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…

Discusses a broad framework of the changing global economy, which is likely to influence the future of English teaching. Considers three consequences of "informationalism," a new stage of global capitalism: a shift in authority over English to a growing number of speakers of nonnative and nonstandard varieties; a growing need to use English to…

This study compared dialect use by African-American children (30 male and 36 female 5- and 6-year olds) differing in socioeconomic status (SES). Findings indicated systematic differences related to SES and gender in the frequencies but not in the forms of dialect used. Children from lower-income homes and boys were more marked dialect users than…

Traditionally, contact between Spanish and indigenous languages is described using stage theory. However, there are exceptions to these stages, best understood as accounts of the results of basic constraints on human cognition and the geographic and demographic conditions of contact. The exceptions in several languages of Mesoamerica and the U.S.…

This study compared three methods for identifying non-mainstream dialect use: listener judgment ratings, type-based counts of non-mainstream pattern use, token- based counts. Correct dialect classifications were made for 88 to 97 percent of participants, although regression algorithms had to be applied to the type- and token-based results. For…

Considers how, when children enter school speaking a social class dialect, it can pose problems for both the students and the teachers. Notes strategies that teachers might use to assist the Black dialect speaker to adopt a more "prestigious dialect." Suggests teachers provide opportunities to listen to folktales or riddles written in dialect and…

Describes a study of perceptual dialectology that investigated the perceptions and evaluations of Turkish regional varieties by Turkish nonlinguists. Results demonstrate that several significant, systematic gender- and age-based patterns exist. (SM)

Use elicited data from ethnolinguistic fieldwork in two historically Czech Moravian communities in Central Texas to analyze typical features of Texas Czech, a reduced immigrant variety of Czech based on the dialects of 19th century Northeastern Moravia. Identified structural features that show relatively high attrition rates, as well as those that…

Poor white children, often with roots in Appalachia, can present puzzling and intractable challenges for the multicultural educator. These students are not considered in multicultural textbooks, yet they face language and dialect issues, low educational attainment, under-representation in curriculum, and negative cultural stereotypes. This article…

This paper presents a single-subject case study illustrating the need to closely examine effects of dialect from syllable position on l-colouring, and the effects of domain-initial strengthening in General American English. Most investigators report lighter /l/ tokens in syllable onsets and darker tokens in coda positions in isolated words. The…

Language planning research and practice have largely ignored, or considered problematic, the diversity within endangered languages. Such a stance, though, conflicts with speakers' attitudes and desires, which often place high value on specific dialects. As grassroots, bottom-up approaches move to the forefront, so do concerns about the maintenance…

In response to the problem of high rates of referral of black students to special education and related services due to their use of non-standard English (African American Vernacular English, AAVE), a project was undertaken to assess and address the issue in Baltimore (Maryland) public schools' special education services. An ethnographic study of…

This issue contains two articles in Spanish and three in English on the following topics: the practical presentation of English for Special Purposes (ESP) materials in science programs at the National University of Trujillo, "notional syllabus" and "discourse analysis" in relation to ESP materials, extra-linguistic principles in explaining…

This paper draws from a number of sources, from Muhammad Ali to TV commercials, to demonstrate the quite different conceptions that black and white Americans have of the meaning of boasting and bragging. For blacks, boasting and bragging are two distinct ways of speaking and communication. Boasting is a joking, playful verbal bahavior, not to be…

LANGUAGE SAMPLES OF 20 NEGRO HEAD START CHILDREN IN WASHINGTON, D.C., WERE ANALYZED USING LEE'S (1966) DEVELOPMENTAL SENTENCE TYPES MODEL. THE TRANSFORMATIONS AND RESTRICTED FORMS OF THESE CHILDREN WERE THEN COMPARED WITH THE RESULTS THAT MENYUK (1964) OBTAINED FOR MIDDLE CLASS PRESCHOOLERS. RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE ECONOMICALLY DEPRIVED CHILD IS…