It is the intent of this Master's Thesis to describe the nonstandard morphology and syntax of a representative sample of children in the Norfolk City schools. The description is organized according to the linguistic patterning of nonstandard English features and their social and ethnic distribution. The speech of both white and Negro children is considered in the interest of clarifying the question of ethnic stratification of dialect features. The research methodology is described, and a discussion of isolated features follows; such features include the zero-copula, invariant "be," third person singular present tense verbs, past forms of the verb, negation, plural formation, pronouns, and questions. The study concludes with implications for future research and pedagogical considerations. The distribution patterns that emerge from the study indicate that most nonstandard features occur in Norfolk in the speech of whites as well as of Negroes. The dialect variations seem to be regional rather than social. The appendixes include the data collection forms and the dialect study questionnaire used in the research. (Author/VM)