Focus on the USA
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Focus on the USA
(Varieties of English around the world, . General series ; v. 16)
J. Benjamins, c1996
- : Eur
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This volume presents fifteen original research papers by renowned specialists in their respective fields. A variety of research traditions are included, such as dialect geography and sociolinguistics, but also smaller sub-fields such as the study of slang and perceptual dialectology. Varieties studied include the South, the Eastern Seaboard, the Middle West, African American English, Cuban English, and others. A growing sense of unity in the discipline is reflected by recurring topics and methods across earlier boundaries between sub-disciplines. For instance, computerized data and statistical analyses are standard tools nowadays, and a few papers explicitly address the possibilities and limitations of these methods. The study of variation and change of linguistic varieties has largely replaced earlier, monolithic notions of dialect, and the question of change in dialects, the erosion of traditional speech forms under the impact of modern communication patterns and socio-economic developments, is investigated in several contributions. In general, a recent orientation towards the history and development of nonstandard varieties is reflected in the book - several papers study diffusion patterns of linguistic forms, or discuss the emergence of individual dialects or dialectal forms in a language contact framework. Altogether, the papers provide a lively illustration of and a fairly representative selection from ongoing high-quality linguistic research into American English.
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: Research trends in the study of American English (by Schneider, Edgar W.)
- 2. Piney Woods Southern (by Pederson, Lee)
- 3. Foundations of American English (by Kretzschmar, Jr., William A.)
- 4. The comparability of linguistic atlas records: The case of LANCS and LAGS (by Davis, Lawrence M.)
- 5. Terms used for children's games: Comparing DARE's findings with usage of today's youth (by Schneidemesser, Luanne von)
- 6. The dialects of the Middle West (by Frazer, Timothy C.)
- 7. Dialect change and maintenance in a post-insular island community (by Wolfram, Walt)
- 8. A comparison of variation patterns of variables among sixth graders in an Ohio community (by Thomas, Erik R.)
- 9. Perceptions within a variable paradigm: Black and white detection and identification based on speech (by Baugh, John)
- 10. Sex-based differences in language choice in an African-American neighborhood in Detroit (by Edwards, Walter F.)
- 11. The English competence of Cuban exiles: The case of noun pluralization (by Maas, Frank)
- 12. What was verbal - s in 19th-century African American English? (by Montgomery, Michael)
- 13. The development of American Englishes: Some questions from a creole genesis perspective (by Mufwene, Salikoko S.)
- 14. Historical and contemporary distribution of double modals in English (by Fennell, Barbara A.)
- 15. American college slang (by Eble, Connie)
- 16. Where the worst English is spoken (by Preston, Dennis R.)
- 17. Addresses of authors
- 18. Subject index
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