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)

Opposes the legislation of linguistic conformity by penalizing minority students who write in nonstandard dialect. (DD)

Considers the recent Ebonics debate, and examines Patricia McKissack's use of dialects in her book "Flossie and the Fox." Points out its subtle yet meaningful lessons about the intersection of language and culture, and suggests a pedagogy that honors students' home language while accepting responsibility for offering them ways to switch language…

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…

Demonstrates that linguistic accuracy is not and can never be a primary goal of writers who create effective renderings. Compares renderings of 19th- and early 20th-century white writers of dialect with those of contemporary writers. Finds that neither can be said to be more accurate than the other. (PA)

Reconstructs the present temporal reference system of Early African American English by investigating the aspectual conditioning of a morphosyntactic construction within the domain of present temporal reference in three representative varieties. (Author/VWL)

This article summarizes African American Vernacular English (AAVE) phonological features from the perspective of phonetic transcription. Relevant International Phonetic Alphabet symbols and diacritics are discussed, as well as the importance of transcription detail when differentiating dialect variation from phonological delay or disorder. A chart…

Like plate lunches, aloha shirts, and lei, Pidgin is an important part of local identity in Hawai'i. While some people still think of Pidgin as "broken English," many now realize that it is a distinct creole language, similar to others that have developed in multilingual environments, and call it Hawai'i Creole or HCE (Hawai'i Creole…

Drawing on the body of North American literature related to English dialect-speaking Indigenous students schooled in majority group classrooms, this commentary paper explores two aspects of institutional racism at work in Saskatchewan schools: (a) the disproportionate representation of First Nations and Metis students in remedial language and…

This study examined whether children's use of subject relative clauses differs as a function of their English dialect (African American English, AAE vs. Southern White English, SWE vs. Mainstream American English, MAE) and clinical diagnosis (specific language impairment, SLI vs. typically developing, TD). The data were spontaneous language…

THIS LANGUAGE UNIT ON USAGE FOR 12TH-GRADE STUDENTS IS DIVIDED INTO SIX SECTIONS--"INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDENTS,""USAGE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASS,""VARIATIONS WITHIN STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH,""BASES FOR JUDGMENTS ABOUT USAGE," AND "CHARACTERISTICS OF A MATURE ATTITUDE TOWARD USAGE." FOUR…

This study was based on a modification and extension of Greene's (1969) test wherein children choose structurally-transformed sentences which are synonymous with key sentences, thereby indicating recognition of the transformational relationships involved and internalization of those transformations. A similar test was devised to investigate the…