Examines several longstanding, isolated biracial sociolinguistic situations in the coastal and Appalachian regions of North Carolina: a core community of African Americans and two case studies of isolated speakers. Compares diagnostic phonological and morphosyntactic variables for speakers representing different generations of African American and…

Presents a case study of the language of a 23-year-old white female who makes consistent use of the many distinctive features associated with African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Argues that the interaction of ideologies of race, class, localness, and language allow her to be considered an ingroup member despite her biographical race.…

Gives an overview of recent research on the Alsatian language in a contact situation and discusses the function of the language and state border. Contacts across the state border are analyzed and the function of various linguistic codes on both sides of the state border are described. Suggests that the the sole post-war innovation in Alsace is the…

A study of popular attitudes toward and use of Catalan and Castilian Spanish sought to clarify the prestige level of the languages in different areas in Spain. The study focused on the degree to which Catalan has undergone linguistic normalization by extension to all social levels and situations. (Author/MSE)

In the light of current morphological theory, this paper examines analogical leveling of long/short vowel oppositions in certain inflectional and derivational alternations in a number of modern Swiss German dialects. The regular occurrence of leveling is shown to depend on the extent to which the alternation in question is "perceptually…

Arguing that the question of social acceptability of allophonic variations is not a linguistic issue, but rather an issue of social identity, the discussion considers the speech chain, language as a social activity with its "norms" for social acceptability, and the specific context where Singaporean English is a marker of social…

Discusses the assertion that allophonic variations are not only important for the purposes of social acceptability. It is argued that the question of social acceptability and the concern for nativelike standards has been primarily viewed from the perspective of monolingual societies, and that social acceptability is not a linguistic issue, rather…

The initial phase of Porta's mature poetry, composed between 1801 and 1805, is discussed in the context of dialect translation and parody of famous literary texts. (Author/LB)

Offers a language-centered approach to the teaching of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" which can help students read the dialects in the novel and develop an appreciation for the varieties of language. (RS)

In some Chinese dialects, most regular syllables keep their underlying tones, but in others, the initial syllable determines the tonal pattern of a multisyllabic expression. The Mandarin and Shanghai dialects best represent this contrast. The article criticizes 1993 research on the subject, proposing that Chinese is both mora-counting and…

Responds to an article by Strubell on "Language, Democracy, and Devolution in Catalonia," by suggesting that the Catalonian situation is a civic and inclusive nationalism that has an ethnic dimension (defined in linguistic terms). The paper discusses the general theory of nationalism and ethnicity, examines the case of Catalan, and…

Responds to an article by Strubell, "Language, Democracy, and Devolution in Catalonia," focusing on nationalism. After describing nationalism; nations and other communities; languages; and language, ethnic and national identity, and nationalism; the paper concludes that many factors give language a crucial place in nationalism in many…

Responds to an article by Strubell, "Language, Democracy, and Devolution in Catalonia," focusing on the position of Castilian-speaking individuals resident and working in Catalonia. The paper notes that the policy of assimilating migrants is no longer accepted without question, and it suggests diglossia as the only way to provide…

Responds to an article by Strubell, "Language, Democracy, and Devolution in Catalonia," arguing that, in a globalizing world, Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia must resolve their differences and unite against the Anglo-Saxon language and culture which threaten to enter the equation and overtake them all. The paper suggests that Catalonia…

Describes forms of semantic reinvestment of occupational lexis items in Nigerian English. Three categories and two subcategories of reinvestment are identified: shift, generalization, narrowing, reassignment, and analogy. These types of semantic reinvestment are considered within a sociocultural and linguistic setting of Nigeria as a developing…