The selection of standards and norms constitutes the first and most important step for language standardisation. In this paper, we examine the standard establishment for Huayu (or Singapore Mandarin), a new Chinese variety that has emerged in Singapore as a result of centralised planning and inter-linguistic contact. Huayu is the officially…

The new framework no longer holds valid the idea that innovations do not occur in phonology except as a by-product of standardization. New analyses are presented for language standardization. That languages are equally systematic but not equal in function is one point made. (SCC)

A contrastive analysis of the National Language, or Standard Mandarin, and some of the major dialects of China is presented. It serves to reveal the points in the standardization process where confusion is most likely to occur. The phonological component seems to be the most problematic. Available from Humanities Press, Inc., Atlantic Highlands,…

This paper is a study in language acculturation with special reference to the Indianization of the English language. It briefly traces the history of the diffusion of bilingualism in English on the culturally and linguistically pluralistic Indian subcontinent. The functional roles of English are discussed and the formal influences of Indian…

A brief history of modern Rumanian is chronicled, focusing on the influence of a variety of languages on Rumanian's development. Four regional variations are identified: Dacio-Rumanian, Macedo-Rumanian, Megleno-Rumanian, and Istro-Rumanian, all evolving from the Latin spoken in the corresponding areas beginning in imperial Roman times. The…

Romanes is the collective name for dialects spoken by over six million Rom throughout the world. It is felt that a standard language is an essential factor for the attainment of a united future and the possible creation of the Gypsy state of Romanestan. This paper deals with some of the problems involved in creating such a unified and standardized…

Language must meet the social, economic, political, and psychological needs of the time, and it necessarily changes with new ways of thinking. Political ideology is one factor that can influence linguistic change. A dramatic example of this process can be found in the People's Republic of China, where major political forces have brought about…

A discussion of the situation of Idoma, a Nigerian language, begins with different accounts of the language's origin, referring to both local legend and cosmology. It then proceeds to a review of modern linguists' efforts, since 1927, to classify the language. A statistical overview contains information on the number of speakers of Idoma as a…

One major view concerning what an orthography should be conforms to Pike's idea that a practical orthography should be phonemic, that is, that there should be a one-to-one correspondence between each phoneme and the symbolization of that phoneme. An alternative view, that of Chomsky and Halle, proposes that the fundamental principle of orthography…

Papers from a 1993 conference on linguistics, all in French, include essays on the following: Yoruba morphophonology; literary Arabic morphophonology; grammatical cohesion in Burushaski; phonological and lexical variation in French Canadian dialects, including Acadian; insults in Madrid Spanish; discourse analysis; maintenance of meaning in…

Thirty-five papers, all but one in French, presented at the conference on research in linguistics are presented here. Topics include: verb tenses in English; computerized text analysis program; study of specialized terminology; court translation in Canada; subject-verb agreement in English; bilingual editing; swearing with religious words;…