Describes attempts to systematize information about the linguistic varieties present in the Spanish and English of the American Southwest. (CDSH/AM)

This paper presents certain innovations in the "matched-guise" technique of dialect study, which is used to determine people's immediate evaluative responses to tape-recorded speakers of various accents, dialects and languages. (CHK)

Kenyatta's 1974 decree proclaiming Swahili as the national language of Kenya is discussed with reference to questions of feasibility and expediency. (Author/RM)

Discusses the problem of defining linguistic areas, with specific reference to the various areas of Spanish in Latin America. (Text is in Spanish) (CLK)

Examines a series of societal factors that promote either social distance or proximity between two groups and thus affect the degree to which a second language learning group acquires the language of a particular target language group. (Author/RM)

Defines the topic of Sino-Islamic linguistics, that is, the study of the Arabic and Persian norms of Chinese-speaking Muslims. The diffusion of Arabic and Persian to China, language contact and interference, and dialectology and functional variations of Chinese Arabic and Persian are among the topics covered. (CLK)

This paper highlights recent discourses about English as an international language that justify two recent reconceptions of English: Pennycook's (1994) "worldliness of English" and Kachru's (1997) "world Englishes," noting that at the heart of these two reconceptions are prescriptive versus descriptive notions of the…

These two issues of volume 17, include the following articles: "The Competing Motivation Model in the Functional Domains of Negation" (M. Angelica Furtado da Cunha); "Discursive Resonance and Politeness in Reading and Writing Practices" (Silvana Serrani Infante); "The Acquisition of Relative Clauses in Brazilian…

This collection of papers examines how children acquire language and how this affects language change over the generations. It proceeds from the basis that it is important to address not only the language faculty per se within the framework of evolutionary theory, but also the origins and subsequent development of languages themselves, suggesting…

Rhaeto-Romansh is a Neo-Latin language with three varieties. Occidental Rhaeto-Romansh (Romansh) is spoken in Switzerland, in the Canton of the Grisons. Central Rhaeto-Romansh (Dolomite Ladin) is spoken in some of the Italian Dolomite valleys, in the Province of Belluno, Bozen/Bolzano, and Trento. Oriental Rhaeto-Romansh (Friulian) is spoken in…

This paper responds to Claire Kramsch's essay on the demise of the notion of the idealized native speaker as the model for second language learning and implications for second languages and cultures education. Focusing on the nonnative speaker of Russian and Russian language education in the United States, it asserts that both the quantity and…

This paper discusses the concept of Bulgarian national mythology, a secondary mythology that emerged around the late 18th century based on the fundamental opposition Chaos-Cosmos, near-far, up-down, good-evil, God-Satan, and human-non-human. The new mythology redefined self-images and images of the Other, the main figures, and narratives about…

This study applies an "anthropological" approach to science teaching in which language minority families work with mainstream educators in a community of learners in which traditional cultural knowledge and Western scientific knowledge blend in an inter-cultural dialogue about what should be taught. The particular context in this paper…

Everyone has a name. Names are more than a symbol or label. The culture of a people finds expression in the language they employ. When personal names are studied historically, philosophically, etymologically, and psychologically the reflection of the social and natural environment can be perceived. This paper focuses on the analysis of the…