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The Structural Design of Language

By Thomas S. Stroik, Michael T. Putnam

In this book, Stroik and Putnam take on Turing's challenge. They argue that the narrow syntax – the lexicon, the Numeration, and the computational system – must reside, for reasons of conceptual necessity, within the performance systems.

Academic Paper


Title: Communities of Practice in Sociolinguistic Description: Analyzing language and identity practices among black women in Appalachia
Paper URL: http://www.equinoxjournals.com/GL/article/view/2882
Author: Christine Mallinson
Email: click here to access email
Homepage: http://christinemallinson.com
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Author: Becky Childs
Email: click here to access email
Institution: Coastal Carolina University
Linguistic Field: Sociolinguistics
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the identities of eight women who share similar demographic profiles but exhibit different language practices. These middle-aged and older women belong to two social groups, which, we argue, constitute two communities of practice within a small black Appalachian community in the Southern United States. From interview data, we analyze six diagnostic sociolinguistic variables (third singular -s absence, copula absence, rhoticity, consonant cluster reduction, habitual be) and also examine productions of /u/ and /o/. The groups differ significantly in their use of the morphosyntactic and syntactic variables and in their vowel productions, but not the consonantal features. Combining our quantitative findings with qualitative data, we suggest language is one of several vehicles the women use to transmit symbolic messages to others and thereby construct identities for themselves and their groups, whose members adhere to different language ideologies, religious norms, notions of feminine decorum, and educational standards.
Type: Individual Paper
Status: Completed
URL: http://www.equinoxjournals.com/GL/article/view/2882


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