Dominant notions of what constitutes a "language" and what a "dialect" within a continuum are entirely based on sociopolitical factors (i.e. the "languages by 'Ausbau'" of Kloss), totally disregarding structural and communicative aspects. This paper argues that such stance is no longer tenable in view of the modern…

This study reports on the linguistic behaviour of 39 university students from Moravia (in the east of the Czech Republic) living at a hall of residence in Prague, Bohemia (an area covering the west/central parts of the Czech Republic). In Bohemia, Moravian dialects and Standard Czech (SC)--an archaic and semi-artificial standard dialect that is…

A dialect survey of the transition between two major Indo-Aryan languages in Nepal, Bhojpuri and Maithili, was conducted focusing on both the linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of the various languages and dialects. The purpose of the study was to find out where and how this transition occurred between the pure Bhojpuri-speaking area and the…

Reports on three surveys of Australian Aboriginal language use, undertaken to determine the language groups' needs for translation and literacy projects, are presented. "Communicability of Some Western Desert Communilects" by K. C. Hansen evaluates mutual intelligibility between languages and dialects in that region, and addresses the complicating…