Professor Robert Le Page was a pioneer in the field of English and Creole linguistics in the Caribbean. This collection of papers in honour of Le Page addresses a variety of topics in the field, pointing out the ways in which Le Page and his work have influenced, stimulated or been ignored by others.

This is the first book on Caribbean language studies to include original sections on language in education, speakers' behaviour in informal discourse and language structure. Based on sound linguistic scholarship, the thirteen chapters are organized in three sections: Pedagogical/Sociological; Structure; and Discourse.

Caribbean linguists have long been concerned that the findings of scholars in this field have been inaccessible to teachers and others interested in linguistics in the Caribbean. This book is geared for a wide audience, including school teachers, university students and teachers of linguistics in the Caribbean and the USA, and researchers on Creole languages.

Though there is a contingent of linguists who fight the fact, our language is always changing--not only through slang, but sound, syntax, and words' meanings as well. Debunking the myth of "pure" standard English, tackling controversial positions, and eschewing politically correct arguments, linguist John McWhorter considers speech patterns and regional accents to demonstrate just how the changes do occur. Wielding reason and humor, McWhorter ultimately explains why we must embrace these changes, ultimately revealing our American English in all its variety, expressiveness, and power.

This provocative volume investigates the origins of contemporary African American Vernacular English (AAVE), one of the oldest, yet unsolved, questions in sociolinguistics.

Exploring the hypothesis that contemporary AAVE is a direct descendant of colonial British English rather than of a widespread Creole precursor, this volume presents a comprehensive analysis of tense and aspect as manifested in recorded conversations with 101 former slaves and their descendants. The study is staged in three distinct "diaspora" enclaves in Canada and the Caribbean, whose language has evolved independently of AAVE, modern Creoles and neighboring speech varieties.

Advanced quantitative methodology, combined with linguistically precise analyses of English dialects in historical context, make this an essential text for researchers and students of linguistics, the history of English and African American Studies.

Although the history and structure of Standard English have received much attention, regional forms of English speech have been comparatively neglected. This book aims to introduce the study of dialect in its several aspects both to students of the English language and to interested non-specialists. It is the first work of its kind to draw particularly on the Survey of English Dialects, of which Dr Wakelin was formerly co-editor. Since dialect study in its fullest sense has much light to throw not only on the evolution of the English language but on that of English Society also, Dr Wakelin has sought, within the limits available, to keep the reader constantly aware of this wider significance. In this revised edition errors have been corrected and the text expanded at a number of places to take account of new trends and current research. The bibliography has been updated.

Much scholarly work assumes that the structure of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) derives from an earlier plantation creole. This reader explores an alternative hypothesis: that the characteristic features were acquired from the varieties of English to which early speakers were exposed.

Marshalling historical, dialectal and theoretical linguistic evidence, this work focuses on descendants of former slaves whose ancestors left the US in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to settle in enclave communities where their language developed under conditions of social or geographical isolation.

Six variable linguistic features, most previously considered evidence of creole origins, are traced across varieties of English brought to the US by British colonists. These features, and their linguistic patterning in discourse, are demonstrably part of the English of early African Americans, transmitted to and retained by their descendants long after their disappearance from mainstream varieties of English Contributors include Shana Poplack, Sali Tagliamonte, Gunnel Tottie, and Salikoko S. Mufwene amongst others.

This text celebrates the rich variety of regional and social dialects of English in all its forms, ancient and modern.

In this new, revised and extended edition, Trudgill includes phonetic symbols along with the orthographic representations of speech sounds. Zummerzet and Scouse, Cockney and Cumberland, Brummie and Berkshire, Nottingham, Norfolk and Estuary English are all covered.

English dialects are the result of 1500 years of linguistic and cultural development. Written in non-technical language, this book outlines their history and their geography. It describes and delights in the diversity of vocabulary, accent, grammar and literature to be found among the dialects of England.

In response to the flood of interest in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) following the recent controversy over "Ebonics," this book brings together sixteen essays on the subject by a leading expert in the field, one who has been researching and writing on it for a quarter of a century.

Rickford's essays cover the three central areas in which questions continue to come in from teachers, students, linguists, the news media, and interested members of the public:
What are the "features" of AAVE/Ebonics and how is it used?
What is its "evolution" and where is it headed?
What are its "educational" implications?

