Nearly 40 years have passed since the publication of Rubin's renowned study on Paraguayan bilingualism. The present study compares the results of surveys conducted in the years 2000-2001 with data from Rubin's 1960-1961 investigation. The main objective of this study is to examine the linguistic changes that have occurred in four decades and the…

While decline and/or extinction threaten an ever-increasing number of languages, most of these are minority tongues that struggle for survival against dominant languages. The present paper reports the case of Belarusian, a national and co-official language, which the great majority of the population of Belarus considers as its mother tongue, but…

The revitalisation of a minority language implies subjective as well as objective (e.g. demographic) criteria of vitality. School students of around age 16 have been identified as a key group for carrying a revitalised Welsh language through into social life. Our research profiles the feelings of ethnic affiliation and cultural engagement, and…

Ajit Kumar Mohanty is a Professor of Social Psychology of Education at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Mohanty received his doctorate from University of Alberta, Canada, in 1978, and was a postdoctoral Fulbright fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, between 1981-1982. He was…

For several years children at Joyce Public School have been rewriting traditional stories from localized cultural and linguistic perspectives, creating innovative, individualized narrative forms with digital technology. Our experimental multiliteracies research project is a collaboration of school and university teachers and researchers following…

This article attempts to draw on the legal, policy, and educational experience that we have gained over the past 25-30 years to suggest directions for the future. It is uniquely timed, as we seem to have reached a period of retrenchment after a period of extensive activity. Ultimately, we have to move beyond the present and build on this past…

In this study we explore Korean immigrant parents' attitudes toward heritage language maintenance for their children and their efforts to help their children maintain Korean as their heritage language in Montreal. Some implications for mainstream school policies and classroom practices are touched on briefly. Data were collected from nine Korean…

My response to Johnston's (2004) "W(h)ither the Deaf Community?" is theoretical in nature and sociological in perspective. I comment on how Johnston's particular concern for the possible demise of Australian Sign Language (Auslan) in Australia's currently transforming social and medical context surrounding childhood deafness is legitimate but…

The results of a survey of language attitudes of Estonian secondary school students, ages 15 to 18, are presented, and the implications for the practice of language maintenance are discussed. The survey revealed that Estonian is valued as a token of identity but not much as a commodity in the sense of linguistic economy. It is argued that…

Fettes (2004) asserts that "politico-strategies" of languages are no longer viable frameworks for "national and community policy". Rather, he proposes the development of "geostrategies of interlingualism", i.e. linguistic strategies which promote international communication equitably and efficiently, whilst respecting…

Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is currently in a state of transition as various elements within and outside the Deaf community contest the creation of new terms. Represented by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, the older generation is creating new words in order to compete with the national public television service while at the same time fending…

This paper examines preliminary findings from an ongoing federally funded study of Native language shift and retention in the US Southwest, focusing on in-depth ethnographic interviews with Navajo youth. We begin with an overview of Native American linguistic ecologies, noting the dynamic, variegated and complex nature of language proficiencies…

Teachers of English as a Second Language are encouraged to provide support for home language maintenance and use in classroom writing assignment. It is argued that this supports cultural diversity rather than emphasize differences among students, helps in development of literacy and other cognitive skills, and empowers students to achieve and…

This paper describes the use of computer technology to produce an updated online Tohono O'odham dictionary. Spoken in southern Arizona and northern Mexico, Tohono O'odham (formerly Papago) and its close relative Akimel O'odham (Pima) had a total of about 25,000 speakers in 1988. Although the language is taught to school children through community…

Indigenous language programs that have a literacy component require reading materials. Recent advances in computer technology and certain legal changes in the publishing industry have made self-publishing such materials an easier task. This paper describes some of the steps necessary to self-publish indigenous language materials. Suggestions are…