Howard University in Washington, D.C. recently initiated a program in Afro-French and Afro-Hispanic literature and civilization. The student may take either to fulfill his language requirement. Student reaction has been enthusiastic. Comparative literature courses with a Black theme, scientific French, and Spanish for the Social Services are also…

This book for Peace Corps volunteers on learning Mano, one of the languages of Liberia, is divided into two sections. The first section consists of ten lessons and two review lessons, while the second section has eight lessons and a final review lesson. Each lesson is divided into four or five sections: (1) tests and dialogues, (2) grammatical and…

This short dictionary is designed to accompany the work of Melzian (1937) for the benefit of scholars concerned with the place and function of the Nigerian Bini language in the structure of West African languages. The conventional orthography has been used, except in three cases. The body of the general word list contains the English meaning, the…

This text contains 66 lessons in Fante for the student of Fante as a second language. The principal emphasis of the lessons is in developing skills in the spoken language, and study is preferable with a native speaker of Fante. The use of English is to be avoided except when absolutely necessary. Because of the attention given to oral skills, the…

Anthropologist Melville Herskovits, in the section on language of his book "The Myth of the Negro Past" (1941), gives one of the first scientific orientations to the study of black speech in the United States. His basic contribution was to establish the following main points: (1) that the black people in the New World came from regions…

The spoken language of Toura, a language spoken by nearly 20,000 inhabitants of a mountainous region situated in the north of Man, the administrative center of the West Ivory Coast, is systematically analyzed in this linguistic study. Sixteen major chapters include: (1) grammatical generalizations, (2) phonemic unities, (3) classification of…

A study suggests that the nature of linguistic borrowing in a group of 14 African languages termed Togo remnant languages--Basila, Lelemie (Buem), Aogba, Adele, Likpe, Santrokofi, Akpafu-Lolobi, Avatime, Nyangbo-Tafi, Bowili, Aklo, Kposo, Kebu, Animere--is similar to that of the Akebu language. Analysis focuses on the origins and itineraries of…

An analysis of terminology for "canoe" in Bantu languages first gives some background information on early wooden canoes in Subsaharan Africa, then examines the origins of nominal stems for "canoe" in those languages. It is noted that a nominal stem identified early in the history of Bantu comparative linguistics is found in about 160 of the…

Describes a study undertaken to assess interference from two languages for learners of French. Suggests that susceptibility to interference is related to a number of factors, such as level of proficiency in the target language, and the degree and type of similarity between the target and the base language. (MES)

Black English is a linguistic system which has a phonological base in West African languages. It has been influenced by various other languages. The containment of Blacks in ghettos has worked toward preserving Black English. (Author/MC)

The training of secondary school teachers of native language in Africa must provide them with suitable linguistic skills, contextual information about the cultural milieu of the target language, and appropriate attitudinal orientation as well as professional skills. (JMF)

Describes the use Asante-Twi proverbs to teach about Akan culture in a beginning Twi classroom. Provides activities that have been used successfully with learners. (Author/VWL)

It is argued that the relationship between Kiswahili and ethnic community languages in Tanzania is not diglossic. The paper applies definitions/redefinitions to the Tanzanian sociolinguistic profile, considers Tanzanian language policy, suggests the basic tenets of diglossia do not apply, and proposes another term for the Kiswahili relationship…

The English-Zulu codeswitching behavior was studied of three senior teachers and the principal of a KwaZulu boarding school in their interactions with pupils. Switches into Zulu were shown to have important different kinds of academic and social functions in the classroom. Implications for teacher education in South Africa are discussed. (Contains…

The intuitions and reasoned judgments of second-language learners of English were compared on a number of semantic and syntactic phenomena in the language. Because scores on the semantic tasks were higher than on syntactic tasks, it is assumed that classroom instruction should follow the same route. (24 references) (Author/LB)