Lecture given at the conference on Gegenwartssprache and Gesellschaft'' (Contemporary Language and Society) at the Evangelische Akademie'' in Loccum, West Germany, February 26-28, 1971. (RS)

Speech samples were obtained from college student Miami-area Cuban informants in an attempt to test the hypothesis that a compensatory phonemic change takes place in certain Spanish dialects in which syllable-final and word-final /s/ appear optionally as zero. Vowel system, distinction (open versus closed), and length are looked at. (SCC)

Several studies are reviewed in which response measures seem to lend insight into the nature of language attitudes, considering "language attitude" in the sense of an internal mediating state of the perceiver. (RM)

A study is reported which investigated the social consequences that follow when a speaker accommodates or fails to accommodate his speech style with reference to his interlocutor. (Author/RM)

The small size and peripheral geographical location of the Gaelic speech community in the northwest of Scotland and the Hebrides are discussed as the two most important factors resulting in a lack of development in the concept and practice of bilingual education within the community's schools. (Author/HP)

An analysis of the process of disappearance in which each language is engaged. Information concerning their past, present and future as indicated by the sociocultural profile of the ethnic groups concerned is given. The reasons for the language disappearance and, on the dialectological level, signs of language death are noted. (AMH)

This paper focusses on factors which might inform language education policy makers in Caribbean territories where a creole language interacts with other languages having recognized standards. (POP)

Article also appeared in "International Journal of the Sociology of Language," n1; research supported by the Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Ford Foundation, and The Language Behavior Secion, Hebrew University. (DD)

A 1971 study of formation of language attitudes and their basis, and in particular the concept of "best" language variety, among predominantly immigrant Mexican-American parents is reported. (RM)

This article presents a description of intonation in English in terms of the relationship between the syntactic surface structure of a given sentence and certain distinctive intonative features.

Data is presented in support of the thesis that the sounds of Bangkok Thai can only be accurately described with a variation model. Consonant clusters were chosen to support this contention. It is asserted that Standard Thai cannot be equated with the actual speech of any specific group. (Author/RM)

A presentation of evidence gathered in a study of a dying dialect of Scottish Gaelic that reduction in structure accompanies reduction in use. Recognition of distortion through unavoidable reliance on semi-speaker informants seems possible on the basis of internal or external evidence. More study is needed on the semi-speaker phenomenon. (AMH)

A description of field research which attributes the declining use of Breton to the conflict of status roles when primary socialization is in Breton and secondary socialization is in French. The growing impact of French civilization leads to increasing primary socialization in French. Notes, a questionnaire and references are included. (AMH)

This article describes problems faced by the individual in different diglossic conditions. It centers on the functional differentiation of the Finnish and Swedish languages in Sweden and the linguistic consequences for two originally Finnish-speaking groups. (CFM)