The fourth volume in this series contains nine contrastive studies in phonetics and phonology. They are: "Remarks on the Physical Manifestation of Internal Open Juncture in the English of Romanians," by Andrei Avram; "The Back Vowels of Romanian and English--A Contrastive Study," by Laurentia Dascalu; "Remarks on the English Diphthongs and…

This paper discusses Esperanto as a planned language and refutes three myths connected to it, namely, that Esperanto is achronical, atopical, and apragmatic. The focus here is on a synchronic analysis. Synchronic variability is studied with reference to the structuralist determination of "marginality" and the dynamic linguistic…

This paper suggests that new approaches are needed in the study of language standardization. One such approach is the consideration of standardization in terms of processes, i.e., in terms of series of related events, rather than as a group of unrelated discrete happenings. Borrowing is one recurring feature in language standardization, and in…

In a sociolinguistic study of the verb phrase in Southern White English, a pattern of change in progress was observed. The 14 variables studied showed that certain variants were increasing, others decreasing, and yet others stable across time within the community, and that each variable's change was progressing in a wave sensitive to age, social…

This study investigated verbal behavior of five third-grade children representing three cultural groups: Afro-American, Afro-Caribbean, and white. Ten sessions involving various language arts activities were tape recorded over a five-week period; session 7 was also videotaped. Sessions 3 to 10 involved group interaction across three interaction…

This paper proposes that curriculum theorists replace abstract language with more descriptive terms in order to achieve productive criticism, and it examines issues inherent in such a change. American educational discourse, traditionally focused on technical rationales, encourages theorizing, but a descriptive, aesthetic rationale might facilitate…

Much research and writing has been carried out in recent years in an attempt to account for and eliminate, or at least minimize, the poor performance of many Black, lower-socioeconomic status, urban children in our schools. This annotated bibliography lists articles, books, and papers that explore the theoretical frameworks employed to describe…

It is possible to think of women's language in terms of the model implied by the following statement. Insofar as native speakers of English are concerned, the language of women in America has four sets of components: those shared with the language of men in America; those shared, in varying proportions, with other women living in patriarchies;…

Focuses on arguments among White American children in a small town in New England, Black American children of migrant harvesters, and rural Hindi-speaking Fiji Indian children. Findings suggest that, while repetition, inversion, and escalation are common to all three cultures, there is considerable variation as to how they are used. (EJS)

Describes a pattern of verbal disputing frequently engaged in by children in Hawaii who have some Polynesian ancestry. This pattern, which is characterized by the forceful use of "not!" as an outright contradiction of one speaker by another, is traced from early childhood into adolescence in the context of relationships in which it develops. (EJS)

The rhyming practices of Sima Xiangru and Wang Bao, early and mid-western Han poets of the Shu area, reveal details about the finals of their languages. Comparisons are made of similarities and differences of their dialects to that of a later compatriot, Yang Xiong. (Author/CB)

Safder Alladina's analysis of the position of South Asian languages in Britain leaves much to be desired, concerning itself largely with Urdu, Hindi to a lesser extent, and hardly at all with Bengali, Gujarati, and Panjabi. The problems and solutions of devising policies appropriate to these languages need to be discussed in greater detail. (CB)

Examines communicative competence in transplanted varieties of English used in various non-Western sociocultural contexts in the world. The examples presented show that native speakers' judgements of the deviations in such Englishes are based on both attitudinal factors and on genuine expectations in the context of verbal interaction. (Author/SED)

As a result of learning French in a situation in which only speech skills are necessary and reading and writing skills are not, Tunisians produce fixed, economical, and valid usage that is incorrect or unacceptable in relation to the norm. (MSE)

Task-specific language demands should be established by study of language in use on the job. The main components of the Casualty doctor's communicative competence must be specified, and the course in English for Special Purposes must reflect these components in its simulations. (CFM)