ELL: New SIL Publication in Sociolinguistics

[Paul_Lewis at SIL.ORG]

SIL International announces a new publication, volume 7, in its SIL
Publications in Sociolinguistics series:


Karan, Mark. 2001. The Dynamics of Sango Language Spread. Dallas: SIL
International. pp. x, 151, paper. ISBN: 1-55671-122-0 $25.00


Language spread, or expansion into new geographic and language-use areas,
has been studied largely through observation. Thus, discussions of the
dynamics of language spread have been based primarily on data obtained
through observation.


Mark Karan employs a memory span test to evaluate the competence of a large
number of subjects in a spreading language, Sango of the Central African
Republic. The data from this test are the basis for the author's
statistical studies of the social determinants and predictors of competence
in the spreading language.


The results indicate the overriding importance of individual motivations
for understanding the dynamics of the process of language spread. Based on
his findings, Karan presents a framework for discussion, research, and
intervention in language spread, along with guidelines for more successful
intervention in shift situations.


Numerous researchers have linked language spread and language change ?
language internal modification over time. This quantitative study provides
substantive comparison of the two phenomena with data on the distribution
of social factors such as age, sex, and education. These distributions are
very similar to the distributions of social factors in language change,
indicating that language spread and language change are similar processes.


Other volumes in the SIL Publications in Sociolinguistics series:
   1.      Merrifield, Scott and Martinus Salea. 1996. North Sulawesi
     Language Survey.
   2.      Paulston, Christina Bratt and G. Richard Tucker. 1997. The Early
     Days of Sociolinguistics.
   3.      Kindell, Gloria and M. Paul Lewis (eds.). 2000. Assessing
     Ethnolinguistic Vitality: Theory and Practice.
   4.      Anderson, Ronald James. 2000. Ashéninka Stories of Change.
   5.      Showalter, Stuart. 2001. The Same but Different: Language Use
     and Attitudes in Four Communities of Burkina Faso.
   6.      Lewis, M. Paul. 2001. K'iche': A Study in the Sociology of
     Language.


All volumes can be ordered via e-mail to Academic_Books at sil.org or on the
web at www.ethnologue.com.




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