Examines the relationship between linguistic plurality and the rationale of advertising decisions. The article presents a simple model of sales to different language groups as a function of the level of advertising in each language, language attitudes, incomes, and an advertising response function. The model is intended as a benchmark, and several…

Literature in the little-known field of the economics of multilingualism is reviewed, focusing on five major issues: defining language; language and earnings; language of work, consumption, and business; language dynamics (acquisition, maintenance, and shift); and language policies. An analytical framework integrating economic and language factors…

Emphasizes that as an answer to the demand of companies desiring to optimize their internal and external multilingual communication, the Didascalia center started the development of company-specific language courseware. Presents an overview of how Didascalia specified an answer to that demand and developed a solution. (Author/CK)

Australia has a language paradox: great richness and great poverty of language resources. Despite its many cultures and immigrant groups, Australia emphasizes English-language assimilation and thereby endangers its chances for durable multilingualism. (MSE)

Reports a study of language learning and language attitudes among immigrants to the Netherlands. Questionnaires obtained from college students studying Dutch showed no evidence that Dutch was threatened by English and indicated that the importance attached to English as an international language did not lessen the value of Dutch for living in the…

Examined the use and importance of lectal power among candidates interviewed for admittance to a teacher education college in multilingual Singapore. At the syntactic level, the competent or incompetent use of syntactic features such as tag nouns chosen by the interviewees revealed the extent of the lectal power in their possession. (27…

Discusses the role of the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) in the development of the electronic information industry in Europe. Activities aimed at libraries are described; the IMPACT program for developing the market for information services is explained; and problems of multilingualism are addressed. (LRW)

Reports on two studies of minority language children enrolled in a Toronto, Canada, bilingual (English-French) program. The study indicated that focus on the maintenance and development of students' heritage language with specific reference to literacy learning enhanced the learning of French, a third language for the minority language students.…

Examination of a new type of speech developing among students at the University of Yaounde reveals a highly coded usage that cuts outsiders off through the use of highly metaphorical, playful, and hermetic words that come from various sources and are reassigned different or refreshing meanings and the use of colorful expressions, word-blending,…

Comments on the use of mother-tongues in written communication and basic education, using literacy programs in multilinguistic contexts as an example of the plurality of literacies. Democracy and citizenship, and the social demand for communication competence in postindustrial societies, are discussed with respect to the continuity dimension of…

Describes a six-month retraining program developed for Israel's Russian-speaking immigrant librarians and information specialists that includes Hebrew language, Jewish and Israeli history, English, and library automation. Differences from the Soviet library system are discussed, including censorship and public libraries, and characteristics of the…

Describes a university's use of a multilingual cable network as a foreign language instructional resource by incorporating series, news programs, and commercials into foreign language courses. (CB)

Assesses efforts to standardize the Malian languages, including the standardization of orthography and the creation of terminology in the Mandingo-Peul Project. Points to conflicts between technical and political considerations, and between local tendencies and balances among languages and the need to respect the ecolinguistics of the country.…

Examines Australia's reverse language shift (RLS), presenting eight stages of RLS for immigrant-derived and Aboriginal languages and noting the severity of intergenerational dislocation. Aboriginal languages are dying quickly, and language shift continues in immigrant-based community languages. Steps to encourage second language learning are often…

Examines the relative contributions of the school and the family to the bilingual development of francophone minority group students in western Canada. The implications for the survival of the French language in western Canada are discussed. (74 references) (GLR)