Purpose: To evaluate the role of dialect on phonemic awareness and nonword spelling tasks. These tasks were selected for their reliance on phonological and orthographic processing, which may be influenced by dialect use. Method: Eighty typically developing African American children in Grades 1 and 3 were first screened for dialect use and then…

This revised, updated, and expanded edition defines more than 8000 idiomatic words and phrases of American English. Each alphabetical entry has a grammatical explanation and an example sentence. The dictionary, which includes a preface in nine different languages, is a tool to help increase fluency in English for students, business travelers, and…

The work of Joseph Sargent Hall, a pioneer researcher in Appalachian studies, is chronicled. Hall was hired by the National Park Service in 1937, as a graduate student, to document the lives and lore of older mountain residents allowed to remain in the Great Smoky Mountains after the land was purchased for a national park. His early efforts…

This pilot project investigates second language (L2) learners' attitudes towards three varieties of English: American (AmE), British (BrE) and Australian (AuE). A 69-word passage spoken by a female speaker of each variety was used. Participants were 30 Chinese students pursuing Masters or Doctoral degrees in the United States, who listened to each…

The evidence of a general achievement gap, and more specifically, a reading gap between African American students and White students is a well documented and alarming phenomenon (Chatterji, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2004, 2007; Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin & Heilig, 2005; Fishback & Baskin, 1991; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Haycock, 2001;…

Replies critically to the article by D. K. Stevenson and R. J. Brunt, "Living English: Seeing the Forest in Spite of the Trees -- On Differences between American English and British English," in this journal, issue 1979/2. A reply by Stevenson and Brunt continues the controversy. (IFS/WGA)

Challenges the belief that the intonation of yes/no questions in American English is different from that of standard British English. Reports on a study that shows that American speakers of English do not distinguish between the high-rising and low-rising intonation, and argues that the supposed difference in intonation between the two varieties…

Provides an alternative analysis for the demonstrative system of reference in spontaneous oral discourse. The alternative model is based on interaction between and among participants and is intended to replace the traditional proximal/distal distinction that statistically centers around the speaker as the primary focus of information. (Author/VWL)

This study presents a phonetic analysis of repetitions occurring in other-initiated repair sequences in American English. Despite their lexical similarities, the repairs are shown to have 2 distinct phonetic patterns. These patterns correspond systematically with a sequential and interactional difference between fitted and disjunct trouble source…

Assessment of tongue strength and endurance is common in research and clinical contexts. It is unclear whether the results reveal discrete function by the tongue or combined abilities of the tongue and jaw. One way to isolate the movement of the tongue is to constrain the jaw kinematically by using a bite block. In this study, 10 neurologically…

This paper presents a single-subject case study illustrating the need to closely examine effects of dialect from syllable position on l-colouring, and the effects of domain-initial strengthening in General American English. Most investigators report lighter /l/ tokens in syllable onsets and darker tokens in coda positions in isolated words. The…

Patterns of developmental change in phonetic perception are critical to theory development. Many previous studies document a decline in nonnative phonetic perception between 6 and 12 months of age. However, much less experimental attention has been paid to developmental change in native-language phonetic perception over the same time period. We…

According to Smith and Nelson [Smith, L.E., Nelson, C.E., 1985. "International intelligibility of English: directions and resources." "World Englishes" 3, 333-342.], "intelligibility" refers to word/utterance recognition, whereas "comprehensibility" is the understanding of word/utterance meaning. This study…

Expectations that Chinese college and university staff and students have concerning English-speaking western educators who are recruited to teach in China were studied. The role that the western educator expects to play in China was also assessed. Attention was focused on the perceptions held by eight Chinese scholars studying in the United States…