Reports on the application of the concept of social network to the process of language usage among Yoruba-speaking city dwellers in Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria. The study focuses on phonetic/phonological variation within common spoken Yoruba. (41 references) (GLR)

Examines the relationship between topic and gender on the basis of observation of naturally occurring conversations among all-male, all-female, and mixed-gender groups. An analysis of the relative importance or triviality of these conversations as perceived by the conversants themselves is presented. (Author/CB)

Discusses language shift in one community from German-Hungarian bilingualism to the exclusive use of German. Young women are further along in this direction than others. The linguistic contrast is shown to represent the social dichotomy between a newly available worker status and traditional peasant status. (Author/RM)

Focuses on arguments among White American children in a small town in New England, Black American children of migrant harvesters, and rural Hindi-speaking Fiji Indian children. Findings suggest that, while repetition, inversion, and escalation are common to all three cultures, there is considerable variation as to how they are used. (EJS)

Describes a pattern of verbal disputing frequently engaged in by children in Hawaii who have some Polynesian ancestry. This pattern, which is characterized by the forceful use of "not!" as an outright contradiction of one speaker by another, is traced from early childhood into adolescence in the context of relationships in which it develops. (EJS)