The answers to these questions are sometimes matters of controversy even within linguistics, the scientific study of language, but Rickford's essays - written between 1975 and 1998 - provide an informed commentary on them based on systematic research rather than the opinionated misinformation that dominated media commentary on Ebonics.

What is odd about the phrase Scots wha hae? Why do you say you've got the cold in Scots? Is there a difference between ane and yin? Do you say youse to one person or two? These are just some of the questions about Scots that are answered in the Grammar Broonie, the Scottish National Dictionary Association's guide to Scots grammar. This new, expanded edition of the Grammar Broonie includes a special section of classroom exercises by well-known Scots writer and teacher, Matthew Fitt. Intended mainly for use at upper primary and lower secondary level, the Grammar Broonie aims to show that Scots has a distinctive grammar in addition to its rich vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. The text throughout is written in colloquial Scots. This new edition of the Grammar Broonie: *identifies characteristics of Scots grammar *Explains how Scots differs from English grammar *Includes a table of Scots irregular verbs *Discusses regional variations in spelling and grammar *Draws examples from everyday Scots usage *Uses graphics to highligh important grammar points *Includes grammar exercises for use in the classroom

Coptic is the language of the Ancient Egyptians written in Greek letters (with some additions) and though it is no longer spoken it is still the liturgical language of the Coptic Christians of Egypt. It is thus of great interest to those learning ancient Egyptian as well as those who want to study one of the earliest Christian traditions. This well-known grammar, first published in 1977 and revised in 1983, does not pretend to be an exhaustive study of the Coptic language, but aims to provide an introduction to the basic structure of Coptic Grammar as succinctly as possible; the dialect chosen for this task being Sahidic, the principle literary tongue.

How and why do languages change over time? Could the way an individual child develops affect aggregate language change? What do the mechanisms of change tell us about the evolution of language in our species?

To answer these questions, David Lightfoot looks closely at young children. A child develops a grammar on exposure to some triggering experience. A small perturbation in the trigger may entail a different grammar in the next population of speakers, with dramatic effects. This "sensitive dependence on initial conditions" is the key to explaining how languages change, and why they change in fits and starts.

The "cue-based" approach to language acquisition presented here is a radical departure from formal models of language learning. Lightfoot challenges conventional understanding by showing that language change is essentially contingent - unpredictable but explainable; and he contests how far natural selection enables us to understand the evolution of the language faculty in the species.

As many visitors to Ocracoke will attest, the island's vibrant dialect is one of its most distinctive cultural features. In Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks , Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes present a fascinating account of the Ocracoke brogue. They trace its development, identify the elements of pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax that make it unique, and even provide a glossary and quiz to enhance the reader's knowledge of 'Ocracokisms.' In the process, they offer an intriguing look at the role language plays in a culture's efforts to define and maintain itself. But Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks is more than a linguistic study. Based on extensive interviews with more than seventy Ocracoke residents of all ages and illustrated with captivating photographs by Ann Ehringhaus and Herman Lankford, the book offers valuable insight on what makes Ocracoke special. In short, by tracing the history of island speech, the authors succeed in opening a window on the history of the islanders themselves. |A comprehensive history of the evolving relationship between American slavery and the law from colonial times to the Civil War. (Please see cloth edition, published 2/96).

The origins and development of Pidgin in Nigeria are exhaustively examined. The study's perspectives are historical, theoretical, ontological and sociological. Nigerian Pidgin is identified as a language in its own right, with all the characteristics and potentialities of a natural language, its comparatively recent origins nothwithstanding. The authors treat the structure of the language as such; and make the distinctions between Nigerian Pidgine and a range of pidgin-like forms in Nigeria. Professor Ben Elugbe and Dr. Augusts Omamor are both linguistics of repute, and teach in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages at the University of Ibadan.

