A review of the literature on child language reveals little research on overgeneralization in the speech of the bilingual child. Questions arise regarding (1) the existence of interlingual overgeneralizations, and (2) the possibility that monolingual deviations and bilingual code switching might be forms of overgeneralization. Because a model for…

Scenes from the Mexican Revolution are featured in this short booklet for Spanish speaking children in the elementary grades. These supplementary reading materials were developed by a student in the Mesa Community College Bilingual Teacher Aide Program. Both the language and content are intended to provide linguistically and culturally sensitive…

This report is a cross-linguistic study that compares the sequence of emergence of semantic relations in English with the sequence of emergence of these relations in the acquisition of American Sign Language. American Sign Language (ASL) differs from English in modality (it is a visual-gesture language rather than an auditory-vocal one) and in the…

A part of the Blackfeet Indian Heritage Project, this coloring book features 21 pages of pictures of animal and plant life, foods, and numbers. Arranged in alphabetical order, the pictures are accompanied with their names printed in both the English and Blackfeet languages. The reverse side of each page is left blank to give the student room to…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 23 titles deal with the following topics: sex appropriate and sex inappropriate language; lexical retrieval and perceptual errors; naming deficits in anomia and aphasia; developmental discourse; pragmatic information and…

This paper investigates the development of negative Wh-questions in a four year old subject acquiring English as her L1. Spontaneous and elicited speech samples were collected over a period of 6 months. During the course of the study, the subject began to invert subject and auxiliary, and by the end of the study she was inverting correctly in 38%…

The main concern of this report is the nature of the reliance by children on prior native language (L1) knowledge in naturalistic, untutored second language (L2) acquisition. It is suggested that L1 reliance is systematic, in that specific conditions have to be met within the child's L2 development before he or she will, or can, draw on previous…

Studies conducted with middle-class balanced bilinguals in "additive" environments, where both languages are prestigious, have generally reported that bilinguals showed a higher level of cognitive performance than monolinguals. In these studies, bilinguals showed higher levels of general intellectual skills, higher levels of divergent thinking, a…

This issue of The Journal of Social Issues is devoted to nine articles on the topic of bilingualism written by authorities in the fields of linguistics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and education. The authors and their topics are: (1) Dell Hymes, "Models of the Interaction between Language and Social Setting," (2) Joshua A. Fishman,…

An empirical study of the way children talk about art experiences is described and the meaning of this talk in terms of the cognition it represents is investigated. The criteria serving as the basis for creation of content analysis categories are subject matter, sensory elements, formal properties, technical competence, expressive elements,…

It is the task of educational linguistics to describe and analyze language education in all aspects. With respect to the Navajo Reading Study, it is within the realm of educational linguistics to develop and make available information that will permit the Navaho people, working through their own institutions, to make informed decisions about…

This evaluation report presents the details and results of an experimental, compensatory language program designed to improve the standard English language facility of young aboriginal children on the assumption that this would contribute to improvement in reading and other aspects of academic performance. The pilot program was administered during…

The bilingual education program in a given community should be based on a sociolinguistic assessment of that community, and community members should be involved in assessing the surrounding bilingual reality and in deciding whether they wish to mirror that reality in the biliteracy program. This paper presents alternatives for bilingual programs…

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for assessing aspects of the cognitive functioning of young children from their symbolic play. Subjects were 60 children, aged 3 to 5 years, from middle-class and lower-class families. The study was conducted in two phases, with the following objectives: (1) to identify and analyze aspects of…

This article argues that courses in linguistics should be included in all teacher training programs, whether the students are training to be general teachers or language teachers specializing in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) or Foreign Languages in the Elementary School (FLES). Details of lectures and assignments for two topics,…