Based in case studies conducted in the US, Europe, and Latin America, this book explores the feasibility and benefits of trilingual/multilingual education in the United States. Currently, there are few programs in the country of this nature, as educators tend to conclude that English-language learners would be overwhelmed by study in additional…

The role and use of Spanish in the geographic areas outside of the U.S. Southwest are examined in a collection of 16 conference papers. The papers address the general topics of language contact, linguistic variation, sociolinguistic factors, and language maintenance policy, and planning. Among the specific issues discussed are: a dialectology of…

This book looks at the essential dynamics of language contact and linguistic assimilation from a current sociolinguistic perspective by focusing on the English of second generation Puerto Rican teen-agers in New York City. General sociolinguistic principles are extrapolated from the author's detailed investigation of several linguistic variables…

This work is an attempt to synthesize the findings of the multi-disciplinary research on various aspects of Chicanos' use of their two languages, Spanish and English. After an introduction on notions of language, speech, and sociology, the text covers nine aspects of the question: (1) historical background on the relations between the English and…

This anthology of sociolinguistic/anthropologically-oriented articles on ethnic bilingualism and bilingual education seeks to understand bilingual education outside of the methodological-pedagogical issues involved, that is, from a theory and research, rather than classroom, perspective. Bilingual education is seen as the result of societal…

This edited volume is a collection of personal accounts, in narrative and interview format, of the formative literacy experiences of highly successful second language users, all of whom are professional academics. Representing 14 countries of origin, the contributors, who are well known specialists in language teaching as well as a variety of…

This collection of 29 original articles provides an informative overview of current linguistic research on Spanish in the United States. Many of the chapters focus on regional aspects, ranging from sociolinguistic issues among Dominicans in New York and Cubans in Miami to the adoption and adaptation of forms from Nahuatal and English in the…

This book aims to advance the understanding of multilingualism in society. Challenges to the myths of monolingualism in the English-speaking countries (the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom) are commonplace. It is less well-known that the same assumptions and behaviors associated with monolingualism in the…

This book asserts that under the right conditions multiliteracy can be developed and provides some of the tools and strategies to enable monolingual teachers to do so. The book is based on an in-depth longitudinal study of a first grade boy studying in a traditional English/Spanish bilingual classroom. The child's early literacy development is…

Spanish, English, and American Indian languages in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico and bilingualism and language contact in the region are addressed in a collection of articles. Approaches to research in the languages of this region are discussed in articles by Valdes, Lope Blanch, and Brandt. Cultural and sociolinguistic…

This edited volume considers the contemporary position of 18 threatened languages. Two important questions are examined in every case: (a) what is the current demographic and functional status of a threatened language? and (b) what is the best way to understand its future prospects? The view presented in this volume is that there are ways to save…

This book incorporates a general discussion of bilingualism and its relation to sociolinguistic facts with a description of the Redwood City, California, bilingual education project, begun in 1969. Chapter 1 describes the phenomenon of bilingualism, while Chapter 2 deals with the concept of bilingual education. The relationship between…

An ongoing longitudinal study, 15 years old at the time of publication, is reported. It is a sociolinguistic, developmental study of the acquisition of two languages, Spanish and English, by a boy from birth, with data drawn from direct observation and occasional tape recordings of speech. An introductory chapter outlines the objectives and method…

The following articles are included in this anthology on Chicano speech: (1) "Mexican Spanish," D.N. Cardenas; (2) "The Archaic and the Modern in the Spanish of New Mexico," J. Ornstein; (3) "Problemas Lexicograficos del Espanol del Sudoeste," A.M. Espinosa, Jr.; (4) "Associative Interference in New Mexican Spanish," J.B. Rael; (5) "Some Aspects…

The papers in this collection fall into three categories. Part 1, "Overview of Research," includes "New Directions in Language Anxiety Research" (Dolly Jesusita Young) and "Native Genderlects and Their Relation to Gender Issues in Second Language Classrooms: The Sex of Our Students as a Sociolinguistic Variable" (Lydie E. Meunier). Part 2,…