Who wins in sociolinguistic research undertaken in minority ethnolinguistic communities? This is a question that might at first glance seem an odd one. In fact, however, the concept of winning--with the concomitant themes of games and gamesmanship, plays and players, gains and losses, rewards and punishments, and so on--is an apposite one wherever…

After an introduction to the Italian linguistic situation, highlighting the remarkable number of language varieties present in Italy today, the paper goes on to review briefly the history of micronationalism in Italy, and to propose a classification of language planning based on the distinction between macro- and micronationalism. There follows a…

This paper describes the Niuean community and the evolving roles of Niuean language and identity in New Zealand, where the majority of Niueans now reside. As part of the Pasifika Languages of Manukau Project (PLMP), 30 New Zealand Niueans participated in detailed interviews on issues relating to language main-tenance. This paper considers their…

This theme issue, devoted to the relationship between language, culture, and identity, contains three articles, all by Anne Turnbaugh Lockwood, and a commentary by Florence L. Johnson. The first article, entitled "The Heart of Culture," reports on an interview with Henry T. Trueba, an educator specializing in the roles of language, culture, and…

This paper discusses the contribution of school-based mother-tongue literacy to the maintenance and renewal of endangered languages, with Navajo as the case in point. Although Navajo claims the most speakers among U.S. indigenous languages, the absolute number and relative proportion of Navajo speakers have declined drastically in the last 30…

Drawing from papers presented at the five "Stabilizing Indigenous Languages" symposia held since 1994, this paper recommends strategies for language revitalization at various stages of language loss. Based on a study of minority languages worldwide, Joshua Fishman postulated a continuum of eight stages of language loss, ranging from the…

This paper describes the Imazighen of North Africa, known in the West as Berbers; threats to their language and culture from schooling and the dominant Arabo-Islamic culture; and recent effects of mass media. As the indigenous people of North Africa, the Imazighen have been invaded frequently during the last 3000 years, but only the Arabs…

This paper examines the use of heritage languages in Canada and the processes surrounding the maintenance or shift of these minority languages in Canada's different linguistic minority groups. Studies of language shift or maintenance in Canada generally concern the relative positions of English and French and the changing patterns of usage along…

"Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics" is intended as a forum for the presentation of the latest original research by the faculty and students of the Department of Linguistics and other related departments of the University of Kansas. Papers in this volume include: "Some Issues in Japanese Accent" (Kenneth Miner);…

Attitudes and policies toward bilingualism in the United States have always been affected by political considerations. Although controversy over bilingualism is political in principle, it is a particular kind of political controversy, that is, a manifestation of a new stage in the history of an even larger controversy over the meaning of…

The life of a primary mythical character of the Hupa culture unfolds in this story, which was translated from a version told by an 82-year-old Hupa. The introduction summarizes the story plot explaining that the hero of the story is born under strange circumstances (dug up by a girl who ignores the warning not to dig potatoes with two leaves) and…

The most developed supra-national language-based movement today is la Francophonie, the movement representing all of the populations of the world that speak French. French is an international language and is spoken in many parts of the world, although the exact number of francophones is not known. La Francophonie has a number of major…

A discussion of the loss and maintenance of second language skills beyond the formal education process provides information about skill loss and a variety of strategies and suggestions for language skill maintenance. The book begins with an overview of the subject of language loss and maintenance (Jean Berko Gleason and Barbara Alexander Pan),…

This report outlines the basic characteristics of native languages in Ontario, the degree to which they are being maintained, and the aspirations of native people for their future development. The report covers only the Algonquian and Iroquoian families of languages spoken in Ontario for many generations and still spoken at present, including…

Franco-Americans constitute the fourth largest language minority group in the United States, with over two million Franco-Americans residing in the greater New England area. Largely due to lack of available information, teachers and administrators have often proceeded under the erroneous assumptions that Franco language and cultural patterns are…