It is argued that in the states of Francophone Africa, French is not always the language of the masses and that in light of sociolinguistic data, choice, or actual usage, new language policy accentuating national idioms is more viable than exclusive promotion of French. (38 references) (Author/MSE)

French immersion, a relatively new concept in second language teaching in the sixties, is well known in Canada today. Generally developed for Anglophones wanting to become bilingual, the program has tended to serve the needs of the English-speaking middle class. The question then is posed as to what must be done in order to offer the same kind of…

Attempts to analyze a situation that concerns a large fraction of the school population in France in four parts: the status of foreigners and their languages in France and the social representations surrounding them; government policy concerning foreign pupils and languages in public schools since 1970; volunteer association and mother tongue…

Suggests that Haitian Creole is subject to decreolization, characterized by movement toward French forms. Linguistic conflict and ambivalence on the part of both the bilingual elite and monolingual creole-speaking masses are held responsible. Opposing trends in language standardization and their implications for education are discussed.…

Factors affecting the survival or decline of French in Zaire are examined, including its social, cultural, and political status, the history of other European languages established in Africa, and the influences of intercultural needs and ethnic identity on the continued use of French. (Author/MSE)

Overviews 20 years of language planning in Quebec and examines the effect of the province's institutional instability on the economy, language planning, and relations between ethnolinguistic groups. Elucidates the causes of Quebec's efforts to preserve its language and culture and concludes that the province needs its Anglophone population for the…

In the Ivory Coast, the official standard French has not been established as the language of the masses and is threatened by Dyula and a Popular French, two lingua francas that have potential as national languages even though the populations do not seem supportive of new language policy. (Author/MSE)

Describes two major events--mass migration to New Caledonia in the 1950s and the conversion from a protectorate to a French overseas territory in 1961--that have confronted Wallis and Futuna (Central Polynesia) with the same sociolinguistic problems that have beset other Pacific islands for decades. (Author/CB)