This comprehensive collection is the first full book-length volume to bring together writing focused around and inspired by the work of John Rickford and his role in sociolinguistic research over the last four decades.

Table of contentsIntroductionIntroduction to the volume Renée Blake and Isabelle Buchstaller The makings of a linguist: John R. Rickford’s education in his native GuyanaEwart ThomasExploring language contact from a sociolinguistic and socio-historical point of viewIntroductionJohn Victor Singler In the Fisherman’s net: Language contact in a sociolinguistics contextShelome Gooden African- Indian- American South- and Caribbean worlds: connecting with John R. Rickford’s language contact researchRajend Mesthrie Ideophones in Guyanese speech: An inventory of depictive lexemes and implications for (de)creolizationWalter Edwards and Onjel Williams Systemic linguistic discrimination and disenfranchisement in the Creolophone Caribbean: The case of the St. Lucian legal systemIan Robertson and Sandra Evans The English words in Sranan: From where, from whom and how?André Sherriah, Hubert Devonish, Ewart Thomas, and Nicole Creanza Another look at the creolist hypothesis of AAVE originsDon Winford Rickford’s list of African American English grammatical features: An updateArthur Spears The ‘aks’ of its day?: Revisiting invariant am in Early Black EnglishJohn McWhorter Viewing ex-slave narratives from a different angle: Variation and discourseLisa Green and Ayana Whitmal Race, class, and linguistic camouflage: Remote past BEEN and the divergence debate revisitedTracey Weldon The sociolinguistic ramifications of social injustice: The case of Black ASLRobert Bayley, Ceil Lucas, Joseph Hill, and Carolyn McCaskill Ethnolinguistic infusion at a Sephardic adventure campSarah Bunin Benor The political ramifications of linguistic heterogeneity IntroductionAlicia Beckford Wassink Giving voice to despair and defiance: Rickford in GuyanaWilliam Labov American mestizos in the Philippines: ‘Mongrelization’ and ‘mixedness’ in American colonial media discourseBonnie McElhinny Family matters: Seminal Rickford contributions to Kinesics, Education, Linguistics, and LawJohn Baugh ‘Are you Soul Folk, Baby?’ Black English, struggle, and consciousness in the 1960s and 1970sRussell J. Rickford We should declare AAL a separate language, although there’s no scientific reason (not) toRalph Fasold Where sociolinguistics and speech science meet: The physiological and acoustic consequences of underbite in a multilectal speaker of African American EnglishAlicia Beckford Wassink Credibility without intelligibility: Implications for hearing vernacular speakersLauren Hall-Lew, Inês Paiva Couceiro and Amie Fars Using pharyngeals out of context: Linguistic stereotypes in parodic performances of Mizrahi Hebrew speakers Roey Gafter Sociolinguists trying to make a difference: race, research and linguistic activismMary Bucholtz Linguistic justice: Evaluating the speech of asylum claimants Peter Patrick Linguistics on trial, under arrest, and in prison: On sharing sociolinguistic and forensic linguistic knowledge with attorneys, law enforcement practitioners, and incarcerated personsNatalie Schilling Implicit sociolinguistic bias and social justice Walt Wolfram and Karen Eisenhauer Forging new ways of hearing diversity: The politics of linguistic heterogeneity in the work of John R. RickfordSharese King and Jonathan Rosa IV The stylistic implications of language variation and change IntroductionEdward Finegan Indexical obsolescencePenelope Eckert Age grading, style, and language change: A lifespan perspectiveGillian Sankoff Style: The presentation of self in everyday life – to an empty theater?Dennis Preston Pidgin, pride and prejudice: Race, gender and stylistic codeswitching in Nigerian stand-up comedyRudolf Gaudio ‘I’d better schedule an MRI’: The linguistic stylization of ‘white’ ethnicity in comedy Carmen FoughtThe N word as an emblem of survival identity in African American comedyJacquelyn Rahman Style in motion: Lectal focusing in an African American sermonDevyani Sharma, Lars Hinrichs, Tracy Conner, and Andrea Kortenhoven Topic-restricting as far as revisitedRobin Melnick and Thomas Wasow Don’t neglect the situation – but don’t stop there either! On intra-individual variation Frans Gregersen V. The educational implications of linguistic heterogeneity and social injustice IntroductionJulie Sweetland and Angela Rickford The Effects of culturally relevant texts and questions on the reading comprehension of students of color Angela E. Rickford Vernaculars – Symbols of solidarity and truth in literatureHazel Simmons-McDonald Transnationalism, social networks, and heterogeneous language practices: A case study of a New York-based Jamaican studentShondel Nero Vetting the Versatility ApproachJulie Sweetland John Rickford and social justice for speakers of Vernacular EnglishJeff Siegel I, too, am America’: African American Language, #BlackLivesMatter, and Critical (Socio)LinguisticsSonja Lanehart A Pedagogy of Linguistic Justice: John Rickford in the classroom and the field Django ParisVI. VignettesJohn R. Rickford – back in the dayGregory GuyTribute to a colleagueTom WasowPutting the humanity into linguisticsDan JurafskyNotes on mentorshipIsla Kristina Flores-BayerThe Consummate TeacherSarah RobertsOde to John R. RickfordChristine Théberge RafalNotes on crossdisciplinary mentorshipJanina FenigsenTribute to a scholarSalikoko S. MufweneSpoken Soul: Tribute to a seminal workGeneva Smitherman and H. Samy AlimJohn R. Rickford’s influence on language and practice Toya WyattTribute from an educatorNoma LeMoineBlack Lives MatterMichel DeGraff