Proposes to establish the correct Black cultural perspective on the role and function of personal insults in sounding and the boundary between play and nonplay. Considers different cultural consequences that would stem from regarding personal insults to be part of verbal play or not, and shows similarity in the structure and function of…

Discusses the factors that led to linguists being able to present effective testimony in the form of an unified view on the origins and structural characteristics of the Black English vernacular at the Ann Arbor trial. (EKN)

Summarizes the main points presented in the 1989 book, "The Death of Black English" by R.R. Butlers (1989). Butler's book presents most important research of last 20 years and subjects the results to variation analysis. It is concluded that the history of linguistic assimilation points to the eventual disappearance of Black English in…

The integration of 66 African-American Detroit inner-city residents into their neighborhood is measured quantitatively by a Vernacular Culture Index construction from the respondents' responses to 10 statements. Results show that older respondents are more likely to choose African-American English variants than younger ones. (33 references)…

To be lame'' in Black English means to be outside of any vernacular peer group and its culture. (RS)

Examined the tense system of Samana English, a lineal descendant of early nineteenth-century American Black English. A past tense marker comparable in surface form, function, and distribution to that of Standard English was found. Comparison with varieties of contemporary Black English Vernacular (BEV) and English-based Creoles showed a structural…

Sixteen African Americans affiliated with a university reported on their experiential, attitudinal, and descriptive responses to Black English Vernacular (BEV). Three issues emerged: BEV as a label, the possibility that BEV was socially constructed, and the perception that BEV is a limited linguistic system. Interview questions are appended. (44…

Results of a study are discussed which involved first grade black children who produced multiple instances of linguistic variables. The suggestion is made that the standard English "is" and "has" in certain constructions have been reanalyzed as nominal inflections. (RM)

Describes research in which 28 black parents and community people were polled as to their attitudes toward vernacular and standard Black English. Attitudes were assessed in four domains--school, home, community and playground--and in four channels--reading, speaking, writing and listening. Standard Black English was preferred in all domains and…

Explores how a speech variety close to oratorical standard English is learned in one Afro-American peasant community in the West Indies. Material gathered during two field trips, one supported by a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship and the other by a National Institute of Mental Health grant. (VM)

A review of recent language research regarding the black English vernacular (BEV) considers new developments involving (1) the grammars of elderly and young speakers; (2) indications that BEV is not decreolizing but is actually diverging from white speech; and (3) the effect of contemporary developments on differences between black and white…

Analyzes an Afro-American sermon and a disputed speech by a Black political leader to mixed audience. Dialect alternants signal switching between contrasting styles in both. Conversational inference is shown to depend not only on grammar, lexical meanings, and conversational principles, but also on constellations of speech variants, rhythm, and…