Articles
There are about 200 articles on this list. Each one is a separate file that you can access and download if you want. Respect the "fair use" principle in downloading. That is, the files are somewhat like photocopies for your own use and should not be distributed further. Where appropriate, copyright information is included in the articles.

I advise you just to scroll down the list. The articles are grouped roughly by subject with large miscellaneous section towards the end. You may click in the  following table to go directly to that part of the page (but it's more fun to browse through!):




 
Navajo Code Talkers
Gender and Language
Literary excerpts
Bilingual Education  English as an Official Language Miscellaneous
Creole Languages, Cultural Identity Language Origins court cases  and laws involving language
The Deaf World English original material
Ebonics Reading & Writing   
Minority and Endangered Languages Language and the Brain




   Navajo (and other) Code Talkers

1.  War and Remembrance--The Navajo Code Talkers (Great article for those interested in military history,    Native Americans, cryptography.)
2.  Navajo Code Talkers (2)
3.  Navajo Code Talkers  (3)
4.  "Tuning in to Navajo: The Role of Radio in Native Language Maintenance."   
5.  "The Other Indian Code Talkers". The Comanche language in WW2 used in Europe.      

6. (empty)



Bilingual Education

7. Bilingual Education Trap: No English is no future for our kids.

    (#8-11 comprise a series from the San Francisco Examiner)

8. Language Barriers: Only the Beginning?

9. Language Barriers: Schools struggle with shufting ethnic balance.

10. Language Barriers: Bridging the English gap.: Immigrants Put Teachers to the Test

11. Language Barriers: When language hinders learning. Immigrant Children a Unique Challenge to State.

12. Wave of Pupils Lacking English Strains Schools  NYTimes August 2002

13. Should Bilingual Schooling Be Silenced? Critics Think So, Yet a New Study Shows That It Works.

14.  Teacher's Emphasis on English Puts Her in the Center of Storm.

15. A Statement on Bilingual Education from Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs

16. The Case Against Bilingual Education by Rosalie Pedalino Porter  (The Atlantic Monthly, May 1998)

17. Calfornia educators struggle with the end of  bilingual education (Christian Science Monitor)

18. Quebec's Premier Urges Separatists To Ease War on English Speakers (Christian Science Monitor)

19. Vote to Eliminate Bilingual Education In California Resonates Nationwide (Christian Science Monitor)

20. "Language"-- Excerpt from "Immigration: How it is affecting us."
     (Nov. 1983, Atlantic Monthly. By James Fallows.

21.   California Still Debates Bilingual Education, NY Times article, 1998

22.  In California: Increase in Test Scores Counters Dire Forecasts for Bilingual Ban,
           NY Times, August 2000

23.  English as second language growing trend in US  Miami Herald 2001

24.   Myths and Misconceptions About Seconad Language Learning

25.   On California, prop. 227

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On Creole Languages

26. KIDS, CREOLES, AND THE COCONUTS by David Berreby --Derek Bickerton plans to isolate little kids before they've learned any language to see if they'll invent one.

27. Reinventions of Human Language by Jared Diamond, Natural History Magazine

28. AFRO-LATIN AMERICA --Rediscovering History



On Cultural Identity

29. GULLAH: A VANISHING CULTURE

30. Four-part article entitled "Language and Identity," largely dealing with the Balkans and ex-Soviet Union.

        part 1          part2         part3            part4
 

31. The Language Gap --problems of Hispanics in California

32. Name Power: Taking Pride, and Control, in Defining Ourselves.

33. Language and Cultural Identity (UNESCO Courier)

34.  Found in Translation. Essay on bilingual authors.


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 The Deaf


35. Defiantly Deaf
36. "Genes of Silence" Scientists track down a slew of mutated genes that cause deafness.


Ebonics or Black English Vernacular

37. Oakland Board Revises 'Ebonics' Resolution.
38. 'Ebonics' Vote Puts Oakland in Maelstrom.
39. Ebonics Tests Linguistic Definition
40. Slang or Language? Black English in Oakland Schools.
41. Why Ebonics Is No Joke (radio interview)
42. White House Rejects Federal Aid for Black  English Courses
43. English Unique to Blacks Is Officially Recognized
44. Junk Science and the "Ebonics Resolution
45. Suite for Ebony and Phonics
46. Ebonics in not the answer

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Minority and endangered languages

47. Language and Minorities  (deals with problems of language minorities around the world)
48. The Berber minority in Algeria
49. New law to protect the Ainu population in Japan
50. Dying Languages -- good general article, plus 4 others on the same general topic:

      (a)       (b)         (c)         (d)

