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This paper constitutes an introduction to our special issue on Transcending circulations of southern and northern concepts: Towards mobile and dialogic perspectives on language puts the spotlight on the hegemonies and marginalizations of mainstream academic productions and the circulations of concepts in the contemporary fields that are labelled Multilingualism, Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, etc. Transcending the demarcations that have emerged in the Language Sciences broadly conceptualized across time, it particularly attempts to illuminate, through different scholars' engagements, the circulations of concepts inside and across academic circles located in various places on the planet, identified as central or marginal places of production of academic norms, including what is understood as global epistemic circuits. The editors present reflections from their own positionalities and recent trajectories as illustrative points of departure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the contribution of the Norwegian historian, politician, and ethnologist Ludvig Kristensen Daa (1809–1877) to the study of the Indigenous languages of North America. We focus on his accounts of sound systems, where he argued that North American languages are characterized by greater linguistic diversity, small consonant inventories and gaps in inventories, unusual sounds, and indistinct pronunciation of consonants. Daa attributed these features to the use of the languages in small and isolated communities, thus anticipating more recent discussions in which the degree of linguistic complexity is attributed to social and demographic factors. While some of his claims reflect methodological shortcomings of pre-20th-century phonetic study, the factors which according to Daa shape languages spoken in isolation are analogous to the parameters now examined by typologists, thus providing a sense of continuity across centuries in the links sought between structural diversity among languages and external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages are known to describe the world in diverse ways. Across lexicons, diversity is pervasive, appearing through phenomena such as lexical gaps and untranslatability. However, in computational resources, such as multilingual lexical databases, diversity is hardly ever represented. In this paper, we introduce a method to enrich computational lexicons with content relating to linguistic diversity. The method is verified through two large-scale case studies on kinship terminology, a domain known to be diverse across languages and cultures: one case study deals with seven Arabic dialects, while the other one with three Indonesian languages. Our results, made available as browseable and downloadable computational resources, extend prior linguistics research on kinship terminology, and provide insight into the extent of diversity even within linguistically and culturally close communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article maps the linguistic views on the common language users as non-experts in the field of linguistics and their ability to think reflectively and rationally about issues related to language. An overview of attitudes towards non-linguists is presented against the background of the development of linguistics, ranging from a structural understanding of language with an emphasis on standard language cultivation and linguistic prescription, through a sociolinguistic approach that emphasizes the role of the language user as a creator of the linguistic norm and its variation, to the view of folk linguistics and citizen linguistics, which examine how ordinary people in various forms of public communication present their opinions, beliefs, as well as their myths and ideologies about language. At the same time, the paper argues for the view that some folk knowledge and beliefs about language are not only incorrect or inaccurate, but, on the contrary, that they provide valuable information for linguistics about the background of language behaviour and language change. The material was drawn from the databases of Slovak linguistic journals and the specialized corpus of the journal Slovenská reč. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The special issue on 'The sociolinguistics of exclusion: Indexing (non)belonging in mobile communities' delves into the phenomenon of exclusion as a means and outcome of social positioning within diverse communities undergoing continual transformation due to social, demographic, political, and technological changes. Through empirical studies that critically engage with exclusionary discourse practices, this issue analyzes the semiotic means that social actors employ to presuppose and/or entail exclusion. Additionally, it explores the underlying ideological assumptions on which these choices are perceived, rationalized, justified, and/or contested as exclusionary. • The papers of this issue delve into the multifaceted realm of (non)belonging. • Social exclusion is a communicative phenomenon that we can observe at different social scales—from everyday interaction to (inter)national policy making. • The papers investigate the semiotic practices through which exclusionary dynamics shape mobile communities. • All the papers share the hope of suggesting new ways of achieving social inclusion through a better understanding of exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary reviews, synthesizes, and expands upon the articles in this special issue. The review notes that the papers update the idea that language style – the