Describes language border fluctuations in Belgium as far as its Dutch-French portion is concerned. Examines the status and function of the language border in Belgium and of actual border fluctuations. Discusses two problem areas in detail: the "Voerstreek, and the Brussels suburban region. Language shift and language change through erosion in…

Discusses Dutch in the Northern France, specifically the historical retreat of Dutch from Pas-de-Calais, historical evolution of the language situation in the Department du Nord, reactions to official language policy and language loss, characteristics of Flemish in France, alienation from other Dutch dialects by communicative isolation, linguistic…

Explores the arguments surrounding the debate over the language of instruction in Hong Kong schools, and examines their practical implications. The rationale for stronger emphasis on Putonghua in the school system is discussed in detail, and the main options available to policymakers at both the institutional and territory-wide levels are…

Critical analysis of three cases of grammatical borrowing of Frisian from Dutch leads to the specific conclusion that the Frisian grammatical system does not "Dutchify," and to general conclusions concerning the ways that minority languages can and cannot be influenced by dominant languages. (Author/CB)

Describes the situation of minority languages and Chinese dialects, discusses and analyzes language planning and language reform of spoken Chinese, summarizes language achievements made through China's educational system, and discusses the problems that remain for spoken language reform in China. (25 references) (Author/CB)

Discusses the educational situation and lack of educational continuity in the language of instruction in North Slesvig, Denmark. (JL)

Discusses some of the ways that researchers participate in constructing and legitimizing new forms of racism, focusing on how researchers have constructed and treated such concepts as mother tongue, ethnicity, and integration. (41 references) (Author/CB)

Presents an approach to a typological outline for categorizing minority-language situations in such areas as speaker, language, and setting juxtaposed with dimensions including sociology, linguistics, and psychology. (36 references) (Author/CB)

Gives a short overview of the historical development of various aspects of the linguistic situation in Belgium. Particular focus is on knowledge and use of the varieties of French and Dutch in Brussels and on the educational system. Attention is also given to attitudes toward the language and language varieties and to aspects of language contact.…

General survey of history of Ingrian Finns and discussion of Ingrian Finnish dialect are presented. On the basis of morphological analysis of interviews with Ingrian Finns in Canada, Sweden, and Russia, an attempt is made to ascertain how Ingrian Finnish dialects have been preserved or changed in different parts of the world and under the…

A short outline is provided of former Soviet language policy and how linguistic structures of the Russian language should be imposed on other languages of the empire. The development is illustrated by tendencies in the structure of present-day Estonian. (five references) (JL)

Explores several models of cognitive and structural perspectives involving minority-language situations, and attempts to integrate them into a framework of predictive propositions that elaborate psychosocial climates of maintenance, majority-minority encounter, and interactive strategies. (65 references) (Author/CB)

A brief survey of existing contributions about language by economists is presented. An explanation is given of the fundamental economic reasoning on which minority language use can be modeled, and the presentation of a model of minority language use incorporating such aspects as goods, wage rates, prices, and the labor market is described.…

Focuses on language choice in Eritrea within the broader context of language policy in multilingual states. Pre-colonial and post-colonial language policies are surveyed in relation to evolving linguistic and political nationalism. Post-independence language policy is examined from the perspective of the functional allocation of nine Eritrean…

Attempts to tackle theoretical and empirical problems of measurement in the study of linguistic minorities from sociological and demographic perspectives. The operations of a language community, the growth of a language group, language shift, and language maintenance are addressed in terms of language community membership, current language…