Language in the USA

Edward Finegan is Professor of Linguistics and Law at the University of Southern California. John R. Rickford is Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor of Linguistics, Stanford University, and Director of Stanford University's program in African and Afro-American Studies.

'the publishers have rightly decided that a completely new book is in order to illustrate recent findings and new foci of the "21st century". … Finegan provides a useful survey, … and recent atlases, which includes an intelligent use of maps. The chapter interestingly shows that very different methods of data collection and analysis over the years have generally confirmed the findings of the earlier studies.' Anglia

• Part I. American English: 1. American English: its origins and history Richard W. Bailey; 2. The distinctiveness of American English Edward Finegan; 3. Regional American dialects William Kretzschmar; 4. Social varieties of American English Walt Wolfram; 5. African-American vernacular English Lisa Green; 6. The dictionary of American regional English Joan Houston Hall; Part II. Other Language Varieties in the USA: 7. Multilingualism and non-English mother tongues Joshua A Fishman; 8. Creole languages in the United States: forging new identities Patricia Nichols; 9. Native American languages Akira Y. Yamamoto and Ofelia Zepeda; 10. Spanish in the northeast Ana Celia Zentella; 11. Spanish in the southwest Carmen Silva-Corvalán; 12. American sign language Ceil Lucas and Clayton Valli; 13. Asian American voices Thom Huebner and Linda Uyechi; 14. Linguistic diversity and English language acquisition Robert Bayley; Part III. The Sociolinguistic Situation in the USA: 15. Language ideology and language prejudice Rosina Lippi-Green; 16. Ebonics and its controversy John Baugh; 17. Language policy and English-only Terrence G. Wiley; 18. Language and Education Lily Wong Fillmore; 19. Adolescent language Penelope Eckert; 20. Slang Connie Eble; 21. Rap and hip hop H. Samy Alim; 22. Language, gender and sexuality Mary Bucholtz; 23. Language and identity in American literature James Peterson; 24. The language of doctors and patients Cynthia Hagstrom; 25. The language of cyberspace Denise E. Murray; 26. Language attitudes to US speech Dennis R. Preston.