This section of a four-part research project investigating the syntax of Brazilian Portuguese presents data concerning tense usage in verb distribution. The data are derived from the analysis of selected literary samples from representative and contemporary writers. The selection of authors and tabulation of data are also described. Materials…

Volume 3 of the Russian Dialect Studies is a bibliography listing Russian dialect studies published in the 19th and 20th centuries in Russia and abroad. The selection has been oriented primarily toward phonological and morphological studies of the dialects, and secondarily toward lexical, syntactic, and other studies. The bibliography is also…

Recent studies suggest that the language deficiency often attributed to disadvantaged children, especially disadvantaged black children, is not a language deficit so much as a difficulty in dialect switching. The disadvantaged child's language patterns are different from the language patterns of the child from the mainstream of American society. A…

This study investigated differences in the writing styles of African American and European American test takers using a portfolio entry assessment as a means of examining writing style, focusing on language choice, rhetorical style, and organization. The portfolio entry was from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Middle…

Black English is adequate for speakers within the black community: adding a second dialect, standard English, opens new roles with the larger society. The teacher can encourage or discourage such change depending on his relations with students and the community. (JM)

Argues that teaching about Italian dialects ought to form an integral part of the Italian curriculum and offers ideas on what could be included in such a course. Points out that the study of these dialects can teach students about the history and synchronic structures of standard Italian as well as the role of Italian sociolinguistics as it…

Reports on a sociolinguistic survey conducted in Tokyo, Japan, that explores the social factors that relate to the use of nonstandard expressions among younger people. Sex, media exposure, and friendship networks were found to influence language standardization. (25 references) (Author/OD)

Presents results of a longitudinal study on long-term dialect accommodation in a German dialect setting. An important model of explaining which linguistic structures undergo such convergence and which do not makes use of the notion of "salience." (Author/VWL)

In this article, Paris explores the deep linguistic and cultural ways in which youth in a multiethnic urban high school employ linguistic features of African American Language (AAL) across ethnic lines. The author also discusses how knowledge about the use of AAL in multiethnic contexts might be applied to language and literacy education and how…

Reading difficulties and disabilities present serious and potentially lifelong challenges. Children who do not read well are more likely to be retained a grade in school, drop out of high school, become a teen parent, or enter the juvenile justice system. Building on the extant research and seminal studies, including the National Reading Panel and…

Dialect writing in nineteenth-century America has been used as a source of evidence about popular American language and culture. Works employing dialect have been studied as documents embodying perceptions of the relation between character, role, and moral values on the one hand, and speech variety on the other. Critics have noticed the difference…

This study describes the syntactic features of Black English Vernacular (BEV) spoken by black characters in three black situation comedies on American television: "The Jeffersons,""Good Times," and "What's Happening." Using scripts and audio tapes of three episodes from each series during the 1977-78 television season, transcripts were made of…

This fourth book in the Urban Language Series is concerned with the relationship of language to reading. Literacy must be based on the language the child actually uses. In the case of ghetto children, materials in their dialect must be prepared so that their task of associating sounds and words with written symbols is not complicated by lack of…

This short book argues that the idea that there is one best English--or standard English--is wrong, and that nonstandard dialects are not bastardizations of standard English but alternate variations upon the basic plan of English, of which the standard one. With a general focus on classroom applications, this book makes accessible to teachers,…