Discusses the linguistic, political and social forces central to the development of Chinese characters. (CLK)

Research conducted in the Italian town of Pescasseroli revealed that cultural changes had provoked various changes in the local dialect. This dialect had been greatly transfored in the last 15 years by the modification or disappearance of old cultural models and the intrusion of new ones. (CFM)

Selected phonological, morphological, and syntactic evidence from two hours of tape recordings of conversations of a four-year-old Native American New Mexican was examined to determine its value in assessing the child's bidialectalism. (Author/SW)

The roots and development of the Spanish language are outlined, and Columbus' discovery of Puerto Rico and meetings with the Indian inhabitants are described. Mixed with the native language and spoken by the native people, it has evolved into the rich idiom spoken in Puerto Rico today. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

Written in Spanish, the article focuses on the sociolinguistic characteristics of Chicano Spanish and a method for emphasizing the morphosyntactic component in dialect studies. The term dialect is applied to the language used in the Southwest. The term sub-dialect is utilized to indicate local variations within the Southwest. (NQ)

A warning about the alarming situation in which written Spanish finds itself, not only in the daily press but even in more literary publications. More and more popular expressions and corruptions are finding their way into the written language. Attention to this situation is recommended. (Text is in Spanish.) (AMH)

Enormous numbers of Spanish words are used by speakers of Tlaxcalan Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico. The major function of the language is to support the speakers' self-identification. As speakers feel it more beneficial to improve their Spanish, relexification is contributing to the death of the language. (AMH)

Examines different methods of solving China's minority language problems. Solutions include achieving basic consistency among alphabet forms, and encouraging research and mutal linguistic enrichment. (Author/DB)

This paper traces the history of changing attitudes toward American English. Two approaches to language policy have always been present, the conservative one, which considers British English the only acceptable standard, and the liberal, which favors American English. (CFM)

Students must be familiar with current abbreviations, especially their appropriateness at varying levels of language. This paper discusses their formation and use, and includes a list of the abbreviations, initials, and acronyms most common in contemporary French. (Text is in French.) (DB)

The history of efforts to agree upon standard English usage is outlined here, with particular attention to the role of the National Council of Teachers of English. Controversy among teachers often meets the Council's attempts at reform. Efforts to balance policy between standard spoken usage and individual dialects are noted. (CHK)

Diglossia is characterized here as a pattern in which a culture recognizes different language varieties. This paper deals with implications of Arabic diglossia for the teaching of English to Arab students. (CHK)

This article presents the results of a questionnaire sent to Spanish teachers regarding possible orthographic reforms in Spanish. Changes considered included elimination of certain letters and representation of each phoneme by only one letter. Responses to each question are classified and explained. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

Reports on attempts to determine whether Cuban Abakua is a pidginized Afro-Spanish, creole, or dead language and concludes that some of this language, spoken by a secret society, has its roots in Efik, a language of the Benue-Congo, and seems to be a simple, ritualistic, structureless argot. (CB)

Describes the high Italian speech variety commonly used by Italian Americans, based on a study of 39 Italian Americans that included interviews and questionnaires. Dialectal characteristics, convergence with English, and language maintenance and language shift in the Italian-American community are discussed. (CB)