Susan Buck-Morss examines and stresses the significance of Critical Theory for young West Germ intellectuals after World War II. Looking at the differences between German and American situations during this time period, Origin of Negative Dialectics convincingly sketches the learning process that ended in antagonism. "[The Origin of Negative Dialectics] is by far the best introduction for the American reader to the complex, esoteric, and illusive structure of thought of one of the most seminal Marxian thinkers of the twentieth century. It belongs on the same shelf as Martin Jay's history of the Frankfurt School, The Dialectical Imagination." - Lewis A. Coser, State University of New York, Stony Brook

This study examines the way in which the identity of foreign workers and foreign writers in Germany is negotiated on the basis of language use and literary activity. The book presents an in-depth look at the history of immigration to Germany since the turn of the century and a description of the social situation of foreigners living there at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It emphasizes the variable nature of the German used by foreign workers in the Federal Republic and documents changes that have occurred in the field of Gastarbeiterlinguistik, in particular the shift of focus away from universal features to interpersonal aspects of foreigner-native communication. Foreign worker German is neither pidgin nor creole but rather a range of lects, some of which are fossilized at a very low level, others of which progress toward the standard dialect. The work concludes with a selective history of foreign worker literature, which emphasizes the parallels between linguistic and literary development in the immigrant community.

One of the most distinctive characteristics of English is the number of words and phrases it has borrowed - and continues to borrow - from other languages, originally and most notably from Latin and French but now also from every corner of the globe. From the frequently used veranda and futon to the less familiar quinquennium and catenaccio, from the longstanding in vino veritas and vade mecum to the recent doosra and galactico, this highly informative reference book provides a revealing record of that remarkable story. With 6,000 detailed entries from aa to zut, this dictionary is the authoritative guide to foreign words and phrases used in contemporary British and American English. Drawn from over 40 languages, entries provide details of the history of each word or phrase, including language of origin, spelling variants, pronunciation, and its sense and use in English. Information is given on specific items of interest, such as the use of daemon in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, and full-page feature panels provide extra information on how specific languages and cultures have influenced particular areas of English. This new edition includes 100 new entries including sudoku, uber, and coitus interruptus, plus up-to-date coverage of words that have entered the English language in the 21st Century, including bruschetta, pashmina, and galactico. Ideal for both reference and browsing, this is a perfect book for anyone wanting to uncover the richness of modern English.

Late-nineteenth-century America was crazy about dialect: vernacular varieties of American English entertained mass audiences in "local color" stories, in realist novels, and in poems and plays. But dialect was also at the heart of anxious debates about the moral degeneration of urban life, the ethnic impact of foreign immigration, the black presence in white society, and the female influence on masculine authority. Celebrations of the rustic raciness in American vernacular were undercut by fears that dialect was a force of cultural dissolution with the power to contaminate the dominant language.
In this volume, Gavin Jones explores the aesthetic politics of this neglected "cult of the vernacular" in little-known regionalists such as George Washington Cable, in the canonical work of Mark Twain, Henry James, Herman Melville, and Stephen Crane, and in the ethnic writing of Abraham Cahan and Paul Laurence Dunbar. He reveals the origins of a trend that deepened in subsequent literature: the use of minority dialect to formulate a political response to racial oppression, and to enrich diverse depictions of a multicultural nation.

Part of the Advanced Language Series, this is a revised edition of The Greek Dialects published by Chicago University Press in 1955. Its virtues were comparative clarity and conciseness on a subject too often treated, for example by contemporary work in German, with prolixity and obscurity. It became the standard scholarly introduction and reference work on questions of dialect; and though much valuable additional work has been done on the subject since its appearance, it largely retains its original virtues and still provides a valuable starting point of reference. The Advanced Language Series reissues important books on Greek and Latin Language (and associated areas) which have been unavailable for some time or have not previously appeared in readily affordable paperback format. They are intended for the reference shelves of all scholars and students of classical languages.

A lively, authoritative, and up-to-date look at the world of rhyming slang, from its origins in London's 19th-century underworld to the buzzwords of 21st-century popney. Arranged by topic, including Crime, Food and Drink, Illness, Money, Sex, and Sport, this highly readable collection is at once an informative source to the story behind some of our most lively expressions and a browser's delight.

Scots: The Mither Tongue is a classic of contemporary Scottish culture and essential reading for those who care about their country's identity in the twenty-first century. It is a passionately written history of how the Scots have come to speak the way they do and has acted as a catalyst for radical changes in attitude towards the language. In this completely revised edition, Kay vigorously renews the social, cultural and political debate on Scotland's linguistic future, and argues convincingly for the necessity to retain and extend Scots if the nation is to hold on to its intrinsic values. Kay places Scots in an international context, comparing and contrasting it with other lesser-used European languages, while at home questioning the Scottish Executive's desire to pay anything more than lip service to this crucial part of our national identity. Language is central to people's existence, and this vivid account celebrates the survival of Scots in its various dialects, its literature and song. The mither tongue is a national treasure that thrives in many parts of the country and underpins the speech of everyone who calls themselves a Scot.

