Surveys developments in language revitalization and language death. Focusing on indigenous languages, discusses the role and nature of appropriate linguistic documentation, possibilities for bilingual education, and methods of promoting oral fluency and intergenerational transmission in affected languages. (Author/VWL)

Discusses dialectal differences in the aggregate. Employs a dialectometric technique that provides an additive measure of pronunciation difference: The (aggregate) pronunciation difference. Sampled Dutch towns and villages, where the variation ranges between 56% and 81%, lending credence to the dialect continuum view. (Author/VWL)

Examines attitudes of prospective Kazakhastani parents towards the language in which their children would be raised, based on a survey of 857 Kazakhstani college students. "Mankurtism" is the russification of the elite of non-Russian nationalities. Examines Mankurtism in light of one goal of Kazakhstani language policy--that all citizens master…

Bilingual speakers of Irish and English were recorded as they produced narratives based on pictures from the book, "Frog, Where Are You?" The narratives were analyzed according to certain features of global and local structure. Differences within narratives emerged in number of components included, number of planning components explicitly marked…

Uzbek, a left-branching subject-object-verb language with an extensive agglutinative morphology, must be handled computationally using special algorithms. The merits of various parsing schemes and a cascaded morphology are analyzed, and a functional Uzbek parsing system, based on the Generalized Transition Network parser, is described. (12…

Provides a bibliography for teachers and student teachers that includes a range of sources on different aspects of teaching Chinese. Among the materials covered are those relating to methodology, issues in teaching, curricula, conferences, and linguistic perspectives. (GLR)

Explores factors affecting the successful maintenance of a college-level Portuguese language program, focusing on expansion of course offerings, cooperation with other foreign language programs, responding to student interests, and hiring and retaining instructional staff. (CB)

The nature of case-coding strategies for relative clause formation is explained, focusing on why languages use such strategies and the forms such strategies can take. Language-specific illustration in Modern Welsh is provided to support proposed redefinitions of hierarchy and case-coding strategies. (22 references) (Author/CB)

Data are presented from Amele and other Papuan languages to show how the medial verb form is marked for a binary distinction of realis versus irrealis modality. It is demonstrated that in these languages realis-irrealis distinction interacts with categories of tense and mood marked on the final verb to divide them into domains of realis and…

Documents the evolution of the Dutch and French languages. Policy and planning initiatives for both languages are discussed, and organizations responsible for planning initiatives for each language are described. (DJD)

English has become important in the Pacific island nations for four reasons: the status of English as the official or unofficial national language of many Pacific island nations; the number of indigenous language varieties; the need for a lingua franca; and the need for a language for wider communication with the outside world for diplomatic and…

Explores the arguments surrounding the debate over the language of instruction in Hong Kong schools, and examines their practical implications. The rationale for stronger emphasis on Putonghua in the school system is discussed in detail, and the main options available to policymakers at both the institutional and territory-wide levels are…

Highlights the reintroduction and renativization of Hebrew in Israel, and examines commonly made assumptions about Hebrew and its place in Israeli life. Topics include linguistic homogeneity, Jewish multilingualism, and Hebraism. (32 references) (Author/CB)

Considers interference problems of Arabic-speaking learners of French and English on four levels: single-word; grammar-rule; intonation; and the study of French and English literature. (CB)

Presents arguments against A. Fernald's (1987, 1989) universality of prosodic modifications in speech addressed to infants and supports the cultural account of prosodic modifications to infants and children. Data are presented to defend N. Bernstein-Ratner and C. Pye (1984) conclusions on Quiche mothers and are used to reinterpret the universal…