Discusses various problems concerning the island of Corsica, including economic decline, underdevelopment, emigration, and insularity--all problems which have affected and influenced its linguistic and cultural identity, as well. The dynamics of Corsican relations with the new, socialist France are questioned in reference to a hoped for…

Presents evidence for a causal relationship between particular sociolinguistic contexts and a direction of language change in morphosyntax by identifying a class of contact languages that are similar. They are similar in that they are 'lower' languages used in multilingual diglossic speech communities that are isolated from the standard and…

Provides pedagogical rules for selecting relative pronouns in Spanish. Sixteen different linguistic environments in which relative pronoun usage occurs are categorized according to their different syntactic relationships and semantic intentions. (SL)

This paper consists chiefly of a list of 50 paired sentences illustrating three styles of spoken Brazilian Portuguese: Informal, neutral and formal. (Text is in Portuguese.) (CHK)

This article discusses the effect of the revolution on the vocabulary of Cuban Spanish. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

Describes the procedures followed in obtaining samples of spoken French in five different dialectal areas of the Vaud Canton. Analyses these samples for certain vocalic and consonantal features and classifies the data along a rigidity-flexibility scale correlated with individual hesitation and group fluctuation. (MES)

Contrasts the situation of the French language and of sociolinguistic research in France and in Canada. (AM)

Points out that the use of discourse markers by speakers of Anglophone Montreal French shows great variation in individual repertoires and frequency of use. Argues that mastery of the appropriate use of discourse markers reveals the speakers' integration into the local speech community. (28 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses the International Corpus of English project for compiling machine-readable corpora of English for several countries, exploring the use of such corpora for modern grammars and dictionaries in general, applied, and theoretical research on nonnative varieties of English, sociolinguistic dimensions, and multidimensional approaches to…

Addresses Labov's claim that sound changes that are not stigmatized are led especially by young women who are the "movers and shakers" in the community, people with energy and enterprise. Investigated the claim by comparing the pronunciation of non-stigmatized front vowels with that of stigmatized diphthongs in New Zealand English.…

Examines the different agencies of language planning of the Island of Jersey and the progress that has been made, comparing the corpus and status planning undertaken in this context with that which occurs in countries where more support is forthcoming from the state. Suggests that high prestige domains do not necessarily hold the key to successful…

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)

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)

Language is not fixed and uniform, but occurs in many variants, social, occupational, etc. These correspond to various roles in society. The learner must be prepared to assume such roles, and must try to achieve practical mastery of the corresponding language variant. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

The typical pattern of Chinese word formation is to have native material adapt to changed circumstances. The Chinese language neither borrows nor lends words, but it does occasionally borrow concepts. The larger cultural pattern in which this occurs is that the Chinese culture borrows, if necessary, but ensures that the act of borrowing does not…