This article defines the linguistic situation in Puerto Rico and explains why the term "bilingualism" cannot be used to accurately describe the linguistic reality there. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

A study of the nature and function of British Sign Language (BSL) as used in the British deaf community is described. The study examined two hypotheses: (1) that the notion of diglossia applies to the British deaf signing community, and (2) that the low variety of BSL will exploit the visual medium in its grammar to a greater extent than the high…

This paper reviews issues and analyses in bilingual switching, or intercalation, and offers a topological model to represent the activity of code switching, sometimes under the same environmental conditions and with the same interlocutors. The topological notion of catastrophe is proposed as a means to model the various factors that influence code…

Argues that the study of contact varieties of a language are relevant to understanding of second language acquisition and use, because non-canonical contact languages are often situated on a continuum between pidginization and the more general processes of untutored second language acquisition. Data on participle regularization in Namibian Black…

Attitudes to Welsh and English are shown to clearly reflect the historical relations of the two languages. Effects of recent immigration and industrialization and urbanization are also shown to have an effect. Variables correlated with attitudes are linguistic background, age, sex, length of residence. (SCC)

This study concerns the problems posed by modes of interlinguistic communication, translation, and individual bilingualism, on which depend the quality of relationships between two ethnic communities belonging to a single political entity. It also addresses a frequent question about the need for translation in a bilingual country like Canada. The…

The factors which underlie discussions of the legitimacy, pedagogy, and politics of the variants of Spanish spoken in the United States are discussed. [In Spanish] (Author/NQ)

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)

Examines the characteristics of diglossia and applies them to the current sign language situation in the United States. Concludes diglossia does not exist and argues that what is really happening is code switching between languages and style shifting within a language. (EKN)

Reviews public expressions about the state of the English language and attempts to show that this interest in language should be viewed by language professionals as an opportunity to clarify issues. Four strategies are presented dealing with language variability, linguistics, and the "joy" and usefulness of language variation. (Author/AMH)

This paper discusses diverse sociolinguistic concepts such as borrowing, code-switching, bilingualism, and interference, and proposes a hypothesis concerning the progression of these linguistic developments in a contact situation and concerning the correlation of these developments with distinct phases of cultural assimilation. (Author/CLK)

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)

An assessment of the substantive progress made regarding the study of language contact and bilingualism in the Hispanic world explores research concerning language contact and grammars, the bilingual speech community and linguistic structure, and bilingual discourse. (45 references) (CB)

The influence of educational background upon the variety of English as a second language speech was examined. Adults in a rural New Mexico community were interviewed in order to elicit data on phonological variation. Data were collected through free speech, controlled speech which required the informants to translate Spanish questions to English,…