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Folk knowledge of language has not engaged linguists very often in the history of that field. Introductory texts often disparage folkbelief in contrast to 'scientific truth'. In fact, language is a ubiquitous topic of discussion and general concern of the folk. They talk about grammar, pronunciation, first and second language learning, language disabilities, dialects, gender and language, and a host of other topics. This book approaches such beliefs as one of the most important aspects of ethnography. Surely what a people believe about their language is as important as any other key to an understanding of their culture.;
List of contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.1.1 Objections to folk linguistic study
1.1.1.1 Impoverishment of data
1.1.1.2 Inaccessibility of data
1.1.2 Folk linguistic awareness
1.1.2.1 Communicative primacy
1.1.2.2 Prescription
I.1.iii The position of folk linguistics
1.2 Methodology and fieldwork
2 Regionalism
2.1 A survey of earlier studies
2.1.1 Hand-drawn maps
2.1.2 Correct and pleasant
2.1.3 Degree of dialect difference
2.1.4 Placement of regional voices
2.1.5 Summary of previous research
2.2 Conversational evidence
2.2.1 Prescription and region
2.2.2 Acquisition and loss
2.2.3 Intelligibility
2.2.4 Specific features
2.2.5 A regional summary
3 Social factors
3.1 Ethnicity
3.1.1 African-American
3.1.2 Other
3.2 Status
3.3 Style, slang, register, and taboo
3.3.1 Styles and style-shifting
3.3.2 Slang
3.3.3 Register
3.3.4 Taboo
3.4 Gender
3.4.1 Sex and standard English
3.4.2 Powerlessness
3.4.3 Other factors
4 Language acquisition and applied linguistics
4.1 First language acquisition
4.1.1 Introduction
4.1.2 Acquisition proper
4.1.2.1 The forces influencing the first-language learner
4.1.2.2 The stages of acquisition
4.1.3 Language socialization
4.1.3.1 The general concerns
4.1.3.2 Modeling and correction
4.1.4 Varia
4.2 Language and education
4.2.1 Spelling, reading, and writing
4.2.2 Grammar and standard language
4.2.2.1 Explicit instruction
4.2.2.2 Upholding the standard
4.2.3 AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) and language education
4.2.4 Bilingual education
4.3 Second language acquisition
4.3.1 Structure
4.3.1.1 Phonology
4.3.1.2 Morphology
4.3.1.3 Syntax
4.3.1.4 Idiom and communicative competence
4.3.1.5 Degree of difficulty
4.3.1.6 Comprehension
4.3.2 Other conditions for learning and use
4.3.3 Results
4.3.3.1 Prescription and style
4.3.3.2 Accent
4.3.4 Social factors
4.3.5 The learner
5 General and descriptive linguistics
5.1 Phonology
5.2 Lexicon
5.3 Syntax
5.3.1 Folk grammaticality
5.3.2 The passive
6 The last words
6.1 Metalanguage 1
6.2 Metalanguage 2
6.3 The discourse prospect
About the author
Nancy A. Niedzielski is Assistant Professor at Rice University, Houston, USA. Dennis R. Preston is Professor at Michigan State University, USA.
Report
"This fascinating book investigates how non-linguists think and talk about language, an area overlooked by linguists, as the authors show."
Joseph Salmons in: Diachronica
"The people the book will most likely appeal to are applied linguists, the teachers of linguistics, and linguistically oriented educators. [...] It will be equally appealing to ethnolinguists and folklorists because the authors approach folk linguistic belief as one of the most important aspects of ethnography and as a key to understanding a culture." [...] The authors are to be applauded for being unafraid to tackle an issue that has long been leftout of scholarly research in linguistics. The book is recommended to anyone interested in language and linguistics and in how ordinary people regard these topics."
Deni Zeyrek, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in: Asian Folklore Studies, Nagoya (Vol.LXI-1/2002)
