Examines the relationship between topic and gender on the basis of observation of naturally occurring conversations among all-male, all-female, and mixed-gender groups. An analysis of the relative importance or triviality of these conversations as perceived by the conversants themselves is presented. (Author/CB)

The need to teach students speaking skills in Spanish, and to choose among the many standard dialects spoken in the Hispanic world (as well as literary and colloquial speech), presents a challenge to the Spanish teacher. Some phonetic considerations helpful in solving these problems are offered. (CHK)

Proposes making minimal translations of Shakespeare's works to restore his literature to modern readers' attention. Considers four types of passages requiring such translations: complicated exposition, thick stylization, the high dramatic moment, and the passing trifle. Presents guidelines for further translations. (RL)

Examines methods of teaching the stylistics of language usage, emphasizing revision in the composing process. (RL)

"Gastarbeiterdeutsch" includes varieties of German spoken by the many foreign workers employed in low-paid, less desirable jobs in Germany. It is characterized by reduction and simplification of syntactic and semantic forms. Study of this dialect reveals patterns of natural language acquisition necessary for communication, useful in classroom…

The media interview is seen as a form of information exchange that is increasingly important and needs to be understood. Similarities and differences in written and oral interview reports are briefly examined, and interview objectives, forms (dialogue or narrative), and language functions are discussed. (MSE)

Tests claims regarding "get"-passives in English via interrogation of a set of written and spoken corpora. The data suggest that "get"-passives are often associated with two types of pragmatic implicature. Finally, the corpus provides evidence of three types of variation with 'get'-passives: regional, stylistic, and diachronic.…

The distribution of variants of the FACE and GOAT vowels in Tyneside English (TE) is assessed with reference to the age, sex, and social class of 32 adult TE speakers. Effects of phonological context and speaking style are also examined. Patterns in the data are suggestive of dialect leveling, whereby localized speech variants become recessive and…

Investigates the learning of sociostylistic variation by students in French immersion programs in Ontario. Focused on their learning of the four expressions of restriction ("ne . . .que,""seulement,""rien que," and "juste"). (Author/VWL)

One can ask four questions about genre validity across cultures. Does a certain form or configuration occur in the culture in question? Is it acceptable? If acceptable, is it in practice preferred? Is it recommended by prescriptive authorities? This paper reports the results of an attempt to answer these questions empirically by testing the…

Choice of language style depends on personality, society and culture, or in another view, on personal needs, immediate situation and background situation. Some of the literature on this subject is reviewed. Available from Instituut voor Toegepaste Linguistiek, Vesaliusstraat 2, B. 3000 Leuven, Belgium. (TL)

This guide was designed to provide both the occasional and the professional bilingual Spanish-English translator with some working definitions based on modern linguistics and to call his or her attention to certain difficulties in translating. Sections on the following are included: (1) context sensitivity, (2) frequency matching, (3) style…

Discusses the sociolinguistic hypotheses of deficit and difference, criticizing the latter for deriving a "functional equivalence" from clearly different social contexts, leading to passivity and lack of results in current school practice. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This article discusses the problem of choosing a language style for literary purposes in Quebec. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

A study of the spoken French of 120 residents of Montreal. The researchers were interested in the linguistic and social factors influencing the use of "avoir" and "etre." Results show that this usage corresponds to a tendancy to regularize conjugations. (Text is in French.) (AMH)