Presents a general theoretical model of the psychological mechanism of effective speech to provide the basis on which experimental investigations can be conducted and practical recommendations for the field of mass communication can be carried out. (EJS)

In investigating the degree to which minority languages are not recognized as separate languages by the majority culture, it is helpful to consider the distinction between abstand and ausbau languages. The distinction is also helpful in understanding other political and cultural problems concerning language versus dialect status in Europe. (five…

Reviews two books, "American Earlier Black English," by Edgar W. Schneider, and "The Death of Black English," by Ronald Butters, that capture the essence of the renewed controversy on the reemergence of the historical issue and a new dispute over the current development of Vernacular Black English. (36 references) (JL)

The need for formal quantification of conversational analysis is discussed. Formal quantification provides grounds that a body of research be taken seriously and gives it a certain relevance. At the same time, the constraints inherent in working with naturally occurring events, such as conversations, make formal quantification difficult. (49…

The article explores the interrelationships between theory, ideology, empirical research, and practical affairs, with particular reference to the sociolinguistic nature of the Chicano community. (NQ)

This study investigates the applicability of the speech act theory to written discourse, specifically that of the press. A survey of Searle's taxonomy leads to the suggestion that the constituent statements of most newspaper articles belong to the class of illocutionary acts he calls "representatives." In consideration of the basic characteristic…

Analyzes Saussure's theory of language as social event and subsequent divergent opinions put forth by contemporary linguists. (AM)

Discusses the history of the influence of Marr's linguistic theory in France. (AM)

The study describes the language situation of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and examines the factors governing the language choice of Sinhalese bilinguals while attempting to correlate such factors with domains and role relations. (Author/HP)

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)

Suggests the outlines of a theory of how sociocultural and grammatical knowledge are integrated in the construction of personal names and how such knowledge can be retrieved from surface linguistic forms. Draws on anthropological and linguistic procedures to analyse the Yoruba personal naming system and the sociolinguistic principles that underly…

Examines current theories of language change, and proposes the theory that language change can be observed and captured while in progress, and that language change can be considered a manifestation of human change in general. (AM)

Examines an area of sociolinguistic methodology that thus far has received relatively little theoretical attention: the composition and analysis of orthographic transcriptions of non-standard speech. Addresses the following aspects: linguistic/semiotic properties of orthographic transcription, and the different functions of orthographic writing…

Discusses the labor theory of language, the comparison of language with the realm of material implements. Language is to the mind as an implement is to the hands. (TL)

A remarkable aspect of the present-day American linguistic and intellectual scene is the fact that public attitudes about language reflect neither scholarly efforts in the field of linguistics nor the intellectual spirit of the twentieth century in general. Prescriptive, absolutist linguistic attitudes on the part of intelligent, educated people…