Languages and Linguistics: Specific Language Studies

From the cultural depravity theory of the past to equitable cultural and linguistic diversity in the composition classroom, this book investigates the complex impediments encountered by black inner-city students in a predominantly white suburban college environment. Hanni U. Taylor arrives at a new synthesis of research in linguistics, rhetoric, and related disciplines, and her own experiences as teacher and immigrant. In her study she shows how subliminal barriers to interracial communication are decreased, and writing performance of minority students is increased, as a result of distinct methods which reflect respect for cultural and linguistic diversity.

This is the first book to present an in-depth examination and comparison of grammatical phenomena in both Black English and New World English-lexicon Creoles. The volume's concentration on verb phrase patterns adds focus and coherence to the discussion. The contributors include highly respected scholars and very promising younger scholars who have already made their presence felt. Most of the contributors are also native speakers of the languages they describe. Their insights, therefore, are drawn from an extremely rich data base of scholarship, personal experience, and intuition. The book provides a comprehensive treatment of several areas of predication in Black English and Creole, namely the copula system, modality, features of the tense/aspect system, and passivization. Several essays devote attention specifically to the relationships between Black English and Creole verb phrase patterns, including two classic essays that link the study of Black English to that of New World Creoles. The balance of the essays present original analyses of various aspects of predication and explore theoretical issues that have received little attention in the literature. Verb Phrase Patterns in Black English and Creole provides insight not only into areas of Black English and Creole grammar but also goes on to establish a basis for further research on these varieties, forging a link between the past and the future.

The Haitian Creole Language is the first book that deals broadly with a language that has too long lived in the shadow of French. With chapters contributed by the leading scholars in the study of Creole, it provides information on this language's history; structure; and use in education, literature, and social interaction. Although spoken by virtually all Haitians, Creole was recognized as the co-official language of Haiti only a little over twenty years ago. The Haitian Creole Language provides essential information for professionals, other service providers, and Creole speakers who are interested in furthering the use of Creole in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Increased language competencies would greatly promote the education of Creole speakers and their participation in the social and political life of their countries of residence. This book is an indispensable tool for those seeking knowledge about the centrality of language in the affairs of Haiti, its people, and its diaspora.

The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English (WAVE) presents grammatical variation in spontaneous spoken English, mapping 235 features in 48 varieties of English (traditional dialects, high-contact mother tongue Englishes, and indiginized second-language Englishes) and 26 English-based Pidgins and Creoles in eight Anglophone world regions (Africa, Asia, Australia, British Isles, the Caribbean, North America, the Pacific, and the South Atlantic). The analyses of the 74 varieties are based on descriptive materials, naturalistic corpus data, and native speaker knowledge.

John McWhorter challenges an enduring paradigm among linguists in this provocative exploration of the origins of plantation creoles. Using a wealth of data--linguistic, sociolinguistic, historical--he proposes that the "limited access model" of creole genesis is seriously flawed. That model maintains that plantation creole languages emerged because African slaves greatly outnumbered whites on colonial plantations. Having little access to the slaveholders' European languages, the slaves were forced to build a new language from what fragments they did acquire. Not so, says McWhorter, who posits that plantation creole originated in West African trade settlements, in interactions between white traders and slaves, some of whom were eventually transported overseas. The evidence that most New World creoles were imports traceable to West Africa strongly suggests that the well-established limited access model for plantation creole needs revision. In forcing a reexamination of this basic tenet, McWhorter's book will undoubtedly cause controversy. At the same time, it makes available a vast amount of data that will be a valuable resource for further explorations of genesis theory.

Applies linguistics methods for a richer understanding of literary texts and spoken language. Dialect and Dichotomy outlines the history of dialect writing in English and its influence on linguistic variation. It also surveys American dialect writing and its relationship to literary, linguistic, political, and cultural trends, with emphasis on African American voices in literature. Furthermore, this book introduces and critiques canonical works in literary dialect analysis and covers recent, innovative applications of linguistic analysis of literature. Next, it proposes theoretical principles and specific methods that can be implemented in order to analyze literary dialect for either linguistic or literary purposes, or both. Finally, the proposed methods are applied in four original analyses of African American speech as represented in major works of fiction of the American South--Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Charles W. Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Dialect and Dichotomy is designed to be accessible to audiences with a variety of linguistic and literary backgrounds. It is an ideal research resource and course text for students and scholars interested in areas including American, African American, and southern literature and culture; linguistic applications to literature; language in the African American community; ethnicity and representation; literary dialect analysis and/or computational linguistics; dialect writing as genre; and American English.