The Linguistic Human Rights (LHRs) paradigm is motivated by the desire to combat linguistic discrimination, where speakers of discriminated languages find themselves unable to use their preferred language in society at large. However, in an increasingly globalised world where speakers may feel the need or the desire to travel across state…

Posits two hypotheses arising from the great immigration to Sweden and the immigrants' use and learning of Swedish: (1) Swedish as used by immigrant children may show certain features, related to a creolization process; and (2) the Swedish language may in future show signs of influence from the varieties used by persons with immigrant background.…

Discusses tensions resulting from dichotomies existing between "smaller" languages and those of wider communications. It is suggested that there are four recurring approaches for dealing with this tension: communicative language shift, defense of the more threatened variety, "localization" of the stronger language (for example,…

Presents a study of mixed language use within the frame of interactional sociolinguistics by looking at how adolescents of Turkish background living in Germany have developed their own patterns of bilingualism. Analyzes transcripts of Turkish-German mixed speech and shows that the switching and mixing oscillates between local sequential functions…

Analyzes conversation 501 from the Koge (Denmark) project for the four adolescents speakers' use of five to six different language varieties. Code choice patterns are shown to function in a range of ways. Suggests the multifaceted behavior of the Turkish-Danish adolescents is languaging, which is in principle what other human beings do.…

Discusses residual bilingualism as a means of identifying the nature, quantity, and distribution of Dutch-origin elements in the speech of different users of French in Brussels. Observations on code switching in a community of monoglots, bilinguals, and immigrants help provide a frame of reference for similar complex bilingual contexts elsewhere.…

Examines the various strategies by which Gaelic has been employed in the newspaper press in Scotland. The prospect for a monolingual or bilingual newspaper is considered and a comparison with the uses of Gaelic on radio and television is made. (eight references) (Author/CK)

In the Singlish-"Good" English debate, the use of Singlish (SCE) is viewed as an obstacle to the development of students' literacy skills in standard English (SSE) and so the practice of classroom codeswitching between the two varieties is strongly discouraged. Yet the presence of the vernacular in the classroom continues to be robust.…

Students enter pre-service teacher education programmes with certain preconceptions about what the world is like, what classrooms are like and how students acquire literacy. In our increasingly multicultural society, teachers in pre-service teacher education courses are often not representative of the wider population. The present paper reports on…

Contributions of the methodological procedures and principles offered by Labov and Gumperz are evaluated, especially regarding the problem of observer effect in community-level investigations of linguistic minorities. The need for accountability and openness in data collection and analysis procedures is emphasized. (39 references) (Author/LB)

This paper examines some of the social and pedagogical problems caused by the conflicting forms of English pronunciation found in Cameroon. American, Nigerian, and local variations compete with British Received Pronunciation. The problems can be minimized through a more adequate training of broadcasters and teachers. (21 references) (MDM)

Describes some of the inequities and obstacles faced by speakers of creoles termed "nonstandard" or minority dialects in formal education. Outlines proposals for dealing with these problems and describes initiatives that have already been taken--such as developing resources for teachers, running public awareness campaigns and using the students'…

Learning a second dialect entails learning new schemas, and in some cases learning a whole new set of language schemas as well as cultural schemas. Most Australian Aboriginal children live in a bicultural and bidialectal context. They are exposed, to a greater or lesser extent, to the discourse of Australian English and internalise some of its…

Argues that language varieties represent an important aspect of the development of bilingualism. Analysis of migrant children's acquisition of German and their productive, reactive, and receptive competence demonstrates that children who fail in the understanding and use of language varieties often lack the necessary sociocultural knowledge.…

Discusses language use as a variable in studies of second-language learning, considering a study of 300 secondary school students learning Chinese that showed that integrative and instrumental motivation to be independent and that language use explains one-fifth of total variance in language achievement. (Author/CB)