Center for Applied Linguistics, 1611 north Kent Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209 ($8.50)

Patterns; Language Planning: “Language Research; Language Role; “Language Osage; Bultilingualiss; Official Languages; Public Policy; Sociocultural Patterns; “Sociolinguistics; “Surveys

This voluse is a selection of papers prepared for a conference on sociolinguistically oriented language surveys organized by the Center for Applied Linguistics and held in New Tork in September 1971. The purpose of the conference vas to review the role and function of such language surveys in the light of surveys conducted in recent years. The selection is intended to give a general picture of such surveys to the laysan and to reflect the aiss of the conference. The papers deal with scope, probless, uses, organization, and techniques of surveys, and descriptions of particular surveys, and are sostly related to the Eastern Africa Survey. The authors of these selections are. Charles A. Ferguson, Ashok R. Kelkar, J. Donald Boven, Edgar c. Polose, Sirarpi Ohannessian, Gilbert Ansre, Probodh 3. Pandit, ffillian D. Reyburn, Bonifacio P. sibayan, Clifford H. Prator, Bervyn С. Alleyne, B. L. Bender, R. L. Cooper aid Joshua A. Fishsan. (Author/AB)

Edited by Sirarpi Ohannessian, Charles A. Ferguson * ’ and Edgar С. Роіотё

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by the Center for Applied Linguistics 1611 North Kent Street Arlington. Virginia 22209

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75 Printed in the 'Jnited States of America

Foreword

The present volume is the outcome of a small conference on sociolinguistically oriented language surveys which the Center for Applied Linguistics organised under a special award from the Ford Foundation. It was held on September 6 and 7.1971, at Harrison House, Glen Cove, New Vora. The papers in this volume represent a selection of those preparedTor the conference and a few others.

The purpose of the conference was to review the role and function of language surveys with a sociolinguistic orientation in the light of experience gained from the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa (field work on which had just been concluded) and of other surveys conducted in recent years. Since it seemed that more such surveys might be conducted in the future, the time was judged appropriate to examine the types and categories into which they fell; the problems in their organization; the methods and techniques used and the disciplines involved in carrying them out. Of special interest to the conference were the ways in which information resulting from such surveys might be utilized, and the impact they might have both on those conducting them and on the areas in which they were conducted.

The conference participants in the main were practitioners addressing each other, so that some aspects of sociolinguistic surveys were taken for granted, and others were treated in rather technical fashion. The present selection of papers, including those not prepared for the conference, is intended to give a general picture of such surveys to the interested layman in addition to reflecting the aims of the conference. For this reason an effort has been made to keep the volume as non-technical as possible.

Of the additional papers, the first two by Ferguson and Kelkar have been included to give a general view of the field. The paper by Reyburn is intended not only to provide information on techniques, but also to give some idea of the type of sociolinguistic information needed for the purposes of a religious group. That by Bender, Cooper and Ferguson has been included as an illustration of the various aspects of a situation that sociolinguistically oriented surveys can study, some of the methods they use. and the contributions tha* such studies can make to sociolinguistic theory. The Ohannessian and Ansre paper is an attempt at summarizing the practical uses to which the findings of such surveys can be put. Its emphasis is on the educational uses of such surveys. It is hoped that a more general and exhaustive paper will be prepared in time to reflect more adequately uses in such fields as economics and legal and political systems.

The volume has general papers dealing with the scope, problems, uses, organization, and techniques of surveys; descriptions of particular surveys carried out at different times in different parts of the world; and a few miscellaneous papers covering various kinds of surveys. The preponderance of papers related to the

Eastern Africa Survey is a direct result of the timing of the conference and the experience of the participants.

The editors wish to express their thanks to all the authors who have contributed to this volume. They also wish to express their special appreciation and thanks to Mrs. Marcia Taylor of the Publications Department of the Center for Applied Linguistics for her careful and painstaking help in the copy-editing of the volume and in its final preparation for publication.

