There are different ways of exploring and examining the visual medium in the service and disservice of education. A discursive form rather than a visual medium is chosen in this attempt. Utilizing the conceptualizations of Suzanne Langer, Christine Nystrom observed that American symbolic environments have undergone a massive shift from discursive…

For over 40 years, sociolinguists have been demonstrating that all varieties of language are equal in linguistic terms. Yet vernacular varieties such as African American English and Hawai'i Creole are still generally marginalized and excluded from the educational process, with the result that speakers of these varieties are disadvantaged in…

Formal language use in online communication and phone messages is increasingly being replaced by a new age language, i.e. the net lingos commonly used in Internet acronyms and text messages. This is, perhaps, a logical consequence of computers, mobile phones and gadgets becoming familiar household items in an era where there is a constant demand…

Reforming schooling to enable engagement and success for those typically marginalised and failed by schools is a necessary task for educational researchers and activists concerned with injustice. However, it is a difficult pursuit, with a long history of failed attempts. This paper outlines the rationale of an Australian partnership research…

The article explores the transition from the linguistic imperialism of the colonial and postcolonial ages to the increasingly dominant role of English as a neoimperial language. It analyzes "global" English as a key dimension of the U.S. empire. U.S. expansionism is a fundamental principle of the foreign policy of the United States that can be…

The formation of French neologisms by combining two words is not a recent phenomenon but appears in Rabelais' work and has become more apparent in recent years. The trend marks a kind of evolution in the French attitude toward language, and thus merits considerable attention. (MSE)

Notes that contemporary French contains a number of nouns of double or doubtful gender. Suggests that non-standard usage is especially prone to fluctuation and that mysterious, contradicting established patterns in expressing noun gender are extant. The question of zero gender and neutralization is raised. (49 references) (Author/CK)

Examines the concept of indigenized Englishes and compares them with pidgins and creoles, focusing on attitudes about indigenized English, creative aspects of indigenized English, substratum influences, and universals. (Author/CB)

Describes "need" as a semiauxiliary and marginal modal and as a full lexical verb in present-day British English from the syntactic, lexical, semantic, and pragmatic points of view. The descriptions given by grammars as well as examples in British-English texts are compared. (14 references) (Author/CFM)

Identifies the major issues that need to be confronted in resolving the controversy over the historical roots of African American Vernacular English. and discusses their implications for reconstruction. (Author/VWL)

"The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader" is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the "Reader" takes a broad…

Today's English language teaching goes beyond the norms of English spoken and taught in native-English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, or Australia. Increasingly, a variety of countries have established, formally or informally, a kind of English unique to their own populations, and English language teachers within…

Describes a project whose purpose is to set up a computerized database of bilingual texts to be used by researchers in the field of language interaction (i.e., codeswitching, borrowing, and other outcomes of contact between varieties). Current work includes adaptation of the CHILDES system to take account of the different needs of researchers in…

Some key issues in the study of intonation in language varieties are presented and discussed with reference to recent research on the intonation of New Zealand English. The particular issues that are highlighted include the determination of the intonational phonological categories of a language variety, and the attribution of varietal differences…

Describes the use of English in literature written by nonnative speakers. These "new-English" authors present new elements and structures within a matrix of internationally "standard" English. Various pragmatic dimensions of creativity in selected works by such authors are described. (Author/LMO)