Although technical and social engineering and planning have made tremendous progress, an almost prescientific attitude regarding language planning still prevails in some linguistic circles. (Language planning is defined here as the "methodical activity of regulating and improving existing languages or creating new common regional, national or…

The seven papers in this volume cover varied topics in the field of current linguistics. The first paper, on underlying phonological representations, is written to show that, on the basis of syllabification, vowel quality is a redundant aspect of English phonology and that stress assignment can also be based on syllabification. The second paper…

This research is an attempt to determine the relative influence of Black English and Puerto Rican Spanish in the speech of Puerto Ricans raised contiguous to the black community in Harlem. The first chapter provides a general introduction to the study of this variety of Puerto Rican English and a description of the sample on which this study is…

In a sociolinguistic study of the verb phrase in Southern White English, a pattern of change in progress was observed. The 14 variables studied showed that certain variants were increasing, others decreasing, and yet others stable across time within the community, and that each variable's change was progressing in a wave sensitive to age, social…

It is possible to think of women's language in terms of the model implied by the following statement. Insofar as native speakers of English are concerned, the language of women in America has four sets of components: those shared with the language of men in America; those shared, in varying proportions, with other women living in patriarchies;…

Focuses on arguments among White American children in a small town in New England, Black American children of migrant harvesters, and rural Hindi-speaking Fiji Indian children. Findings suggest that, while repetition, inversion, and escalation are common to all three cultures, there is considerable variation as to how they are used. (EJS)

Describes a pattern of verbal disputing frequently engaged in by children in Hawaii who have some Polynesian ancestry. This pattern, which is characterized by the forceful use of "not!" as an outright contradiction of one speaker by another, is traced from early childhood into adolescence in the context of relationships in which it develops. (EJS)

Many personal names in Temne (a Mel language spoken in Sierra Leone) are borrowed from other languages, containing foreign sounds and sequences which are unpronounceable for Temne speakers when they appear in other words. These exceptions are treated as instances of phonological stereotyping (cases remaining resistant to assimilation processes).…

Differential evaluations of speech usually occur along the standard-nonstandard dimension. Standard accent rates highly in regard to status and competence but low on the dimensions of integrity and attractiveness. In a Canadian context, however, a regional standard (mainland Nova Scotia) compared favorably or equally in all dimensions to other…

Identifies indicators of register or style in selected portions of two lectures presented in American Sign Language, and in the interpretations of each made by two interpreters. The indicators used are speaking rate, pausing, syntax, intonation, and lexical choice. Transcripts of data are included in Appendix. (Author/LMO)

Repudiates the theory that black dialect has African origins. Supports the British Isles influence theory. (FL)

Examined the pattern of deletion of final "/t/" and "/d/" in word final consonant clusters in 3- and 4-year-old children (n=16) and their degree of mastery of phonological and grammatical constraints. Results indicate that children as young as three had mastered the phonological constraints on (-t, d) deletion and that the…

The influence that number naming grammar has on the understandings of two-digit numbers and place value of kindergarten children of European and Asian background was examined. Results indicate that Asian verbal/numerical representation patterns naming tens and units in order may be associated with distinctive place value concepts that support…

This book introduces the general reader to the mosaic of American Indian languages and cultures as they exist in time and space, and supplies limited technical linguistic orientation to encourage further exploration of language interrelationships, cultures, and other ways of knowing. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the status, diversity, and…

This report describes a "culturally contexted" conversation analysis approach to the study of naturally occurring speech in supervisory conferences. The supervisors and teachers were participants in a graduate program for beginning teachers, and the conference's purpose was supervisory evaluation of teachers' classroom performances. Ethnographic…