combination of habitual forms used in languaging – can be used in exclusionary practices. That said, the papers in this issue all approach exclusion in language style from a different standpoint, and this diversity of approaches and topics at once demonstrates how central the exclusionary function of language is for humans, and at the same time suggests some generalizations about how to theorize about exclusion. I note some of the different sociolinguistic processes used in the exclusion cases in the issue, and suggest that we should also study the opposing process on creating inclusion through sociolinguistics. • Processes of exclusion are reviewed. • Style and enregisterment are argued to be an important part of such sociolinguistic exclusion. • The strategic use of code in languaging is revealed to be a theme of exclusion. • Processes of differentiation are shown to be central to the overall process of exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Linguistica is the property of Linguistica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Pragmalingüística is the property of Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Cadiz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Multilingualism is a global phenomenon that has gained increasing attention in the fields of linguistics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. This research paper delves into the intricate relationship between multilingual identity and language choice, shedding light on the complexities faced by individuals who navigate multiple languages in their daily lives. Multilingual speakers are confronted with a multitude of linguistic, cultural, and social factors that influence their language choices. This paper explores the impact of these factors on the construction of identity and examines the dynamic nature of multilingual identity in an ever-globalising world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the language contact in Algeria and how languages are used on a daily basis. One hundred and twenty Algerian participants of different age groups were the subjects of this study. In order to achieve the aim of this study, a mixed method was applied through a questionnaire to present the findings statistically, a group discussion that was analysed qualitatively to observe the linguistic behaviour, and a semi-structured interview to explore the attitudes of Algerians toward multilingualism was conducted. The findings showed a high degree of native language use (Algerian Arabic and Berber) in addition to frequent use of French and other languages, like English, and a low use of Modern Standard Arabic in different fields and in daily language use. Furthermore, Algerians perceive themselves as multilinguals due to their daily interaction and code-switching between more than two languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Play language practices are common around the globe and have been described for several parts of the world. While some contributions on play language focus on the structure, manipulative strategies, and rules, this paper ties in with approaches that seek to view play language practices in their respective sociolinguistic contexts (e.g. Sherzer 2002; Storch 2011). Chibende, the play language practice under study in this paper, is analyzed in its Zimbabwean context. By looking at Zimbabwean examples and by broadening the perspective on these creative linguistic phenomena, it becomes evident that play languages are not performed in isolation but are deeply entangled with other language practices, such as youth language, as part of complex repertoires and social practices as well as acts of identity. By focusing on creativity and also taking the aspect of fun into account, the agency of the speakers becomes a central feature which is also reflected by the metalinguistic knowledge of the practitioners of Zimbabwean play language. In this regard, the discussion in this paper centers on the speakers' ideologies of play language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a pilot study aimed at investigating the comprehension of pantomimic stories and its possible cognitive underpinnings in typically developing children. A group of twenty-two Italian-speaking children aged between 8.02 and 10.11 years were included in the study. Participants watched short videos in which professional actors performed pantomime narratives; then answered a comprehension question and retold the stories. Analyses revealed positive correlations between the comprehension of pantomimes and age, theory of mind, and working memory. The implications of these results for a narrative model of language origin are discussed against the background of an eco-evo-devo perspective. • The study explores the comprehension of pantomimic stories and its cognitive underpinnings in children. • They watched pantomime narratives; then they answered a comprehension question and retold the stories. • Correlations between story comprehension and age, theory of mind, and working memory emerged. • Results are discussed against the background of a narrative model of language origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces this special issue of Linguistics Vanguard which focuses on youth language practices in Africa. The study of youth language and the linguistic practices of youth in the African continent is a rich field that has been expanding and deepening in recent years. This special issue emerged from a collection of papers presented at a workshop during the International Congress of Linguists (ICL20) in Cape Town, July 2018. The articles that come together in this special collection