A syntactic analysis of the language spoken by Black characters in three Black situation comedies on television; "Sanford and Son,""The Jeffersons," and "Good Times." (PD)

This paper makes three arguments reaffirming the overwhelming complexities inherent in any real history of the language of blacks in North America. (1) Although the study of black English, however that term may be defined, is desirable in itself and was profitable for white linguists during the 1960s and early 1970s, it did not and never will do…

No evidence was found to indicate that grammatical reading interference is an important factor in the poor reading achievement of Black youngsters. (JH)

The comprehension performance of Standard English (SE) and Black English (BE) speakers associated with language materials distinguished by segmental and suprasegmental features of black dialect was investigated. Also assessed was the nature of comprehension improvement on these materials by SE speakers who had been systematically exposed to black…

The measurement of sociolinguistic behavior requires the formulation of a unit which can take into account continuous, ordered variation within and across discrete linguistic types--the linguistic variable. The linguistic variable, itself an abstraction, is realized in actual speech behavior by variants. The formulation of the linguistic variable…

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…

Two groups of blacks, adults and teenagers, served as the focus of this study. The "peer-prepared" method was used to produce dialect reading material for both groups. Both black teenagers and adults contributed stories by tape recording stories of an informal nature. The stories contributed by the black adults were edited and locally…

This book contains essays which focus on the systems of communication that operate within and between various social segments of Afro-American communities in the United States. The essays are presented under the following headings: (1) "Getting Into It: Black Talk, Black Life and the Academic," (2) "'Talking My Talk': Black Talk Varieties and…

AS PART OF A COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE PROGRAM, A TEAM OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH-RELATED SPECIALISTS CONDUCTED SCREENING EXAMINATIONS OF CHILDREN ENROLLED IN SUMMER HEADSTART PROGRAMS IN WASHINGTON, D.C. THE 286 CHILDREN EXAMINED WERE NEGROES AND RECENTLY IMMIGRATED INDIANS AND LATIN AMERICANS. TWO SPEECH PATHOLOGISTS AND THREE AUDIOLOGISTS FROM THE…

The purpose of this study is to describe the speech of Negro high school students in Memphis, Tennessee. The study deals with the phonology and grammar of the students' speech. The phonological analysis is limited to a description of the segmental phonemes, their allophones, and their incidence. The grammatical analysis is limited to a description…

This article, primarily a critical review of Wayne O'Neil's study "The Politics of Bidialectalism," defines and examines sociological and pedagogical implications of the concepts of bidialectalism and biloquilism. It is argued that any definition of bidialectalism which refers to linguistic differentiation on the basis of social class is…

A detailed study is reported of the linguistic adaptation of a white girl in a predominantly black school in Camden, New Jersey. The girl is a cultural heroine in the area, having earned the admiration of both blacks, and Puerto Ricans by her ability in fighting, dancing, talking, and dealing with the opposite sex. Subjective reaction tests show…

This study investigated the effects of interference of a native dialect in the acquisition of a second dialect. Four groups of subjects were used: Five white preschool children from an intergrated nursery school, five Black preschool children from a Head Start program, five white, middle-class 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds, and five Black 16-, 17-,…

RECENT RESEARCH ON THE NATURE OF NONSTANDARD ENGLISH DIALECTS HAS INDICATED THAT CERTAIN ARCHAIC SPEECH FORMS ASSOCIATED WITH CREOLE LANGUAGES ARE PRESERVED IN THE SPEECH OF URBAN NEGRO CHILDREN. THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE BELIEVES THAT LANGUAGE PROGRAMS FOR THESE CHILDREN SHOULD BE BASED ON A MORE COMPLETE LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THEIR LANGUAGE…

This study develops specific facts about the nature of the Black English "lingua franca" which formed on the American eastern seaboard in the last half of the eighteenth century. Accepting an assumption that American English of this period was levelling into a "koine," this investigation attempts to characterize the consonant loss and substitution…