Sirarpi Ohannessian, Center for Applied Linguistics Charles A. Ferguson, Stanford University Edgar C. Poloml, University of Texas at Austin

III. Organizing International Research in Sociolinguisticaliy Oriented Language Surveys

IV. Problems and Techniques of a Sociolinguisticaliy Oriented Language Survey: TheCase of the Tanzania Survey Edgar ('. Poloate’

V. Some Reflections on the Uses of Sociolinguisticaliy Oriented Language Surveys

VII. Assessing Multilingualism: An Abridgement of "Problems and Procedures in Ethnolinguistic Surveys"

V|U. Survey of Language Use and Attitudes Towards Language in . the Philippines Bonifacio P. Sibayan

IX. The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa in Retrospect

Sociolinguistie Theory and Method M. L. Bender, It. L. Cooper are C\ A. Ferguson

On Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys*

by Charles A, Ferguson

Many countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as a matter of national development or even of national existence, must answer a set of language questions. The policy decisions which ihesc answers constitute then require implementation, often on a large scale and over long periods of time.

Some of these questions are of language choice: What language^) shall be the official language^) of the government, used in laws, administration, and the armed forces? What language^) shall be used as medium of instruction at the various levels of the educational system? What tanguagefs) will be accepted for use on the radio, in publishing, in telegrams, and as school subjects?

Other questions involve language "engineeringOnce a language has been chosen for certain purposes in a country it may be necessary to take steps to assure its adequacy for these purposes. The questions to be answered generally refer to standardization and modernization: What variety of the language should be selected or created as the standard form for written and spoken purposes? What means shall be used to provide modern terminology and the needed literary and scientific forms of discourse?

Finding suitable answers to language questions like these in most of the developing countries is of crucial importance in their economic, political, and social development. Development of the educational system and development of communication networks in a country are increasingly recognized as critical elements in national development as a whole, and both of these arc dependent on language policies. Decisions must be taken on language questions in terms of at least three important goals: national unity and national identity, access to modern science and technology, and international communication.

Language policies are rarely set quickly and decisively. Like many national policies, they often develop gradually, vacillate, and arc modified again even after they are thought to be final. Occasionally, however, a single decision, e.g. the choice of Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia, may have enormous consequences for the country. Whether the language policies of a country grow gradually or by jumps, it seems likely that the decisions involved will be better, i.e. will achieve the desired results more efficiently, the better the information is on which the decisions are based.

It must be recognized, of course, that language policies—again like many other national policies -arc not determined simply on the lines of rational analysis. In

‘Reprinted by permission from The Linguistic ReporterNewsletter of the Center for Applied Linguistics. 8:4.1 3 (August 1966). ' *

fact, decision* on language questions are notoriously influenced by emotional issues such as tribal, regional and religious identification, national rivalries, preservation of elites, and so on, They may even go directly against all evidence of feasibility. The fact remains that the availability of accurate, reliable information on the language situation of a country can be influential in making policy decisions and is of tremen* dous value in planning and carrying out the implementation of the policies.

Strangely enough, very few countries or regions have attempted systematic surveys of the language situation, The most famous such survey was the monumental Linguistic Survey of India carried out by Sir George Grierson at the turn of the century, and even today when Indian oflicials need information on which to base decisions they have no better source to turn to. The existence of the LSI does not guarantee sensible decisions, and the LSI is now outdated in its methods and much of its information, but the availability of such information as is contained in it has been important.

One of the most important recent attempts to survey the language situation in a country or region is the West African Languages Survey carried out since I960 under the direction of Professor Joseph Greenberg with the aid of grants from the Ford Foundation. This survey has concentrated on the more narrowly linguistic problems of language description, and most of the publications coming out of it are technical articles and monographs of more direct interest to professional linguists than to government oflicials or language teachers. As a by-product of this survey, however, the linguist-investigators have accumulated a considerable store of information on the language situation in West African countries, although there art as yet no definite plans for publication of the material.

Since previous language survey* have generally been motivated chiefly by interest in the collection of linguistic data, especially on languages little known or not known at all to the world of scholarship, it may be useful to describe the purposes and procedures of a survey not characterized by this “anthropological purism,“ as it has been called, but by concern with the language problem of government and, in particular. education.

