The status of bilingualism in Cameroon is unusual in that both French and English are foreign languages. Although French seems to be predominant, the official intent is to establish bilingual primary schools to create completely bilingual individuals. This approach is costly, difficult, and perhaps unnecessary. (CHK)

Discusses accounts of events and pressures influencing the British government's Welsh Office to set up the "Council for the Welsh Language," and reviews the council's composition, tasks, and achievements. Findings indicate that the council was even-handed in its promotion of activities to support Welsh and satisfied the middle ground of…

Focuses on the question of how language rights can be subjected to legal provisions. Argues that, because language has social and individual aspects, working out solutions for specific situations is more important than universal principles. Argues against the idea that languages are objects deserving of legal protection. (14 references) (Author/CK)

Examines the different forms of language conflicts, which have been characterized on the basis of four features: language as symbol, as instrumentality, as resource, and as power. It is suggested that there is a need for the development of an explanatory model of language conflicts for viable language policies. (29 references) (Author/CK)

Reviews Robert Phillipson's "Linguistic Imperialism," a book about the imposition of English on former colonies of Great Britain. Notes that the book taps into the guilt felt by the rich North about the poor South and that the role of language in an imperial enterprise is important. (22 references) (Author/CK)

Describes a project to make a corpus of English spoken as a lingua franca in university settings in Finland. This corpus is one of the first to address the need for corpora that show the target for English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners whose goal is not to speak with native speakers but to interact in communities where English is a lingua franca.…

Examines opinions of Malawian legislators with respect to the efficacy of introducing local languages into the Malawi National Assembly. Using data collected through questionnaires, interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, argues for the need to introduce Chichewa, the national lingua franca, into the Malawi National Assembly as…

Reviews language planning theory and discusses language planning in South Africa, both historically and in a postapartheid context. A politically minimal approach is suggested for the postapartheid state, where individuals would receive instruction in English, while being encouraged or allowed to maintain their native languages. (21 references)…

Central concerns in the movement to make English the official language of the United States are reviewed, publications and activities of two major organizations supporting it are compared, and basic assumptions and directions of the movement are criticized. (21 references) (MSE)

Discusses movements in the United States during the first half of the 20th century to develop an international language, focusing on proponents of the reestablishment of Latin as an international language and the work of the International Auxiliary Language Association to develop an entirely new language. (72 references) (MDM)

Traces the development of English in the Commonwealth from colonial times to the present, examines the use of local varieties by English-medium African writers and discusses the conflicting roles of English. English is seen as answering the need for an official language that is also a language of wider communication. (20 references) (JL)

A solution to the employment problem in remote areas of Canada, where natives speak only indigenous dialects, is discussed as it relates to Inuktitut. Distributed Language Translation would permit remote employment with dialect data transmitted over distances and translated into the standard indigenous language and the country's official…

An examination of the cases of English in India and Malaysia and High German in Switzerland illustrates the many contradictions and difficulties in language policy and their effects on language status planning in terms of overt and covert language policies, linguistic register and repertoire, and the congruence between policy and polity. (34…

Discusses the interactions between different ethnic groups in the former Soviet Union and the factors that may affect their migration decisions. The reluctance of Russian speakers to learn the languages of the peoples amongst whom they have lived has left them vulnerable in nation states where knowledge of the national language is required. (VWL)