Data are presented on some aspects of metalinguistic awareness in Dutch adults who emigrated to Australia at least 25 years ago. The findings show that the migrants do not differ significantly from a control group in the Netherlands, suggesting that first-language metalinguistic skills are extremely resistant to attrition. (Contains nine…

Language revival, language revitalization, and language reversal are argued to constitute three separate phenomena within language regenesis. A comparison of case studies from 14 countries--all involving group behavior related to the increased use of dead, dying, or neglected languages--is used to establish a clear and common terminology for these…

It is argued that quantitative research methods used alone often fail to adequately capture the complexities of spoken interaction; the inclusion of qualitative analysis can produce a greater insight into the functions of different interactive strategies and provides a valuable additional perspective to research into gender differences. (Contains…

Examines the phenomenon of language contact and recent trends in linguistic contact research, which focuses on language use, language users, and language spheres. Also discusses the role of linguistic and cultural conflicts in language contact situations. (13 references) (MDM)

Although Spanish mood has been taught through a framework of categorical rules, recently attempts have been made to clarify the exact nature of certain rules and to better understand the patterns of rule variability that exist outside the classroom. This article examines the intersection of mood with notions such as habituality, general truths,…

Some views on and implications of "the output hypothesis," which proposes that the process of producing written or spoken language results in language acquisition/learning, for immersion pedagogy and second-language learning are discussed. The role of collaborative learning is considered. (Contains 14 references.) (LB)

This article is derived from a lecture broadcast on the BBC World Service, in which the author takes the reader on a journey to visit selected features of contemporary English in use, with the intent of pointing out to the traveler some implications for the presentation of language in textbooks and other curriculum documents. (nine references)…

Examines the effects of power relations and audience on language usage, presenting data from a language attitude study that involved interviews between Dutch teachers and adolescents. It is argued that if speakers are expected to tailor their language to their audience, more flexibility must be allowed in role relations than what is suggested by…

Patterns of use of the French particles "bon, (eh) ben, and enfin" were analyzed in a corpus of spontaneous multispeaker conversation. Results show that each particle marks a particular type of discontinuity in the discourse. Turn-initial and turn-medial patterns are described for each. (17 references) (Author/MSE)

Examines the development of nominative and oblique subject pronouns in preschool speakers of English, finding that oblique subject forms occur in the earliest language of the children and reappear in connection with wh-questions and related constructions. (57 references) (MDM)

Describes the results of a subjective reaction test of over 700 Japanese college students' and office workers' attitudes toward honorifics (keigo) in Japanese. It found that subjects from higher socioeconomic classes were more outspoken and ready to judge incompetent or insufficient keigo more negatively than individuals from lower socioeconomic…

Examines the distribution of clause types in ancient Greek during the Homeric (pre-800 B.C.) and Hellenistic (ca. 100 A.D.) periods, as well as an intermediate period (ca. 450 B.C.), delineating the evolution from a subject-object-verb (SOV) to a subject-verb-object (SVO) structure. (49 references) (MDM)

Using data from American and Quebec Sign Languages, this article argues against linguistic theories that postulate either that a language has a basic order determined by universal principles or that there is a single universal order for all languages. Maintains that there are other means a language can use to indicate what elements combine…

Discusses the use of English loanwords in Japanese discourse from a cognitive perspective and reveals how the world knowledge of English loanwords is applied to a text and constitutes an integral component of the discourse production process both within and beyond the sentence level. (40 references) (MDM)

Describes syntactic variation in West African English with examples from West African English literature and identifies and describes subjectless sentences, deletion of the -ly morpheme in manner adjuncts, omission of function words, reduplication, tag questions, substitution of prepositions in idiomatic usage, and focus constructions. (53…