Analysis of approximately 5,000 words and phrases of the "hard core poor" is the basis of an attempt to develop a taxonomy of their language usage. The authors examine the problem of culture differences from mainstream society. "This approach assumes that basic beliefs about relevant social reality will be reflected in a group's choice of rules for language use." Certain underlying beliefs are deduced. "Syntax is not analyzed directly," but "some implications from semantic features to syntax are marked." The hard core poor give words from Standard English (SE) a new distinctive meaning, without any change in class. Cooccurrence restrictions are different from SE. Progressive development of meaning appears common, and signifiers change rapidly; but "rules for production of new selections appear to remain relatively constant" suggesting "that these rules reflect dominant hard core values." The inferred incompatibility of usage should be tested along the dimensions of difference in perception of time, perception of self in social space, classification procedures, and concepts of causality. An appendix lists 11 semantic distinctive features with examples. (MK)