Papers from a workshop on the role and development of national languages include: "What Is a National Language Good for?" (Florian Coulmas); "To the Language Born: Thoughts on the Problem of National and International Languages" (Jacob Mey); "Swahili as a National Language in East Africa" (Marilyn Merritt, Mohamed…

The historical background and the current status of Swahili in Kenya and Tanzania, where it is designated as the national language, and in Uganda, where it has assumed a less prominent role, are described. Major factors contributing to the selection of national languages in the region are presented. The ways both linguistic and sociopolitical…

While all languages use shape to classify unfamiliar objects, some languages as diverse as Mandarin, Thai, Japanese, Mohawk, and American Sign Language lexicalize these and other types of description as noun classifiers. Classification does not develop from a fixed set of features in the object, but is discourse-sensitive and invoked when it would…

Two basic approaches to language treatment have been defined, the policy approach and the cultivation approach. The former deals with the selection of a national language, standardization, literacy, orthography, and the stratification of code varieties, and is a macro approach. The latter concerns correctness, efficiency, specialized functions,…

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…

Some bases of intra-group identification among Black people who inhabit urban ghettoes are discussed, as well as the economy of the ghetto, especially as it pertains to the strategies that Black Americans have evolved to deal with their subsistence problems. An attempt is made to relate these strategies to the presence of in-group schisms and to…

This volume presents an overview of police communications and analyzes the relationships between the people and hardware in the police system. Chapters discuss the development and use of such communication devices as the telegraph, telephone, and computers; the role of mass media, feedback, and communicative settings in human communication;…

The primary focus of this book is upon the training of local writers to enable a preliterate, minority language group to produce reading materials that reflect the cultural interests and desires of the group. The training program described in the book involves three components: intensive linguistic study culminating in a tentative orthographic…

Standard measures and techniques are needed to establish resemblances and differences among languages. A determination of the degree to which one lanquage or dialect differs from another requires the examination of language universals. To study what languages have in common, attention has to be given to the physical, psychological, and social…

Many questions accompany the recognition of different dialects, including questions concerning the origin of the speaker, the reasons why people speak the way they do, and which way of speaking is correct. Stronq feelings may accompany the recognition of dialects, and assessments and classifications of people may be made based on how they speak.…

The effect of language variation on language teaching is considered. It is suggested there has been a shift away from the notion that a language can be perceived by learners as a fixed system to an emphasis on its negotiability in a social context. This is not precisely the shift from grammatical concerns to functional ones, for it arises out of…

While the goal of language teaching has been the development of practical communication, most language tests have stressed mastery of discrete linguistic skills. Oral language performance-based testing requires test-takers to use and perform in the language in actual communicative situations. The variations in communication created by the…

Areas of interference between English and the Spanish of some Puerto Ricans and Cubans in Chicago is the subject of this study. Fifty-nine informants were provided with a list of everyday expressions in English, which they were to express in Spanish. The informants were classified according to education, degree of knowledge of English, and degree…

Interviews with 108 Navajo children from bilingual first grade classes on Navajo reservations were recorded. Analysis of the interviews focused on phonological, grammatical, and lexical features that show a systematic variation within the speech of individuals or between individuals. Variable features were compared with background factors such as…

This monograph explores the conflicts in attitudes toward language that occur and in which English teachers may be asked to uphold forms and conventions of traditional grammar standards while they have linguistic training and knowledge that support a more flexible language usage. Chapters deal with conflicts in attitudes toward language, language…