Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) is an extinct village sign language hypothesized to be a sister of British Sign Language (BSL) and a significant contributor to early American Sign Language (ASL) (Groce 1985). After the last deaf MVSL signer died, signs were elicited from five hearing signers. This study analyzes that data through a series…

This article shows how students confront offensive language head-on by researching its history and reconsidering its use in contemporary conversation. It describes an assignment in which students study the histories and social reception of words (in some cases considered obscenities) used to insult people of various social categories. Students…

Provides an analysis of the hurtful power of words, the history of marginalized and oppressed peoples finding their voice, and the origins and current social contexts surrounding the words "harlot,""patterns," and a vocabulary that suggests all things "other." (PA)

Because of the increasing demands that today's society places on language, there is an increasing need for vocabulary building. The opening of new fields, industries, and media and the vocabularies of specialized fields have all contributed to making increased word knowledge a necessity. New words have been coined to describe developments in new…

Presidential address delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the Modern Language Association of Great Britain held January 2, 1973, the University of Surrey, Guildford, England. (DS)

Discusses attitude a well-informed, liberal minded teacher should take toward the use of slang by students in oral and written communication in the classroom. (Author)

Most of the ordinary words in a language do not mean; rather, they act as rigid designators, referring to the same object in all possible words in which the object exists. Most words are names that are used as rigid designators of kinds--natural kinds (species, genre, and so forth), artifacts, physical and social magnitudes, and sorts of…

Describes a language arts project which used students' own first names as the project theme. (DD)

An analysis of a corpus of 252 specialized terms relating to the field of videotex, 144 in French and 108 in English, is presented in this document. The methods by which these terms are formed in both languages is examined, focusing on whether the terms have a linguistic basis in the French language or are borrowed from English. The differences…

A French brochure entitled "700 Current Words for Business" was developed to familiarize the business community with modern French business vocabulary and avoid intrusion of terminology from other languages. Some terms are neologisms. Translations from Latin, Japanese, and English illustrate the etymology and morphological patterns of…

Four hypotheses explaining the origin of Berbice Dutch, a Dutch-based Creole language spoken in the county of Berbice in Guyana, are explored. The most likely explanation is that the language was first spoken by Berbice slaves as a means of expressing the identity of a newly created "ethnic" group. (Author/CB)

The structure, complexity, and peculiarities of the English language are examined in this book, which begins with a discussion of the nature of language. Chapters are devoted to (1) naming--"Language as Answer to a Need"; (2) grammar--"Language as Economy"; (3) words--"Language as the Finding of Minds"; (4) etymology--"Language to Stretch Brains…

The encyclopedia is designed as a reference work on the history, structure, and use of English. The first section outlines five phases in the development of the English language (origins, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English) and then proceeds to the varieties of world English and perceptions of English and its future.…

Papers from the linguistics colloquium address a variety of topics in linguistic theory and language research, most in French. Topics include: objectivity and subjectivity in understanding language; focalization in conversational language; the notion of "popular etymology"; serial construction in Malagasy; linguistic competence (in German);…

This collection of essays focuses on historical, structural, lexical, and sociological aspects of Romani and its regional variations. The focus is primarily but not exclusively on oral language. Essays include: "On Typological Changes and Structural Borrowing in the History of European Romani" (Vit Bubenik); "On the Migration and…