Results by title
6 books match the query 'Bayley, Robert'
Language Variety in the South Revisited
Cynthia Bernstein
University of Alabama Press, 1994
Top linguists from diverse fields address language varieties in the South.
Language Variety in the South Revisited is a comprehensive collection of new research on southern United States English by foremost scholars of regional language variation. Like its predecessor, Language Variety in the South: Perspectives in Black and White (The University of Alabama Press, 1986), this book includes current research into African American vernacular English, but it greatly expands the scope of investigation and offers an extensive assessment of the field. The volume encompasses studies of contact involving African and European languages; analysis of discourse, pragmatic, lexical, phonological, and syntactic features; and evaluations of methods of collecting and examining data. The 38 essays not only offer a wealth of information about southern language varieties but also serve as models for regional linguistic investigation.
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New Perspectives on Language Variety in the South
Historical and Contemporary ApproachesMichael D. Picone
University of Alabama Press, 2015
The third installment in the landmark LAVIS (Language Variety in the South) series, New Perspectives on Language Variety in the South: Historical and Contemporary Approaches brings together essays devoted to the careful examination and elucidation of the rich linguistic diversity of the American South, updating and broadening the work of the earlier volumes by more fully capturing the multifaceted configuration of languages and dialects in the South.
Beginning with an introduction to American Indian languages of the Southeast, five fascinating essays discuss indigenous languages, including Caddo, Ofo, and Timucua, and evidence for the connection between the Pre-Columbian Southeast and the Caribbean.
Five essays explore the earlier Englishes of the South, covering topics such as the eighteenth century as the key period in the differentiation of Southern American English and the use of new quantitative methods to trace the transfer of linguistic features from England to America. They examine a range of linguistic resources, such as plantation overseers’ writings, modern blues lyrics, linguistic databases, and lexical and locutional compilations that reveal the region’s distinctive dialectal traditions.
New Perspectives on Language Variety in the South: Historical and Contemporary Approaches widens the scope of inquiry into the linguistic influences of the African diaspora as evidenced in primary sources and records. A comprehensive essay redefines the varieties of French in Louisiana, tracing the pathway from Colonial Louisiana to the emergence of Plantation Society French in a diglossic relationship with Louisiana Creole. A further essay maps the shift from French to English in family documents.
An assortment of essays on English in the contemporary South touch on an array of compelling topics from discourse strategies to dialectal emblems of identity to stereotypes in popular perception.
Essays about recent Latino immigrants to the South bring the collection into the twenty-first century, taking into account the dramatic increase in the population of Spanish speakers and illuminating the purported role of “Spanglish,” the bilingual lives of Spanish-speaking Latinos in Mississippi, and the existence of regional Spanish dialectal diversity.
Beginning with an introduction to American Indian languages of the Southeast, five fascinating essays discuss indigenous languages, including Caddo, Ofo, and Timucua, and evidence for the connection between the Pre-Columbian Southeast and the Caribbean.
Five essays explore the earlier Englishes of the South, covering topics such as the eighteenth century as the key period in the differentiation of Southern American English and the use of new quantitative methods to trace the transfer of linguistic features from England to America. They examine a range of linguistic resources, such as plantation overseers’ writings, modern blues lyrics, linguistic databases, and lexical and locutional compilations that reveal the region’s distinctive dialectal traditions.
New Perspectives on Language Variety in the South: Historical and Contemporary Approaches widens the scope of inquiry into the linguistic influences of the African diaspora as evidenced in primary sources and records. A comprehensive essay redefines the varieties of French in Louisiana, tracing the pathway from Colonial Louisiana to the emergence of Plantation Society French in a diglossic relationship with Louisiana Creole. A further essay maps the shift from French to English in family documents.
An assortment of essays on English in the contemporary South touch on an array of compelling topics from discourse strategies to dialectal emblems of identity to stereotypes in popular perception.
Essays about recent Latino immigrants to the South bring the collection into the twenty-first century, taking into account the dramatic increase in the population of Spanish speakers and illuminating the purported role of “Spanglish,” the bilingual lives of Spanish-speaking Latinos in Mississippi, and the existence of regional Spanish dialectal diversity.
