A survey of 52 college students in the Sanbalpur District of Orissa (India) determined that they had favorable attitudes toward English. Students preferred English to Hindi as a link language with Oriya, and favored a two-language instead of a three-language formula in language study. (Author/LMO)

Contrasts two perceptions of bilingualism in German-speaking minorities in a Danish and a Belgian community. Considerable attention is given to the tension which exists between the maintenance of the minority's cultural identity and the realization of individual lifestyles and goals. (Author/CB)

To mark the 40th anniversary of "Language Learning," the journal's first article is reprinted and identifies five motives for studying foreign languages: (1) "knowledge of a foreign language is the sign of a cultivated man"; (2) foreign insularism; (3) necessity of creating a political fusion; (4) trade and colonization; and (5) scientific and…

Examines the influence of conversational interaction on language change. Described two experiments that contrast language coordination between speakers who interacted with the same partner and speakers who interacted with different partners in a maze game context. Suggests that the experiments illustrate how a community affects language change as…

Drawing on the results of sociolinguistic research in three ethnically different communities in Wellington, New Zealand, this paper explores and illustrates the process of language shift and language revival. Members of the Greek, Tongan, and Chinese communities were interviewed; and data were collected on their language proficiency, patterns of…

Salient lexical, phonetic, and morphological peculiarities of the vernacular French of Quebec are examined and explained, and similarities to European popular French are discussed, both as a guide to texts written in the vernacular and to place this variety in its sociolinguistic context. (Author/MSE)

Traces the development of Ecuador's program of indigenous bilingual intercultural education. Describes the acceptance of a common alphabet for all indigenous languages; the "Macac" educational model; and the creation of bilingual primary and secondary schools and teacher training colleges. Stresses the importance of intercultural…

This article argues that British Received Pronunciation (RP) is inconsistently defined, arbitrary, and anachronistic, and that it should be replaced as an instructional concept by British Pronunciation (BP), which would be based on an actual and adequate descriptive phonetics, called here "Realphonetik." Contains 77 references. (MDM)

The Irish language has long been regarded in the popular mind as a correlate of Irish nationalism. A model expounded by the sociolinguist, Joshua Fishman, is applied to the evolution of Irish as a nationalist icon, and it is demonstrated that its divisive potential developed only gradually. In fact, it was an object of affection and admiration for…

The application of sociolinguistic principles should be the concern of every professional person who has any control over what goes on inside a classroom, particularly the teacher, who has the most regular, if not the closest contact with the student. It sometimes seems, however, that in their approach to multidialects in the classroom, teachers…

As part of a larger sociolinguistic study investigating the attitudes of Puerto Ricans on the island toward their own vernacular speech, the present research focused on the subjective reactions of 104 public high school teachers and students to spoken speech styles. The subjects' task was to: listen to a prerecorded tape, rate the voices on the…

Despite the fact that the twentieth-century ecumenical movement was coeval with the beginning of a "language revolution" and the "theology of crisis," it was only at the beginning of the present decade that the problem of unity in verbal formulations reached the agenda of the World Council of Churches (WCC). At that time the…

As a result of the Turkish language reform, modern Turkish spans a range of styles from traditional to reformed, the former preferred by right-wing, traditionalist, and religious sectors of the population, the latter by left-wing, modernist, and secular sectors. Turkish students evaluate the two styles differently, and attribute attitudes and…

This paper is an overview of the introduction of "Ms." into language usage as part of the process of changing sexist language. Included are: (1) history of the term, (2) a discussion of the rationale for its introduction, (3) a report on the other suggested forms of address that do or do not specify sex and marital status, (4) a discussion of the…

Over the last four generations, the language patterns in Maine's bilingual Franco-American communities have undergone a shift characterized by a widespread adoption of English and a decline of the ethnic language. The younger generations generally are unable or unwilling to use the French language and they express negative attitudes towards that…