Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 14:34:54 -0400

From: Tony Schiavo tony[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]BENJAMINS.COM

Subject: New Books: Dialectology



John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the

following new titles in the field of Dialectology:





DIALECT DEATH

THE CASE OF BRULE SPANISH

Charles E Holloway

1997 x, 220 pp. Studies in Bilingualism, 13

US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 547 8 Price: $69.00

Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 4119 8 Price: Hfl. 120,--

John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com

For further information via e-mail: service[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]benjamins.com



The Brule Dwellers of Ascension Parish are descendants of Canary Island

immigrants who came to Louisiana in the late 1700s. A few residents in and

around the Ascension Parish area still speak an archaic dialect of Spanish

which is at the brink of linguistic extinction. Because the Brule dialect

is in the final stages of what is commonly known as "language death", the

case of Brule Spanish presents an exciting opportunity to investigate

commonly held assumptions regarding the structural changes often associated

with vestigial languages. Its relative isolation from other dialects of

Spanish for over two hundred years serves as a sort of linguistic "time

capsule" which provides information that is relevant to critical

outstanding issues in Hispanic dialectology and historical linguistics. In

addition to examining these issues, documenting the specific

characteristics of Brule Spanish, and comparing Brule Spanish with other

modern Spanish dialects, this book presents a very accessible introduction

to the field of language death.





STANDARDS AND VARIATION IN URBAN SPEECH

SOME EXAMPLES FROM LOWLAND SCOTS

Ronald K.S. Macaulay

1997 x, 201 pp. Varieties of English Around the World, 20

US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 717 9 Price: US$64.00

Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 4878 8 Price: Hfl. 120,--

John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com

For further information via e-mail: service[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]benjamins.com



Standards and Variation in Urban Speech is an examination and exploration

of the aims and methods of sociolinguistic investigation, based on studies

of Scottish urban speech. It criticially examines the implications of the

notions 'vernacular', 'standard language', 'Received Pronunciation',

'social class', and 'linguistic insecurity'. Through a combination of

quantitative and qualitative methods using examples from comedians' jokes,

dialect poetry, formal and informal interviews, and personal narratives,

the work illustrates the actual norms that speakers exemplify in various ways.



For further information please e-mail

Bernadette Keck: service[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]benjamins.com