Research by the staff and advanced students of the North Dakota Summer Institute of Linguistics is presented. In "Verb Agreement and Case Marking in Burushaski" (Stephen R. Willson), an overview of Burushaski morphology and syntax is presented, with special attention to verb agreement and case marking. "A Backwards Binding Construction in Zapotec"…

In many respects, the state of minority language reflects the dynamics of the society at large. At this time, many minority languages are threatened by modernization and urbanization, although others find support in new regional autonomy and movements toward cultural preservation. The 17 chapters of this collection describe the status of a number…

Nine papers present either discussion of the issues or practical answers to the issues of nonstandard dialects, pidgins, and creoles in the classroom. They include: "The Case Against a Transfer Bilingual Program of Torres Strait Creole to English in Torres Strait Schools" (Anna Shnukal); "Summary: A Survey of Teachers' Attitudes…

This text for use in teaching Koniag Alutiiq, the Kodiak Island dialect of Alutiiq, contains 20 units on its phonology, morphology, and grammar. Each unit consists of 4 to 13 lessons. The alphabet used is one developed for the Kenai Peninsula dialect and adapted slightly for Koniag Alutiiq. The first unit focuses on phonological patterns and…

The nature of literary translation and ways in which it differs from other forms of translation are examined, looking at practical difficulties, challenges, and satisfaction in the profession of literary translation. The difficulties discussed include suggestions about how to get started, legal questions of copyright, and choice of text.…

Papers, all in French, presented at a conference on linguistics include: "Machine Translation: Historic Aspects" (Ghada Attieh); "Translation and Conditioning" (Stephanie Bedard); "Semantic or Pre-Semantic Structures? From Perception to Causation" (Denise Belanger); "Presentation of Poetry Sung in Maroc"…

The volume is one of a series of six listing language-related legislation around the world. It contains the texts, in French, of laws of Andorra, Spain's central government, Spanish regions (Balearic Islands, Basque Provinces, Catalonia, and Valencia). Italy, and Italy's regions. The laws concern official languages, regional languages, language…

Conducted by doctoral students, the study analyzed 3-minute tapes of conversation between 16 Title VII first grade Mexican American students and teacher aides in the Weslaco Independent School District, Texas, to determine the percentage of standard vs. non-standard language, measure the percentage of code switching by aide, show the percentage of…

Reports on three surveys of Australian Aboriginal language use, undertaken to determine the language groups' needs for translation and literacy projects, are presented. "Communicability of Some Western Desert Communilects" by K. C. Hansen evaluates mutual intelligibility between languages and dialects in that region, and addresses the complicating…

While the concepts of language continuum and diglossia are widely cited and discussed, they remain generally vague and are used in different ways by different linguists. Recent sociolinguistic research on Dutch-speaking Belgium provides a framework for examining the two concepts, a context for proposing a theoretical definition for language…

A handbook and directory of resources for teaching and learning the 82 African languages selected as the highest priority for course offerings in the United States consists primarily of profiles for each language. Each profile contains information on the language's classification, distribution, number of speakers, usage status, dialects,…

Student papers presented at a sociolinguistics conference include: "La variation phonologique [d'une voyelle] a Hull"; "La force illocutoire des pronoms personnels 'je' et 'tu' en tant qu'insignes des places d'ou parlent les femmes et les hommes"; "L'emploi des modes indicatif et subjonctif dans le francais parle de la…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 13 titles deal with the following topics: (1) maximum likelihood multivariate statistical analysis in human communication research; (2) sense, expression, and purpose in Alexander Campbell's natural philosophy of rhetoric; (3)…

A study of the relationship between patterns of use of the verb "to be" and reading comprehension had as subjects 103 college freshmen in a developmental program, including 53 black and 50 white students. The students' use of Black English constructions of the verb on a writing skills test and their errors in response to a reading comprehension…

Instructional materials for beginning Sanaani Arabic, a dialect used predominantly for oral communication, include 40 units consisting of text derived from recordings of spontanous conversations of native speakers in various communication situations. Some of the lesson topics are: greetings, getting acquainted, appointments, telephone…