Looks at Europe-wide experiments on the role of Esperanto in facilitating language learning. (31 references) (Author)

The first volume of a study of the vitality of written Indian languages explains a computerized system for rating vitality and tests certain demographic variables, with statistical analysis, to determine their influence on the vitality rating. An introductory section examines the concept of linguistic vitality and issues of its measurement. The…

Argues that while much research on spoken Arabic uses Classical Arabic as the standard for measuring variation, the assumption leads to fundamental and persistent misunderstanding of the true situation. More careful examination of empirical data reveals that variation and change in spoken Arabic involves interplay between local varieties and…

A discussion of the role of Swahili in Tanzania looks at its elaboration as an indigenous language, involving both internal modification of the written language and the extension of its institutionalized domains of use. Because of its role as the lingua franca of the independence movement, Swahili became a vehicle for national political…

Chronicles Ethiopia's history of language policy, and describes the first three years of the country's initiative to provide native language instruction to all its people, focusing on the materials development process and program effectiveness. Teachers are working to develop content-area instructional materials in eight of over fifty languages.…

The status of Quechua in Peruvian society is discussed, noting specific social and political factors contributing to the dying out of the Quechua language, functional domains the language serves, and possible measures to improve its status. The relationship of those functional domains to Peruvian language policies is also explored. An introductory…

Analysis of recordings of spontaneous speech of native speakers of Quechua speaking Spanish as a second language reveals that, using verbal morphological resources of Spanish, they have grammaticalized an epistemic marking system resembling that of Quechua. Sources of this process in both Quechua and Spanish are analyzed. (MSE)

Papers on the situation of linguistic minorities in Western Europe and Canada include: "Linguistic Minorities: West European and Canadian Perspectives" (Colin H. Williams); "Geographical Aspects of Minority Language Situations in Italy" (Paul White); "Defining the Gaeltacht: Dilemmas in Irish Language Planning" (Reg…

The history and development of research on Esperanto, a language created for universal communication, are reviewed. Discussion begins with the early context and intellectual tradition of efforts to create a universal language and proceeds to the creation of an Esperanto community and the context in which it operates currently. Expansion of the…

The present status and position of the Catalan language are assessed, and the language planning activities being carried out in Catalonia to promote it are examined. The historical development of Catalan is outlined, and the current situation in Catalonia is described, focusing on its uses among immigrants and in modern mass communications. The…

Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin (ANP), the principal lingua franca of intercultural communication in multiethnic Nigeria, has no recognition as an official language but has penetrated the print and electronic media, especially in southern Nigeria. A survey in six urban centers in southern Nigeria, part of a larger study, investigated the status,…

A discussion of some occurrences of metaphor in Modern Greek is intended to offer insight to foreign language teachers on the handling of the phenomenon in classroom instruction. Some implications for machine translation are also suggested. First, a brief theoretical account of metaphor points out that metaphor occurs in nearly all discourse and…

Provides a linguistically valid definition of minority language, as well as language expansion, contraction, and death. The definitional model presented features the establishment of a continuum which also is shown to have predictive power, yielding an effective operational definition of majority/minority status and predicting new data. (Author/CB)

The centrality of multilingualism as a world-wide phenomenon is examined, and six issues needing attention are identified: the variable impact of official policies concerning language; contrasting views about multilingualism; scarcity of basic research; language spread and the hegemony of English; lack of attention to languages other than English;…

This study compared communication and interaction patterns in a college class in Dutch as a second language. Subjects were 16 native-English-speaking students. Two lessons, one taught using cooperative learning (CL) and one using teacher-centered instruction (TC), were videotaped and analyzed. The CL lesson consisted of a group reading game. The…