In Relativization in Ojibwe Michael D. Sullivan Sr. compares varieties of the Ojibwe language and establishes subdialect groupings for Southwestern Ojibwe, often referred to as Chippewa, of the Algonquian family. Drawing from a vast corpus of both primary and archived sources, he presents an overview of two strategies of relative clause formation and shows that relativization appears to be an exemplary parameter for grouping Ojibwe dialect and subdialect relationships. Specifically, Sullivan targets the morphological composition of participial verbs in Algonquian parlance and categorizes the variation of their form across a number of communities. In addition to the discussion of participles and their role in relative clauses, he presents original research linking geographical distribution of participles, most likely a result of historical movements of the Ojibwe people to their present location in the northern midwestern region of North America. Following previous dialect studies concerned primarily with varieties of Ojibwe spoken in Canada, Relativization in Ojibwe presents the first study of dialect variation for varieties spoken in the United States and along the border region of Ontario and Minnesota. Starting with a classic Algonquian linguistic tradition, Sullivan then recasts the data in a modern theoretical framework, using previous theories for Algonquian languages and familiar approaches such as feature checking and the split-CP hypothesis.

Cekidot, gan!--"Check it out, Boss!" Kamu Dodol--"You're a coconut fudge!" (You're slow on the uptake) This book is an informal compendium of Indonesian expressions, including proverbs, slang, quotations and acronyms. The unique aspects of the Indonesian language offer one of the best windows into Indonesian culture. Slang, titles, proverbs, nicknames, acronyms, quotations and other expressions reveal its character, in the words of its people and are a great way to learn Indonesian culture. This book of expressions looks at Indonesia with the help of its national language, bahasa Indonesia. It describes Indonesians and their fears, beliefs, history and politics, as well as how they live, fight, grieve and laugh. Indonesian is a variant of Malay, the national language of Malaysia, and many of its expressions come from the Malay heartland of Sumatra island. Indonesian has also incorporated terms from Javanese, the language of the dominant ethnic group in a huge nation of more than 17,000 islands. Although Indonesian is officially a young language, it contains words from Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese and English, a legacy of the merchants, warriors, laborers and holy men who traveled to the archipelago over the centuries. The Indonesian language was a nationalist symbol during the campaign against Dutch rule in the 20th century. Indonesians who fought against colonialism made it the national language in their constitution when they declared independence in 1945. Two generations later, modern Indonesians loveword play. The tongue slips and skids, chopping words, piling on syllables and flipping them. Indonesians turn phrases into acronyms and construct double meanings. Their inventions reflect social trends, mock authority, or get the point across in a hurry. This book divides Indonesian expressions into categories such as food and wisdom, politics and personalities. The format is the same in each chapter. An expression in Indonesian, or sometimes a regional language in Indonesia, is followed by a translation, an interpretation of the meaning, and usually a summary of the idiom's origin or background. Some translations are more literal than others, reflecting an effort to balance clarity of meaning with the flavor of the original words.

This book is the first full-length volume to offer a comprehensive introduction to the English spoken in Britain's oldest overseas colony, and, since 1949, Canada's youngest province. Within North America, Newfoundland and Labrador English is a highly distinctive speech variety. It is known for its generally conservative nature, having retained close ties with its primary linguistic roots, the traditional speech of southwestern England and southern Ireland. It is also characterised by a high degree of regional and social variation. Over the past half century, the region has experienced substantial social, economic and cultural change. This is reflected linguistically, as younger generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians increasingly align themselves with 'mainland' North American norms. The volume includes: *An accessible description of the phonological, grammatical, lexical and discourse features of this variety *Treatment of regional speech variation within the province, and its historical sources *Discussion of the social underpinnings of ongoing language change *Language samples from both traditional and contemporary speakers *A survey of published work on Newfoundland and Labrador English from earlier centuries to the present day.

Orbs and the Attack of the Hair Spiders begins a fantastic journey full of magic, strange beasts, family and friendship. Brickabrack is a town terrified by strange disappearances and grisly murders. Could its salvation come from a chance encounter between the ancient forest gnome, Orbs and the banished Warlock, Blackmouth? The first in the series featuring the magical being, Orbs.