Describes the linguistic backgrounds of Sweden and Finland and presents a few examples of recent sociolinguistic research in these countries. (CFM)

Addresses the position of adjectives in the noun phrase in Modern Greek, concentrating on the possible interpretations that the adjective can have relative to the noun. Differences observed between definite and indefinite noun phrases are suggested to be consequences of their predicative nature and the way this interacts with the…

Suggests that a sociopragmatic approach to the study of forms of address may shed new light on address behavior in general and on the use of forms of address in French and Dutch in particular. "Form of address" is used to encompass not only second-person singular pronouns, but also other devices that can be employed to make reference to…

Discusses the notion of regional standards of a language with regard to modern Danish. Regional and national standards of a language as well as local dialect are defined. The article shows that, for a geographical entity, a statistically determined boundary can be established in the range between the extremes of a regional dialect and national…

Shows that results of a study that suggests one difference between Indian English (IE) and American English (AE) varieties is the phonetic realization of prominence may be due to misinterpretation of the positioning of stress in Indian English. Shows that by considering the louder syllable to the stressed one, IE stress correlates differ in…

Investigates the contraction of negatives in a corpus of discourse and writing in order to permit comparison of the relative influences of various linguistic and social parameters on contraction. Argues that pragmatic and morphological interpretation of negatives entails that negative contraction and auxiliary contraction should be distinguished…

The defining of colors is a very subjective topic and results in many misunderstandings, especially in translation from one language to another. The number and significance of color adjectives vary from culture to culture. The goal of this article is to explain the origins of such variations and to discuss examples of common translation errors and…

Discusses the varieties of Liberian English spoken in Liberia: Kru Pidgin English, spoken by Kru mariners and migrant workers; Settler English, spoken by descendants of 19th-century African American immigrants to Liberia; and Vernacular Liberian English (VLE), spoken by the rest of Liberia's English-speaking population. Focuses on tense aspect in…

Illustrates how the separate economic and political development and the ensuing lack of contact between Hong Kong and Guangzhou over the last 50 years have resulted in quantifiable tonal differences in the Cantonese spoken in these two cities. (16 references) (Author/CK)

Examines a case of dialectal variation in a subpart of the tense-modality aspect system of Indian English. Focuses on functions associated with an existing form: the use of the pluperfect "had" + V-"ed" construction. Contrasts this usage with that of British and American English. (Author/VWL)

Gives a short overview of the historical development of various aspects of the linguistic situation in Belgium. Particular focus is on knowledge and use of the varieties of French and Dutch in Brussels and on the educational system. Attention is also given to attitudes toward the language and language varieties and to aspects of language contact.…

Examines vowel harmony in the "Gaucho dialect" of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Informants from four areas of the state were studied: the capital city (Porto Alegre), the border region with Uruguay, and two areas of the interior populated by descendants of nineteenth-century immigrants from Europe, mainly Germans and…

Proposes a reinterpretation of the language bioprogram hypothesis to show how substrate influence and bioprogrammatic factors may all be invoked to account for various complementary aspects of creole genesis. A contextual and weighted interpretation of markedness shows the selective application of substrate influence in creolization and transfer…

It is suggested that the most widely-known estimate of English speech rates, based on the speech of radio announcers, and a comparison of English and French radio announcer speech rates do not represent a truly standard range of speech rates. An alternative range is proposed. (Author/MSE)

Provides a critical review of the syntactic study of code mixing, discussing data drawn from African and South Asian languages, and focuses particular attention on the syntactic constraints paradigm. An examination of seven major surface constraints, deemed to have universal applicability, shows that none of these constraints is universal. (53…