The classic sociolinguistic opposition between status and solidarity as organizing principles of linguistic variation is currently being integrated with broader social theories of symbolic domination and resistance. However, not enough attention has yet been paid to the multiplicity and fluidity of both dominant and oppositional linguistic ideologies within a single social order. Changing elite conceptions about the links between language and social group vie with each other for supremacy, and are in turn contested by various forms of resistance among linguistic minorities. Debates surrounding the linguistic census in 19th and 20th century Hungary are used here as evidence about diverse dominant ideologies, to show how German-Hungarians have responded by producing multiple, competing, and ambiguous oppositional conceptions and linguistic practices. (Linguistic ideologies, forms of resistance, politics of language, minority languages, German speakers in Hungary).

The social forces affecting the performance of codeswitching (CS) may be distinguished from those factors controlling its basic structure, with which they interact. The constraints on possible patterns in CS are largely under innately based controls. These constraints are presented here in a model of intrasentential CS, and their validity is tested against findings of CS practices in a number of communities; all options can be accounted for under the model. Thus the options for CS structures seem universally set; but community-specific or group-specific social forces may determine which permissible patterns are preferred. In addition, micro-level, discourse-based factors may prompt individuals to produce certain CS structures. A second model of the social motivations for CS helps explain both the macro- and micro-level preferences. (Bilingualism, codeswitching, language contact, socio-pragmatics)

This article considers the ways in which the Welsh and English languages are currently used in Bangor, a cathedral and university city in North Wales. The two languages carry different kinds of authority in different contexts and are acquired in different ways by children from different backgrounds. Some religious institutions have a clear commitment to one language, but others practice various forms of bilingualism. The relationship between the two languages in education and the other public services is partially determined by consciously formulated language policies but is less consistent than some official statements might suggest. The patterns of usage in commercial and domestic life are even more various and frequently involve complex forms of code-switching. (Welsh, English, Wales, bilingualism)

This study suggests how easily distorted communication can arise in formal administrative discourse when the interests of those with some stake in the matter under discussion are not represented among the participants. After discussing the nature of power and its exercise in administrative settings, the article presents three episodes of discourse analysis. Members of a Board of Trustees were highly successful in debating and reaching suitable conclusions when the agenda items concerned their own close interests; they were able to create a discursive context that was relatively free of distorting ideologies, and which allowed participants to judge the sincerity, truth, justifiability, and meaningfulness of what was said. However, when the meeting agenda broached the affairs of an out-group with no known patronage on the Board, distortions in communication and small injustices became common; the out-group's interests were compromised. The article generalizes from the use of discursive power in this instance to the treatment of other culturally different minorities whose views and interests are not well represented among administrators and policy makers. It recommends how discursive power could be exercised more fairly in social institutions, and in public administration generally. (Discourse, power, minority groups, ideology, educational administration)

As a case study in the formation of a new written language in a speech community moving from diglossia toward a “standard-with-dialects”, this article analyzes the development of M[odern] W[ritten] C[hinese] during the past 80 years. After a brief account of the historical background, the article discusses the sources and avenues of influence on the development of MWC, then examines the emergent grammatical and lexical norms, and investigates the variations displayed by the four main Chinese communities: mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The role of language planning is also explored. The similarities and differences between China and Western Europe, in their progress from diglossic to non-diglossic communities, are discussed. (Diglossia, Chinese linguistics, written language, language planning)

This study explores the degree of cultural diversity in the dinner-table conversation narrative events of eight middle-class Jewish-American and eight Israeli families, matched on family constellation. Conceptualized in terms of a threefold framework of telling, tales, and tellers, the analysis reveals both shared and unshared narrative event properties. Narrative events unfold in both groups in similar patterns with respect to multiple participation in the telling, the prevalence of personal experience tales, and the respect for children's story-telling rights. Yet cultural styles come to the fore in regard to each realm as well as their interrelations. American families locate tales outside the home but close in time, ritualizing recounts of “today”; Israeli families favor tales more distant in time but closer to home. While most narratives foreground individual selves, Israeli families are more likely to recount shared events that center around the family “us” as protagonist. In modes of telling, American families claim access to story ownership through familiarity with the tale, celebrating monologic performances; but in Israeli families, ownership is achievable through polyphonic participation in the telling. (Ethnography of communication, language and culture, conversation analysis, folklore, narrative).

This article discusses disagreement sequences in German and Anglo-American disputes. It is argued that the context sensitivity of preference for agreement with assessments that Pomerantz 1984 found in her data has to be elaborated and extended. My findings suggest that the preference structure can change once a dissent-turn-sequence has been displayed; in this case, opponents are expected to defend their positions. The reduction of reluctance markers creates a new preference structure which itself has to be accomplished by all participants. Concessions, defined as a participant's agreeing to the central issue after his or her prior disagreement, show reluctance markers which are viewed as indicators of the dispreferred status in other types of talk. Concessions can be distinguished from partially agreeing presequences of dissent turns. Speakers move toward concessions stepwise. Unprepared position shifts can be regarded by the interlocutors as the inability to defend an opinion. Concessions, being an interactional achievement, reframe the dispute. (Conversation analysis, dispute, context studies, expectation management)

