A theory that the consonant system of Chipewyan has been reduced from 39 to 16 segments, as influenced by Cree, was based on an incoherent and indiscriminate admixture of variable data; instead, there is evidence of intralinguistic divergence, not interlinguistic convergence, because the observed changes are those frequently observed in other…

This article explains the use of the origins of American English and the dictionary to teach multiculturalism to elementary school students. It suggests classroom activities that help students explore the cultural roots behind words and appreciate the ways words have been created. Esperanto and the development of an international language are also…

Describes a new research project on York English, a variety in northeast England. Conducted a quantitative analysis of a linguistic feature that recurs pervasively in varieties of English worldwide--"was/were" variation in the past tense paradigm. (Author/ER)

Gondi, a Dravidian language spoken by 2.2 million people in central India, is a chain of dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible. This study looked at a two-step sound change, responsible for this dialect division. (ER)

The global French-speaking community recognizes the need to better coordinate its efforts to assert the vitality of French in a world increasingly dominated by English. In pursuing this goal, the Francophone world has developed an identity crisis. Defenders of French face difficult questions about the relationship between language and culture and…

Examines crosslinguistic variation in "filler-gap dependencies" (wh-questions and relative clauses) from a processing perspective, and integrates research findings from psycholinguistics, language typology, and generative grammar. Numerous implicational universals and hierarchies are proposed that receive a natural explanation in terms…

Language planning confronts a situation in which human rights have become inclusive in theory but remain exclusive in practice, often deploying language or language varieties as pretexts for exclusion. This article suggests that language planning should promote a dialectic between inclusive theories and inclusive practices within its own projects…

Examines the pattern of variation of the auxiliary "avoir" and "etre" in the passe compose tense in Vermont French in 22 adult speakers who immigrated from Quebec or are first-generation Franco-Americans. The purpose of the study was to determine if the process of replacement of "etre" by "avoir" in progress…

Examines some intergenerational changes in subordination (conditionals and subjunctive clauses) in a Cajun French community, exploring the gradual loss of nonindicative moods and the abandonment of finite clauses in subjunctive contexts in favor of innovative nonfinite clause types via a continuum of variation. (Author/MSE)

Explores the acoustic nature of Singapore English. In directly comparable samples of British and Singapore English, two types of acoustic measurements were taken--calculation of a variability index reflecting changes in vowel length over utterances, and measurements reflecting vowel quality. Findings provide acoustic data that support the…

Fricative spectral data are compared with articulatory data from electropalatographic (EPG) recordings in an investigation of coarticulatory effects on the acoustic signal. Data were taken from CV tokens produced by four female speakers of Australian English. Results are presented for coronal fricatives in seven monothong vowel contexts.…

Discusses the use of "ever" in affirmative responses to Yes/No type questions as well as in declarative sentences in discourse in colloquial Singaporean English. Examines parallels in Singaporean English use of "ever" with its equivalents in the local languages. While parallels can be seen in Mandarin Hokkein, Cantonese, and…

A cross-dialectal comprehension test was conducted at Ohio University and three of its branch campuses. Results indicated that vowel changes occurring in Southern Ohio were generally interpreted by respondents in terms of their own vowel systems, and that limited exposure to the local dialect by outsiders led to recognition only of the more…

Attempts to resolve an outstanding question as to the most appropriate structural description of the relationship between subject and verb in Bislama (a Melanesian creole spoken in Vanuatu), discusses what the implications of this analysis might be for a Creole ontogeny, and attempts to unify this analysis to the verb system with the distribution…

Cross-speaker variability in the use of prosodic features in intonation was investigated through analysis of adult speakers of English from London, England, using a new prosodic test battery (PEPS). PEPS is designed to elicit information about how speakers use prosodic features to realize different types of linguistic and communicative functions…