Discusses the terms "regional,""dialectal,""semidialectal,""non-dialectal ," and "a-dialectal." Makes suggestions for new definitions for these terms. (EKN)

Reports on attempts to reconstruct the Proto-Chinese sound system, based on linguistic data from modern Chinese dialects rather than ancient rhyme dictionaries and tables, resulting in a sound system with 29 onsets and 74 rhymes and some new rules for sound changes. (18 references) (Author/CB)

Provides a brief history of pidgin and creole studies and describes the importance of these languages in the politics and sociology of linguistic studies. Applications of studies of pidgin and creole, especially those in Queensland (Australia) and Papua New Guinea, to linguistics are outlined. (JP)

Discusses the close relationship between historical linguistics and dialectology, pointing out, through analysis and reconstruction of Taiwanese dialects, that the tasks of dialectologists do not stop at the making of linguistic atlases and must go beyond those tasks to reconstruct the proto-forms. (two references) (Author/CB)

This paper suggests an explicit way of integrating sociolectal and dialectal facts in the overall description of a language. Phonetic, morphological, syntactic and semantic units of the whole language are defined. (CK)

Discusses the nature of the difference between dialectology and sociolinguistics and suggests that the findings of dialectology are relevant for use by sociolinguists. (30 references) (CK)

Studies are reported which support the hypothesis that there is a "critical period" for the complete and natural acquisition of language extending from about age two to puberty, and which indicate that the critical period is also relevant for dialect learning. (Author/RM)

Attempts to reconcile the similarities and differences among Philippine Creole Spanish (PCS) dialects by suggesting that Zamboangueno was formed gradually in a downward fashion from received Spanish, aided by two components. The first is pidginization that resulted in the Spanish garrison at Zamboanga, and the second was the arrival of Manila Bay…

Two factors often neglected in studies of the development of pidgin languages are described in relation to the history of Pidgin Fijian: significant changes in function of the pidgin and in its speakers' characteristics, and contact with other pidgins. These factors are discussed in regard to the development of pidgin languages in general and…

The claim that dialects of a language do not always share the same underlying forms is known as the independency principle. (DD)

A random sampling of linguistic terms, idioms, phrases--drawn mostly from the current linguistic literature in English--is examined to determine what kinds of unrealistic or confusing assumptions about language may be subtly embedded in such expressions. (Author/RM)

Discusses the deviation of early Welsh literature from standard literary form and looks at the change process from the earlier literature in its oral form to written form. It is suggested that some forms and features apparent in the early literature, which suffered extinction because of a movement toward standardization, still survive in some…

Compares studies of English-based creoles in Atlantic with work on pidgins and creoles in Pacific to examine the core of lexicon that cannot be traced to current standard English and historical relationship between languages. The lexical base of Pacific varieties was both English and English-based creoles of the Atlantic. Grammatical and lexical…