Under continued oppression, Haitian blacks have kept alive the memory of Africa, which pervades the most diverse aspects of popular culture. An understanding of this is the first step toward understanding the mythological structure of Haitian Voodoo. Analysis of the Haitian language, the peasant family housing, and the vocabulary of the Haitian…

Literacy education in Jamaica lacks an officially accepted policy and methodology for teaching creole speakers. This has led to a low literacy level across the population. The distinctive features of Jamaican Creole are highlighted in this article in order to give theoretical and pedagogical insights to literacy teachers. (VM)

Four hypotheses explaining the origin of Berbice Dutch, a Dutch-based Creole language spoken in the county of Berbice in Guyana, are explored. The most likely explanation is that the language was first spoken by Berbice slaves as a means of expressing the identity of a newly created "ethnic" group. (Author/CB)

Summarizes contact-linguistic research on the Samis and Finns, the northernmost minorities in Scandinavia. The monolingual view of northern Scandinavian languages in the past is complemented with a multilingual perspective of the interaction between minority and larger languages. Among contact patterns discussed are North Germanic-Sami,…

A "system" comprising the learner-speaker, the specific linguistic system itself, and the interactions with native speakers is posited to explain the dynamics of the acquisition of French as a second language. Through self-regulation, this system devises solutions which pertain to that common area in language at the crossroads of…

Argues that the adequacy of pidgins and creoles as expressive instruments requires systematic empirical research. This research would be based on two sound approaches: a macro-survey of language resources and a micro-analysis of language samples. (CB)

A review of literature relating to the use of Hawaiian pidgin and standard English and their relationship to school achievement was undertaken in response to concerns regarding state educational policy for language use and proficiency. The research reviewed includes pidgin and creole studies, second language acquisition research, and studies of…