I. Basic data on major languages. The first task of a country language survey is to determine which are the major languages of the country and to assemble the basic sociolinguist'c information about them. Sometimes the determination of major languages is relatively simple, sometimes it is difficult; often the criteria must be worked out for the specific country. For example, Madagascar has two major languages; Malagasy, spoken by 90 per cent of the population; and French, the language of government and education. Bolivia has three: Spanish, Quechua. and Ay-mar», the native languages of roughly equal thirds of the population. Kenya probably has ten major languages: eight languages spoken by more than 200,000 each; Swahili, a widespread lingua franca; and English, the principal language of government and education.

It is presumably only from these major languages that candidates can be considered for a national language, official language^) of government, and language^) as mediums of instruction. In order to make decisions of this kind and— even more important—to undertake the necessary programs of language teaching.

materials preparation, teacher training, publication, and so on, Further information must be collected about each major language.

Who speaks the language as a first language, where, and under what circumstances? To take a simple example, if a given country chooses English as its national language and language of education, and finds it necessary or desirable to have special English teaching materials for speakers of different major languages, the ministry of education must know the geographical extent of each of these languages, the amount of its use in linguistically heterogeneous urban centers, and the social limitations on its use in order to plan distribution of materials and teacher training.

How much dialect variation is there in the language? For example, a given language may be spoken by a third of the population of a country and the government may wish to choose it as a language for literacy training, limited publication, and use as a medium of instruction at the primary level. If, however, the language in question has no standard form, but shows several major dialect areas with strong feelings of dialect identification by the speakers, the government policy may not be feasible.

To what extent is the language used as a second language or lingua franca by others, and to what extent do native speakers of the language use other languages? Two languages may have roughly equal numbers of native speakers, but there is a long tradition of speakers of the one language learning the other in addition, while members of the second speech community do not reciprocate. In such a situation, the government can probably settle for the use of only one of the languages in education.

To what extent is the language used in education? It might be expected that this information would be easy to obtain since the use of a language as the medium of instruction is presumably set by government policy. It often happens, however, that a given language is in fact used in the first two grads; of school or as a preliminary step in adult literacy training when government policy eithc; has not required this or has even forbidden it.

2. Language attitudes. |n many ways the effectiveness of language policies in education is determined more by the attitudes of the people on language use than it is by the simple demographic facts of language distribution and use. Discovering language attitudes is more difficult than finding the basic data and also may raise political issues which threaten the successful carry ing out of a language survey, but it is of fundamental importance.

What do the speakers of a language believe or feel about its esthetic, religious, and “logical” values? About the appropriateness of its use for literature, education, and “national” purposes?

What do the speakers of a language believe or feel about other languages in the country? Are they better or inferior to their own language in general or for specific purposes?

As an example, speakers of Berber languages generally feel that Arabic is superior to Berber fot all purposes except intimate, domestic conversation. Speakers of Kurdish generally feel that Arabic is better than Kurdish for statements of religious truth and as a lingua franca with Arabs and Muslim speakers of other languages,

but that Kurdish is more expressive and generally better than Arabic for other purposes. Obviously, educational policies in Arab countries with Berber or Kurdish minorities are related to this difTerence of attitude.

3. Survey techniques. Linguistic research uses principally techniques of elicitation, recording, and analysis. Such techniques are, however, only marginally relevant to a sociolinguistically oriented survey. The four techniques most likely to prove effective are: the cutting of information from published sources, consultation with experts and persons knowledgeable about specific areas or problems, the use of questionnaires, and field observation and interviews. There is almost no published guidance on these survey techniques: the best discussion is apparently William Rey-burn’s “Problems and Procedures in Ethnolinguistic Surveys," reproduced for the American Bible Society in 1956.

In many deveioping countries a considerable amount of sociolinguistic information can be found in articles, books, monographs, and reports on the area published in the languages of European scholarship, including former colonial languages. The material is generally scattered and difficult of access, and one element of a language survey would be the rather demanding library work of exploring this material for the relevant information.

The most fruitful source of sociolinguistic information in many countries will be consultation with language teachers, missionaries, archeologists, government officials, and other informants. Much can often be done in the capital of a nation, but some consultation must be in the provinces.

