Reviews public expressions about the state of the English language and attempts to show that this interest in language should be viewed by language professionals as an opportunity to clarify issues. Four strategies are presented dealing with language variability, linguistics, and the "joy" and usefulness of language variation. (Author/AMH)

Three prime time television situation comedies with primarily Black casts were studied for frequency and variations in use of Black English Vernacular (BEV). It is suggested that homogenization of BEV on American television reflects the attitude that BEV is not a legitimate language choice. (GC)

Offers a number of techniques designed to challenge or alter or disrupt how a student perceives reality, thereby facilitating student development in creative thinking. (RL)

Discusses the preferences expressed in guides to language usage regarding the correlation of the adjectives "any,""each," and "every" with plural pronouns and possessives ("To each their own") in order to avoid allegedly sexist constructions ("To each his own"). (GT)

A syntactic analysis of the language spoken by Black characters in three Black situation comedies on television; "Sanford and Son,""The Jeffersons," and "Good Times." (PD)

Analyzes a selection of papers centered around the idea that it is possible to consider the evidence of language variation in linguistic analysis. The papers were presented at the 1972 colloquium on "New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English," Georgetown University. (AM)

Discusses the question of correct English usage, and of the equality of dialects. Available from the University of Alabama Press, Periodicals Department, P.O. Box 2877, University, Alabama 35486. (AM)

Discusses the relationship between sociolinguistic theory and research, and its application to second language teaching. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This paper discusses diverse sociolinguistic concepts such as borrowing, code-switching, bilingualism, and interference, and proposes a hypothesis concerning the progression of these linguistic developments in a contact situation and concerning the correlation of these developments with distinct phases of cultural assimilation. (Author/CLK)

This article reviews the problems and issues raised by neologisms, specifically in French. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article describes problems faced by the individual in different diglossic conditions. It centers on the functional differentiation of the Finnish and Swedish languages in Sweden and the linguistic consequences for two originally Finnish-speaking groups. (CFM)

Describes a study showing how a linguistic pattern of alternation affecting an entire speech community is realized in individual idiolects; an example representative of colloquial Helsinki speech is used. Results support observations already presented by Labov, according to which linguistic change is linguistically structured to a very high…

In response to the description of CANCODE, a new English-language corpus designed to reflect current English usage, it is argued that although a corpus my be an accurate record of language behavior, it is limited and must not be assumed to be complete or to prescribe for English-as-a-Second-Language teaching. (MSE)

In response to his article describing a new English-language corpus designed to reflect current usage, the author agrees that extreme forms of corpus-driven language teaching are inappropriate but also that more corpus-based language instruction is needed, and that the language teaching can only benefit from better language description. (MSE)

Assesses phonological continuity and change in the last stage of the moribund dialect called "Negerhollands" in the Danish West Indies (DWI). The article contrasts earlier and current views of this dialect, sketches language contact in the DWI, examines the last speaker's language history and vowel systems, and assesses variation in a…