This study traces the syntactic interference of the dialect of 176 black children (grades 1-6) living in south-central Los Angeles when they attempt to speak standard English in the school and correlates the amount of interference with certain socioeconomic variables. Syntactical interference items investigated include verb agreement, tense,…

Sociolinguists have proposed various beginning reading approaches to remedy the reading problems of disadvantaged black children. Their programs reflect their theoretical biases concerning the nature of Black English and the type and degree of interference that may exist between the language of the Standard English (SE) text and the child's…

The selections in this book reflect a concern for understanding urban ghetto vernicular and its implications for teachers. Chapter one provides preliminary information on Black English and an orientation to the linguistic viewpoint taken by the remaining articles. Chapter two discusses the social conditions under which Black English may be spoken;…

This article criticizes a resolution drafted by the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. It argues that the framers of the resolution create misleading impressions about the sociolinguistic situation in the U.S. (Author/AM)

Argues that the temptation to isolate Black Englsh and to identify it as a single cause for all black problems in America must be resisted; e.g. those who suggest that Black English usage is the primary cause of reading problems in black children ignore many factors which may be possible causes of failure, such as inadequate schools. (Author/JM)

Critical rejoinder to Lawrence M. Davis' Social Dialectology in America,'' Journal of English Linguistics, March 1970, p46-56. Special issue on Black Dialect: Historical and Descriptive Issues'' edited by William A. Stewart. (RS)

Examines viewers' perceptions of characters and their speech to see if: (1) the language of the characters corresponds to the language of Black speech communities as described by sociolinguists; (2) White viewers perceive language as important in their perceptions of the characters; and (3) White viewers are more likely to identify with speakers…

Three linguistic theories (the creolist, the transformationalist, and the ethnolinguistic) of the origin and historical development of Ebonics in America are examined. (Author/MC)

Proposes the study of Gullah as a means of discovering the African roots of Black English. (AM)

Code-switching is examined in oral narratives of 30 African-American women as they switched from Standard English to Black English Vernacular. A little over half of the speakers assign positive values to their code switches. Examples are given from interviews with two subjects. (SLD)

A construction occurring in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is examined: NPi "call" NPi V"-ing", as in "the woman call herself working." First, a number of reasons that such a form might be overlooked or dismissed as an AAVE dialect form are outlined. Then the sociolinguistic method is applied to the…

This paper deals with the claims concerning the presumed language deprivation of lower-class blacks, and the findings of sociolinguists that refute these claims. The author asserts that the perceived deficiencies of non-Standard English were largely the product of middle-class intuitive assumptions concerning lower-class speech, and that recent…

This paper makes three arguments reaffirming the overwhelming complexities inherent in any real history of the language of blacks in North America. (1) Although the study of black English, however that term may be defined, is desirable in itself and was profitable for white linguists during the 1960s and early 1970s, it did not and never will do…

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…

From sociolinguistic and dialect research have merged three hypotheses concerning the comparison of American Negro and white speech: (1) there is little difference in the linguistic usage of Negroes and whites of similar socioeconomic status; (2) Negroes have a separate dialect with its own phonological, grammatical, and lexical features; and (3)…