Questionnaires can he effective means of collecting sociolinguistic information from special subpopulations, in particular, school and university students. In the case of a country like Ethiopia there is a special resource for this kind of mass data collection: the university students in various parts of the country under a national service scheme.

The critical technique remains the personal on-the-spot investigation of a country survey worker. Collection of data by the other techniques will show gaps and inconsistencies which can only be corrected by observation of classrooms and local life and interviews of selected individuals and groups.

A sociolinguistically oriented language survey of a developing country should be closely associated with whatever linguistic research and teaching is taking place in the country. This usually would mean that the survey would be based at a university department of languages or linguistics, though in some cases the survey might be based at a research or language teaching institution other than a university, if the institution is dearly the center of linguistic research and training in the country. In either case the presence of survey personnel and activities can strengthen the existing work in linguistics and lead to further development of the university or other institution.

A language survey in a developing country can also serve as a means of bringing together people who are working on related problems but who are not normally in touch with one another. In many countries this means three kinds of people: scholars in traditional fields of linguistic and philological study of Classical and modern literary languages: anthropologically-minded linguists doing field work on

local languages; and foreign language teachers, especially of English and French. In some cases a further group, literacy specialists, are to be included.

The most effective means of bringing ihcse different kinds of people together on a regional basis is the holding of recurrent international conferences. The interna* t'onal Symposia held every eighteen months under the sponsorship of the InterAmerican Program in Linguistics and Language Teaching, financed in targe part by grants from the Ford Foundation, have been successful in this, as has the Annual Congress of the West African Languages Survey. In many developing countries there is very little contact between groups within the country itself, let alone throughout the region of which it is a part. International conferences for reading of papers and discussion of specific problems in linguistics and language teaching are not only valuable for the exchange of information, but also for the strong stimulating effect they have on language research and the development of teaching materials.

The Scope of a Linguistic Survey*

by Ashok R. Kelkar

The word ‘survey’ may go either with a synchronic viewpoint (as in Л s -vey of farming methods in contemporary India or in t6th century Europe) or with a diachronic one (as in A Survey of English Literature from Chaucer to Milton). A linguistic survey can likewise be of cither kind GA. Grierson's Linguistic Survey oj lndia(\\ volumes in 19 parts and 3 supplements, Calcutta 1903-28) is an example of the first kind, while Ernst Pulgram’s The Tongues of haty: Prehistory and history (Cambridge, Mass., 1950) is an example of the second kind. In the present context of the proposed survey of the contemporary dialects of Panjabi at Punjabi University we are obviously concerned with a synchronic survey. The adjective ‘synchronic* defines the survey over a period of time limited enough to preclude any major or noticeable change. We can properly describe such a survey then as a diatopic survey where the dimension of space is the one that counts. ‘Space’ is to be interpreted rather liberally here to include both geographical area and social span.

A diatopic linguistic survey then answers the following question in some detail: Which speech habits are found in whom in a given population? Let us spell this out further.

In the first place we must remember that a survey is never chiefly interested in individuals. It is more like а census. Indeed, as we shall see later, one phase of it is simply a census of a rather specialized kind—a census that tells us how many there are of speakers in whom we find more-than-chance correlation between the speech habit in question and other characteristics such as geographical location, age and generation, literacy, sex, caste and class, and area of language use. The speech habits isolated for the purpose of finding out this correlation may be either whole systems or specific traits. In a gross survey we handle large language units (like standard Panjabi or Bangru or South Dravidian family) in the census. Alternatively, in a trail survey we look for the distribution of phonological or grammatical or lexical traits like the use of tones or certain postpositions or a high percentage of English borrowings.

So we can rephrase our question as follows: Which languages or language traits are found well-correlated with which speaker characteristics or which areas of use in how many speakers out of the population under survey? The whole survey operation will therefore resolve itself into three sub-operations:

2. Isoglossing or locating the isolates in the geographical area or social span; and

The results so obtained may in part be put in a publishable form—say, maps or tables—or be stacked away for future reference in the form of tapes, microfilms, and the like. So we can add two more sub-operations:

1. PREANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE ISOLATES

(i) The use of a given whole linguistic system L_t (a particular homogeneous dialect or variety):

(ii) The use by the speaker of any one or a group of family of whole linguistic systems L, or L* or L, (a particular dialect-family or language-family or language-group); or

(iii) The use by the same speaker of each one of a group of whole linguistic systems L, and L_a and L, (typically the standard variety plus one non-standard variety or the prevailing language of the region plus a minority language or bordering language or link language).

