Simplification in structure and confluence between the local-language structure and the prestige-language structure are usually predicted in language death as in pidginization. For a dying Scottish Gaelic dialect, speakers were tested in the two most excessively complex morphological structures the dialect offers. (Author/NCR)

Research supported by the Ford Foundation and the American Association of University Women. (DD)

Research supported in part by a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. (RS)

The syntax of the relative clause in the Saraswat Brahmin dialect of Konkani, an Indo-Aryan language, has been Dravidianized because of the impact of the Dravidian Kannada language, operating through bilingual speakers. The Konkani-Kannada bilingual situation is described and an explanatory account of the syntactic change is given. (Author/CLK)

Comparison of the moribund dialects of Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, and Smith Island, Maryland, demonstrates that valuable insight into the patterning of variation and change in language death can be obtained by investigating moribund varieties of healthy languages. Discusses comparative investigation of two kinds of linguistic decay:…

Argues that forms represented orthographically as "wanna,""hafta,""gonna,""gotta,""usta," and "sposta" are linked to "want to,""have to," for example, by derivational morphology. Also argues that these to-derivatives inflect on their heads, not their edges, and that they are synonymous with their bases but have different subcategories and more…

Examines the role of ethnicity, or the family and community, in determining linguistic variants (specifically, phonological variants) among Italians, Jews, and Irish in Boston. Implications for phonetic change and language acquisition are also discussed. (Author/AM)