A study of native English-speaking Pennsylvania Germans' attempts to learn the German that their families no longer regularly used found that learning strategies were remarkably free of reliance on English rules. Speakers relied on what they learned and sought analogies within Pennsylvania German, resorting to English only when other strategies…

Code-switching is examined in oral narratives of 30 African-American women as they switched from Standard English to Black English Vernacular. A little over half of the speakers assign positive values to their code switches. Examples are given from interviews with two subjects. (SLD)

Describes the writing problems of a poor, black, urban student who wants to succeed in college but doesn't know how. Asserts that language use, particularly the use of Black English, plays a major role in their lack of academic success. Offers drills and strategies to help with this problem. (PRA)

A story is told of how inner-city youth organizations use dramas that young people write, cast, and direct to enable them to retain their first language or dialect while gaining standard English and preparing for job entry. The story ends with implications for the language classroom. (seven references) (Author/LB)

Argues that in Europe over several centuries, the relationship between democracy and language policy in multilingual countries has been complex, noting that Catalan has thrived in democratic periods where devolution has advanced, and the causes of most problems facing Catalan are nonlinguistic. The paper examines language and democracy, language…

Describes a morphosyntactic feature of the Xining dialect that is unique among all Chinese dialects: that is, the use of a preposition to express ablative nominal relationships. (Author/VWL)

Outlines four ways the basic writing enterprise has failed: by giving insufficient attention to public relations; by allowing itself to be co-opted by traditional academic politics; by not unraveling the confusion of legitimate differences of dialect with "bad grammar"; and by not taking a more critical and enterprising approach to research. (SR)

Reports results of a study in which 72 African-American college students listened to and evaluated a tape-recorded excerpt of a speech in two versions, one in Ebonics and one in Standard English. Finds students rated the speaker who used Standard English as more credible (i.e. , more competent and having a strong character) and more sociable than…

Maintains that the move from theorizing difference to dealing with difference in an intercultural collaboration creates generative conflicts for educators and students. Tracks the conflicting discourses, alternative representations, and political consequences the construct "Black English" had for black and white mentors, teenage writers, and…

Argues that adopting the bilingual model, teaching standard English, and encouraging students to cultivate their native dialects encourages diversity, individuality, creativity, and self-esteem while maintaining conventional standards. (SR)

Lays out some historical background to the replacement of a system of discourse marking in German dialects spoken in the United States, exploring a number of implications for theories of language contact and codeswithing. Data suggest that discourse markers first entered German speech as emblematic codeswitches and eventually became borrowings,…

Describes a teacher-research study using interpretive methods to address the question how learning about language connects secondary students to their world. Profiles three student inquirers, finding the students deepened their awareness of the role language plays in their lives. (NH)

Suggests that discussions about inclusion in the foreign language classroom should address the issues of linguistic diversity and dialectal sensitivity. Discusses models for addressing issues of linguistic diversity in the classroom, and offers a set of activities for training new instructors in recognizing and addressing linguistic biases.…

Derisive attitudes towards Spanish in the United States threaten its survival. Four issues vital to the preservation of Spanish in the United States are examined: the arbitrary nature of linguistic prejudice, the linguistic validity of all dialects, the overwhelming linguistic overlap between nonstandard and standard dialects of Spanish, and the…

Our analysis of farmer and tavern-keeper William Manning's 1798 "Key of Libberty" extends the concept of American republican rhetoric to include both elite and vernacular forms. We find that the key components of Manning's vernacular republicanism are: an aggressive use of the rhetoric of critique; the demand for transparency in public argument;…