showcase some of the most productive and fascinating aspects of youth language in Africa and demonstrate why this field is particularly relevant for sociolinguistics today. This introduction describes some of the key subfields in African Youth Language research. It also introduces the articles in the special issue, in relation to three main themes: the linguistic analysis of youth language; the relationship between youth language and identity; and individual creativity and stylistic choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functional category of general extenders (e.g. and so on, or something, etcetera) has been mainly analysed in previous work with a focus on spoken language. The aim of this paper is to further explore its use in standard written language, through the analysis of a corpus of Italian texts. The paper shows that general extenders in written language display several specific features that need to be considered within a general account of the class: (i) from a quantitative point of view, their frequency of use is lower than that of their spoken counterparts; (ii) forms like the abbreviation ecc./etc. and the ellipsis <...> are exclusive of written language; (iii) they are often employed in lists that exemplify a co-occurring referring expression, thus reinforcing text cohesion without the proper online categorization that regularly takes place in spoken language; (iv) their frequency of use is higher in formal texts, whereas in spoken language it increases in interactive and informal discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of sociolinguistics by examining the fundamental concepts and issues therein. Research efforts in sociolinguistics focus on speakers and their exploration of language to cope with their daily communicative goals in society. The innate potential of language to cope with a wide range of phenomena to be expressed by speakers is incredible. Indeed, the repertoire of language is not exhaustive. Speakers express cultural norms, political issues, legal discourses, religious messages and scientific facts by using a linguistic system of communication - language. Sociolinguistics is the study of language and society. It elucidates the co-existence of different languages in society. Within a social structure, there are varieties of languages which contribute to the linguistic system and facilitate choice-making. Sociolinguistics is about language and society. In this study, we introduce sociolinguistics by examining language (its definition, functions and varieties), society, speech community and other phenomena that are on the front-burner in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Domínios de Lingu@gem is the property of Dominios de Lingu@gem and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Boletín de Filología is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofia y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper analyses the language of Palm Wine Drinkers' Club in Nigeria, known as Kegite Club. The paper's main objective is to examine the pattern and language use of the Kegite club and highlight how it departs from the linguistic pattern found within the general society where the club exists. By using Giles (1971) Communication Accommodation Theory, the paper demonstrates how Kegite members converge with their members by using the Kegite linguistic patterns and diverge from non-members, because non members do not understand the Kegite linguistic pattern, notwithstanding the fact that the English language forms the background of the Kegite language. The oral and documented data collected through interview and participant observation were quantitatively analyzed and categorized in groups based on the different features of the Kegite language observed. The findings of the study show that the formation, structure and language use of the Kegite club exhibit a kind of technical language attributes that are quite peculiar to it. Hence, this study classifies it as a specific type of slang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Signo y Pensamiento is the property of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

History is replete with events, change, cause and effect on the basis of language. Political movements and geographical changes occurred in different corners of the world and eras have slightly and massively been linked with language. Many regions are currently facing separatist movements mainly rooted in languages or dialects. A few authors have written about the criteria for defining a particular linguistic system as a language in terms of the number of speakers, its prestige, whether they have been accepted as national languages, whether they present written forms and literary traditions, whether similar linguistic systems exist in the same country or area which present an elevated level of lexical similarity, whether they have less number of speakers, etc. It seems simple to differentiate between a language and a dialect. However, although the definition of language seems to be clear and every dictionary of the world contains it, in practical terms when facing the dilemma of whether a particular linguistic system is a language or a dialect, these definitions are blurry from a scientific point of view and sociolinguistic and political pressures may play a role in many cases. This paper will propose better criteria towards differentiation of language and dialect basing the argument on the empirical evidence of the history of linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differently from other areas of linguistic research, the study of metaphor variation and change