In the United States, dominant language ideology validates the use of Standardized English as the only appropriate linguistic practice (Lippi-Green, 1994; Flores & Rosa, 2015). In educational settings, dominant language ideology entails the beliefs in language standardization and monolingualism (Farr & Song, 2011). The present case study…

In conversational speech, it is very common for words' segments to be reduced or deleted. However, previous research has consistently shown that during spoken word recognition, listeners prefer words' canonical pronunciation over their reduced pronunciations (e.g., pretty pronounced [word omitted] vs. [word omitted]), even when the latter are far…

Our research focuses on the creation and reinforcement of overgeneralized and inaccurate depictions of language behavior on the Internet. Misrepresentation of language behavior spreads easily by exposure to unchallenged depictions. We posit that such stereotypes have already influenced our students, consumers of the Internet, by introducing,…

In 2005, Klaus P. Schneider published a fascinating article with the title "'No problem, you're welcome, anytime': Responding to thanks in Ireland, England, and the U.S.A." Adopting the then emerging and now established framework of variational pragmatics, Schneider's pioneering paper presents the results of a study on differences…

One of the tenets of linguistics is that all language forms are equal, communicatively capable, and worthy of respect. Given this premise of equality, what does one make of "Standard English (SE), the dialect elevated above others in the American school system, the dialect that students most likely consider "correct" and…

Recent research has shown that speakers are sensitive to non-contrastive phonetic detail present in nonnative speech (e.g. Escudero et al. 2012; Wilson et al. 2014). Difficulties in interpreting and implementing unfamiliar phonetic variation can lead nonnative speakers to modify second language forms by vowel epenthesis and other changes. These…

Based on ethnographic research in a diverse New York City neighborhood, this article examines issues surrounding the practice of crossing from children's perspectives. Crossing refers to the use of language varieties to which one does not have conventional access, practices that could be disparaging or affiliative. The author explores how children…

In this paper, I investigate the phenomenon of morphological variability in the production of Italian determiners, descriptive adjectives, and direct object pronouns by adult English learners of Italian to determine whether morphological errors are the result of computational or representational difficulties. Second language acquisitionists do…

In this article I describe the work of Leonard Covello, a New York City language educator and high school principal of the early 20th century who argued for Italian and Spanish heritage language (HL) preservation in schools. Although Covello promoted standard language Italian and Spanish in the HL classroom, he also encouraged HL students to use…

This article is inspired by the author's keynote address delivered at the Central New York Reading Council Conference in Syracuse, New York, on February 6, 2010. The author calls for teachers to --"go for broke?"--to give their all--to ensure that the children they serve achieve academic success in their literacy classrooms. By…

This article draws on a survey of 64 self-identified multilingual faculty from across the disciplines who currently teach with writing in English at the undergraduate and graduate level. The survey asked faculty about their linguistic experiences from childhood through the present and thus offers insights about the complexity of multilingual…

The large-scale ongoing migration of Anglophone Caribbean natives to North America, particularly to New York City, in the last two decades, has brought an influx of Caribbean English (CE)-speaking students into US and Canadian schools and colleges. This article discusses the extent to which such students, who publicly identify themselves as native…

Examines code mixing and borrowing across two generations of New York Puerto Ricans, and explores the possibility of existence of a lifecycle of language use in the community. (26 references) (Author/OD)

Strategies for deciding which language to use when forms part of the sociolinguistic competence of speakers who can speak more than one language. Language choices are shaped by a number of factors, including linguistic proficiency of both speaker and interlocutor, the ingroup or outgroup status of each, and the setting in which an exchange takes…