Suggests some ways to enhance the user-friendliness of many Macintosh (personal computer) foreign language character fonts with the aid of three commercial programs: MacKeymeleon; FONTastic Plus; and Tempo. (Author/CB)

EKTB, a new transliteration scheme for Hebrew based on the historical development of the alphabet, treats Latin characters as graphic variants of Hebrew letters and permits Hebrew to be used with standard equipment while maintaining its traditional writing methodology. (Author/CB)

Facts on the grammar of Kazakh, spoken in Kazakhstan, are presented. They are intended as a guide, not an instructional text. Information is presented in the form of notes and word lists on the following topics: orthography (the Cyrillic alphabet, spelling reform, stylistic and dialectal alternations, common misspellings, and homographs);…

A curriculum model for teaching Arabic that closely follows the "Natural Approach" is outlined. The method stresses skill development through language use in a variety of realistic situations from the outset of the course. It differs from traditional approaches to Arabic instruction in its emphasis on the communication of meaningful…

Suggests a methodology, based on the highly successful model of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) literacy training, for teaching non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic. A holistic communication approach, presenting the alphabet as a key to learning the target language, helps learners to assimilate vocabulary more rapidly. (CB)

Discusses the "Russian Dynamic Hand," a working prototype for introducing the Russian writing and sound system that has been available to students at Louisiana State University since September 1988. The project's evolution is discussed from an initial graphics-centered IBM prototype to a Macintosh version enhanced by an audio component.…

EVA, a text processing tool designed to be self-contained and useful for a variety of languages, is described briefly, and its extensive coded character set is illustrated. Features, specifications, and database functions are noted. Its application in development of a Slovenian literary dictionary is also described. (MSE)

Assesses illiterate and semiliterate speakers of Serbo-Croatian on reading, writing, phonological, and control tasks. Three groups, categorized with respect to the subjects' ability to identify the letters of their Cyrillic alphabet, differed on phoneme deletion and phoneme-counting tasks, but not on syllable-counting, picture vocabulary, or…

A brief history of modern Rumanian is chronicled, focusing on the influence of a variety of languages on Rumanian's development. Four regional variations are identified: Dacio-Rumanian, Macedo-Rumanian, Megleno-Rumanian, and Istro-Rumanian, all evolving from the Latin spoken in the corresponding areas beginning in imperial Roman times. The…

This paper reports on the grammatical and programmatical production aspects of the "Hebrewer," a cross-platform web-based reference work in the form of a Hebrew inflection generator. The Hebrewer, a Java applet/servlet combination, is currently capable of generating 2,500 nouns in full declension and 500 verbs in full conjugation,…

The discussion of corpus planning for the Southern Quechua language variety of Peru examines issues of graphization, standardization, modernization, and renovation of Quechua in the face of increasing domination by the Spanish language. The efforts of three major groups of linguists and other scholars working on language planning in Peru, and the…

A discussion of the situation of Idoma, a Nigerian language, begins with different accounts of the language's origin, referring to both local legend and cosmology. It then proceeds to a review of modern linguists' efforts, since 1927, to classify the language. A statistical overview contains information on the number of speakers of Idoma as a…

Reporting in 1971 on research related to computer-based methods for teaching the Arabic writing system, Bunderson and Abboud cited the potential that computers have for language learning, a largely unfulfilled potential even in 2004. After a review of the relevant historical background for the justification of computer-aided language learning…