Mijikenda social relationships are of two types, “respectful” and “joking.” In this northeastern Bantu language of Kenya, respect based on kinship requires an overt linguistic marker: adjacent generations (parents and children) “respect” one another and address each other using plural forms. Kin of the same generation (siblings, cousins) and of alternate generations (grandparents, grandchildren) “joke” with one another and address each other in the singular. Accordingly, address form in Mijikenda signals and reaffirms generational identity and relative position in a well-defined social structure. It is also normatively associated with “correct” behavior. As pronouns of respect occur in such small-scale, nonstratified Bantu societies (and throughout the world), it is suggested that Brown and Gilman's (1960) particular hypothesis for the origin and spread of T/V respect systems needs to be replaced by a more socially persuasive and general explanation for a widespread phenomenon. (Sociolinguistics, pronouns of address, T/V systems, kinship, Kenya languages, Bantu)

In Bali, speech play is a cultural focus. Several of the many forms of Balinese speech play are investigated – puns, comebacks and verbal dueling, and pig-latin type play languages. These are examined in the context of everyday, informal speech and conversation, verbal routines and events such as storytelling and bargaining, and the artistic and ritual performances for which Bali is famous, such as shadow puppet plays and dance dramas. Attention is paid to the role of multilingualism in Balinese speech play, especially the intersection of the various languages and language levels in constant use in Bali. The significance of speech play in Balinese culture and society is explored. (Ethnography of speaking, speech play, humor, Bali, Indonesia)

Marbles games (“pitch”), perhaps the most widely played of all traditional boys' games in Trinidad and Tobago, have declined precipitously in the last two decades. This article documents close to 200 marbles terms found in Trinidad and Tobago English Creole. Although most are British in origin, there are East Indian, French Creole, and possible African influences on this lexicon. An analysis of the discourse of marbles talk in its sociocultural context was prompted by its high affect for men who had played pitch as boys. Using frameworks from the sociology of games and from studies in language and gender, marbles talk is shown to demonstrate features of ”masculine“ gender-linked use of language and games, including highly elaborated rules and strategies, and competitive and confrontational use of language. (Caribbean, change, Creole, discourse, games, gender, marbles, obsolescence)

Applying the functional approach to language developed by Halliday and Hasan, this study delineates the criterial and characteristic features of language used in 13 peer review letters from a graduate seminar by native speakers of English, with an average length of 300–350 words. Examining discourse goals, global text structure, obligatory and optional elements, sequence and co-occurrence of discourse elements, verb types, modalized directives, and lexical choice, this article demonstrates that peer review texts are shaped by the institutional and situational contexts within which they are embedded, and at the same time contribute to these contexts. (Genre studies, interactive discourse analysis, written communication, systemic linguistics, peer review, classroom discourse)

A theoretical framework is presented to account for various means of indirect verbal communication used by the Baatombu of northern Benin to accomplish face-threatening acts, and a particular technique involving dog names is discussed. By carefully choosing a proverbial name for a puppy, the owner can then, simply by calling the dog, convey a message meant either for a particular neighbor or for anyone who hears it and feels concerned by its content. This diplomatic way of expressing oneself when a difference arises is doubly indirect: (a) The dog's owner makes use of a pseudo-addressee (the dog), and (b) the message is formulated with a proverb, therefore with words of which the owner is not the author. (Animal names, Africa, communicative acts, ethnography of speaking, indirectness, politeness, speech acts)

Studies on language shift often refer to the demise of the ousted variety by detailing various stages of language decay and extinction. Problematic for these accounts are well-documented cases of intervening social phenomena, such as language revival movements, which can alter in some way the stages of decline. French Louisiana's situation illustrates language shift interacting with a strong revival movement. In the wake of the revival and in spite of continued shift, another trend is apparent – the writing of Louisiana French. Whereas shift clearly represents a stage of language decline, the creation of a written code functions as a key ingredient for language maintenance. A sociolinguistic analysis of these forces reveals the complexity and the conflict involved in the choice of the written word. (Sociolinguistics, Louisiana French, Cajun, Louisiana French Creole, variation in writing, ethnography, literacy, language maintenance)

This article contributes to attempts on the part of Quechua scholars to understand the evidential system of this language family, and thereby paves the way for a more complex understanding of Quechua speakers' language and culture. The author opposes the position that the most general meaning of the -mi suffix is to indicate a direct or first-hand experience; and she holds that specific claims about Quechua speakers' epistemological orientations, based on such an analysis, cannot be supported. Evidence from speakers' use of -mi indicates that it encodes two paradigmatic contrasts: one is status-like or modal, the other evidential. The patterning of -mi, including its use and nonuse in a variety of speech types, suggests that Quechua speakers from the Pastaza region of Ecuador do not share Euro-American concern for facts that transcend aesthetic and emotive significance. (Quechua language and culture, evidentiality, language in context, grammatical categories)

To reexamine the explanation of stylistic variation given by Bell 1984, this article considers Bell's audience design factors in relation to those associated with the domains described by Fishman 1972. Data collected longitudinally from three preschool children in the Trinidad sociolinguistic complex were examined for variation in production of Trinidad Creole and Standard English verb forms. All three children exhibited stylistic variation; but the nature of the variation shed further light on audience design, since audience factors sometimes remained constant, while speech patterns exhibited variation. It appears that the demands of the wider Trinidadian society (in particular for children), along with the education system, interact with familial demands to impose social/psychological constraints which impinge on and modify audience design. In addition, an implicational scaling of response to addressee, auditor, overhearer, and eavesdropper cannot be unequivocally adopted, since response to audience may vary according to the personal significance which individuals in a given setting have for the child-speaker. (Child language acquisition, creole studies, Trinidad)