The contact between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans is targeted for study as much for its linguistic import as for its social context. Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish are considered varieties of Caribbean Spanish that differ only by a few phonological and syntactic patterns and a small number of lexical items. Although both varieties are heavily…

Thousands of students in California learn English as a second language in schools that utilize exclusively monolingual--English Only--literacy programs. With such programs students do not have the opportunity to use the knowledge of their first language in order to acquire and master their second language. The project of cooperative bi-literacy…

In Belgium and Brussels, macrocontextual features such as language policy and language legislation have a profound impact on people's language use and on the way languages are learned. In order to explain this impact, the political and economic developments that have determined the current context of learners in Brussels are discussed. Secondly, a…

This article first introduces some theoretical considerations concerning the emergence and evolution of sign languages from the semiogenetic perspective. It then presents results from a linguistic study of the phenomenon of lexical stabilization in three emerging sign languages used by Brazilian deaf adults who live in a hearing environment…

An analysis of recent proposals concerning the typologies of language change attempts to provide a synthesis identifying the major types of change that need to be distinguished. The three major types of language change discussed are spontaneous change, borrowing, and imposition. Upon analysis, it is concluded that these three types of change…

The geolinguistic history of Norden (Scandinavia plus Finland) is reviewed. The shifting political boundaries, particularly of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, have contributed to a complex distribution of language populations that is all the more interesting given the common ancestry of most of the languages involved. The forces of nationalism have…

Although different philosophical and methodological approaches underlying materials for teaching Standard English (SE) to Black English (BE) speakers have now received some attention, one aspect of methodology for which there is no specific discussion is the order in which SE features should be presented. The author suggests and discusses five…

Sociolinguistic variation in the copula system of Black English was studied in the light of the linguistic history of the dialect and universal constraints on possible grammars. An attempt was made to identify sociological factors which account for the fact that the grammar of American Black English does not exhibit evidence for a creole stage in…

This paper documents the personal reality of models of reading by examining both their function and reality, clarifies the current status of reading comprehension via an exploration into its conceptual base, and sketches and explores some of the ramifications of a socio-psycholinguistic model of reading. (Author/DS)

Discusses four types of doublespeak: euphemism, jargon, bureaucratese, and inflated language. Cites examples of the pervasive use of doublespeak in business, politics, and the military. Asserts that to eliminate doublespeak, English teachers should teach respect for language as well as effective use of language. (MM)

Discusses the role that Europeans played in the process that led to pidginized languages, in particular to the development of Pidgin Sango, the "national language" of the Central African Republic. Contends that the manner in which the Europeans communicated with Central Africans was constrained by culturally conditioned "knowledge." (SED)

Discusses the sociological process which results in Celtic speech communities persisting despite incorporation into the larger society of the United Kingdom. Looks at such factors as age, sex, occupation, religion, and political allegiance. Discusses the dynamics of Gaelic language maintenance in terms of Joshua Fishman's typology of diglossia and…

Argues that objective conditions are always interacting with widespread "subjective definitions" to explain the variable capacities of linguistic minorities. Looks at the hypothesis formed by Giles, Bourhis, and Taylor in their theory of language in ethnic group relations as it relates to the multilingual context of the Valdotan…

Gives an analysis of the way in which Spanish speakers in rural New Mexico gain metacommunicative competence. Suggests that native metacommunicative routines provide a rich source of sociolinguistic and social-cultural data and that awareness of these repertoires can assist field workers in using interviews more appropriately and effectively. (EKN)

Discusses the limits of Harris' and Chomsky's models for discourse analysis and questions their epistemological basis. Also discusses the "French school of discourse analysis." (Text is in French.) (AM)