An ordinary census in which dialect-families centering around certain standaid varieties are returned is thus a very gross linguistic survey.

In a trait survey (very often called a dialect survey rather than a linguistic survey when limited to a single speech community) the speech habits isolated may be of the following kinds:

(i) The use of a specific feature T, of phonology or morphology or syntax or vocabulary (as, a particular system of tones);

(ii) The use by the speaker of any one of a group of competing linguistic features T, or T* or Т» (as, the use of any tone system or the general preference for periphrastic tenses over tense inflections); or

(iii) The use by the same speaker of each one of a group of correlated linguistic features T, and T, and!» that need not be all phonological or all grammatical or all lexical (as, the use of a specific tone system combined with the non-use of voiced aspirates or the non-use of honorific plural combined with the low frequency of dignified synonyms).

It will be clear that before the central operation of locating the social or geographical isoglosses or correlations can be started the linguistic surveyor must have a clear notion of what he is going to correlate. To this end the surveyor must:

(i) familiarize himself with any available diachronic survey of the field and with the history of the phonology, grammar and vocabulary of the languages involved;

(ii) draw lessons from any previous diatopic survey of the field and even of neighbouring areas (it would fo!¹ ~ ' m this that coordination and cooperation be-

tween the various linguistic surveys under way in India will be a highly desirable thing);

(iii) supplement this knowledge by undertaking a pilot survey of his own to determine which the likely directions are in looking for correlations;

(iv) familiarize himself with any available phonological, grammatical, and lexical descriptions of the languages and dialects in the field; and

(v) supplement this knowledge by undertaking a monographic survey of his own so as to have at his disposal a series of descriptive sketches in accordance with modern methods of a representative selection of language varieties (some linguistic surveys do not proceed beyond this preliminary or monographic phase).

At the conclusion of the preanalysis of language isolates there will be ready the following:

(i) a list of language varieties with their genetic relationships and their mutual contacts through bilingualism duly noted;

(ii) a list of linguistic traits to be embodied in the questionnaire and the formulation of suitable questions for this purpose (naturally such traits will tend to come froiTKthe overall pattern minus the common core shared by all the related varieties and from areas of structural uncertainty and freedom of choice rather than the basic and obligatory patterns in the language); and

(iii) a list of the other characteristics of the speaker to be elicited in the questionnaire such as the geographical location(s) of settled, migratory, and nomadic speakers; the age group (juvenile, adult, old); literacy (with the script and language in question also noted); sex; ca- ?nd ethnic group; religion; class status; and finaliy the area of use or function of ti language variety or language trait (intimate circle, school, public life, and mass media).

The questionnaire is now ready in its final shape: preferably it has been pretested for its efficiency and practicability, and has been calibra.cd with questionnaires in neighbouring surveys for comparability of results.

What goes into the questionnaire will be determined by the overall aim and limits of the survey— which may be a gross survey of a large population or a trait survey of a small population or a comprehensive survey. The questions may be direct, e.g. Which variety do you use at home and among close friends? Do you say (khatir) or [xatirj? Or they may be indirect, e.g. Will you read this letter? Can you make out what this man is saying in this tape playback? How would you name this object? (This last may be a test for a phonological trait no matter what the respondent may think!)

The exact shape and size of the questionnaire will be determined by the exigencies of administering the questionnaire in a satisfactory manner. Thus the length and number of questions will depend on the number of respondents, the number of field-workers, and available time and money. The knowledgeableness, ability, willingness,

and prejudices of the fieldworker as well as the respondent have to be taken into account. (It must be remembered that revenue officials and school teachers have been pressed into service as fieldworker* and as such are apt to do the responding for the “ignorant” speaker.) Some of the question,* will obviously have to be answered by the fieldworker himself, e.g. about the speaker's sex or attitude to the language situation.

