This article proposes that language contact can be best understood if the entire range of such situations from second language learning to evolution of dialects and creoles is studied within a framework analogical to the symbiosis of living organisms. Language contact is viewed in terms of dynamic evolutionary stages. (CHK)

A study of integration of English lexicon into the Spanish spoken in New Mexico considers formal English, formal Spanish and the informal mixture spoken by local Chicanos. (CK)

As a result of frequently hearing students comment that the language used in mathematics is "like hearing a foreign language," the author investigated this perception by studying a ninth-grade mathematics classroom. Using transcriptions of classroom discussions and semistructured interviews with students, her findings suggest that students…

It is argued that, contrary to some theories, there can be considerable creativity and thought brought to the use of a second language. Examples are drawn from authors who have made full use of the stylistic resources of their second languages. (MSE)

This paper discusses diverse sociolinguistic concepts such as borrowing, code-switching, bilingualism, and interference, and proposes a hypothesis concerning the progression of these linguistic developments in a contact situation and concerning the correlation of these developments with distinct phases of cultural assimilation. (Author/CLK)

The role and use of Spanish in the geographic areas outside of the U.S. Southwest are examined in a collection of 16 conference papers. The papers address the general topics of language contact, linguistic variation, sociolinguistic factors, and language maintenance policy, and planning. Among the specific issues discussed are: a dialectology of…

Investigators studied two German settlements in Israel to examine the interaction of the German and Hebrew languages. A heterogeneous community used loanwords to a greater extent than the homogeneous, and German was perpetuated less successfully. (CK)

Grammatical description that relates structure to language use can help the EFL teacher in cases where different interpretations of experience are expressed in English and the students' native language by, for example, clauses that are structurally identical. (Author/RM)

An attempt is made to develop a method for the presentation of temporal and spatial sociolinguistic data in order to study phenomena of bilingual interaction. Domain of language usage and other sociocultural variables are abstracted from extant sources, normalized and compared with the aim of studying sociolinguistic variation, its reflection on…

The various influences on educational performance, and, in particular, the influence of language are examined in relation to under-achievement of West Indian children in British schools. (Author/RK)

A study was designed to ascertain whether syntactic avoidance behavior could be demonstrated for two groups of ESL learners (native speakers of Arabic and of Spanish and Portuguese) in accordance with contrastive analysis difficulty predictions. An avoidance pattern was found in accordance with such predictions. (CHK)

This paper discusses one Chinese graduate student's experience with English writing. Through a literature review and personal interviews with other Chinese students, the paper explores the differences between Chinese and English writing. It summarizes the literature on differences between Chinese and English writing conventions in ideological and…