergence, and their corresponding theories regarding creolization, language acquisition, and language loss. A study of the Spanish verb system of Los Angeles bilinguals indicates that the continuous influx of new Spanish-speaking…

Discusses the major directions taken by Sri Lankan English fiction in the 1980's in developing style ranges appropriate for the expression of new social realities. Four works of fiction are used to illustrate progress towards this goal. (42 references) (Author/OD)

Describes aspects of lexico-semantic variation in Nigerian English. The causes and types of variation are discussed within the a sociolinguistic framework, and implications of such variations, with reference to international intelligibility and communication strategies, are examined. (20 references) (Author/OD)

An overview of contemporary Hispanic dialectology, focusing on phonological phenomena, syntax, classification schemes, and bilingual communities, demonstrates that dialectology has long ceased to be the collection of innumerable surface deviations. It is suggested that dialectology is a theoretical discipline searching for universal principles to…

Discusses students' cultural reasons for studying a particular language, the use of sociolinguistic studies as a cultural backdrop to language studies in order to view language as a living cultural asset, and the use of the cultural area of language studies as one of the best media to challenge prejudice. (11 references) (CK)

Using variationist methodology, this study analyzed natural speech data from 31 speakers of standard Canadian English and found an overwhelming preference for singular agreement in existentials. Contrary to predictions, this was not linked to a determiner-based structural distinction but rather to the form of the copula and the speaker's level of…

Explored bilingualism between Jamaican patois and standard English to gain insight into the semantic lexicon and investigate if there is extinction, replacement, or extension of the patois meanings with the linguistically shared words, such as "salad," in 20 adults given 2 tasks to perform. Results suggest modification of the compound…

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)

Salient lexical, phonetic, and morphological peculiarities of the vernacular French of Quebec are examined and explained, and similarities to European popular French are discussed, both as a guide to texts written in the vernacular and to place this variety in its sociolinguistic context. (Author/MSE)

Traces the history of Africans in Mexico and the Costa Chica and compares elements of the regional speech as described in a 1958 study with data collected on-site in 1991-1992. Findings indicate that the successful introduction of public education coupled with the ubiquity of the mass media have reduced or eliminated the more distinctively…

Nonnative institutionalized varieties of English (NIVEs) are placed within a wide framework that includes the study of language contact and language acquisition in general. NIVEs and other contact varieties are explored from a sociolinguistic as well as second-language acquisition perspective. (105 references) (Author/LB)

Examines arguments for and against extensive English language teaching in non-Western cultures, particularly in Japan, including the ideologies of English in two Japanese discourses, "nihonjinron" and "kokusaika." It is concluded that instruction in English that is intended to promote social transformation should include both…