presents some uniquely difficult challenges for systematic linguistic analysis. The recent development of cognitive sociolinguistic theory has showcased the importance of the study of conceptual differences among linguistic varieties. This paper is intended as a contribution to this field of investigation: using statistical analysis of large sets of dialectal data, we will propose an analysis of onomasiological lexical variation and change across varieties of World English. In particular, we will focus on why particular emotion conceptualizations are more frequent in some of these varieties of English. Our analysis shows that local socio-cultural models of emotions affect lexical variation and change at the dialectal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the 'liberation linguistics' perspective that Professor Kachru championed achieved two important aims: (i) it explored the creative manipulation of multilinguals' repertoire in the late‐modern contexts of mobility and complexity; and (ii) it brought into focus the sociolinguistic inequalities engendered by a politics of conformity. Braj Kachru's teaching consistently highlighted the heterogeneity and multifunctionality of language, together with the meaning potential of variation, and his work continues to provide inspiration for the ongoing development of the field, and the 'gloriously impure' alchemy of English that he has bequeathed to us all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I propose that the Arabic-based migrant pidgin Gulf Pidgin Arabic (GPA) is shaped by the initial work environment of its speakers. My data consist of recordings of conversations with 16 GPA speakers living in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, who have learned the language working either as shopkeepers or as maids in private homes. By looking at the use of verb forms, I find that the maids use significantly more verbs derived from imperatives than the shopkeepers, and argue that this is the result of the social context in which they work. I then compare the speech of the maids to the speakers of Pidgin Madam (PM) in Lebanon, who work in a similar environment, and show that while these two varieties share the preponderance of imperative verbs, the feminine-derived forms which make up most of the verbal inventory of PM are comparatively rare in maids' GPA. I attribute this to the existence of similar yet distinct foreigner talk norms in the Gulf and in Lebanon, each of them reflecting the composition of the migrant population in their respective regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of purity in language has been a common topic in the fields of language ideological debates in the Spanish-speaking world. In this paper, we propose an analysis of the various conceptualizations on linguistic correctness in the work of Ricardo Monner Sans in order to elucidate the links between his linguistic theory and his position on language policy. In that sense, we assume that these conceptualizations should be analyzed as a consequence of a more general consideration about linguistic usage and purity. This consideration seeks a regulatory intervention on the linguistic practices of society based on philological knowledge. Thus, the dimension of usage is divided into a common usage which corresponds to the widespread use in community, and correct usage, that which has been legislated by philological knowledge and which is, for this reason, the criteria for linguistic correction on which the ideal of a homogeneous linguistic community is based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the theory of variation in the use of languages. Topics include the social meaning of phonetics in languages, the acoustic frequency of /s/ in languages and its stereotypic association with gayness and femininity, the three kinds of signs, namely, symbols, icons, and indexes, and the iconicity in sociolinguistic variation.

Churchill Raw event facilitates creative self-expression of young comedians through the incorporation of a variety of sex-related taboo topics. Yet, the multicultural nature of the participants in the Nairobi-based event makes the communication of such topics particularly problematic, as they can also be deemed offensive. Drawing on theoretical and methodological principles from Interactional Sociolinguistics (Gumperz, 2003), this article investigates how sex-related taboos are drawn into performances using euphemistic linguistic resources, such as puns, metaphors, metonymy, codeswitching and so on. As data we use 10 video recordings of comedians and 2 two-hour interviews with the key comedians. By focusing on situated uses of euphemistic language in the context of comedy in the African city of Nairobi, this article demonstrates that contrary to the general perception, young people observe sex-related taboos by using euphemistic language resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vox Romanica: Annales Helvetici Explorandis Linguis Romanicis Destinati is the property of Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH & Co.KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The nineteenth century sets a turning point of linguistics studies based on a historical comparative approach. During this period, it is remarkable the figure of the German Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose first approach to language is characterized by a human philosophical background from an aesthetical and anthropological interest, which take him later to deepen purely linguistic aspects, but keeping certain sociological and cultural sense. Although his work was fully appreciated a century