Discusses changes in language contacts that are evolving in Quebec between the minority Anglophones and the French-speaking majority. Census data analyses and field research studies indicate that the pattern of language usage among Anglophones is altering in favor of French, indicating capabilities for and attitudes toward greater participation…

Native French speakers (N=56) were critical of French slang expressions spoken by French youths. A previous study found that the native speakers considered Americans' use of the same slang even less acceptable, suggesting the need for careful consideration of teaching such terms in French-language classrooms. (Author/CB)

Developed as part of the Milieu Language Teaching Project at the John F. Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, this KIDTALK Behavior-Language Coding Protocol and manual measures behavior occurring during adult-child interactions. The manual is divided into 5 distinct sections: (1) the adult behavior codes describe…

CORDON is a computerized system for tracing and documenting changes in the use and frequency of word forms within textual language corpora. In its new form currently under development, CORDON will address the emergence of neologisms, both new words and new terminology within special areas (generally new uses of existing words). The system detects…

This book looks at language practices in Mexican American households in Tucson (Arizona), using language as a window to peer into the complexities of women's and children's lives in the borderlands. The notion is presented that the complexity inherent in the borderlands in general and in Tucson in particular is a formative factor in the language…

A study of language use of bilingual Alsatian youth, 15-18 years old, showed French acculturation to be growing, although German dialectal tendencies persist. Socioeconomic status and the role of recent generations in this process are considered. (MSE)

Investigates the inconsistencies of personal pronoun production both in production and between production and comprehension in a pronoun-reversing child. (EKN)

Describes the linguistic diversity which characterizes the European continent and examines possibilities for political and linguistic integration of nations, a hierarchy among languages, national cultures, nationalism, global culture, and culture based on music and images. (Author/DB)

Reports on two studies exploring the contrast effects in judgments of messages exhibiting high or low lexical and syntactic diversity. Suggests that listeners are sensitive to variations in lexical diversity but not syntactic diversity. (RL)

Refutes the theory that indirect requests are ambiguous. Arguments for it are examined and an attempt is made to expose the weaknesses in the kinds of tests generally used to detect "illocutionary" ambiguity. An alternative analysis in the framework of semantics and the pragmatics of directive speech acts is suggested. (AMH)

The current move toward sexual equality in society has caused sociolinguists to question assumptions that male language is the norm for all language, with women's language a variation of it. Desexitization of the language has become important in the field of linguistics. nAuthor/HLM)

Recommends using short nonsense texts, containing as many contradictions as possible, to further the students' acquisition of free-speaking competence. The nonsense sentences are to be corrected by the students, and are to be labeled: "practically impossible,""impossible in the context," or "strange." Four short nonsense texts are given. (IFS/WGA)

Argues that where Spanish is in contact with Quechua, the Spanish present perfect, preterite, and pluperfect are in contrast on the basis of a spatio-temporal parameter derived from the notion of present relevance. These innovative uses come from interaction between semantic systems of Quechua and Spanish and are consistent with universals of the…

English as an international language (EIL) has spread through development of autonomous registers that guarantee specialist communication within global expert communities. Most people learn English for this, not for social conversation with native speakers. Therefore, EIL is English for special purposes. Rather than emphasize "authentic" usage,…

Analyzes the oral language patterns of students from working class backgrounds, revealing a preference for practical efficiency of communication over grammatical correctness or precision. By school standards, their spoken narrations are confused, incoherent, and incorrect, leading to cultural misunderstandings, mutual incomprehension, and…