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In a previous paper published in the journal "Population Studies," sociologist J.M. Stycos has shown that fertility is lower in the economically underdeveloped Indian-speaking parts of Peru than in the more prosperous Spanish-speaking parts. The relationship is of theoretical significance because it has usually been assumed that there is an inverse relation between fertility and economic development. In the present paper it is shown that this relation holds not only for Peru, but for Ecuador and Bolivia as well. Stycos had concluded that the reason for the fertility difference in Peru was the greater marital instability of the Indian speakers, which decreased their total exposure to the risk of conception. Such an explanation implies that the fertility difference in question is unintended. In the present paper data are introduced which question the adequacy of Stycos' interpretation and suggest that possibly the fertility difference is due to voluntary causes. Specifically, it is shown that the Indian areas are also areas with a high proportion of females in the labor force and it is suggested that women in these areas may therefore be motivated to control their fertility to some extent possibly by means of abortion or infanticide.

Bilingual instruction for the education of Mexican American children, particularly instruction in Spanish, is a problem in many parts of the country. Instructional materials developed specifically for the Spanish speaking child are not always available and a literal translation of English language materials into Spanish may be inadequate and/or inaccurate. Programs designed for the Spanish speaker and taught by a certified teacher who is bilingual are preferable. When this is not immediately possible, temporary solutions or arrangements can be implemented within schools and/or preschool centers in order to build upon the child's native language and cultural background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article discusses the etymology of the Spanish word "baldio." "Baldio" has formed a part of the Spanish lexicon for many centuries, and its source and history have merited the attention of many prominent Hispanists over several generations. Various Spanish definitions of the term are explained further in this article.

The article discusses the phoneme categorization of various languages on the basis of 69 synthetic vowels generated by researchers. For this purpose, speakers from four language groups including American English, Spanish, Japanese and Persian listened to the synthetic vowels and assigned a vowel phoneme from their language or a class of sound not represented in their language. The experiment shows that the subjects were ready for synthetic sounds as they could assign many of them to phonemes. The study showed how to establish phoneme patterns and classify languages their basis which is known as politicization. It is also suggested that the same process could also be used for consonantal phonemes as well in a more complex form.

The article presents a study related to the speech sounds by the speakers of different languages. The study deals with reactions to a set of stop consonants on the one hand by native speakers of American English, and on the other hand by native speakers of Puerto Rican Spanish, Hungarian, and Thai languages. The results indicate that there is a hierarchy among the cues in the acoustic stimulus for the perception of these sounds in various languages. Such studies can help understanding of the role of the linguistic system in the valuation of stimuli and might also contribute information that will be useful in the teaching of languages.

The article discusses Latin America's way of life, as of April 1968. The language of Castile was spread from Cape Horn to California, and Castilian became the official language of Spanish America. At the present time the illiterate peasant from Patagonia has no difficulty in making himself understood by his fellows on the plains of Venezuela or in the deserts of northern Mexico. The language of Castile has been one of the strongest forces in welding into national political units the various geographic and social sectors of each of the Hispano-American republics. And it is no less important in creating a feeling of solidarity among the various Hispanic nations themselves. One unifying factor of great significance in Latin America is the Roman Catholic Church. Catholicism is the dominant religion over the entire area except for a few tiny English and Dutch enclaves, little more than Protestant beachheads. The Latin American is willing to make great sacrifices when appealed to in the name of his honor, and he can also be violent and cruel when he believes his honor or dignity to be offended.

The article discusses the difficulties encountered in the educational system of the states with Spanish-speaking children. Despite the federal government's effort to provide further educational assistance to the Spanish-speaking children, the level of achievement is still lower than with the English-speaking children. It has been noted that education concept has two basic and dynamically interrelated components, psychological for the method and cultural for the content. The author added that with the stated concept, education can now be defined as the learning process where an individual can take on the culture of his society.