The twelve papers in this volume, which concerns the interrelationship of language and sex, include: (1) "Difference and Dominance: An Overview of Language, Gender, and Society," by Barrie Thorne and Nancy Henley; (2) "Women's Speech: Separate But Unequal?" by Cheris Kramer; (3) "The Making of a Nonsexist Dictionary," by Alma Graham; (4) "The…

To test the effects of black English on school performance, 27 second graders in a Harlem school were interviewed and tested for competence in spontaneous speech, comprehension of oral and written materials, and oral reading, as well as for explicit grammatical knowledge of standard English morphemes often missing in black English. The data show…

A study of two public school kindergarten classes in New York City, heterogeneously grouped according to ethnic origin and social background, revealed that the maturity and fluency of the children's language varied according to the type of classroom activity in which they were engaged. From observational recordings of teacher-class interaction, it…

This collection of 50 articles by 45 authors, largely from the United Kingdom and America, serves as an introduction for teachers preparing to teach English as a second or foreign language, or for administrators planning a program of English study as a second language. The readings are grouped in nine sections, each with an overview, according to…

Reviews research on sex differences in language use. Describes a study of the language patterns of 20 female college students in basic writing or freshman composition. Addresses instructional implications. Reviews relevant reading theories, discusses the relationship between women's language patterns and their reading schemata, and recommends…

Over the last 10 years, there has been considerable expansion of the Navajo Language Program at Navajo Community College (NCC). The guiding principle for this development has been that the seminal work be done by Navajos, in Navajo, for a Navajo audience, and for Navajo purposes. Navajos who speak Navajo have a richness of resource and an access…

The idea that vowel nuclei in many northern European languages can be divided into peripheral and non-peripheral categories is discussed. Peripheral vowels are those located at the edge of the vowel envelope, and non-peripheral nuclei are those located on the inside. This assertion has not received as much scrutiny as it should. There are at least…

In a contrastive rhetoric study of nonnative English speakers, 768 essays written in English by native speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and English were examined using the Writer's Workbench program to determine whether distinctive, quantifiable differences in the use of 4 cohesion devices existed among the 4 language backgrounds. (Author/LB)

A study investigated certain mechanisms underlying the acquisition of phrasal verbs in English as a Second Language. Subjects were native Finnish- and Swedish-speaking students in Finland, most aged 16-25 years. The subjects were administered a multiple-choice test with each item containing two correct alternatives, a phrasal verb (preferred by…

Papers on language research include: "L'expression de l'opposition en Latin" ("The Expression of Opposition in Latin" (Claude Begin); "Le francais de l'Abitibi: characteristiques phonetiques et origine socio-geographique des locuteurs" ("The French of Abitibi: Phonetic Characteristics and Socio-Geographic Origin…

Problems associated with criterion-referenced language testing are discussed in the context of both standardized proficiency testing and classroom assessment. First, different interpretations of criterion-referencing are examined. A range of approaches for defining criteria and performance levels in second language assessment are outlined, and…

This collection of 14 articles look at the issues in theory and application that arise in the use of simplification in language pedagogy. Articles include the following: (1) "Simplification in Pedagogy" (Christopher Brumfit); (2) "Simplification" (H. V. George); (3) "Fossilization as Simplification?" (Larry Selinker);…

A study tested the hypothesis that spoken language has a strong direct influence on the encoding process, and that speakers of nonstandard dialects have a different set of problems with the written language and make identifiably different errors than do speakers of standard dialect. The subjects, 13 standard and 13 nonstandard dialect speakers…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 27 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the vocalization of /L/ in Philadelphia; (2) a second grade program to isolate and apply knowledge of vowel sounds in word identification; (3) phoneme and…

Evidence exists that, in the past, phonetic variants functioned as sociolinguistic variables, just as they do today, at least in societies with comparable stratificational patterns. This paper presents the significant details of the sociolinguistic environment within which the beginnings of the Great English Vowel Shift were embedded. An attempt…