The global prevalence of English as a lingua franca (ELF) across diverse linguacultural communities within the three circles invites an in-depth analysis of its phonological and lexicogrammatical features, especially among non-native English speakers. This qualitative study investigated these features among 30 Thai students from English and…

English is clarified as a Germanic language, and it began in what is now the British-Isles. After years of development, English language has many varieties in different parts of the world. Different varieties differ in accent, vocabulary, grammar, discourse, sociolinguistics, and have its respective characteristics in pronunciation, tone,…

The traditional Philadelphia allophonic /ae/ system (henceforth: PHL shown in (1) below) is characterized by a set of complicated conditioning factors and a dramatic acoustic distinction between the two allophones. In recent years, some Philadelphians have begun to exhibit a new allophonic system (NAS, shown in (2) below). Like PHL, NAS is…

The study of short-"a" (e.g., the vowel in words such as "bat," "bad," "bang," "ban") in New York City English (NYCE) has a long history, and with many different descriptions of this complex system (e.g., Babbitt 1896; Trager 1930; Labov 1966/2006; Cohen 1970; Labov 2007). It is complex due to the…

The current study examined the extent to which native speakers of North American and Singapore English differentially perceive the comprehensibility (ease of understanding) of second language (L2) speech. Spontaneous speech samples elicited from 50 Japanese learners of English with various proficiency levels were first rated by 10 Canadian and 10…

The current study examined how two groups of native speakers--monolingual Canadians and multilingual Singaporeans--differentially perceive foreign accentedness in spontaneous second language (L2) speech. The Singaporean raters, who had exposure to various models of English and also spoke multiple L2s on a daily basis, demonstrated more lenient…

This article describes the use of African American English (AAE) in the written and oral language of African American adolescents who struggle with writing. Written and oral language samples of 22 African American 10th-grade students were transcribed, analyzed, and coded for AAE, grammatical errors, spelling errors, and punctuation errors. Four…

This study of L-2 Russian interlanguage production examined the salience of phonetic, lexical and syntactical features for L-1 listener intelligibility, based on L-2 recitation of written scripts (Part I) and also unrehearsed speech (Part II). Part III of the study investigated strategies used by native-speaking teachers of Russian as a Second…

A discussion of nonstandard varieties of English implies a standard variety. What "standard" English actually is should be defined in order to approach it in the classroom. C.C. Fries described it as the variety used by those who hold positions of trust and respect and conduct the important affairs of a community. This definition admits that what…

The 25 communities that were chosen for the Indiana portion of the Linguistic Atlas of the United States project were selected in part to provide coverage of an area but in some instances because of their early settlement, location on a migration route, or geographical features. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire which contained…

The characteristics of several nonstandard dialects of American English are presented in this paper in the form of an inventory of features. It has been compiled with the recognition that nonstandard dialects are governed by pronunciation and grammatical rules and that within the broad category of nonstandard dialects, regional and ethnic…

A COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF SPOKEN WORDS AND PHRASES WAS OBTAINED IN 1959 FROM THE RESPONSES OF 33 NATIVE INFORMANTS FROM 23 COUNTIES IN TENNESSEE, GEORGIA, MISSISSIPPI, AND ALABAMA. INFORMANTS WERE ASKED TO IDENTIFY PICTURES, AND THEIR RESPONSES WERE RECORDED ON TAPE AND TRANSCRIBED. A COMPUTER WAS UTILIZED TO PRODUCE LISTINGS OF PARTICULAR SPEECH…

Notes that English coronal stop deletion is constrained by the preceding segment, so that stops and sibilants favor deletion more than liquids and nonsibilant fricatives. Suggests the existence of an attractive theoretical integration of categorical and variable processes in the grammar to account for the constraint. (26 references) (Author/CK)

The text is designed for self-study of the grammar and pronunciation of standard oral North American English. It is not intended to replace learners' dialects but to provide alternative ways of speaking for appropriate situations. The book is divided into two main sections. The first outlines pronunciation differences between Standard English (SE)…

An attempt is made in this book to state some of the features of and dispel some of the myths about nonstandard English, particularly the dialects of English spoken by many black Americans, and to consider alternative policies that might be adopted regarding varied forms of English. The chapters of the book include "What Is the Problem?""Is…