This book covers both the linguistic features of African-American English, in particular the grammar, phonology and lexicon, and the sociological, political and educational issues associated with it.

Introduction 1. Some Aspects of African-American Vernacular English Guy Bailey and Erik Thomas 2. The Sentence in African-American Vernacular English Stefan Martin and Walt Wolfram 3. Aspect and Predicate Phrases in African-American Vernacular English Lisa Green 4. The Structure of the Noun Phrase in African-American English Salikoko S. Mufwene 5. Coexistent Systems in African-American English William Labov 6. The Development of African-American Vernacular English, Focusing on the Creole Origin Issue John R. Rickford 7. Word from the Hood: The Lexicon of African-American Vernacular English Geneva Smitherman 8. African-American Language Use: Ideology and So-Called Obscenity Arthur K. Spears 9. More than a Mood or an Attitude: Discourse and Verbal Genres in African-American Culture Marcyliena Morgan 10. Linguistics, Education, and the Law: Education Reform for African-American Language Minority Students John Baugh