The marking of past temporal reference in Black English Vernacular (BEV) and Trinidadian English is compared. Similarities in the patterns of variation according to verb type and phonological conditioning suggest that past marking in contemporary BEV preserves traces of an earlier shift from a creole pattern to one approximating the Standard…

Examined a nonstandard pattern of agreement found in certain varieties of Atlantic Canada Acadian French. Quantitative analysis of subject-verb agreement patterns in Newfoundland French revealed consistent invariant behavior in this dialect, or, where there is variation, variation constrained according to specific linguistically based factors. (19…

Discusses a shift in the distribution of first person plural pronouns, as well as changes in the patterns of use of the corresponding verb inflections, in spoken Brazilian Portuguese across four generations of speakers from Rio de Janeiro. (Author/VWL)

Using the case of a vernacular variety spoken on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, this article demonstrates how linguistic-systemic principles such as remorphologization, psycholinguistic principles of perceptual saliency, and sociolinguistic processes of symbolic identity converge to account for the development of leveling in this community.…

Investigated the potential correlation of agreement marking with the expression of pronominal subjects in the speech of 10 Spanish speakers from Puerto Rico and 10 from Spain. The results show not only similar patterns of pronominal expression but also similar rankings of constraints on pronominal expression in both dialects. (MDM)

Examines the process of consonant cluster reduction in the English of residents of a San Antonio, Texas, "barrio." The author compares Tejano patterns of "/-t,d/" deletion with the pan-English pattern. Results suggest a pattern of convergence and divergence. The study shows that Mexican American English exhibits regional and…