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)

Discusses the analysis of social interaction and its relation to the analysis of language. Presents a four-stage model for analyzing discourse as a quasi-linguistic structure. (Author/AV)

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)

The need for selection, standardization, and development of signs and manual communication systems for use in the educational setting is discussed. (Author)

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

Sixteen fifth graders and 16 ninth graders representing combinations of high and low SES delivered a persuasive message to each of four hypothetical target listeners. Deriving in part from Bernstein's developmental sociolinguistic theory, messages were analyzed into five major categories of appeal. (Author/JMB)

This article criticizes a resolution drafted by the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. It argues that the framers of the resolution create misleading impressions about the sociolinguistic situation in the U.S. (Author/AM)

Examines the public discourse surrounding political corruption by arguing that the ritualistic deposition of corrupters is based in a sociolinguistic process of assigning meanings to acts, a dialectical process of contrapositioning competing voices, and a ceremonial process of acting out the drama of purgation before the affected institutions…

"African French" exists because linguists are beginning to describe it. This discussion, intended for teachers of French, focuses on its linguistic and sociological bases. Pedagogical implications for the French class in Africa and for foreign language classes elsewhere are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Analyzes of the Australian linguistic scene, from the theoretical viewpoint of humanistic sociology and on the basis of empirical data collected from a number of surveys of ethnic groups. (Author/HP)

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)

This paper examines survey research methods and their shortcomings in respect to polling urbanized black populations. It suggests alternative strategies and implications for survey data from a variety of settings. (Author/AM)

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)