Thirty-one papers and reports dealing with recent work on language input to children are listed in this annotated bibliography. The annotations, which are descriptive rather than evaluative, summarize the design of each study, the nature of the data, and some of the results and conclusions. Entries by P. Broen, J. Bynon, L. Cherry, J. M. Crawford,…

The linguistic relativity hypothesis is the view that the language a person speaks influences his perception of the world. This hypothesis is frequently misunderstood to be a question of the influence of language on culture, when in reality it emphasizes the influence of language on the cognition of its speakers. This distinction between culture…

The present practice of surnaming, by which the wife takes on the name of her husband and the children take on the name of the father, favors one of the sexes over the other. In this paper, the egalitarian surnaming system (ESS) is proposed. This system deals equally with the sexes and also serves important social functions, such as providing a…

A study which presents evidence against the relevance of age and innate linguistic talent as significant variables in language learning. Arguments are given favoring the significance of psychological and sociological factors. A special talent for language learning probably exists; new research is needed to explore what it comprises. (AMH)

Lists sources in various branches of linguistics from N. Chomsky's transformational grammar to the Soviet school represented by L. Vygotsky and A. Luria. (DF)

Reviews the results of research in language acquisition, interactional analysis, pragmatics, repair, error, and social and affective factors. Extracts four language teaching principles relating to acquisition activities in the classroom, the importance of affective factors, the communicative capacity of learners, and the nature and treatment of…

Results of research of children's evaluative reactions to bilingual code switching indicate that children by at least 11 years of age are aware of situational, interpersonal, and intergroup factors in dyadic interactions involving interlocutors from distinct ethnolinguistic groups. Suggests that manipulations of the research technique could be…

Experiment supporting the crux of Mead's discussion describing the development and projection of the social self. Use of pronominal references seems to be an indicator of the dimensions of the interaction process. (POP)

This book presents a range of views on the concept of the native speaker, considering psycholinguistic, linguistic, and sociolinguistic aspects. It examines the Critical Period Hypothesis; the role of the standard language; the kinds of knowledge (metalinguistic, discriminating, communicational, and skills) that the native speaker possesses; and…

This paper examines factors impacting the acquisition and use of the standard dialect by Australia's Aboriginal youth. It explains that acquisition of a second dialect has implications for the learner's cognitive-affective and sociocultural life and argues that preservation of an "insider" perspective (related to identity) is a key…

Special issue on "Changing Linguistics." (DD)

Recent criticism of ethnolinguistic vitality and the Subjective Vitality Questionnaire developed to assess vitality perceptions is discussed and refuted. The concept of ethnolinguistic vitality emerged as an application of social psychology to ethnic intergroup relations and is proposed as a construct for various ethnic, social, and language…

Explores the validity of Labov's (1969) "Observer Paradox," and the five axioms describing the problems involved in linguistic research, for interlanguage research. Methodological remedies are suggested. (AM)