Pupils in South African Bantu schools spend one third of their time in Standards (Grades) 1 and 2 learning the official languages, English and Afrikaans. Nearly as much time is given to the learning of their own Bantu mother tongue, the language of instruction from Sub-Standard A (Preprimary) to Standard 6. In the Lower Primary schools, through…

Teachers are asked to reappraise psychological approaches to foreign language instruction and to recognize the vital change in the discipline from an academic elective for an intellectual elite to its widespread acceptance as a communication tool. Suggestions are offered for proper sequencing, stressing the heterogeneous nature of the classroom,…

Many Western scholars consider Hindi and Urdu as a single linguistic entity. The author concedes that "in an important sense this is correct." Hindu and Muslim inhabitants of the same village behave like members of a single speech community. However, minor differences in the phonology, grammar, and lexicon are underscored by the…

This book discusses some of the functions, ends, or goals that language serves in religion; the various kinds of linguistic resources that are exploited; and some of the social processes that characterize the use of language. In section one, "Performance," three approaches to the description of verbal behavior are contrasted. This…

It is not sufficient for students in foreign language classes to simply internalize the sound system and grammatical structure of the target language or to memorize the vocabulary. Speaking is not merely a linguistic event, but rather involves an extensive system of norms for the social interaction. The relationship between speaking and social…

Originally a federally-funded organization created to serve migrant families in the 16 counties of Western Kansas, the Kansas Council of Agricultural Workers and Low-Income Families (KCAW-LIF) marked the first major effort to cope with the problems of migrant life by providing basic services at public cost. A survey of 245 migrant families was…

The contents of this book are organized in three main sections: Part 1, "Beginnings," includes three papers: "Some sociological determinants of perception,""A public language: some sociological implications of a linguistic form," and "Language and social class." Part 2, "Developments," includes four papers: "A review of 'The Lore and Language of…

The present volume deals specifically with language contact, dialect contact, and standardization. The scope of the documentation is defined by the policy that the research was to be done exclusively from primary sources. Five hundred ten titles, selected from 71 monographs, journals, and periodicals published in China and parts of Southeast Asia…

The modern view suggests language be approached through speech. It is therefore customary that the first stages of language learning are spent on oral drills in order to make the sound system and the basic structures automatic habits. In countries where classes are big and the time spent on foreign language learning is limited, spending too long a…

Societal differences among ethnic groups and other geographically remote bodies of peoples within a culture are often caused by dialectal variation. The social and educational implications of societal division by such linguistic differentiation are discussed in this article. The author touches on concepts relating to dialectology, paralanguage,…

This report describes the steps by which ethnographic literature was explored for cross-cultural differences in the role of language with particular reference to its acquisition and use by children. The exploration is put in the context of ongoing work in the development of a systematic guide to field studies of this sort. A principal effort of…

Improvement of communication skills for junior college students is a valid goal, but traditional methods defeat it. A sociolinguistic approach maintains the goal but alters the methods, choosing to teach the skills in the context of relevant material: language against the backdrop of society, Teaching language sociolinguistically means including…

One rich cultural beginning embedded in contemporary Chicano literature is the language(s) of the literature. In this respect, Chicano literature and sociolinguistics are concomitants: the use of sociolinguistics increases the understanding of the use of the language(s) found in the literature: of the contextual references made about language(s):…

Metropolitan Toronto, when defined by its municipal boundaries, has a population of more than two million people. A survey conducted in 1970 showed that half its 600,000 household heads were born outside of Canada. Only 29 percent were native-born of native parentage. Immigrants and their children were adapting to a society that deliberately…

The subject of language learning of children in bilingual families is considered in this paper. The author discusses practical problems and provides examples from his own family situation in which his children learned French, English, and German. The possibility of language mixture is discussed and the author presents some tentative conclusions…