This study of Arabic culture, language, history, and nationalism provides an inside view of key issues in understanding the Arab world. It combines detailed readings of Arabic nationalist literature, the scholarly literature on nationalism, and sociolinguistics work on language and national identity. Seven chapters focus on the following issues:…

The word "like" has acquired some newly grammaticalized uses, notably those of a discourse marker and a quotative complementizer. Although these uses have been highly stigmatized by normativist grammarians, they nevertheless occur with high frequency in naturally-occurring discourse and have attracted the attention of several studies. This article…

Discussing World Englishes, outlines a basic developmental scentrio, and suggests that speech communities typically undergo five consecutive phases in this process--foundation, exonormative stabilization, nativization, endonormative stabilization, and differentiation. Describes the sociolinguistic characteristics of each one. The framework is…

Examines colloquial uses of "like" as a discourse marker with the goal of specifying its discourse functions, including semantic, pragmatic, and sociopragmatic aspects of meaning. Data presented come from nine interviews. (Author/VWL)

A discussion of the work of Ferdinand de Saussure focuses on the influence of Emile Durkheim, particularly his study of suicide; language as state or process; the influence of William Dwight Whitney; the goals of linguistics; the state of language; the linguistic sign; and linguistic value. (CB)

Considers how changes in language usage come about and whether such changes can be identified and examined as they occur in a language, focusing on changes in the English language in past centuries and the present day. (MDM)

Discusses the collection and preservation of the unwritten historical record of deaf people, focusing on historical film materials made by deaf persons and ways to index and catalog them that incorporate relevant information on cultural and linguistic aspects of the deaf community. (12 references) (Author/CB)

This article explores how a linguistically diverse, subject English class can become a multilingual contact zone in which naturalised linguistic identities are made visible and interrogated. The research is situated in a highly diverse, educational context--Wits School of Education in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is framed by a society in…

Background: Both academic research and educational policy have focused on the diverse language resources of young schoolchildren. African American Language (AAL) in particular has a rich history of scholarship that both documents its historical evolution and sociolinguistic complexity and reveals the persistent lack of knowledge about AAL in our…

This article focuses on the papers presented in a colloquium on issues related to minority languages that constitute research topics. The papers from this colloquium touch upon a number of research issues and their social implications. In particular, the papers pay attention to ethical questions, which relate to the social sciences in general, but…

In this analytic conceptual essay, and from her standpoint as an African American woman teacher/researcher, the author presents a rich description of a personal sensibility and promising professional practice for literacy educators and those who prepare Reading/English/Language Arts teacher candidates for service among students who are…

Iranian Journal of Language Studies (IJLS) is devoted to all areas of language and linguistics. Its aim is to present work of current interest in all areas of language study. No particular linguistic theories or scientific trends are favored: scientific quality and scholarly standing are the only criteria applied in the selection of papers…

The education and care of young children has been rooted in Indian culture as reflected in ancient scriptures and documents, and has continued to be a significant engagement during the pre- and post-independence period and in the contemporary realm of education. Yet, in the present situation, the progress and understanding of early childhood care…

Since the post-Soviet context is not particularly well known to the majority of readers, the author uses this introduction to provide a general background against which developments in particular post-Soviet countries can be better understood. The author begins by placing these developments in the sociohistoric context of language policies of the…

The impact of English on the Chinese mainland from multidimensional perspectives: historical, educational and political is critically discussed. Historically, English education has witnessed its inception, ups and downs, and the present boom. The recent expansion of English education is functionally and economically oriented at both individual and…