Describes attempts to systematize information about the linguistic varieties present in the Spanish and English of the American Southwest. (CDSH/AM)

The U.S. Southwest and particularly the region along the 1000-mile long U.S.-Mexican boundary, offers a ready laboratory for the observation of many phases of multilingualism and multiculturalism. The author feels, however, that the rich sociolinguistic material of the area has suffered from over-simplification and neglect. Very few synchronic…

This paper proposes a tentative notational or marking system which attempts to provide more information on the sociolinguistic constraints upon the use of linguistic features than has been the case in other systems. A review of other studies in language variation, particularly those of William Labov, suggests that much can be done toward…