later, it cannot be denied his influence as a forerunner of some modern theories, particularly those related to descriptive and structural linguistics of different languages. This paper proposes a general view to the main thesis of Humboldt, focused on the relation he establishes among thinking, language and reality in his linguistic theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated cancer survivors' interactions on an online breast cancer support forum, focusing on how the network structures of brokerage and closure relate to the types of support received and to the language used in posts. Data came through the extraction of 1,443 forum members' online networks. Automated linguistic analysis was carried out on the 27,248 threads these survivors made and the 336,151 replies they received. Survivors' brokerage and closure levels were positively correlated with the use of positive affective words in their posts, a linguistic marker of well-being. Different network positions fostered different types of support in the community. Specifically, people bridging unconnected users (the broker role) were more likely to receive informational support whereas people in closely knit groups (the closure role) were more likely to receive emotional support. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of usage frequency, and particularly of linguistic similarity on human linguistic behavior and linguistic change in situations of language contact are well documented in contact linguistics literature. However, a theoretical framework capable of unifying the various explanations, which are usually couched in either structuralist, sociolinguistic, or psycholinguistic parlance, is still lacking. In this introductory article we argue that a usage-based approach to language organization and linguistic behavior suits this purpose well and that the study of language contact phenomena will benefit from the adoption of this theoretical perspective. The article sketches an outline of usage-based linguistics, proposes ways to analyze language contact phenomena in this framework, and summarizes the major findings of the individual contributions to the special issue, which not only demonstrate that contact phenomena are usefully studied from the usage-based perspective, but document that taking a usage-based approach reveals new aspects of old phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín de Filología is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofia y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Virtual space expressions contribute to the proliferation of African youth lingo within the Nigerian environment. However, beyond the sheer accumulation of lingual features, virtual space in Nigeria is also a site for the projection of both modern and indigenous youth identities, and for the deployment of sundry communication codes and multimodal affordances. This article explores this twin deployment, first as a way of broadening the sociolinguistic profile of African urban and youth languages, and second as a platform for examining aspects of youth identity formations in the Nigerian setting and how these intersect with the larger linguistic and sociolinguistic environment. Employing the methodology of content analysis, the article establishes youth language practice in virtual space in the Nigerian environment as not only multimodal, but also as indexical. Data samples are drawn from multiple discussion threads on Nairaland, a Nigerian youth news and entertainment blog that is hugely representative of the virtual space youth speech community in the country. The article concludes that virtual space and multimodal affordances enable the projection of hybridized and sometimes nondescript youth identities and alter-egos, as well as a display of communicative usages that appear distinctively African. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews materials published in Russian Journal of Linguistics on problems of media discourse, grammar and intercultural communication. The Russian journal of Linguistics, 2018, No 1-2 pays attention to many problems of modern linguistics: analysis, especially political media discourse, rhetoric, intercultural communication, language and culture, contrastive linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, pragmatics, grammar, wordformation, intercultural communication, theory and practice of translation. Special importance in Russian Journal of Linguistics is attached to media discourse. The expansion of modern linguistics, its interdisciplinariness is an objective phenomenon, which causes, however, criticisms associated with the use of "drifting" from one area of scientific knowledge to another and therefore insufficiently clearly defined concepts. In the article there were used a descriptive method included methods of observation, intra-linguistic comparison, sociolinguistic and linguopragmatic interpretation. There were also used elements of diachronic analysis and historical retrospection. The specificity of the problem area studied in this work has led to the hermeneutic approach, which is characterized by the emphasized installation on the explanation and interpretation. Within anthropocentric linguistics, questions of how a person affects the language he/she uses, what is the measure of his/her possible influence on the language, what areas in the language system are open to linguocreative activity (which is naturally reflected in the media discourse, and grammar, and intercultural communication) and in general depend on the human factor are actively developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the extent to