This book offers an ethnographic account of language socialization practices within Mexican-background families residing in California and Texas. It illustrates cases where language is used by speakers to choose between alternative self-definitions and where language interacts differentially with other defining categories (ethnicity, gender, and…

Early vocabularies of a language can help indigenous communities retrieve lost or forgotten vocabulary. Currently, there are very few fluent speakers of Tuscarora. As in other native communities, efforts are underway to reverse the decline in native language usage. One advantage the Tuscaroras have is that, since 1700, numerous researchers have…

The co-directors of the 1998 Annual Symposium for Language Renewal and Revitalization describe how they came up with a focus and presenters for the symposium. They began by discussing their concern over the loss of indigenous languages and cultures, then decided to honor tribal elders by choosing one to represent them all as the symposium's…

Examines various perspectives on the issue of French language training for adult immigrants held by French informants, many of whom are engaged in such training. (EKN)

Provides a survey of the linguistic, social, and educational situation created along the Swiss language frontier by the interaction between French speaking and German dialect speaking groups. Reports research data gathered on senior secondary students on the language frontier. Explains the "territorial principle" governing language use…

Discusses accounts of events and pressures influencing the British government's Welsh Office to set up the "Council for the Welsh Language," and reviews the council's composition, tasks, and achievements. Findings indicate that the council was even-handed in its promotion of activities to support Welsh and satisfied the middle ground of…

Discusses tensions resulting from dichotomies existing between "smaller" languages and those of wider communications. It is suggested that there are four recurring approaches for dealing with this tension: communicative language shift, defense of the more threatened variety, "localization" of the stronger language (for example,…

Explores political, cultural, historical, and economic dynamics of the Asian region. Suggests how English-speaking Australians might begin the process of learning about early childhood programs in Asia. Addresses political and practical challenges that monolingual, English-speaking Australians face when involved in cross-cultural exchanges with…

Argues that two influential studies of multilingualism in India are misleading in that they claim India's situation is unique and cherish this uniqueness as a value. It is proposed instead that this sociolinguistic diversity is inherently conflict-producing and leads to loss of "weak" languages, similar to documented situations in other…

Dr. William Morgan, a Navajo linguist, devoted his career to the development and preservation of the Navajo language. Morgan collaborated with Dr. Robert Young in writing "The Navajo Language," an unabridged Navajo-English dictionary. He also taught Navajo at the Navajo Community College and worked for the Native American Materials…

Discusses the Tamil language situation in Singapore, which lends itself ideally to the study of minority-language maintenance. Examines attempts to maintain Tamil, a highly diglossic language in emigration and concludes that the well-meaning bilingual education system actually produces a situation of subtractive bilingualism. (Author/VWL)

Reviews language planning theory and discusses language planning in South Africa, both historically and in a postapartheid context. A politically minimal approach is suggested for the postapartheid state, where individuals would receive instruction in English, while being encouraged or allowed to maintain their native languages. (21 references)…

Describes ongoing developments in the education of Inuit Native language teachers in Quebec and discusses the extremely broad range of cultural and linguistic contexts in both mainstream and non-assimilative Native education situations. (CB)

Attempts to consider all of the relevant aspects of the role of the Maori culture and language in developing New Zealand's language policy. Those aspects considered include national identity, cultural bias, and international communication needs. (Author/CB)

Data are presented on some aspects of metalinguistic awareness in Dutch adults who emigrated to Australia at least 25 years ago. The findings show that the migrants do not differ significantly from a control group in the Netherlands, suggesting that first-language metalinguistic skills are extremely resistant to attrition. (Contains nine…