Responds to Robert Kaplan's discussion of language teaching and language policy presented in a earlier article. Special attention is given to the idea that attempts to modify the use of Spanish in the United States should pay greater attention to conditions in Latin America. (Author/VWL)

Discusses language intellectualization in South Africa with particular reference to the African languages. Provides an overview of the language situation in South Africa and discusses the new language policy of official multilingualism with special reference to the intellectualization of the indigenous languages of South Africa. (VWL)

Describes the unicode project, which is working toward a single computer encoding scheme for all the worlds' scripts. It focuses on the special challenge of encoding Chinese characters, and uses the example of Hokkien, a Chinese dialect spoken by most people in Taiwan, to explore the problem of unorthodox, unstable, or unofficial scripts.…

Argues that attempts to revive Chamorro, the indigenous language of Guam, need to be based on an examination of the English language aspirations and behavior of the Chamorro people and on the ideology of English as it has developed in the past several decades in Guam. (Author/CB)

Discusses the minority Ainu people and language of northern Japan, focusing on the current locus of Ainu speakers and ethnic Ainu, the former extent of Ainu speech communities, publications on and in Ainu, and recent actions by the Ainu people to assert their linguistic and political rights in Japan. (168 references) (MDM)

A paradox is discussed that underlies the aims of linguists who attempt to influence, deliberately and systematically, the linguistic behavior of a community, while trying to avoid charges of prescriptivism. A balance between promoting feasible economic units and preserving linguistic diversity is advocated. (57 references) (Author/LB)

Examines the move toward federal constitutional rights for minority language populations and the trade-off considerations of implementing such a move. It is argued that minority language populations benefit from maintenance of decentralized language policies and that state bureaucratic agencies are more protective of language minority rights than…

Discussion of language planning focuses on a study that addressed the effects of the introduction of Portuguese as the official language by the newly independent government of Mozambique on a target audience that spoke eight various other languages. Relationships between national language policies and popular language usage are discussed. (37…

Focusing on Brunei, issues of bilingualism and the establishment of stable bilingualism are addressed. Forces influencing bilingual policy, the language-identity issue, need for assessment of community language status, and perceptions regarding education are discussed. Careful monitoring of Brunei's policy is suggested. (Contains 33 references.)…

Examines the language policy of the East India Company and the first governor-general who attempted to govern by understanding Indian people, language, and culture. At first, the company's policies helped disseminate Indian vernaculars, but later English-language education reversed this trend. (Author/JL)

Suggests that the Luso-Brazilian Accord is a strategy to spread the Portuguese language in Africa, particularly in the former colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome e Principe, and to construct and solidify a community of lusophone nations in geopolitical terms in world affairs. Language planning in these countries…

Argues that linguists have ignored diversity within the northern Khoesan (NK) group of languages of Southern Africa and this has had serious repercussions both for speakers of these languages and for linguistic theory. The variation that appears within NK has been ignored in part because a single variety has been misunderstood as being the !Kung…

Demonstrates how the language policy in Malawi has entrenched the hegemony of English over Chichewa and other indigenous languages, especially as it pertains to the official domains of national life. Shows that exclusive use of English in the Malawi legislature, the judiciary, and the mass media, among other domains, alienates the majority of…

Discusses the language situation in the Ivory coast. Examines historical and sociopolitical processes and the language policies and language-in-education practices of the country. Shows that the debate on language policy over the last two decades has failed to lead to the adoption of a language plan that takes into account the current language…

A comprehensive phraseological study of Esperanto, based on detailed test analyses, participant observation and surveys, reveals both similarities and differences in comparison to ethnic or national languages. Relatively high level of metalinguistic consciousness and creativity were observed, coupled with widely differing attitudes towards the…