The mode of administration of the questionnaire (which may include open questions like: Tell me a story or Retell the story of the North Wind and the Sun or of the Prodigal Son or Say the Lord's Prayer) may vary. The fieldworker can carry the questionnaire with him, conduct an interview with more or less strict adherence to it, and record the proceedings, i.e. replies as well as stage directions (the respondent's laughter or resentment, etc.) in his fieidnotes with or without tape recording. (It is never wise to depend on the recorder alone; notes are always a help even if they are in ordinary spelling and not systematised transcription.) The so-called postal method employs the local man affiliated to the survey as a fieldworker who receives and returns the questionnaire by post. The former method is costly and reliable. The latter has obvious dangers, but may be forced by circumstances: the advantage is that a much larger sampling of different speakers can thereby be afforded. The size of the sample is sometimes referred to as the “grid of the survey” (one respondent per so much population or area, for example).

3. CENSUS DETERMINATION OF THE STRENGTH OF THE

CORRELATION

At one e areme we have the vast house-to-house government census which amounts to a ven gross linguistic survey: the inclusion of bilingualism in the Census of India counts relatively as a refinement. At the other extreme there may be the mini-survey of his class by a linguist under training. The normal survey lies somewhere in between, making its own compromise between level of analysis (gross and trait), depth of analysis (the amount and refinement of the data sought), and the size of the sample.

Ideally, after all the collecting and sorting has been done, the surveyor should be in a position to come up with statements in accordance with the following scheme:

(ii) (a) With functional situations S, (home, etc.) and/or (b) With geographical location GL, (district, point of the grid, etc.) and/or (c) With social location SL₍(age group, sex, literacy, etc. or a combination of these)

(iii) In so many respondents (out of the total so many sampled out of the group of speakers defined by (iiKb) and/or (iiKc)]-

When the representative character of the sample is to be questionable because of the size or for some other reason, this kind of statement yields information on the strength of correlation only in a limited way (known to be compatible, not known to be compatible).

4. PRESENTATION

The presentation of results has to be done with some care. It can take many forms, some of which may be fruitfully combined - maps, map-like diagrams and charts (for social location), tables, and sample responses illustrating linguistic varieties or traits.

Errors that have crept into the designing of the questionnaire itself cannot, of course, be rectified in the presentation. Such errors may arise from the absence of an adequate, viable linguistic theory (or from the absence of any theory for that matter): pre-phonemic surveys thus often manage to pile a large amount of phonetic data without providing the answers to even simple phonologicaily interesting questions. Or errors may arise from an insufficient pre-analysis: the decision of the Census of India to limit questions about a second language to languages of Indian origin was thus an unfortunate one. A careful pre-testing of the questionnaire in a small-scale pilot survey should be of great help in avoiding such errors.

Errors can, of course, creep in at the time of the administration of the questionnaire. A pilot survey can uncover deficiencies in the fieldworkers' training, unavoidable personal equations, and peculiar pitfalls in the field being covered that the field-workers should beware of.

The least that a good presentation will accomplish is not to add its own quota of errors in transferring figures and data and not dressing up unrectifiable errors handed over from the previous stages. Scientific honesty demands that the reader should be duly forewarned about possibilities of error (by a proper sprinkling of question marks, for example).

Pre-testing of maps, charts, and tables with potential readers for their clarity and perspicuity may be a good idea. Maps can take a lot of money and be nice to look at but very painful to decipher.

A good presentation has to strike a balance between two opposite und somewhat conflicting requirements: it must leave the reader free to draw his own conclusions and apply his own statistical techniques and at the same time must not saddle him with mere detail. The do-it-yourself principle can be carried too far! Enough should be left buried in the archives.

5. ARCHIVES

The importance of preserving the records in a form accessible to any bona tide future worker cannot be stressed enough in a country like India so ridden with red tape and so light-hearted about history. Modern technology has provided us with the recorded tape and the microfilm or microcard as relatively cheap modes of preservation and multiplication— multiplication serves both as an insurance against destruction and as a means to ready accessibility.

