LINGUIST List 2.203

Monday, 6 May 1991

Disc: Bilingualism, Hebrew, Intro ling books, and Various

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , Bilingualism in Belgium
2. , Hebrew for Wordperfect
3. , intro to linguistics
4. "Norval Smith, RE: English Dialects
5. , Phonetic fonts for MacIntosh

Thanks to those more competent than myself in the ins and outs of
Belgian linguistic policy for the added information. I should know
better than to quickly gloss over such issues as the relative
importance of dialect vs. standard among Walloons vs. Flemings, the
names of languages, the spelling of universities' names, etc.

Perhaps I was rushing too fast to my central query, which so far has
not been addressed:

 Is there any place with true bilingualism in schools?

that is, where two languages are dealt with on a more or less equal
basis, with subjects other than language and literature in each. My
main point about Belgium was that there are parents who want their
children to master <<both>> languages, but are forced to choose
between one and the other school system. It appears that the
situation is similar in Canada.

I do know that this exists in some private schools, in the case of
local + international/colonial/missionary language: for instance,
Athens College in Greece (English and Greek) or Roberts College in
Turkey (English and Turkish -- but this has perhaps changed?). (There
have also been French, German, and Italian equivalents of these
schools.) It certainly has existed in post-colonial countries --
although Algeria recently decided to drop French-Arabic bilingualism
in favor of Arabic monolingualism (Kabyle as far as I know has no
place at all in the school system, although it is widely spoken). And
of course there are special schools for expatriates' and diplomats'
children.

But are there any areas where two local languages are taught on an
equal basis? Does this work as a way of producing native bilinguals?

 Stavros Macrakis

Good stuff! I'm saving it for posterity. Now, enlighten me. H^Aaving 
recently installed WordPerfect 5.1, mouse and all, on IBM clone, I'd like 
some information in re rumors that said powerful word processor has a Hebrew 
capability. What do you know about it and what help can you (pr)offer? 
Love.

A friend of mine who is currently teaching a foreign language at a univ.
was asked by his students to give them a tutorial sessions on linguistics.
He studied linguistics at a graduate school but has been teaching language
courses only, and he wants to know what kind of books would be good for those
who have no previous knowledge of linguistics. He will be tutoring them
for the whole semester this coming fall, and if the session goes well, he
might have another session in the spring semester, the following year. Is
there anyone who would give me a list of books which cover the basics of all
the core areas of linguistics and with which one can get a holistic view
of linguistics for my friend?
Thank you in advance.

yitoeagle.wesleyan.edu

To Margaret Fleck (on differences between "English" dialects)

Hoo's it gaun Meg? Gin ye can unnerstaund the hauf o this, ye micht realise
at there are conseederable differences atween English an some dialeks o
whit some folks hae chuisen tae ca' Scots. Thir same folks micht say at there
wiz no sae muckle intercomprehensabeelity atween thae forms o language. An
this is me gaun oot ma wey tae no uiz fremd words! Not that you'ld find many
people speaking like this nowadays.
Norval Smith

Mac the Linguist should be adequate. You can get these fonts from
Megatherium Enterprises, P.O. Box 7000-417, Redondo Beach, CA 90277 (at
least I hope that's still a viable address: the fonts have been around
since '84). Mac the Linguist was used to produce the excellent Phonetic
Symbol Guide by Geoffrey K. Pullum and William A. Ladusaw (Univ. of Chicago
Press, 1986).
N. Belmore

[End Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 203]