The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate that the fields of linguistics, dialectology, language education, and early reading would be well served by a word book of the Black English vernacular. Chapters are devoted to discussion of the social significance of a lexicon of Black English vernacular, the terminology of sex and lovemaking, religion and the church, music (especially the blues), and the "street hustle" (prostitution, gambling, and narcotics), the problem of "slang" versus genuine black lexicon, the language of black folklore, discourse distribution and the problem of semantic difference in homophonous items, and issues in trusting literary sources as accurate reflections of black language patterns. A bibliography and an index complete the volume. (KS)