This paper highlights a new approach to the topic of language consciousness. Although a good deal has already been learned about the topic in connection with such questions as: "When and among whom does language consciousness arise?"; "When is it stronger and when is it weaker?"; and "What does it lead its adherents to do…

A dictionary of Mandarin Chinese verbs and adjectives, a companion to a Mandarin grammar, is intended as an extensive teaching lexicon of a major Chinese word class. It catalogues 4,500 words and combinations, with instructions in the proper and various applications of each item through linguistic explanations and illustrative sentences when…

Demonstrates that prior to the beginning of the prescriptive grammar movement in English, singular "they" was accepted. By analogy with socially motivated changes in second person pronouns in various European languages, it is suggested that third person pronoun usage will be affected by current feminist opposition to sex-indefinite "he."…

This article discusses the way in which the orthography may or may not reflect changes in the pronunciation of Castilian Spanish. Examples substantiate the discussion. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article defines the linguistic situation in Puerto Rico and explains why the term "bilingualism" cannot be used to accurately describe the linguistic reality there. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

Speech samples were obtained from college student Miami-area Cuban informants in an attempt to test the hypothesis that a compensatory phonemic change takes place in certain Spanish dialects in which syllable-final and word-final /s/ appear optionally as zero. Vowel system, distinction (open versus closed), and length are looked at. (SCC)

Language is not fixed and uniform, but occurs in many variants, social, occupational, etc. These correspond to various roles in society. The learner must be prepared to assume such roles, and must try to achieve practical mastery of the corresponding language variant. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Concludes that the German used in the east Belgium newspaper differs fr om standard High German. Proceeds to list these differences in the areas of lexicology, semantics and stylistics, morphology and syntax, orthography e tc. (Text is in German.) (DS)

As the field of world language (WL) education continues to improve the integration of language and culture, educators must constantly question and challenge their assumptions of what culture is and how to weave it into language instruction. In fact, one of NNELL's position statements states that there is a need for a "cogent plan to provide…

Two articles are included in this issue. The first article, written in Danish, focuses on an incident that occurs in the fourth act of Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt." A theory is put forth on why this particular incident, which involves the misinterpretation of the name Peer Gynt by the German character Begriffenfeldt, takes place. The…

A study examined the effect of language style and variation in speech rate on the vocalization of /l/ in local Cambridge English. This sociolinguistic feature has been described as marking southeastern varieties of British English and as a connected speech process (CSP) in its sensitivity to variation in speaking rate. Language style variables…

The typical pattern of Chinese word formation is to have native material adapt to changed circumstances. The Chinese language neither borrows nor lends words, but it does occasionally borrow concepts. The larger cultural pattern in which this occurs is that the Chinese culture borrows, if necessary, but ensures that the act of borrowing does not…

A study of the nature and function of British Sign Language (BSL) as used in the British deaf community is described. The study examined two hypotheses: (1) that the notion of diglossia applies to the British deaf signing community, and (2) that the low variety of BSL will exploit the visual medium in its grammar to a greater extent than the high…

A study compared salient variables of Canadian English from two concurrent sociodialectal surveys, one for Ottawa, Ontario and one for Vancouver, British Columbia. Using the Labovian model of phonological variation in association with sociological parameters and other linguistic variables within each specific area, the analysis investigated four…

An examination of the social psychological basis of style shifting suggests that, contrary to Labovian theory, many style shifts are not a function of shifts in attention to speech and that there are other more explanatory ways of analyzing style shifts. Some reasons for this view are: (1) attention to speech is sometimes negatively correlated…