This guide was designed to provide both the occasional and the professional bilingual Spanish-English translator with some working definitions based on modern linguistics and to call his or her attention to certain difficulties in translating. Sections on the following are included: (1) context sensitivity, (2) frequency matching, (3) style…

The variety of syntactic forms for expression of directives is commented on. Data has been collected investigating the empirical distribution of formal variants across social features and predictability of the form of a directive if social features of its context are known. (Author/RM)

Stresses the need for a sociolinguistic approach to the instruction of Chinese as a second language that would take into account recent changes in the Chinese language. A specific method used in the preparation of teaching materials is outlined. (CLK)

This article characterizes the extent and nature of the vocabulary changes in the People's Republic of China by identifying general areas of change and by observing particular features of the changes. (CLK)

Asserts that, if the aim of foreign language teaching is to be communicative competence, then some of the sociocultural determinants of usage of some forms should not be overlooked. The Spanish pronominal address forms, "tu" and "Ud.," are discussed as an example. (EJS)

Examines different hypotheses on the origin of the Creoles of the Indian Ocean, and common lexical and phonological bonds among them. (AM)

A type of sound symbolism that has influenced the composition of modern Spanish vocabulary is discussed. Rates of lexical retention and loss are attributed to the degree to which verbs fit the developing morphophonemic and semantic patterns. (EJS)

Discusses the applicability of the notion of structured variability in language to contrastive analysis. (Author/AM)

Offers this proposal: (1) the public prestige dialect of the elite in a stratified community differs from the dialect(s) of the non-elite strata in at least one phonologically systematic way; (2) the cause of stratified phonological differentiation is to be sought not in purely linguistic factors but in ideology. (Author/RM)

Ongoing change in Wolof noun classification is traced by comparing nineteenth-century linguistic evidence with modern sociolinguistic data. Upwardly mobile middle-aged men of high caste tend to reduce the noun class system, whereas other speakers tend to elaborate it. (Author/RM)

Discusses the sociolinguistic hypotheses of deficit and difference, criticizing the latter for deriving a "functional equivalence" from clearly different social contexts, leading to passivity and lack of results in current school practice. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This paper argues for a reconsideration of the emphasis traditionally placed on "er"-ization, or word-final retroflexion, in contemporary Mandarin language instruction outside China. Pedagogical considerations regarding choice of language variety and data on use of "er"-ization in China are considered, and the conclusion is against use of…

Learned academies deplore the deterioration of Castillian Spanish due to foreign contamination. They ignore the real source of the problem within Spain itself where everyone speaks the language badly except those in the remote towns and a few intellectuals. A ray of hope comes from the Americans. (Text is in Spanish.) (AMH)

Presents background information on Chinese writing, discusses its defects, suggests how to develop Chinese writing, and offers opinions about research in Chinese writing. (Author/DB)

This article shows that the language situation in Quebec cannot be characterized as a diglossic one (as defined by Ferguson) because of the links existing between Standard Canadian French and "joual." Due to political factors, Quebec is moving toward a mixed standard language. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)