This volume is a prepublication edition of four papers presented at a briefing held for representatives of government agencies, foundations and other organizations, November 12, 1970 at the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution. "Linguistics as a Pilot Science," by Joseph H. Greenberg, examines the impact which developments in linguistics have and are still having on developments in other fields of science such as psychology and anthropology. "Applied Linguistics in a Broad Context," by Norman A. McQuown considers problems of language in conjunction with those of culture and social relations as they relate to communicative activity in a world-wide context. In "Frontiers of Linguistic Theory" Morris Halle uses a discussion of the placement of stress in English words as the basis for certain speculations about the role of innate capacities in the child's acquisition of language. Finally, William Labov's paper "The Place of Linguistic Research in American Society" emphasizes the theme "that the most important applications of linguistic method in education do not lie in the area of grammatical research but rather in the formal study of verbal interaction and the value systems inherent in this behavior" and therefore urges that linguistics deal more with everyday speech. (FWB)