This dissertation study sets out to take a close look at the complex mix of factors on the ground, which influence the appropriation of language and education policies by local education stakeholders at Lesotho primary schools. I argue that much of the research in language policy and planning (LPP) has focused too largely on the macro-level…

This paper starts by examining recent work by applied linguists who argue that creativity is not only a property of especially skilled and gifted language users, but is pervasive in routine everyday practice. Also variously addressing literariness, language play and humour, this apparent democratization of creativity contributes to a more general…

In this study the authors have looked at the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in Mexico from a linguistic anthropological perspective. Twenty lessons were video recorded to compare the use of IWBs and traditional boards in different areas of the curriculum in primary schools. Data were analysed as a set of sequenced communicative events in…

Discusses the role that Europeans played in the process that led to pidginized languages, in particular to the development of Pidgin Sango, the "national language" of the Central African Republic. Contends that the manner in which the Europeans communicated with Central Africans was constrained by culturally conditioned "knowledge." (SED)

This collection of papers by leading experts from a range of disciplines is divided into four sections. Section 1, "Anthropological Approaches," includes: (1) "'Style' as Distinctiveness: The Culture and Ideology of Linguistic Differentiation" (Judith T. Irvine); (2) "Variety, Style-Shifting, and Ideology" (Susan…

This article explores issues to be addressed in testing the validity of proposed correlations between the rise of a certain class of words and the development of literacy. Possible correlations point not to writing but to the language of law courts, feudal practices, and rhetorical debate in the Middle Ages. (Author/MT)

The article reviews some of the controversial issues regarding macro- and micro-ethnographic approaches and their implications for validity of ethnographic description, discusses the notion of context and its application to various research settings, and gives an account of the various problems encountered by researchers working in bilingual…

Reviews a collection of articles written on Noam Chomsky. The collection consists of four volumes focusing on Linguistics, Philosophy, Anthropology, and Chomsky's impact on contemporary thought relative to disciplines influenced by generative grammar. (36 references) (CK)

Five examples are presented of how native speakers may try to explain a grammatical point to a linguist, and in the absence of a suitable meta-language, adopt some "lateral" way of demonstrating the point. (five references) (Author/LB)

Discusses how children in one society on the Papuan Plateau, Papua, New Guinea, learn about making and responding to requests based on a strategy of appeal. (FL)

Suggests the outlines of a theory of how sociocultural and grammatical knowledge are integrated in the construction of personal names and how such knowledge can be retrieved from surface linguistic forms. Draws on anthropological and linguistic procedures to analyse the Yoruba personal naming system and the sociolinguistic principles that underly…

Explains the attitude of Indians to kinship term usage, particularly in referring to one's spouse. (AM)

Discusses the Ilongots and their attitudes toward speech. Describes speech act theory, while questioning some aspects of it. Shows how the theory applies to Ilongot speech. (EKN)

Examines some of the social, cultural, and religious factors involved in name changing in Hindi. (AM)

Argues that the intercultural communication field evolved from research performed at the United States Department of State's Foreign Service Institute between 1946 and 1956. Notes that the work of the Institute's linguists and anthropologists triggered research on nonverbal communication in social interaction. Argues that an understanding of…