A study examined language socialization in Dominica (West Indies), focusing on the use of a French-based creole, Patwa, in a situation of linguistic and social change. Despite claims that Patwa is integral to Dominican identity, rural caregivers choose to speak English to language-learning children, contributing to rapid attrition of Patwa.…

This paper argues that every language carries its own denotative, connotative, evaluative, and emotional implications. The impact of these aspects of language on a multilingual's use of languages is examined. Particular reference is made to connotative meanings of words; reference to the second person; the meaning of the term "multilingual";…

This study compared narratives in Spanish, Basque, and English of a 5-year-old trilingual child. The child produced narratives of a familiar story, learned through an English video recording, in each language while looking at a printed version of the story. All interlocutors were adult native speakers of the languages, well known to the child. The…

Language contact and the resulting interference has long been diagnosed as one of the primary forces behind language change. In cases of multilingual contact within geographically restricted areas, converging changes of the languages in contact have been uncovered and described. The geographic areas characterized by such linguistic situations came…

In a politically changing world, "languages in contact" must be redefined as "speakers of different languages in contact," and the implications for language learning and teaching must be recognized. Phenomena occurring beyond the languages themselves should be addressed in both language instruction and the construction of…