Indigenous communities, linguists, teachers, and language activists have been developing methods to revitalise endangered languages over several decades. Not only are these methods diverse, they are usually implemented in various ways according to local needs and aspirations. Language revitalisation methods focus on proficiency, but there is also…

Traditional notions of family structure and settlement are no longer representative of families that are pursuing global opportunities for different reasons. Transnational families are increasingly more common and their experiences rooted in more frequent or intended translocations are different than those of the immigrant populations. One of the…

Some recent studies have suggested a significant bottom-up or parental component to recent movements for autochthonous minority language-medium education (MLME). This study takes MLME as the outcome of interest and seeks to explain trends in Irish-medium education (IME) in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since 1920--a unique…

Discusses the history of the relatively new field of language policy and planning. Focuses on language ecology and illustrates schematically the various forces at work in a linguistic ecology from a language-planning-activity perspective. (Author/VWL)

Argues that, despite being the second most common mother tongue in Australia, Greek's existence in a dynamic bilingual environment and function restriction in a high-contact situation is causing language simplification and reduction that may lead to creolization, pidginization, and, eventually, language death. The role of ethnicity and religion in…

Illustrates some of the difficulties inherent in bilingual education, including inadequate appraisal of matters such as ethnicity, cultural pluralism, and language maintenance and shift. The paper suggests that bilingual education and its implications must be considered in the broadest possible sociocultural perspectives. (Author/PJM)

Critical analysis of three cases of grammatical borrowing of Frisian from Dutch leads to the specific conclusion that the Frisian grammatical system does not "Dutchify," and to general conclusions concerning the ways that minority languages can and cannot be influenced by dominant languages. (Author/CB)

Discusses the role of the school in supporting minority group identity, particularly through language maintenance programs. While language shift may not be countered by schools acting in isolation, identity can be maintained through periods of language shift. (Author/CB)

Describes the situation of minority languages and Chinese dialects, discusses and analyzes language planning and language reform of spoken Chinese, summarizes language achievements made through China's educational system, and discusses the problems that remain for spoken language reform in China. (25 references) (Author/CB)

General survey of history of Ingrian Finns and discussion of Ingrian Finnish dialect are presented. On the basis of morphological analysis of interviews with Ingrian Finns in Canada, Sweden, and Russia, an attempt is made to ascertain how Ingrian Finnish dialects have been preserved or changed in different parts of the world and under the…

Explores several models of cognitive and structural perspectives involving minority-language situations, and attempts to integrate them into a framework of predictive propositions that elaborate psychosocial climates of maintenance, majority-minority encounter, and interactive strategies. (65 references) (Author/CB)

Attempts to tackle theoretical and empirical problems of measurement in the study of linguistic minorities from sociological and demographic perspectives. The operations of a language community, the growth of a language group, language shift, and language maintenance are addressed in terms of language community membership, current language…

Provides information on the educational system in the Basque Country and insight into the Basque Country and Basque language and the reverse language shift efforts made to date. Suggests that the effects of bilingualism and immersion programs are beneficial in the Basque context. (Author/VWL)

Describes contact linguistic backgrounds in three distinct sociolinguistic areas in Old Belgium, illustrating the importance of ecological approaches in analyzing areas in which one or more languages or varieties are in danger of dying out. Data collection methods that discover, rather than conceal, linguistic realities are revealed. 29…

A brief description of factors affecting the generally neglected study of reversing language shift (RLS) is presented. and An eight-step model for building and planning such research, taking into consideration such influences as community and neighborhood, family, and school, is described. (CB)