Research supported by the Ford Foundation and the American Association of University Women. (DD)

Research supported by grants from the University of Arizona and the American Philosophical Society. (RS)

The author discusses bidialectalism as a movement in education to render lower class students able to speak both their native dialect and standard English. However, it should not be seen as a way to remedy the injustices of American political and economic life. (Author/LF)

A wide-ranging discussion with William Labov, a sociolinguist interested in the study of nonstandard dialects, especially Black English dialect. (DD)

A study of 10 nondialect speakers who stutter, 10 nondialect speakers who do not stutter, and 10 dialect speakers who do not stutter, investigated the effect of speech dialect on listeners' speech naturalness ratings. Speech naturalness ratings were influenced by type of dialect, speech fluency and speaking rate. (Author/CR)

Examines the changes in dialect usage and the predictive relationship between dialect usage and reading achievement, controlling for differences in the acquisition of language forms common across dialects. Suggests that dialect usage might be a distinguishing variable between average and poor readers. Finds that correlations do not support the…

A cross-dialectal comprehension test was conducted at Ohio University and three of its branch campuses. Results indicated that vowel changes occurring in Southern Ohio were generally interpreted by respondents in terms of their own vowel systems, and that limited exposure to the local dialect by outsiders led to recognition only of the more…

The pronunciation and use of /s/ in the isleno dialect of Spanish, a dying language spoken in a small ethnic enclave in southeast Louisiana, is examined. Today, there are fewer than 20 fluent speakers of isleno Spanish, which has been described as a fossilized derivative of the speech of Canary Island peasants with additions from Spanish sailors.…

Generally, the article describes and discusses topics and positions found in the literature on Black English. Specifically, particular attention is paid to certain articles and positions that misrepresent opposing opinions and facts of the area. (Author/RM)

A program shown on Spanish television is a linguistic survey of Spain. Spontaneous conversations were filmed and taped in all regions of the country. It is evident that the mass media are spreading a standard form of speech and that regional differences are becoming blurred. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

Structional analysis of the spoken French in four regions of North America. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

The purpose of this study is: (1) to document the existence of a population speaking vernacular Black English (VBE) in Waterloo, Iowa, a middle-sized urban community in the Midwest; (2) to examine how Waterloo VBE contrasts with the surrounding majority language, Midland vernacular; (3) to investigate Iowans' language attitudes; and (4) to…

A study of speakers of a range of English dialects was conducted to investigate some influences on the pattern of phonetic final devoicing of phonologically voiced fricatives and affricates. With the help of spectrographically examined tape-recorded speech derived from sociolinguistic interviews of the subjects, the study examined seven English…