which the way individuals describe spatial relationships correlates with features of the local landscape. Drawing on empirical data from two unrelated languages, Dhivehi (Indo-Aryan) and Marshallese (Austronesian), across a range of topographic environments, we examine the linguistic resources available to speakers, and spatial referential strategy preferences across languages and environments. We find that spatial language shows sensitivity to features of the topography, but this is mediated by the way speakers interact with the landscape. This leads us to propose a Sociotopographic Model, modelling the complex interplay of language structure, local environment, cultural practices, and language use, at odds with competing claims about the primacy of language or of environment in shaping spatial cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essentialist conceptions about language, and the relationship between language and other things, are still fairly common in society, and to some extent in linguistics. It is of particular relevance when working with specific (named or unnamed) languages in multilingual environments, or with one specific (named or unnamed) variety of a language among many. This article investigates how essentialism manifests in a collection of macro-sociolinguistic research articles on Afrikaans in contemporary, multilingual South Africa through critical discourse analysis. The findings indicate that subtle and covert indications of an extent of essentialism are quite common in the data, and even explicitly essentialist statements and claims are not completely absent. Some counter-examples of and challenges to essentialism in the data are also explored, although they are found to be less common than covert instances of essentialism. Suggestions regarding a few essentialism-related problems that arise from the data are discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was recently claimed, in the International Journal of the Sociology of Language (Issue 242) that the Bildt dialect in Friesland (Netherlands), spoken from the sixteenth century in a region reclaimed from the sea, poses a specimen of so-called "mixed languages", characterised by a split between the source language of the "grammar" (from Frisian) and that of the "lexicon" (from Dutch). This article evaluates the linguistic arguments and poses a rather different conclusion to that above. Many of the grammatical similarities between Frisian and the Bildt dialect are not the result of borrowing or imposition from Frisian, but are (a) shared innovations in Frisian and Dutch based varieties in Friesland (including the Bildt dialect) in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, (b) commonly preserved archaisms, and (c) the result of the convergence of Frisian with Dutch. It is suggested that all early-modern language varieties spoken in Friesland were part of a Sprachbund, that also comprised the vernaculars of North Holland, under the umbrella of the emerging Standard Dutch. This different linguistic interpretation makes the sociolinguistic argument of identity-driven language mixing obsolete, because such a mixing never took place. It can, however, be acknowledged that the current shape of some Dutchbased varieties in Friesland can synchronically be re-analysed in terms of being "mixed languages". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its abundance of dialects, varieties, styles, and registers, Arabic lends itself easily to the study of language variation and change. It is spoken by some 300 million people in an area spanning roughly from northwest Africa to the Persian Gulf. Traditional Arabic dialectology has dealt predominantly with geographical variation. However, in recent years, more nuanced studies of inter- and intra-speaker variation have seen the light of day. In some respects, Arabic sociolinguistics is still lagging behind the field compared to variationist studies in English and other Western languages. On the other hand, the insight presented in studies of Arabic can and should be considered in the course of shaping a crosslinguistic sociolinguistic theory. Variationist studies of Arabic-speaking speech communities began almost two decades after Labov's pioneering studies of American English and have flourished following the turn of the 21st century. These studies have sparked debates between more quantitatively inclined sociolinguists and those who value qualitative analysis. In reality, virtually no sociolinguistic study of Arabic that includes statistical modeling is free of qualitative insights. They are also not flawless and not always cutting edge methodologically or theoretically, but the field is moving in a positive direction, which will likely lead to the recognition of its significance to sociolinguistics at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys some key works that address in one way or another the linguistic situation of ancient Palestine. It also examines that linguistic situation by way of introducing several multilingualism theories from the field of sociolinguistics, specifically explaining and demonstrating how they are pertinent to the investigation of the available linguistic evidence. The objectives are to show that previous studies that have utilized multilingualism theories have not yet been able to apply them either adequately or appropriately to the linguistic evidence, that use of multilingualism theories is the way forward to assess the available linguistic evidence, and that the linguistic situation of ancient Palestine must have been ‘multilingual and diglossic’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]