A discussion of the havoc which may be wrought in the French language by systematic application of the 1975 "Loi Bas-Laurent," determining cases where use of French is obligatory and prohibiting the use of hundreds of foreign expressions. A projected scientific study is described. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

The derivation of Latin "sum,""es(s),""est" from Indo-European "esmi,""est,""esti" involves methodological problems. It is claimed here that the development of "sum" from "esmi" is related to the origin of the variation "est-st" (less than"esti"). The study is primarily concerned with this process, but chronological suggestions are also made. (CHK)

To create an environment which motivates students to learn the conventions of formal writing, teachers must teach children the place that these conventions have in language and in linguistic history. Principles that give students a broad picture of language are listed. (JL)

Begins a discussion of the social mechanisms of linguistic change by describing the distinctions noted by T. Bynon (1977) between two different approaches to the study of linguistic change. Presents a model designed to explain why linguistic change seems commonly to take place in some social conditions but not in others. (SED)

This article discusses the history of the Galician language. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article discusses the nature of so-called Americanisms in present-day Latin American Spanish. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

Describes a study showing how a linguistic pattern of alternation affecting an entire speech community is realized in individual idiolects; an example representative of colloquial Helsinki speech is used. Results support observations already presented by Labov, according to which linguistic change is linguistically structured to a very high…

Assesses phonological continuity and change in the last stage of the moribund dialect called "Negerhollands" in the Danish West Indies (DWI). The article contrasts earlier and current views of this dialect, sketches language contact in the DWI, examines the last speaker's language history and vowel systems, and assesses variation in a…

Studies of (TD) and (ING) in King of Prussia (Pennsylvania) families show that children have matched their parents' patterns of variation by age seven, before many categorical phonological and grammatical rules can be established. Some dialect-specific and socially marked constraints are acquired before constraints with general articulatory…

Outlines some of the principle structural changes that have occurred in the Norman French dialect, spoken on the Isle of Jersey, as the result of contact with English. (18 references) (GLR)

A study of the feminization of personal titles in French is reported, and teaching materials based on the findings are suggested for use in college-level intermediate or advanced language classes. The objective is to help language learners understand the phenomenon of feminization and its practical implications. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the rise of Mexican Spanish as a distinct variety of Spanish and describes the regional and social dialects of contemporary Mexican Spanish. Although countless similarities exist between Mexican Spanish and the Chicano Spanish spoken in the southwestern United States, Mexican Spanish shows greater variability. (GR)

Compares studies of English-based creoles in Atlantic with work on pidgins and creoles in Pacific to examine the core of lexicon that cannot be traced to current standard English and historical relationship between languages. The lexical base of Pacific varieties was both English and English-based creoles of the Atlantic. Grammatical and lexical…

Early explanations of sound change were often sought in extralinguistic factors such as climate or the speakers' physiology. More recently, scholars have been reluctant to explain changes this way, but the most widely accepted extralinguistic explanation is the substratum theory. Other linguists, notably the Prague group, looked to the linguistic…

This article is a study examining the relationship between the Salish and Nez Perce languages, including a syntactic, semantic and phonological comparison. A historical and social background is also included. (CLK)