Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular Book

	List of Figures
	List of Tables
	Introduction
Pt. I	The Structure of the Black English Vernacular
1	Some Sources of Reading Problems for Speakers of the Black English Vernacular	3
2	Is the Black English Vernacular a Separate System?	36
3	Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English Copula	65
4	Negative Attraction and Negative Concord	130
Pt. II	The Vernacular in Its Social Setting
5	The Logic of Nonstandard English	201
6	The Relation of Reading Failure to Peer-Group Status	241
7	The Linguistic Consequences of Being a Lame	255
Pt. III	The Uses of the Black English Vernacular
8	Rules for Ritual Insults	297
9	The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax	354
	Bibliography	397
	Index	407