An excerpt from the "Play of the Congos," given in Congo, Spanish, and English, exemplifies the sociolinguistic features of the combined play and ritual language used by the Afro-Hispanic population in the Caribbean region of the Costa Abajo in north-central Panama. The sociolinguistic norms are an important part of the "regulation…

A joint Swedish-Finnish seminar for both teacher trainers and teachers concerning the effect of a cross-cultural approach to school curricula is summarized. The conference addressed four issues in lectures and discussion groups: (1) cultural attitudes and cultural symbols; (2) language and culture; (3) giving consideration to different cultures in…

Input language may have an effect on child development that goes far beyond language development alone. Language is the medium by which children acquire at least a portion of their sex role and social class or group characteristics, world view, and emotional and psychological well-being. Existing theories of psychological development ignore…

New Zealand shares with other Southeast Asian nations two sets of problems which stem from the presence of several distinct communities in one geographical/political area: the first relates to treatment of linguistic minorities, indigenous and immigrant; the second is that of social or regional dialects which, while not totally distinct from an…

This study investigated the roles of both belief similarity and dialect style on white subjects' attitudes and nonverbal behaviors toward black or white people in a face to face interaction. The experimental design consisted of six cells defined by two levels of belief similarity crossed by three levels of the race and dialect manipulations (white…

A major problem in doing linguistic research from tape-recorded material is finding specific tape content for later, detailed analysis of data. A project on use of language in medicine being carried out at the Cornell University Medical College has developed a method of cataloguing taped material that eliminates the need for transcriptions and…

A functional syllabus for post-intermediate study of English as a second language (ESL) that was developed for the provincial high schools in Papua New Guinea is described. The framework necessary to analyze student needs and define learning objectives is based on languages uses. A "language use" is a semantic unit identifying the…

The problem of language in Quebec today is not unique. All over the world, the problem of language comes up as a result of the organization of life in society. It is useful, therefore, to examine the role language has played in the evolution of societies from tribes to nations. In this way, the similarities and differences between the situation in…

This report examines attitudes toward and developments in foreign languages in British industry and education during the past ten years. It reviews the following reports: (1) the York Report published in 1974; (2) surveys of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry; (3) surveys in industry, such as that by British Leyland in 1976; (4) a 1979…

In the translation part of this study, 22 Japanese short stories were translated into English by native speakers of English and 20 English short stories were translated into Japanese by Japanese. The passive passages in the Japanese version were classified into either adversative or non-adversative passive. (See related documents AL 001 564 and AL…

At a meeting in November 1966, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies, members of public and private organizations were briefed on the state of linguistics and what it has to offer other disciplines: (1) its basic unity despite organizational diversity; (2) its breadth, as the science of verbal structure, and how it relates to all…

Observation of child language development is just one way to study how language changes over time. Developmental psycholinguistics shares much common ground with historical linguistics and with studies of languages in contact and the evolution of pidgins and creoles. By studying the way language changes, this paper focuses on clarifying the…

Linguistic cues evoke prestructured beliefs in people's minds regarding the nature and causes of public problems. Political language can shape people's opinions and thereby shape events. There appear to be two beliefs or myths that people use to explain social problems: the first sees the sufferer as responsible for his own plight in a basically…

The report gives the results of a pilot study on the attitudes of children concerning international topics. By use of a tightly structured questionnaire presented orally to children in grades 1 through 7, the author attempted to arrive at tentative findings concerning how attitudes toward other peoples and nations are formed and what role language…

This volume is a prepublication edition of four papers presented at a briefing held for representatives of government agencies, foundations and other organizations, November 12, 1970 at the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution. "Linguistics as a Pilot Science," by Joseph H. Greenberg, examines the impact which…