THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE INTERSECTION OF THE NONSTANDARD ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE URBAN GHETTOS AND STANDARD ENGLISH. THE AUTHORS DRAW ON SOME PRELIMINARY DATA GATHERED IN PERSONAL INTERVIEWS, INCLUDING A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 100 LOWER- AND MIDDLE-INCOME ADULTS IN THREE AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL HARLEM. ALTHOUGH NEGRO SPEECH PATTERNS HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED AS THE PRODUCT OF DIALECT MIXTURE OF TWO ORIGINALLY UNIFORM GRAMMARS, THESE DATA DO NOT SUPPORT SUCH A CONSTRUCT. RULES ARE DESCRIBED WHICH EMBODY CONTINUOUS VARIATION AT ALL AGE LEVELS, AS WELL AS OTHER RULES REPRESENTING ADJUSTMENTS IN CONDITIONS ON STANDARD RULES WHICH HAVE PROVED UNSTABLE IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH. GENERALLY, THE AUTHORS' INVESTIGATIONS SO FAR INDICATE THAT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THIS DIALECT AND STANDARD ENGLISH ARE GREATER ON THE SURFACE THAN IN THE UNDERLYING GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE. THIS REPORT WAS PRESENTED AT THE "7TH PROJECT LITERACY CONFERENCE, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, MAY 25, 1967" AND APPEARS IN "PROJECT LITERACY REPORTS NUMBER 8," CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 1967. (AUTHOR/JD)