Critically examines assumptions in teaching in a bi-dialectal context. Presents ethnographic data from one teacher's experience teaching a summer course in Shakespearean theater in which the students were speakers of African-American English. (Author/VWL)

Explores problems involved in defining Black South African English, such as whether it is a new variety of English or a dialect and relating to whose English it is: the English of those learners who have encountered only a smattering of English in informal contexts or the variety of English acquired during formal schooling. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the politics of English and suggests that English varieties of the inner city and the socially disenfranchised continue to be stigmatized by speakers of more esteemed varieties. (Author/VWL)

Identifies the major issues that need to be confronted in resolving the controversy over the historical roots of African American Vernacular English. and discusses their implications for reconstruction. (Author/VWL)

Investigated African American Vernacular English dialect features in the midwestern community of Davenport, Iowa, and compared them to those reported by Pollock and Berni (1997) for Memphis, Tennessee--specifically productions of vocalic and postvocalic /r/ across African-American speakers from Davenport and Memphis. (Author/VWL)

Presents a content analysis of the electronic debate on Ebonics that spanned over 18 months, drawing scholars from all over the world, and culminating in over 70 postings on an electronic bulletin board. Demonstrates that in contesting the issues, using the national social debate on Ebonics, linguists seek to assert their power as a group by…

Investigates the extent to which users of Black South African English (BSAE) command the vowel system of English. One mother tongue speaker each of English, Southern Sotho, and Zulu read a set of stimulus words representing various monothong contrasts in standard South African English. Results are discussed in relation to the question of whether…

Investigates the perception and application of the norm in South African English with specific reference to Black South African English. Hypothesizes that South African English is in the hibernation and expansion phase. Three sets of data are presented and analyzed. (Author/VWL)

Investigates stress placement in one variety of Black South African English (BSAE), namely Tswana English. A corpus of 333 polysyllabic words was analyzed in detail to determine the properties of the Tswana English stress system; properties were interpreted by means of optimality theory. Concludes that stress is stored lexically in function words,…

The extension of the progressive aspect to stative verbs has been identified as a characteristic feature of New Varieties of English across the world, including the English of black South Africans (BSAfE). This paper examines the use of the progressive aspect in BSAfE, by doing a comparative analysis of three corpora of argumentative student…

Draws attention to the validity of the Oakland School Board's resolution on Ebonics and to the value of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)-based approaches to teaching standard American English to speakers of other dialects. Demonstrates validity of comparisons made between monodialectal speakers of African-American language/Ebonics and ESL…

This paper reexamines the debate over the emergence of Black South African English (BSAE) as a variety of English that is institutionalized with distinct properties. It focuses on the tense logic in Bantu languages and discourse markers that chiefly account for uniquely BSAE features. Through an indepth analysis of these linguistic properties, the…

Traces historical, linguistic, and educational contexts for the Oakland School Board resolution. Suggests the resolution is a sensible extension of the linguistic and cultural history of the African-American community, a reasonable implementation of research and theory, and an intrinsic desire of parents to have their children's teachers acquire…

Investigates the role of dialect variation in the acquisition of American English by adult second language learners. The study revealed that dialect differences present problems for learners and cause variable intelligibility and negative learner attitude toward some varieties of English and its speakers. This attitude could negatively affect a…