Roger Shuy and Ralph Fasold's introduction describing sociolinguistics as (1) a desire to refine linguistic theory, (2) an attempt to describe the sociocultural matrices of language, and (3) an effort to apply sociolinguistic knowledge to this monograph. Walt Wolfram contributes substantially to the development of sociolinguistics theory in…

Subjective reactions to language (language attitudes, beliefs, values, etc.) are the focus of this monograph. Chapters include: (1) "Sociolinguistic Correlates of Speech Style in Quebec" by Alison d'Anglejan and G. Richard Tucker; (2) "Some 'Unexpected' Reactions to Various American-English Dialects" by Bruce Fraser; (3) "Attitudes and Learning a…

In this second of two studies conducted with portions of the National Speech and Hearing Survey data, the investigators analyzed the phonetic variants from standard American English in the speech of two groups of nonstandard English speaking children. The study used samples of free speech and performance on the Gold-Fristoe Test of Articulation…

Expanded version of a paper presented at the TESOL (Teaching of English as a Second Language) Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 6, 1971. (DS)

Discusses an interview in which Marcyliena Morgan elaborates on the necessity to analyze both microlinguistic issues of grammar and phonology as well as larger issues of discourse pragmatics and language ideology. The interview touches on African American poetry, the convergence of African American and standard English, and oases and indirectness.…

For children whose everyday speech differs greatly from the School English (SE) they encounter in academic materials and settings, it was hypothesized that greater familiarity with SE would be associated with more successful early reading acquisition. Sentence imitation and reading skills of 217 urban African American students in kindergarten…

Understandings of the ways home and school languages shape classroom dynamics and influence development, identity, and subsequent school success are important for teachers of both bilingual and African American students. This article builds a link between these complementary bodies of research by analyzing interactions in a second grade mainstream…

To determine whether black children who speak a nonstandard dialect have difficulty in spelling because of the dialect features of their vocabulary, spelling tests were administered to 66 black English-speaking children in the first, second, and third grades. The results indicated that children who spoke black dialect exhibited spelling…

The occurrence of Black English Venacular (BEV) dialect features in the writing of 42 inner-city college students was studied using such sociolinguistic methods as variable rule analysis, computer programs, and implicational scales. A comparison of the patterns found in the subjects' writing with those found in spoken BEV revealed that sometimes,…

This paper focusses on sex contrasts in language as revealed in recent sociolinguistic research. While there are relatively few differences in subjective language identifications and judgments, there are several clear differences in objective language data. In the Detroit Language Study, women show a greater "sensitivity" to multiple…

The author takes up the problem of the origin of Negro dialects in the United States. On the basis of the very limited number of lexical items which can be traced directly to African languages, McDavid discounts the role of African influence on the patterns of current Negro English dialects. William Stewart suggests the possibility of extended…

The present paper reviews recent research in the area of nonstandard English: the major results to date, the significance of this research for education, and suggestions for further research. The notion of "standard" English resists precise definition; there is not a simple set of linguistic features which can be said to define it. The term…

There are three approaches to the nonstandard dialects of Negro inner-city children: eradication; biloquialism, sometimes called functional bidialectism; and appreciation of dialect differences with no attempt to change speech patterns. The essays in the present volume are all written from the biloquialist point of view, which advocates that…

There is justification for the study of black language to help improve language self-concepts in the black community and to assist in reducing the oppressions of black people. Research literature has generally centered on these approaches: (1) black language is an unsystematic, childlike linguistic system; (2) it is basically an extension of…

Based on research conducted in Oakland, California, between 1965 and 1967, this dissertation explores some aspects of language behavior in a black working-class community. Chapter 1 deals with selected features of the code which serve to differentiate the speech community from others and compares the findings of the present study with those of…