The geolinguistic history of Norden (Scandinavia plus Finland) is reviewed. The shifting political boundaries, particularly of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, have contributed to a complex distribution of language populations that is all the more interesting given the common ancestry of most of the languages involved. The forces of nationalism have…

Investigates the communicative treatment of secrets, presenting examples from recorded communicative interactions in a wide range of social milieus and settings in which the participants revealed knowledge of secrets, tried to dig out old secrets without appearing to be doing so, and occasionally, appeared to be hiding some items of knowledge from…

Discusses the changing status of Quebec French, as witnessed by laws governing its use and official nature, its actual usage as a communication tool, and attitudes of Anglophones and Francophones toward it. (AM)

Outlines the current language situation in Singapore in relation to demographic and political changes. Reasons are given for the preeminence of English and the push for Mandarin Chinese as the official language. The role of Premier Lee Kwan Yew and the media in propounding the Republic language policy is discussed. (Author/PJM)

Examines the rating scale and the testing procedure of the oral interview for evidence of discourse competence. The paper suggests that a careful examination of the processing capabilities might serve as a valid indicator of their discourse competence. (24 references) (GLR)

Introduces a special issue containing a series of articles on the relation of social interaction and morality. The articles analyze actual instances of moral discourse, elucidating the nature and dynamics of the relationship. This introduction discusses morality, discourse, and social science; proto-mortality as a substructure of discourse;…

Explores issues concerning the accountability of conduct and the moral work that may be managed through accounts of actions, in the context of naturally occurring telephone conversations. Distinguishes between the implicit and explicit moral work of accounts, considering cases in which speakers appear implicitly to be doing defensive moral work in…

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)

Discusses the ethnographic investigation of a multilingual adolescent peer group in which various forms of second/other-language learner status had considerable social significance. The study illustrates the ways a repertoire of languages and language learner statuses serve as differentiated resources adolescents draw on to define community and…

A typology of Pacific countries is attempted based on economic systems and degree of socioeconomic development using various indicators (per capita income, literacy, life span). Dimensions of language are then grafted onto these grids and an attempt is made to qualitatively correlate socioeconomic development with various manifestations of…

Uses the "line and stanza" method to analyze and compare texts representing different cultural backgrounds and ages. Proposes that the textual characteristics identified by the Formalists as the measure of literature are actually the hallmarks of a cross-cultural human capacity for making deep sense of experience. (FMW)

Introduces sociolinguistic concepts and describes basic features of conversation to elucidate understanding of language in a social context, necessary in the therapeutic interview. Analyzes a segment from a transcribed therapeutic interview with attention to pauses, repetitions, allocation of turns, interruptions, and overlaps. Finds therapeutic…

Argues for the existence of two types of communities other than the diglossic deaf communities--isolated and developing deaf communities. The history, sign language and finger spelling of the Grand Cayman deaf community are discussed. As the deaf community develops, it is thinning out and breaking up. (PJM)

Presents data which shows, in a systematic and objective way, how the same speaker can express the same meaning in a variety of ways depending upon the social situation. Such data offer the teacher of English a basis for discussing some of the linguistic features involved in this variation. (Author/PJM)

Describes the alternating and mixed use of Swedish and Finnish in a company in the bilingual city of Vasa, Finland. Tradition, language knowledge of the employees, and occasional factors determine use in internal routines. Use is largely free from conflict, given that most employees know the other national language. (Author/PJM)