51.  A modern vogue for more than a brogue--article on Irish Gaelic
52.  Blueprints for Indian Education: Languages and Cultures. (ERIC Digest)
53.  Minority Languages in Russia
54. The Welsh Language
55. Preserving Language Diversity
56. Native Languages of South America (UNESCO Courier)
57. The Livonian language. "Baltic’s Onetime Rulers Have  Shrunk to a Handful"
58. Why Learn Irish? (Transcript from Lingua Franca, Australian radio)
59. Language of the Gypsies (UNESCO Courier, 1984)
60. Yiddish. Transcript from Australian radio "Lingua Franca".
        Second article about a Yiddish-language newspaper in New York City.
61. Proceedings of 1995 Bristol conference on language conservation.
62. Woman saves lost language of California Indians
63. Retaining bilingual education in Aboriginal schools in Australia
64. Native American languages law 1
65. Native American languages law 2
66. Aboriginal Language Rights in Australia 1
67. Aboriginal Language Rights in Australia 2
68. (empty)
69. Interview with David Crystal
70. National Languages and Cultural Identity
71. Language and Minorities
72. Status of Native American Language Endangerment

add: What do you lose when you lose your language?
add: UNESCO project
add: Maintaining Languages. What Works? What Doesn't?
add: Global Forces Silence Ethnic Tongues
add: Seven Hypotheses of Language Loss

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Gender and Language

72. GENDER AND GOD. Women from All Religions Are Pressing for Equal Treatment
73. ADVERTISING TO THE "OTHER" CULTURE: Women's Use of Language and Language's Use of Women.
74. Sexism in English: A 1990s Update, by Alleen Pace Nilsen
75. The Word According to Eve.   Cullen Murphy explores the revolutionary implications of feminism's      counter  with religion.
76. "Gender and Sexism" on the French Government's decision to feminise gender.
77. "Against the Theory of Sexist Language".
78. "Gender and Language Use". "...sociohistorical background addressing communicative styles ... with regard to gender."
79.  Overview of Work in Gender and Language Variation
80.  "What is Feminist Linguistics?" Short discussion from the "Ask a Linguist" section of the Linguistlist internet site.
81. "Suppposed Sexism". A short exchange off the internet.
82. "Mars and Venus". Humorous, true (!) classroom example.
83. How not to make a dictionary. Microsoft blunders with its Spanish dictionary.
84.  Two items on brain and gender
 

(Also see 165, below: "Translating the Bible"--the last section. Click here.)

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English as an Offical Language

85. SHOULD ENGLISH BE THE LAW?

86. THE LANGUAGE CRUSADE What's Really Behind the Campaign for "Official English"?

87. ONE NATION, ONE LANGUAGE?
8ould Making English the Nation's Official Language Unite the Country or Divide It?

88. LET'S MAKE ENGLISH OFFICIAL

89. ACLU Position paper on English as the Official Language of the US

90.  Sample of proposed bill for English as the Official Language

91.  Bill from the State of Missouri
 

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   On Language origins

92. Talk of Ages --A tiny bone rekindles arguments over the roots of speech and language
93. Voice in the Wilderness: How Humans Acquired the Power of Speech
94. General article on language origins
95. The Mother Tongue by William F. Allman, et al. On tracing the roots of language. (US News and World Report)
96. Book Review of Derek Bickerton's Language and Species (in The Semiotic Review of Books).

97.  In Click Languages, an Echo of the Tongues of the Ancients
98.  Early Voices -- misc. items

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  World English

98. The Dream of One International Tongue.
99. Embracing English:  The World Is on the Verge of Having a Common Tongue
100. English as an International Language.
101. English on the Internet.
102. Cultural Imperialism Aside, English Spans Linguistic Gulfs  (CS Monitor)
103. English Web Sites in France Flamed by Language Police (Christian Science Monitor)
104. Europe's Language (The Economist) Problems of translating 11 official languages.
105. English is the World Language (from the Financial Times)
106. What Global Language? (The Atlantic Monthly, November 2000)
107. "The dominance of English on the internet is set to decline as ...."
108. European Union running into translation problems
109. Europe's expansion sparks fear of linguistic domination

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On Reading, Writing
129. The Great Debate --phonics vs. whole-language reading.  (Atlantic Monthly)
130. The Reading Wars -- phonics vs. whole-language battle in  California schools. (Atlantic Monthly)
131. The Origins of Writing (Lingua Franca interview, Australian radio)
132. New-Alphabet Disease? by Toby Lester. When a language decides to change alphabets.
133. Ringside at the Universe by Ken Kesegich. On lexocography.

