The author suggests an evolutionary typology of languages and a way to integrate the concept of linguistic modernization with a theory of language problems. (Author/PM)

Three linguistically significant dimensions of differences between illocutionary acts are outlined which are said to form the basis of a taxonomy of the fundamental classes of illocutionary acts. Five basic kinds of illoctionary acts are defined. An assessment is made of Austin's classification. (Author/RM)

Ferguson's concept of diglossia and its later extension and coupling with bilingualism is developed further into the concept of polyglossia with multilingualism by a discussion of various speech communities where these phenomena are in evidence. (Author/HP)

The variety of syntactic forms for expression of directives is commented on. Data has been collected investigating the empirical distribution of formal variants across social features and predictability of the form of a directive if social features of its context are known. (Author/RM)

Ongoing change in Wolof noun classification is traced by comparing nineteenth-century linguistic evidence with modern sociolinguistic data. Upwardly mobile middle-aged men of high caste tend to reduce the noun class system, whereas other speakers tend to elaborate it. (Author/RM)

Analyzes the use of metapragmatic description in the ethnoclassification of language by native speakers on the Franco-Antillean island of Saint Barthelemy. A prevalent technique for metapragmatic description based on honorific pronouns that reflects the varied geolinguistic and generational attributes of the speakers is described. (Author/MSE)