This book argues for a deeper, richer view of vocabulary than the standard images conjured up by that word--worksheets, weekly quizzes, and anxieties about standardized test scores. The book invites teachers and students to experience "the music of words," words in isolation and in juxtapositions, and urges them to bring their own life…

This introduction to African American English (AAE) looks at the grammar as a whole, describing patterns in sentence structure, sound system, word formation, and word use in AAE. The book uses linguistic description and data from conversation to explain that AAE is not a compilation of random deviations from mainstream English but rather a…

Romani is a language of Indo-Aryan origin that is spoken in Europe by people known as gypsies (who usually refer to themselves as Rom). There are upwards of 3.5 million speakers of Romani. This book discusses the historical and linguistic origins of the Romani-speaking population. It examines in-depth the changes in the sound system, grammatical…

In this research, using the "Frog, Where Are You?" picture book, 40 bilingual children age 6-12 years were asked to narrate the story in two languages, English and Japanese. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed in order to study the relationship between the use of the two languages. The results generally suggest that…

The dictionary of contemporary Maori, a revised edition, includes over 2,000 previously unpublished terms and provides Maori derivation of each entry, based on recent research into the language. An introductory section is in both Maori and English. Entries are in two sections: English-Maori and Maori-English. In addition, an appendix lists the…

Drawn from the experience of various ministries and departments in governments across Canada, this guide is meant to be a practical guide in implementing plain language for managers in the Ontario (Canada) government. The guide describes how to use plain language in planning, writing, designing, and editing forms and documents, and how to set up…

Based on a successful workshop, this book presents the basic elements of narrative and a series of exercises that offer a self-guided set of discussion topics and exercises for a writer, a small group of writers, or a class interested in the craft of narrative prose. Topics addressed in the book are: the sound of language; the narrative sentence…

A study examined the use of the ethnic language as it relates to ethnic self-identification in three generations of a bilingual family of Mexican origin in San Antonio (Texas). Family members were speakers of Texas Spanish and English. Two questionnaires and follow-up discussions examined fluency in Spanish and English; language preferences;…

This book offers an ethnographic account of language socialization practices within Mexican-background families residing in California and Texas. It illustrates cases where language is used by speakers to choose between alternative self-definitions and where language interacts differentially with other defining categories (ethnicity, gender, and…

Early vocabularies of a language can help indigenous communities retrieve lost or forgotten vocabulary. Currently, there are very few fluent speakers of Tuscarora. As in other native communities, efforts are underway to reverse the decline in native language usage. One advantage the Tuscaroras have is that, since 1700, numerous researchers have…

Empirical studies in the migration literature have shown that migration enclaves (networks) negatively affect the language proficiency of migrants. These studies, however, ignore the choice of location as a function of language skills. Using data on Mexican migration to the United States, this paper examines the location choice of migrants and…

This study examined the views of college learners of German regarding desired degrees of first language (L1) versus second language (L2) use, how desired language use related to observed language use for students and teachers, gaps between desired and observed language, tasks for which students expressed strong preference for L1 and for L2, how…

This chapter provides theoretical argumentation and pedagogical suggestions for legitimizing and capitalizing on first and/or multiple language use in foreign language education. Recent research asserts that foreign language study is intimately bound to issues of learner identity formation, contestation, and transitioning. This chapter assumes…

This chapter responds to an article by Claire Kramsch on the privilege of nonnative speakers. It agrees with Kramsch that in second language teaching, there is no single standard of native speaker language to target, since the cultural and linguistic reality of a given language is too complex and multifaceted to allow identification of…

This teaching guide is built around a method (called the "Caught'ya" method) of teaching grammar and mechanics with humor. The guide contains story ideas and three sets of 100 Caught'ya sentences, as well as a chapter which discusses specific ways to use the Caught'ya at home. Following an introduction, the guide is divided into the…