     add: On writing the sounds of speech



On Language and the Brain

136. "Multicultural Speech and Language Development"; unsigned article from the webpage of the National Institutes of Health.
137. Article on the regeneration of brain cells (Discover Magazine)
138. What is Aphasia? -unsigned article from the webpage of the National Institutes of Health.
139. "Late Bloomer". A boy with only one brain hemisphere upsets ideas about language acquisition. (Science News)
140. Debunking the Digital Brain (from Scientific American)
141. Speech and Language Therapy--Does it work? (British Medical Journal)
142. Book Review of  "Right hemisphere and verbal communication".
        (in The Semiotic Review of Books). Very technical, but very informative.
143.Neuropsychological treatment of dyslexia  (Book Review)

144. Sex Differences in the Brain. Men and women display patterns of behavioral and cognitive differences that reflect varying hormonal influences on brain development. (from Scientific American)

145. 2 articles on dyslexia
146.  article 3 on dyslexia

add: The Machinery of Thought


Literary Exceprts
     
147. Mark Twain: The Awful German Language
148. G.B. Shaw:   Pygmalion
149. Tom Wolfe  The Right Stuff
150. Tom Wolfe  Honks and Wonks
151. George Orwell  1984.     
152. George Orwell 2  On "Newspeak"
153. George Orwell 3    Politics and the English Language
154. James Baldwin   If Black English isn't a language, then tell me what it is.



Miscellaneous

155. Language Skills, Earning Power Linked
156. De-Militarizing Language
157. Hal's Legacy (The difficulty in getting  a computer "who" can really speak!
158.Mother Tongue May Influence Musical Ear (Science News)
159. Language in the Dumps (John Leo) (US News & World Report) "At my local recycling center, I always pause in wonderment at the bin marked 'commingled containers'..."
160. 'Mosh! Bork! -- Wordsmithing in Post-Contemporary English' by Jesse Birnbaum
161. Names in Chinese  (Liz Sly, Chicago Tribune)
162. "Rumpelstiltskin Gets Bumped from the Schoolyard
163. "Airline Lingo" NPR Commentary  by James Fallows
164. Plain English Campaign, Lingua Franca Interview, Australian radio.
165. Translating the Bible  (Atlantic Monthly, 1983)
166. Short item on Bible Translation (CS Monitor)
167. The Struggle Over The English Bible  (CS Monitor)
168. Preposition hunting in the Brisbane suburbs, with grammarian, Geoff Pullum.
(Transcript from Lingua Franca, Australian radio)
169. On double negation (transcript from Lingua Franca, Australian Public Radio. Funny!)
170. "English as she is writ." (The Economist) on "plain English" in US government
171. Blah blah. Da Da. Zaum. (Lingua Franca. ) The early 20th-century crisis of confidence in language.
172. Review of recent books on the  linguistics of metaphor  (in The Semiotic Review of Books).
173. Losing that Dixie Drawl
174. In Search of the First Language
175. Language and the Lunatic Fringe, by Doris Lessing
176.  Racist Language, Real and Imagined. by Stephen Pinker.
177.  The origin of Classical Greek culture: Hunter-gatherers of the alphabet. (Interesting piece of linguistic determinism: type of writing system determines cultural characteristics. Very long.)
178. E-Speak: How e-mail is changing the way we speak and write.
179. Three articles from The Washington Post on the Influence of American Culture in the World.  

        Part 1          Part 2        Part 3

180. Austrialian radio broadcast:  Esperanto, a Solution to the International Commication Problem?
181. Do languages help mold the way we think? Recent article from Scientific American on the Sapir-Whorf    Hypothesis.
182. "Japanese youngsters say 'oha' to new language". How cell phones are changing the Japaense language. 183.  Short excert from an article entitled “The Decline and Fall of Latin and the Rise of English”.
184.  "The New Case for Latin".  Teaching Latin in elementary schools may improve English skills.
185. New Computer Codes Open Doors for Non-Roman Alphabet Users.
186. Collateral Language (discussion of book, A Users Guide to America’s New War)
187. Interview with Noam Chomsky
188. Article on the Mormon "Deseret" alphabet.
189.  The Strains of PC   Short, very readable article on "Politically Correct" language.
190. The Word on the Street (article from The New Yorker on the language of cops in New York)
191.  Vaulting the Language Barrier (from Science News) --on language translation by computer.
190. FOUL MOUTH: Language Turns Deeper Shade of Blue
191.  SWEARING'S IN

192. The Spirit of Cotonou (Atlantic Monthly) Lighthearted look at France's attempt to keep French "pure". By Cullen Murphy.

193. On the modern resurrection of Hebrew (Time Magazine)
by Michael Spechter (NY Times, Dec. 4, 1997)

add: Language War in Quebec
add: That Word
add: Genie, The Wild Child
add: Cherokee syllabary



Court cases and laws involving Language

194.  Arizona strikes down English-only law
195.  Hernandez v. New York
196Lau v. Nichols
198Meyer v. Nebraska
199The Unz Ininiative (English in California)
200.    Yñiguez v. Mofford
201  Native American Languages Act



Original Material

        

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