This paper reports on an investigation of the effect of religion on language use in Singapore. Data come from the Sociolinguistic Survey of Singapore, 2006, a large-scale language survey linked to follow-up studies. The conceptual framework was based upon Castells' idea of a new social order in the network society; the main research questions were…

There is an ever-increasing trend in the world today to adopt English as the language of instruction in higher education. The increase is in part due to the views that such adoption constitutes the key to competitiveness in a globalized higher education market. Thus, a growing number of universities in non-English-speaking countries switch to…

Formal language use in online communication and phone messages is increasingly being replaced by a new age language, i.e. the net lingos commonly used in Internet acronyms and text messages. This is, perhaps, a logical consequence of computers, mobile phones and gadgets becoming familiar household items in an era where there is a constant demand…

This article examines the rhetoric of resistance used by South African anti-apartheid journalists to expose the links between the apartheid government and death squads. By utilizing allusions, repetition, and a concept I refer to as "subversive enthymemes," these journalists managed to reveal publicly information about death squad…

This report is part of a larger, 2-year ethnography of bi- and multilingual speakers in Japan. On the basis of audio and videotape recordings of discussions among international students in a Japanese university, this study examines participants' deployment of different conversational resources to understand and talk about marginalizing…

Through experimentation, the authors found that the videotape image showing the child's ethnicity affects ratings of language in direction of racial stereotyping expectations. Subjects were analyzing black, Mexican-American and white children in terms of confidence-eagerness and ethnicity-nonstandardness. Reasons for and method of experiment are…

The author gives reasons as to why a child's speech may seem to deteriorate after a change of schools, Speech is infinitely adaptive; and the child learns early how to use different styles for different situations. The child, however, may not be aware of this ability. (Author/MS)

Discusses the evolution of linguistic research in an attempt to delineate the place of sociolinguistics in the language sciences sphere. (EKN)

Discusses an ideology of native language and identity, which holds that native language is seen as a central element of individual identity. Argues that although this ideology can be very valuable in certain circumstances, it can also create an atmosphere of suspicion toward members of certain ethnicities who choose not to use their ancestral…

Points out the distinctions between descriptive and arbitrary systems for assigning name signs in American Sign Language, focusing on the linguistic properties and social factors of the arbitrary system. It is argued that, although both systems provide primary name signs for deaf children, only the arbitrary system is native. (Author/CB)

This paper investigates the Irish-language adscape through an analysis of the profile of two Irish-language newspapers, "Foinse," published in the Republic of Ireland, and "La," published in Northern Ireland. The advertising in both papers is analysed in terms of products and services advertised, advertisers represented and…

This article explores recent changes in the landscape of second language acquisition (SLA) and foreign language pedagogical (FLP) research. Firth and Wagner's (1997) proposal for the reconceptualization of SLA has been supported by SLA and FLP researchers who share the sentiment concerning the need for increased attention to social and contextual…

This article examines the relationship between shame, literacy and social relations by analyzing shame narratives told to the author by youth and adult literacy students during a 24-month ethnographic research project conducted in two Brazilian cities. Employing Bourdieu's theoretical framework and literature from the anthropology of emotions, the…

This article presents the results from a preliminary investigation into the use of fingerspelling in Australian Sign Language (Auslan), drawing on data collected as part of the Sociolinguistic Variation in Australian Sign Language project (Schembri and Johnston 2004; Schembri, Johnston, and Goswell in press). This major project is a replication in…

The notion that names, identity, and the self are closely related is not a new concept (Dion, 1983). However, little research has approached this subject from a (socio)linguistic perspective (Lieberson, 1984), as early research on names and identity centered on psychological aspects (Busse & Seraydarian, 1979; Ellis & Beechley, 1954; Houston &…