Describes the unique behavior of two clitic particles in Chamicuro, a moribund Amazonian language. In Chamicuro "na" and "ka" are basically articles, yet they contrast for tense. (Author/VWL)

Elucidates the syntactic properties of the dative-subject constructions that occur in Japanese and Korean. Gives a consistent account, with the aid of the Agr-less checking theory, of their syntactic properties. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the communicative significance of the pitch of the initial unstressed syllables in Dutch intonation contours, as may be heard, for instance, on unstressed utterance-initial function words like "Ze zijn" in "Ze zijn klaar (they are ready), or the initial unstressed syllables of utterance-initial polysyllabic words, like…

Shows that endoclitics do exist in Udi--a language of the North East Caucasian family--which poses a challenge to the lexicalist hypothesis. Argues, on the basis of accepted tests for wordhood, that complex verb stems are single words and not phrases. (Author/VWL)

Examines tone perception in Mambila, a Benue-Congo language with four level lexical tones. A categorization experiment was run to determine some of the salient aspects of the perceptual nature of these tones. Results are discussed in light of what is known about universal tendencies of tone systems and the historical development of the Mambila…

Examines the effects of language standardization and orthography design on the Chukchi linguistic ecology. Suggests the process of standardization has not taken into consideration the gender-based sociolects of colloquial Chukchi and is based on a grammatical description that does not reflect actual Chukchi use. (Author/VWL)

Highlights the recognition of Meankieli, a former Finnish dialect, in the Torne Valley region of Sweden. The recognition of Meankieli as a language rather than a dialect in Swedish minority language legislation is an important language-planning decision with the potential to affect the whole linguistic ecology of the Torne Valley. (Author/VWL)

Discusses dilemmas that confront authors who must decide whether to address a relatively restricted audience in their native tongue or compete for a much larger public by either learning more widespread language or relying on translations. Focus is on the issue of free or restricted exchange of texts. What happens when more authors and readers…

Language attitudes are long-term phenomena that tend to become more specific over generations. The stigmatization of Khoekhoegowap in Namibia shows how negative images of minority languages are generated by external forces, but also how these forces may be reinforced by corresponding internal forces. This article discusses the case of…

Explores the relation between a nation or ethnic group and its language. Analyzes the link between ideas about Igbo language and the rise of Igbo ethnic identity in twentieth-century Nigeria. (Author/VWL)

Investigates whether the cultural identity profiles of Afrikaans and Southern Sotho learners of English in South Africa should be regarded as a resource or a hazard in the second language learning process. (Author/VWL)

In historical linguistics, there are features that can have endogenous or contact origins. One argument is that if the informal probability weightings of both source types converge for a given character, then the choice goes to endogeny. Intensive language contact may produce characteristics that cannot be accounted for in terms of binary…

Investigates the use of discourse markers in the "layering of voices" in Israeli Hebrew talk in interaction. The study is based on audiotape recordings of 16 casual Israeli Hebrew conversations between friends and family relatives collected over 3 years. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on Welsh English, providing a brief historical account of the growth of English in Wales, which has only recently supplanted Welsh as the dominant language. Describes an accent in the industrialized "Valleys" area of South Wales, where less than 10% of the population speaks Welsh. Examines its phonology to see what the defining…

Proposes an alternative analysis of Semai expressive reduplication that does not rely on prosodic templates to account for the shape of the reduplicant. The model proposed is called Compression and accounts for the shape of a reduplicant through the application of generalized alignment constraints. (Author/VWL)