Background: An important issue in the discourse on language rights is the degree to which they influence the development and implementation of language policies or perpetuate inequalities in many language situations. Skutnabb-Kangas (1996, 2002a, 2002b) and May (2000), for example, have argued that language rights offer a reasonable framework for…

Using Belgium as an example, argues that a linguistic ecological viewpoint is important for the description of linguistic/ethnic contact areas in which one or more languages are in danger of dying without any apparent political decisions. It is not as important for the description of stable, diglossic, or multilingual areas or for open bilingual…

Using as a framework the theory of the ecology of language formulated by Einar Haugen, compares two Finnish minorities in Sweden, one which ceased to exist in the middle of this century and one, the Tornedal Finnish minority, which still exists. Discusses circumstances favorable to the preservation of Finnish in the Tornedal. (SED)

Critiques the concept of ethnolinguistic vitality developed by Giles, Bourhis, and Taylor. Argues that the dimensions of vitality outlined are ambiguous, and gross and inexact tools of analysis in their application. (EKN)

Discusses the study of the unprecedented revival of the Hebrew language in Palestine during 1890-1914. The study focused on status planning but corpus planning also served as a critical component. Examines codification during the revitalization period. (Author/VWL)

Addresses the theoretical context for language revival and sees language revival as part of a continuum of restorative activity. Examines difficulties that lie in terminology and perceptions of success. (Author/VWL)

Presents a case of language revitalisation in "settled" Australia, considers the nature of the language ecology in indigenous Australia, and advances some of the reasons for the success of this case of language revitalization. (Author/VWL)

Describes recent research on language maintenance to provide broad, worldwide coverage of different language contact situations. Surveys various countries in which research within ethnic and minority language communities illuminates language maintenance or shift, or revitalization, for that group. (Author/VWL)

Reports on a study of the early lexical acquisition of two children who acquired Spanish and English simultaneously. Data provide strong counter evidence to Faingold's (1996) proposal that children acquiring languages not closely related tend to favor a reduction strategy, whereas those acquiring closely related languages favor a maintenance…

Discusses the history of the relatively new field of language policy and planning. Focuses on language ecology and illustrates schematically the various forces at work in a linguistic ecology from a language-planning-activity perspective. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the language situation in the Russian diaspora in Latvia and Estonia and analyzes these factors that are critical in determining language outcomes for a language community within one country that speaks a majority language of another. Examines the possibility of three outcomes: language maintenance, bilingualism, and language shift in a…

Each language is a unique tool for analyzing and synthesizing the world, incorporating the knowledge and values of a speech community. According to Sapir (1931), linguistic "categories [including] number, gender, case, tense, mode, voice, "aspect", and a host of others ... are not so much discovered in experience as imposed upon…

This article examines the experiences of three Indigenous communities with language immersion models in preschool through 12th grades to revitalize and preserve their native languages through ethnographic research design and methods. The history and implementation of language instruction in three Indigenous communities are summarized. The analysis…

This article examines some of the problems concerning the language of instruction in higher education within Europe and relates them to the African context. The author argues that there is reason to be worried about the spread of the use of English as a language of instruction in higher education, to the detriment of the smaller European languages…

Background Context: In most immigrant-receiving societies, an important question, both for researchers and policy makers, has been the weighing of the relative efficiency of different formulas in the learning of the host language by immigrant students, especially the potential impact of specific services on social integration and the role of…