This study examined language maintenance through a sociology study of K'iche', a Mayan language of Guatemala, where a stable diglossic situation is eroding in the face of an increasing tide of bilingualism. Seven K'iche'-speaking communities were examined, including an analysis of socioeconomic, demographic, and political data. Quantified…

A collection of essays on European language policy, each by one or both of the authors, are: "Lessons for Europe from Language Policy in Australia"; "English Only Worldwide, or Language Ecology"; "Minority Workers or Minority Human Beings? A European Dilemma"; "Educational Language Choice--Multilingual Diversity…

This paper reviews factors contributing to the loss of language and culture of the Tarahumara people of Mexico and describes a program aimed at preserving Tarahumara language and culture. The Tarahumara people reside in the Sierra Tarahumara in the northern state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Although the Tarahumara people successfully avoided…

Activities at Edith Cowan University (Australia) in support of the maintenance of Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal English are discussed. Discussion begins with an examination of the concept of language maintenance and the reasons it merits the attention of linguists, language planners, and language teachers. Australian policy concerning…

This paper addresses the potential value of language-related criteria for use in identifying ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. A description of the way the Dutch government defines ethnic minority groups is followed by a comparative outline of the use of language-related criteria in countries with a longer tradition of immigration (Australia,…

Indigenous languages are under siege, not only in the United States but also around the world, in danger of disappearing because they are not being transmitted to the next generation. Immigrants and their languages worldwide are similarly subject to seemingly irresistible social, political, and economic pressures. Yet, at a time when phrases such…

This personal narrative of an Arapaho teacher compares the development of an indigenous language program to running the gauntlet. On the Wind River Reservation (Wyoming), Arapaho instruction was introduced in reservation schools during the late 1970s. By 1984, it was taught in grades K-12, but for only 15 minutes per day. Although recordings of…

Reports from the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the White House Conference on Indian Education identify as a national priority the need to retain American Indian and Alaska Native languages both as central elements in Native cultures and as national resources. A personal narrative of an Alaska Native man who grew up in the 1930s shows the…

Findings about black language and speaking behavior may help increase understanding and accommodation of black students in education. While something is known about Black English as a medium of communication, little is known about the language itself. The teacher must learn to recognize basic linguistic and performance features of black English,…

The present status and position of the Catalan language are assessed, and the language planning activities being carried out in Catalonia to promote it are examined. The historical development of Catalan is outlined, and the current situation in Catalonia is described, focusing on its uses among immigrants and in modern mass communications. The…

Animals familiar to the northwest region of California where Hupa Indians reside are depicted in this coloring book which belongs to a series of materials developed to promote the use of the Hupa language. Each page contains a bold pen and ink drawing of an animal and the animal's name in the Unifon alphabet used for writing the Hupa language.…

Human beings have as great a capacity for losing or forgetting a language as they do for learning one. Many have lost language skills due to a lack of a linguistically appropriate environment in which to use a particular language. Millions of individuals who have studied a second language in high school or college for several years have lost the…

Problems faced by Koreans in the United States are identified and analyzed in this paper, and some pragmatic remedies are offered. First, the acculturation process is slow--the mean of the Koreans' sojourn in the United States is only 6.5 years, whereas complete acculturation takes several generations. Second, although most Korean emigres learned…

National language planning involves four interdependent processes that ideally constitute a cycle: fact-finding, policy formation, implementation, and evaluation. Each of these processes is more difficult in the relatively young but highly pluralistic nations of Africa. A community-based model of language planning offers ways to alleviate or…

A unifying methodology of diffusion studies is presented treating geographical, sociological, and historical phonomena of language within the same framework. Patterns of linguistic innovation and the social and psychological motivations for such a change, both in the individual and in society, are summarized in their functions as predictors of…