Investigates the role of English in Moldova. Building on Phillipson's concept of linguistic imperialism and Kachru's three concentric circles of world Englishes, proposes a weak form of linguistic dominance based on the notion of opportunism. The model is supported by data from a recent study of language attitudes and language use in Moldova. Data…

Concepts of identity and ethnicity, and their applicability to Europe through language, religious and cultural criteria are reviewed. It is noted that thoughts of an integrated Europe must acknowledge both behavioral and ethnographic approaches to difference and particularly the contrasts between dominance and difference theories. A European…

Critical analysis of three cases of grammatical borrowing of Frisian from Dutch leads to the specific conclusion that the Frisian grammatical system does not "Dutchify," and to general conclusions concerning the ways that minority languages can and cannot be influenced by dominant languages. (Author/CB)

Applies the concept of indigenous rights to language preservation through exploration of other European language debates in the western hemisphere, and provides general background on the ways in which Native-American languages have been suppressed and devalued. The experiences of the Kuna nation of Panama in reintroducing their native language are…

Discusses David Crystal's book, "English as a Global Language." Highlights the "history" of the dominance of English in the main English-speaking countries, language and global relations, language in education, and language rights. (VWL)

Recent findings raised evidence that in early-onset left temporal lobe epilepsy, women show greater functional plasticity for verbal memory than men. In particular, women with lesion- or epilepsy-driven atypical language dominance show an advantage over men. The question asked in this study was whether there is evidence of sex- and language…

Data from one English-Italian bilingual child (1;10-3;1) are presented in this study which challenge the hypothesis that the consistent realization of overt subjects in English is caused by the emergence of finite verbal morphology in the child's grammar. The argument is made for the emergence of subjects as an independent grammatical property of…

This paper presents an exploratory study on cross-linguistic interference among indigenous Kechwa-Spanish bilingual children (n=30) living in a language contact situation. Its preliminary findings show evidence of cross-linguistic interference between Kechwa desiderative progressive forms such as miku-naya-yka-n (eat-desprog-3) "S/he wants to/is…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relations between early bilingualism and phonological awareness in a sample of 75 Turkish-Dutch bilingual kindergarten children living in The Netherlands. In a longitudinal design, the children's first (L1) and second (L2) language abilities were measured at the beginning and end of…

The point of departure of this study is the well-known hypothesis according to which structures that involve the syntax-pragmatics interface and instantiate a surface overlap between two languages are more vulnerable to crosslinguistic influence than purely syntactic domains (e.g. Muller and Hulk, 2001). In exploring the validity of this…

Assessing and treating bilingual children with speech and language disorders is difficult given the relative paucity of data on the speech and language skills of typically developing bilingual children and those with speech and language disorders. The purpose of this article is to review the research that is available with regard to clinical…

Spanish-English bilingual and monolingual English children aged 3-5 years were recorded in interaction with their mothers. Bilingual children were recorded twice each month, once in Spanish and once in English, and were also observed in a home situation. An analysis of the recorded language was done using selected morphological and syntactic…

The issue of language dominance testing is explored with special attention to: (1) a history of language testing in the United States from 1943 to 1974, (2) methods presently utilized for the determination of language dominance, (3) problems encountered in language dominance testing, and (4) some specific research that has been carried out related…

Discusses intergenerational language shift as a function of intra- and intergroup relations, focusing on patterns of linguistic and ethnic intermarriage. Analyzes 1976 Survey of Income and Education data and concludes that, in the United States, non-English languages disappear between generations as social interaction widens to include…

Stories were presented in signed English and American Sign Language (ASL) to 36 profoundly deaf subjects. Results showed that both ASL- and English-dominant bilinguals translated English stories to ASL in retelling. Relevant literature is reviewed, and implications for bilingual education of deaf students are noted. (Author/SED)