Language and literacy issues in India are reviewed in terms of background, steps taken to combat illiteracy, and some problems associated with literacy. The following facts are noted: India has 106 languages spoken by more than 685 million people, there are several minor script systems, a major language has different dialects, a language may use…

A study combining qualitative and quantitative research methods (a direct survey) investigated the attitudes of 75 working class individuals in Glasgow, Scotland toward differences in the speech of older or younger people and in the speech of the opposite sex. Results indicate that dialect lexis loss was neither as thorough nor as abrupt as older…

A dictionary of Djinang, a member of the Nhangu group of Australian Aboriginal languages, consists of three parts. The first is an alphabetically-organized listing of Djinang words and contains one or more of these fields of information for each: a Djinang word or phrase, dialect information, part of speech, English meaning, Roget's Thesaurus…

The two most commonly used language proficiency tests offered in the United States by foreign countries' chambers of commerce are those of Spain and France. The Spanish test has been introduced recently and has no rigorous and uniform set of rules governing its administration at all centers. Issues arising from the administration of this exam…

A descriptive study to be undertaken on the effects of contact between English and Quebec French in the French-speaking community of Welland in Ontario is also presented as a study of the "Ontarianization" of Canadian French. The first chapter summarizes previous studies of Ontario French and poses some of the salient research questions…

Previous research on Spanish vocabulary for second language instruction has focused primarily on word frequency in a variety of print sources, and has the added disadvantages of being outdated and having too complex a format. A new, computer-based analysis of spoken Spanish from different dialect regions of the world was undertaken to provide more…

A study investigated whether students comprehend more from a Black teacher using Black English and whether Black students view a Black teacher using Black dialect as being more credible than one without Black speech characteristics. The research consisted of a pilot study with White students to test the appropriateness of the instruments and…

Part of a larger study of Puerto Ricans' language attitudes, an investigation of the attitudes of 104 high school teachers and students in Puerto Rico focused on whether the subjects dissented within or among groups on the published cliches or statements that stereotype Puerto Rican Spanish (PRS) as inferior. All but two subjects placed themselves…

Chicano Spanish in not only a product of two languages, but also the influence of middle-class environment and immediate realities. These realities are much different from those in Mexico, even though they derive from it, having a strong relationship to all factors that constitute social level and status. Three principal dialects are: Tex-Mex,…

This issue contains proceedings of a colloquium on linguistics at the University of Neuchatel: (1) "Propositions epistemologiques pour une etude du bilinguisme (Epistemological Propositions for a Study of Bilingualism)," by B. Py; (2) "Comment on di ca? Prolegomenes a une etude de la composante semantique du langage des migrants (How Do You Say…

Noting that using correct verb forms is a problem for many elementary school students, and especially for those who are speakers of nonstandard English, this paper presents an instructional program for teaching past and past participle verb forms in writing to students in grade 3 through 6. The paper outlines the content of the instructional…

This volume discusses various aspects of nonverbal communication and provides an extensive bibliography of journal articles, listed by author, that are relevant to the topic. Commentary is divided into six sections: "Considerations in Nonverbal Communication," which examines the impact of motion and rhythm, the components of nonverbal…

This paper provides some examples of American English that have been borrowed from other cultures and languages, and proposes that teachers develop students' lifelong reading interests through the study of folklore and dialect materials. Language development and appreciation relate to personal identity development insofar as individuals express…

The eight articles in this journal issue deal with the classroom study of language. They address such topics as dealing with student dialects and teaching about dialects; creating environments in which "languaging" can take place; using stylistic analysis to explain a literary text; teaching high school students to write research papers on aspects…

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…