Argues that linguists have ignored diversity within the northern Khoesan (NK) group of languages of Southern Africa and this has had serious repercussions both for speakers of these languages and for linguistic theory. The variation that appears within NK has been ignored in part because a single variety has been misunderstood as being the !Kung…

Papers from a workshop on the role and development of national languages include: "What Is a National Language Good for?" (Florian Coulmas); "To the Language Born: Thoughts on the Problem of National and International Languages" (Jacob Mey); "Swahili as a National Language in East Africa" (Marilyn Merritt, Mohamed…

This volume contains papers presented at the Kittamaqundi Conference on the Uncommonly-Taught Languages, in Columbia, Maryland, September 29-October 2, 1974. The volume has two main sections. The first contains papers dealing with conceptual issues of developing materials for uncommonly-taught languages, without extended reference to any specific…

This report is an attempt at revising the 1961 Fife-Nelsen report's list of priority African languages. In making decisions regarding priorities, the following kinds of data are considered most useful: statistical data on the languages involved, such as where the languages are spoken and how many people speak them; data on the cultural role of…

The discussion of corpus planning for the Southern Quechua language variety of Peru examines issues of graphization, standardization, modernization, and renovation of Quechua in the face of increasing domination by the Spanish language. The efforts of three major groups of linguists and other scholars working on language planning in Peru, and the…

A discussion of the situation of Idoma, a Nigerian language, begins with different accounts of the language's origin, referring to both local legend and cosmology. It then proceeds to a review of modern linguists' efforts, since 1927, to classify the language. A statistical overview contains information on the number of speakers of Idoma as a…

A study of North Australia's Kriol language situation identifies the language, its speakers, its functions, and the sociopolitical factors in its emergence as an autonomous language. The first chapter reviews the development of the linguistic field concerning pidgins and creoles, looking especially at the concepts developed to explain the rise and…

There is a growing awareness among some Arab education specialists that the low levels of educational achievement and high illiteracy and low literacy rates in most Arab countries are directly related to the complexities of the standard Arabic language used in formal schooling and non-formal education. The complexities mostly relate to the…

This work is a study of Arctic languages written in an interdisciplinary manner. Part of the Unesco Arctic project aimed at safeguarding the linguistic heritage of Arctic peoples, the book is the outcome of three Unesco meetings at which conceptual approaches to and practical plans for the study of Arctic cultures and languages were worked out.…

This is the first comprehensive study in English of African languages in the context of their cultural setting. It may be used as a basic text in survey courses on African languages as well as a supplemental text in practical language courses. No linguistic background is necessary for understanding this book--the basic concepts are explained,…