SO FAR we have spoken of the surveyor, as if the organization of a survey is a one-man affair. And there have been one-man surveys and good ones too— Andrd Martinet did a survey in rather unusual circumstances as a prisoner of the Germans

during World War II {La pronunciation do fransais contemporain: Ttmoignages recueillis en 1941 dans un camp d'officicrs prisannien. Paris: Droz 1945).

The practical organization of a bigger survey has to contend, among other problems, with pressures arising out of linguistic and other loyalties that militate against the scientific objectivity and validity of the results of the survey. The machinery can divide itself along the following lines:

(viii) Administration, publication, and public relations (with other surveys and with the public and the authorities in the field under survey).

The foregoing discussion of the philosophy of a linguistic survey will have a bearing on the working of each of these departments.

(i) As a general*purpose source of information for journalists, historians, and the like looking for isolated facts.

(ii) For the sociologist or anthropologist interested in language—especially, in languages of a specific area in relation to the life and demography of their speakers.

(iii) For the historical linguist interested in the dialects and their traits and their distribution as a base for historical comparison.

(iv) For the linguist interested in non-historical comparisons leading to the recognition of language universals and language types (a branch of linguistics to which one can give the name Correlative Linguistics by the side of Analytic Linguistics and Historical Linguistics).

It is possible to plan a survey with one of these specific ends. But in view of the costs involved, it seems best to plan a general-purpose survey whose results are usable by any of these four kinds of users.

Organizing International Research in Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys

by J. Donald Bowen

Anyone who has been responsible for a research project will realize that planning what to do and how to do it is of the greatest importance to the overall success of the project.' Indifferent planning can easily be the margin between success and mediocrity. Usually the difference that good planning contributes is quite obvious in retrospect. It is less clear when one is looking at a project in the stages of conceptualization. The experiences of the past, if the information is accessible, can, of course, contribute to the avoidance of certain pitfalls, but typically a research report lays out the results and conclusions. The intermediate steps are likely to be considered less interesting and less meaningful—simply the means by which the results were obtained.

When a project is reported or published, there is normally a part of the report describing the research design which will usually include ample information on the basic frame in which the project was conducted; the overall plan; the steps followed by the research scholar (or team); the data that we-e collected and organized; the analysis and interpretation of these data; and the significance, new insights, and in* crease in understanding that is the raison d'tire for research as a scholarly activity. But some of the interesting information may not be included, particularly that which describes the reasons for selecting certain options or for making certain procedural decisions. For some research a detailed history of the project might be as interesting. and perhaps as significant, as the research report itself. It can certainly he helpful to future project planning.

Scholars from the Western world are likely to make certain assumptions based on their understanding of an academic position as related to the society at large. This position is conceived in the framework of academic freedom and the right to pursue information wherever it leads. This right is strongly, even militantly. defended and by and large is fully acknowledged by Western society beyond the university. Thus, when Ralph Nader and his coterie of followers decide as selfappointed guardians of the public weal that the time has come to investigate the basic principles under which an American institution such as the First National City Bank of New York operates, Mr. Nader calls on Mr. Walter B. Wriston, the president of the bank, and advises him of the planned research.¹¹ Even though Mr. Wriston can be quite sure that Mr. Nader intends to judge as harshly as the circumstances will permit, the full cooperation of the bank is offered. The “raiders" (a full sixteen in number) are permitted to examine all records of the bank except confidential information supplied by its clients, they are permitted to conduct lengthy interviews with fifty-three employees on time paid for by the bank, and they are permitted to use space and facilities in the bank to suit their convenience. Mostly in jest Mr. Wriston justifies the bank's cooperation and consoles his staff with the quip that the bank is "getting a free management survey." This is all in the spirit of free inquiry in an open society. A research team can follow its interests wherever they lead, and propriety will be judged by professional colleagues on the basis of the honesty and competence of the team, with the publicly available research result or product as the evidence on which judgment will be based. This approach is not always feasible in all parts of the world, and the scholar who does not realize this cannot hope to be successful and effective. But more of this later.

