Descriptor
| African Languages | 2 |
| Language Variation | 2 |
| Sociolinguistics | 2 |
| Language Classification | 1 |
| Nouns | 1 |
| Phonology | 1 |
| Social Class | 1 |
| Social Influences | 1 |
| Social Structure | 1 |
| Speech | 1 |
| Standard Spoken Usage | 1 |
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| Language in Society | 2 |
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| Irvine, Judith T. | 1 |
| Sapir, J. David | 1 |
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| Senegal | 2 |
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Peer reviewedSapir, J. David – Language in Society, 1975
The Diola-Fogny of Senegal, West Africa, socially intuit with the meta-linguistic terms "big" and "thin" the tense/lax vowel contrast that is basic to their phonology. The two terms are primarily used to identify speech variation among individuals and groups. (Author/RM)
Descriptors: African Languages, Language Variation, Phonology, Social Structure
Peer reviewedIrvine, Judith T. – Language in Society, 1978
Ongoing change in Wolof noun classification is traced by comparing nineteenth-century linguistic evidence with modern sociolinguistic data. Upwardly mobile middle-aged men of high caste tend to reduce the noun class system, whereas other speakers tend to elaborate it. (Author/RM)
Descriptors: African Languages, Language Classification, Language Variation, Nouns
