Documenting sociolinguistic variation in lesser-studied languages presents methodological challenges, but also offers important research opportunities. In this paper we examine three key methodological challenges commonly faced by researchers who are outsiders to the community. We then present practical solutions for successful variationist…

From its inception in 1977 until its last year of publication by an Australian publisher in 2015, the "Australian Review of Applied Linguistics" featured over 700 articles related to applied linguistics. This publication history provides a unique resource for tracing the scope and change of the applied linguistics landscape in Australia…

Australian research on immigrant languages has paid little attention to interactional approaches to language alternation as identity construction, and sites other than the family and the mainstream school. We argue for the need of studies that take into account a wider range of sites, in particular "community" sites, and adopt…

In this paper, we first explore the trends in the maintenance of migrant community languages among the first generation migrants and then the socio-economic variation in the shift in use of community languages. Our analysis showed that language shift to English among first generation migrants has not been uniform, with some migrant groups adopting…

The role of linguists employed in Aboriginal community language centres requires three considerations to be addressed by the language centres themselves, by the linguists and by the organisations that prepare them: what is required of the linguist by language centres; to what extent does the linguist's own skills, interests and ideology match what…

Griffith University is set across five campuses in south-east Queensland, Australia, and has a student population of 43,000. The School of Languages and Linguistics (LAL) offers programs in linguistics, international English, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, as well as English language enhancement courses. Research strands reflect the…

An area in need of study in child language acquisition is that of complex multilingual contexts in which there is little language separation by interlocutor or domain. Little is known about how multilingual children use language to construct their identities in each language or in both languages. Identity construction in monolingual contexts has…

Reports on four Australian experiments using Lambert's Matched Guise Technique for obtaining sociolinguistic attitudes. The accents studied include Australian; Received Pronunciation English, Liverpool, Glasgow Scots, East Coast U.S.A., French, German, and Italian. (EKN)

Describes the social situations and attitudes of speakers of Dyirbal in addition to changing language identifications, and reports on Dyirbal contract in lexical and grammatical complexity as it has moved toward an inevitable extinction. (11 references) (GLR)

Direct links between Australian English and the Australian culture are drawn. The author proposes ways in which a linguistically precise and culturally revealing study of linguistic phenomena such as expressive derivation, illocutionary devices, and speech act verbs are related to Australian society, history, culture, and "national…

Five studies of aboriginal language use in Australia's Northern Territory include: (1) "Yanyuwa--A Dying Language" (Jean F. Kirton), which outlines the factors contributing to the demise of the use of Yanyuwa since 1963 and the trend toward use of Kriol; (2) "Kriol in the Barkly Tableland" (Phillip L. Graber), presenting…

Offering a comprehensive review of Australian research directed toward the study of the language use of children from different social backgrounds, this book assesses the validity of Basil Bernstein's thesis that many lower working class children are confined to a restricted code of language use. This evaluation is set in two wider contexts: what…

This paper provides a review of "English Transported: Essays on Australasian English," edited by W. S. Ramson. The book is a collection of articles on the various types of English spoken mainly in Australia and New Zealand. Articles discuss such varieties as nineteenth and twentieth century Australian English, New Zealand English, Pidgin…

Suggests the use of principal components analysis as an alternative solution to the problem of grouping speakers by sociological characteristics prior to quantitative analysis. An example is presented of its application to vowel variation data collected as part of a sociolinguistic survey of English in Sydney, Australia. (Author/CB)

Presents the results of an analysis of science-classroom lab talk which focuses on topics and manner of talk as an approach to understanding the social context of undergraduate lab work. Argues that lab instructors should pay attention to how "scientific" the lab talk is, and to sociability among students. Contains 32 references.…