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Sociolinguistic Pathways in Sign Languages
Studies in Honor of Ceil LucasJoseph C. Hill
Gallaudet University Press, 2026
Sociolinguistic Pathways in Sign Languages honors the remarkable career of Ceil Lucas, a pioneering sociolinguist whose research, teaching, and mentoring profoundly influenced the study of sign language linguistics. Both a heartfelt homage and a scholarly resource, this edited volume is an essential resource that assesses Lucas’s legacy and impact while setting the stage for new directions inspired by her work. Lucas advanced the field of sociolinguistics by demonstrating that variation in American Sign Language (ASL) was systematic and shaped by broader social dynamics. By providing compelling evidence for rule-governed patterns of variation, Lucas and her colleagues strengthened the case for recognizing signed languages as deserving of the same rigorous study as spoken languages. During a distinguished career characterized by more than 130 publications, Lucas not only helped define the field of sign language linguistics but also played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between spoken and signed language research, frequently collaborating with Deaf co-authors. In addition to her groundbreaking work in sociolinguistics, Lucas was also a key member of the team spearheading the scholarly study of Black American Sign Language (BASL). Contributors reflect on Lucas’s pedagogy, scholarship, and mentoring, highlighting her essential role in expanding opportunities for future generations of sign linguistics researchers. Recognizing the enduring relevance of Lucas’s contributions to sociolinguistics, this volume offers new scholarship that illustrates and extends the theoretical and methodological impact of her work.
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Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language
Ceil Lucas
Gallaudet University Press, 2001
The culmination of a seven-year project, this volume provides a complete description of American Sign Language (ASL) variation. For four decades, linguists have studied how people from varying regions and backgrounds have different ways of saying the same thing. For example, in English some people say “test,” while others say “tes’”, dropping the final “t.” Noted scholars Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Clayton Valli led a team of exceptional researchers in applying techniques for analyzing spoken language variation to ASL. Their observations at the phonological, lexical, morphological, and syntactic levels demonstrate that ASL variation correlates with many of the same driving social factors of spoken languages, including age, socioeconomic class, gender, ethnic background, region, and sexual orientation. Internal constraints that mandate variant choices for spoken languages have been compared to ASL as well, with intriguing results. Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language stands alone as the new standard for students and scholars committed to this discipline.
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The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL
Its History and StructureCarolyn McCaskill
Gallaudet University Press, 2020
Black ASL has long been recognized as a distinct variety of American Sign Language based on abundant anecdotal evidence. The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL, originally published in 2011, presents the first sociohistorical and linguistic study of this language variety. Based on the findings of the Black ASL Project, which undertook this unprecedented research, Hidden Treasure documents the stories and language of the African American Deaf community. With links to online supplemental video content that includes interviews with Black ASL users (formerly on DVD), this volume is a groundbreaking scholarly contribution and a powerful affirmation for Black Deaf people.
This paperback edition includes an updated foreword by Glenn B. Anderson, a new preface that reflects on the impact of this research, and an expanded list of references and resources on Black ASL.
The supplemental video content is available online at the Gallaudet University Press YouTube Channel. Under Playlists, click “The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Companion Video to the Book.” The original Black ASL Project research videos are also available.
Featured in the film Signing Black in America: The Story of Black ASL, produced by The Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University (Dr. Walt Wolfram, Executive Producer). Look for it on PBS.
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What's Your Sign for Pizza?
An Introduction to Variation in American Sign LanguageCeil Lucas
Gallaudet University Press, 2019
This introductory text celebrates another dimension of diversity in the United States Deaf community — variation in the way American Sign Language (ASL) is used by Deaf people all across the nation. The different ways people have of saying or signing the same thing defines variation in language. In spoken English, some people say “soda,” others say “pop,” “Coke,” or “soft drink;” in ASL, there are many signs for “birthday,” “Halloween,” “early,” and of course, “pizza.”
What’s Your Sign for Pizza? derives from an extensive seven-year research project in which more than 200 Deaf ASL users representing different ages, genders, and ethnic groups from seven different regions were filmed sharing their signs for everyday vocabulary. The film clips form a supplemental resource to the text and are referenced in their relevant chapters. The text begins with an explanation of the basic concepts of language and the structure of sign language. Each part of the text concludes with questions for discussion, and the final section offers three supplemental readings that provide further information on variation in both spoken and signed languages. What’s Your Sign for Pizza also briefly sketches the development of ASL, which explains the relationships between language varieties throughout the country.
The videos are available online at www.youtube.com/GallaudetUniversityPress.
What’s Your Sign for Pizza? derives from an extensive seven-year research project in which more than 200 Deaf ASL users representing different ages, genders, and ethnic groups from seven different regions were filmed sharing their signs for everyday vocabulary. The film clips form a supplemental resource to the text and are referenced in their relevant chapters. The text begins with an explanation of the basic concepts of language and the structure of sign language. Each part of the text concludes with questions for discussion, and the final section offers three supplemental readings that provide further information on variation in both spoken and signed languages. What’s Your Sign for Pizza also briefly sketches the development of ASL, which explains the relationships between language varieties throughout the country.
The videos are available online at www.youtube.com/GallaudetUniversityPress.
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