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.;

Autorentext

Nancy A. Niedzielski is Assistant Professor at Rice University, Houston, USA. Dennis R. Preston is Professor at Michigan State University, USA.

Zusammenfassung

"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)

Inhalt
1 Introduction1.1 Background1.1.1 Objections to folk linguistic study1.1.1.1 Impoverishment of data1.1.1.2 Inaccessibility of data1.1.2 Folk linguistic awareness1.1.2.1 Communicative primacy1.1.2.2 PrescriptionI.1.iii The position of folk linguistics1.2 Methodology and fieldwork 2 Regionalism2.1 A survey of earlier studies2.1.1 Hand-drawn maps2.1.2 Correct and pleasant2.1.3 Degree of dialect difference2.1.4 Placement of regional voices2.1.5 Summary of previous research2.2 Conversational evidence2.2.1 Prescription and region2.2.2 Acquisition and loss2.2.3 Intelligibility2.2.4 Specific features2.2.5 A regional summary 3 Social factors3.1 Ethnicity3.1.1 African-American3.1.2 Other3.2 Status3.3 Style, slang, register, and taboo3.3.1 Styles and style-shifting3.3.2 Slang3.3.3 Register3.3.4 Taboo3.4 Gender3.4.1 Sex and standard English3.4.2 Powerlessness3.4.3 Other factors 4 Language acquisition and applied linguistics4.1 First language acquisition4.1.1 Introduction4.1.2 Acquisition proper4.1.2.1 The forces influencing the first-language learner4.1.2.2 The stages of acquisition4.1.3 Language socialization4.1.3.1 The general concerns4.1.3.2 Modeling and correction4.1.4 Varia4.2 Language and education4.2.1 Spelling, reading, and writing4.2.2 Grammar and standard language4.2.2.1 Explicit instruction4.2.2.2 Upholding the standard4.2.3 AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) and language education4.2.4 Bilingual education4.3 Second language acquisition4.3.1 Structure4.3.1.1 Phonology4.3.1.2 Morphology4.3.1.3 Syntax4.3.1.4 Idiom and communicative competence4.3.1.5 Degree of difficulty4.3.1.6 Comprehension4.3.2 Other conditions for learning and use4.3.3 Results4.3.3.1 Prescription and style4.3.3.2 Accent4.3.4 Social factors4.3.5 The learner 5 General and descriptive linguistics5.1 Phonology5.2 Lexicon5.3 Syntax5.3.1 Folk grammaticality5.3.2 The passive 6 The last words 6.1 Metalanguage 16.2 Metalanguage 26.3 The discourse prospect