Part 1 of this casebook on dictionary study contains articles written over the last 200 years by seven eminent lexicographers, including Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster, on the history, nature, and purposes of the English dictionary. Part 2 contains 62 chronologically arranged readings published between September, 1961, and May, 1962, on…

Changes in concepts of usage as illustrated in 111 high school English language textbooks published from 1923 to 1963 formed the subject of this study. The textbooks were placed in one of four groups according to publication date: 1923-1940, 1941-1952, 1953-1958, and 1959-1963. The purpose of the grouping was to determine whether certain usage…

Aural comprehension tests, which are designed so that the student can give non-vocal reactions to orally-presented problems are valuable for two reasons: they provide the teacher of English with an objective and accurate measure of the pupils' comprehension and can also be given simultaneously to a large group of students. According to the author,…

An attempt is made in this book to state some of the features of and dispel some of the myths about nonstandard English, particularly the dialects of English spoken by many black Americans, and to consider alternative policies that might be adopted regarding varied forms of English. The chapters of the book include "What Is the Problem?""Is…

Black English Vernacular (BEV) is spoken in more or less pure form by many, if not most, of the inner-city students attending college under plans like open enrollment. In cities, most blacks, Puerto Ricans, and many other non-native speakers speak or can speak a form of BEV. The prevalence of BEV in elementary and secondary schools of the inner…

"Pacification" as a technique of social control has a negative effect because of its destructive or disintegrative impact on behaviors of individuals in social or problem-solving situations. "Pacification" uses communication techniques which discount some aspect of the problem-solving process: the problem itself, its…

Several external and internal factors combine to hinder optimal communication in "Competency," the language of behavior modification. As a language, Competency a) is spoken with varying degrees of fluency and facility, b) is difficult to translate into English because the common vocabulary is used descriptively in English while it is…

This critical examination of the condition of the English language used in Britian today raises questions about the language with which society expresses its concerns. It analyzes the language used in contemporary England for religion, politics, serious journalism, love, and literature. Included is an account of the committee-language of the New…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of selected facets of the oral language performance of pre-first grade children to readiness for beginning reading. The oral language of two groups of kindergarten children in interaction with an adult was compared. One group was black, the other Caucasian; both were from inner-city…

This paper concerns the development of Papiamento, a creole language spoken in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, islands off the coast of Venezuela. The contributions of each of the languages which influenced its development--Portuguese, African languages, Spanish, and Dutch--are examined in successive sections of the paper, with a concluding portion…

Over a 10-year period, the oral language development of 338 pupils was studied from kindergarten through grade 9 to establish the most crucial and frequent oral language difficulties. Recorded samples of oral English from each subject were segmented by oral intonation patterns and syntactic units, and were analyzed yearly in terms of 21 oral…

An authorized course of instruction for the Quinmester Program in Dade County (Florida) public schools is given for distributive education, communication skills related to marketing and distribution. The objective is to give the student the necessary background in written and oral communication skills. Four blocks define the course. Block I gives…

This paper discusses the issue of whether and how data from dialect surveys provide insights into women's language. The Linguistic Atlas projects of the United States and Canada, the Dictionary of American English project, the Arkansas Language Survey and smaller projects are considered; and it is stated that in order to get at conversational…

This newsletter reports on phenomena at the intersection of linguistics and psychoanalysis and psychiatry. This issue consists of the following articles: (1) an editorial entitled "Idioms, How We Love/Have You!", on the possible reasons behind the use of idioms; (2) "The Last Renaissance (Language in a Drug Rehabilitation Community)," by Harold…

This packet is designed to help give inservice training on the topic of individualizing bilingual and ESL instruction. It is hoped that the packet will minimize the preparation time needed and will allow inservice trainers to benefit from the experience of other staff members. The first section of the packet consists of an introduction to…