Reviews "The Languages of Jerusalem" by Bernard Spolsky and Robert L. Cooper, noting that their study illustrates that simple models that do not account for relations between spoken language and society are not realistic. Chapters address the language of public notices, the spoken language of the market, and the politics of language…

Argues that the distribution of lexical stresses in Macedonian and Polish follows from the architecture of metrical theory and can be accounted for by adopting revised obligatory branching (ROB) feet. These are feet where the head dominates an accented syllable and the nonhead may dominate any kind of syllable. (17 references) (JL)

Examines syllable-timed languages (Catalan, Greek, Italian) and stress-timed languages (English, Polish) to show that, in regard to rhythm, both categories behave similarly in several crucial areas. In both language types, the ideal rhythmic pattern involves a separation of stresses and the elimination of clashes. (33 references) (JL)

A response to an argument that Canadian language policy prevents the self-defense of minority languages through exclusive territorial control (LaPonce, 1984) addresses the relative neglect of research concerning language and territoriality in the European context and contrasts the contemporary multilingual situations in Spain and Switzerland to…

Three sociolinguistic perspectives are considered in a study focusing on the rationale of Israeli linguistic policy toward Arabic. These include (1) school language programs as a matter of linguistic policies of political centers; (2) the relationship of linguistic resources to group boundaries (principally ethnicity); and (3) language resources…

Consideration of the use of Panjabi by British Black adolescents and White adolescents in a mixed peer group, analyzing contexts of Panjabi occurrence and crossing, showed that Panjabi was important in managing the divisions that cross-cut youth community and in extending horizons beyond the confines of local neighborhood experience. (31…

Addresses the discourse domains of academic writing in English and Polish using the example of school writing. The English argumentative-expository essay is related to its potential counterpart in Polish.(Author/VWL)

Discusses the official system of trilingualism and the dual-language education system in Vanuatu, suggesting that these place enormous strains on Vanuatu's infrastructure. Appropriate multilingual development for the future requires that fundamental issues of constitutional interpretation and definition of language policy be resolved. (Author/VWL)

Presents findings of research investigating first-language attrition of Turkish speakers in Australia and the role of subjunctive ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions in that process. Examines the relationship between societal factors and individuals' perceptions of the language contact situation as reflected in their speech behavior. (Author/VWL)

Analyzes the grammatical outcome of the conflict speakers of a head-final first language (L1) (Southern Quechua) face when learning a head-initial target (Standard Spanish) language in a naturalistic setting. Proposes that interlanguage sentential word orders reflect a transfer of two independent parameters from the L1: the possibility of having…

Examines the potentially problematic tension between the goals of authenticity and unification in Quechua-language planning. One case study examines the orthographic debate that arose in Peru, and the second case study concerns two indigenous communities in Saraguro in the Southern Ecuadorian highlands where Spanish predominates but two Quichua…

Examines efforts to reverse language shift in two indigenous communities of southern Ecuador. Findings are presented from ethnographic work that investigated language use, language attitudes, and language instruction in two Andean communities that are attempting to revitalize their once-native Quechua.(Author/JL)

Provides a contrastive analysis of effects of two official policies geared toward promotion of indigenous populations, the Evenki in Siberia and the Oroqen in Northern China. Explores why the the Soviet and Chinese policies failed to buttress Evenki and Oroqen against encroaching languages and why the loss of the Oroqen language occurred faster…

Reports on GLOSSER, an intelligent assistant for Dutch students learning to read French, and discusses the position of natural-language processing within computer-assisted instruction, using GLOSSER as an example. (Author/VWL)

Deals with divergence on the lexical, phonological, and morphological levels in three dialects that were the same until the mid-20th century (Maaseiks in Belgium, Susters in the Netherlands, and Waldfeuchts in Germany) and that have changed under the influence of three different standard languages (Belgian Dutch, Netherlandic Dutch, and Standard…