An article and a bibliography constitute this issue of the "Illinois English Bulletin." In "Keep the Natives from Getting Restless," Barry Gadlin examines native language learning by children from infancy through high school and discusses the theories of several authors concerning the teaching of the native language. The "Bibliography of…

The communications barrier confronting the ghetto child, the child from Appalachia, or the reservation Indian is the standard middle-class English taught in most schools. Ways of dissolving this barrier are suggested. Speaking habits as well as thinking patterns of teachers must frequently alter. A child should be encouraged to verbalize and to…

Experiments in language teaching have indicated that, especially in the case of teaching English as a foreign language, no pronunciation of English sounds natural unless the intonation (prosodic features) is fairly acceptable. Even with satisfactory consonants and vowels, a phrase with incorrect melody still sounds foreign. On the other hand, when…

A recent study was conducted at Stanford University to determine the degree of correspondence between phonemes and graphemes in English. In past attempts to achieve universal literacy, language reformers have proposed a revised alphabet of one grapheme for each phoneme, a change which anti-reformers have insisted would be costly. Modern linguists,…

Although many authors have mentioned examples of how black usually connotes a negative evaluation and white a positive evaluation, the literature on the topic has not yet included an attempt to list examples comprehensively. Those which are cited here come from a wide variety of sources: primarily from dictionaries, books of slang, and personal…

If the non-native teacher of English as a foreign language hopes to approach a high standard of oral competence in the language, he must cultivate some conscious perception and control of intonation. He can achieve this objective in various ways. Situations in which natural speech occurs would be ideal but few teachers have the opportunity for…

Divides American (Midwestern) sounds into 10 categories, and describes their pronunciation on the basis of Daniel Jones'"English Pronuncing Dictionary." Also describes American peculiarities of intonation, rhythm and nasalization. A list of words differing in pronunciation from British is added. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This keynote address by a native Vietnamese speaker who did not learn English until he was college-age, through the now obsolete "grammar-translation" method, recounts his difficulties in learning to converse orally in English. He stresses the need to teach conversational English to English Language Learners (ELLs) in addition to…

Examines the phonetic characteristics of babbling by a pair of fraternal twins raised in a bilingual environment (English/Serbian). The study focused on the basic articulatory form of babbling, the impact of twinship on babbling patterns, and whether effects specific to one or another of the ambient languages could be observed. (30 references)…

A study is reported that investigated American children's use of subjects in early speech and compared this cross-sectional data to longitudinal data on Italian children's production of subjects. Twenty-one American children aged 1.10 to 2.8 years were recorded in mother-child interactions and grouped by mean length of utterance (MLU) produced.…

This document consists of the final two issues of a newsletter that addresses aspects of adult English-as-a-Second-Language literacy education. Articles on the following topics are included: (1) student-centered literacy materials; (2) a Rhode Island literacy program; (3) professional involvement in adult literacy programs; (4) a modern phonetic…

A study compared language patterns in a group of 100 residents of Ottawa and 240 residents of Vancouver, categorized by sex, age (under or over 40), and socioeconomic status. The informants provided tape-recorded interviews of an hour or more in response to similarly-conducted questionnaires designed to elicit tokens for a large number of…

This transcript of and guide to a two-cassette course designed to assist Vietnamese immigrants in erasure of their foreign accents can be used for either individual or group study. Narrative and taped demonstrations of American English that pinpoint typical phonological barriers and pronunciation difficulties are outlined. The author's own system…

An examination of the place of American English in the research of William Dwight Whitney and Leonard Bloomfield focuses on the divergence of their approaches to language. A review of their works looks at the way in which Whitney's interest in American English complemented his other strong interests (the social and political setting for language…

A study examined the effect of a job-related approach to language learning on a fossilized learner of English as a second language. The subject was a bilingual female nurse with 20 years' residence in the United States. Her oral and written output was thoroughly analyzed and her social and linguistic needs for interacting with patients and…