Planning for a research project can be conceived as involving three separate areas, though in carrying out plans it is often apparent that a problem will pertain to more than just one of the three. It may be useful, however, to have a frame of reference that distinguishes the three areas to facilitate preliminary outlines of procedures and responsibilities. The three areas arc professional, technical, and administrative.

Research planning on the professional level involves the hypotheses to be examined and the initial definitions of problems implicit in the examinations, as well as decisions on the data needed and on the design that grows out of a consideration of the problems and the data so that analyses, comparisons, etc. can be made. Professional planning is necessarily broad-scale in its initial aspects, involving the interpretation of the research scholar's basic interests (and possibly intuitions) in terms of what can reasonably be expected. Also the scholar must know in a general way what data are available in order to determine what additional data are needed and whether or not these data are accessible. In essence the scholar must know what questions to ask.

The technical advice may be supplied by the same scholar who assumes responsibility for a new project plan (in contemporary parlance the "project director" or the “principal investigator”). Or, especially in a project of considerable scope and dimension, he may have one or more technical assistants. Technical advice concerns suggestions on the use of research tools, how to design forms and questionnaires, the selection and application of the most appropriate statistical procedures, advice on the best utilization of computers for the analysis of specific kinds of data, and others.

Administrative advice is perhaps more restricted in scope, possibly less professionally oriented, but can nonetheless be crucial to the success of a project. It is essentially advice on how to get the job done, including such problems as soliciting general financial support, recruiting appropriate project personnel, determining the timing of different project activities, securing necessary permissions, making appropriate cooperative arrangements, and arranging logistic support of various kinds. The administrative component in planning and execution includes the housekeeping tasks that individually may be modest but without winch the substantive, professional aspects of a project are severely handicapped. It is perhaps in the area of administrative support that useful advice can be gathered from past projects. But this is the area most likely to be glossed over or at best touched upon lightly in a final report. This assumption is the justification for a paper such as this one, which is de-

signed to gather from experience and oigaruzc bits cf advice on how to improve the efficiency of research planning and operation by attending to a list of “minor considerations" (many of an administrative nature! whose dispatch may make a significant contribution to the quality and value of a research project.

As a means of organizing the present discussion, general problems of research planning, especially research that involves international cooperation across culturul boundaries, are treated first. This is followed by a discussion of problems particularly relevant to the needs of linguistic and sociolinguistic research.

The first problem in time sequence, and probably the most crucial to the overall success of a project, is initiative for the research. How docs the planning begin? Who originates a project? Does the research come into being as the result of someone pursuing a personal interest? Is it the result of someone discerning a need and seeking a means to meet it? Whose right is it to decide tha*. a project should be launched? There are at least three possible answers to this last question. The scholar may be the prime mover, deciding to follow an interest he deems worthy of his time and challenging to his interests. He may exercise his option as a member of the com* munity of scholars to study, for the pure joy of learning, what he thinks needs to be known for man to have a fuller and more complete understanding of the world he inhabits. This is often seen as tue proper role of the research scholar, and, since he is seeking "truth,’* he may expect to proceed unfettered by preconditions or limitations as to what he can and cannot do. He wants to do his work as he understands it and, in the spirit of the rules of academic freedom, to let the facts appear and speak for themselves, whatever they have to say. As long as the scholar is honest, sincere, and competent, he is the judge of his procedures.

Another potential initiator of research, ubiquitous in modern times, is the sponsor, exemplified by independent private foundations and international service organizations. Such an organization is likely to have a staff of experts whose responsibility is to identify problems that need to be studied, particularly problems related to other problems—a coordinated attack on which will enhance the opportunities for the solution of both. Language studies may be made, for example, because in the eyes of the international planners this is the key to economic development. The voice of the sponsor is a strong one because it is backed by resources. An American saying of robust standing is “The man who pays the fiddler calls the tune."

Still another initiator of research is the consumer. A national government or a ministry or bureau within that government becomes aware of a problem of national significance and looks for the means of finding a solution to it. Often this implies concentrated and detailed study by an expert or experts from outside of the ministry or bureau, since, if the knowledge and know-how for an internal solution were available, the problem presumably would have been met as it developed. The consumer knows what he wants done, but he doesn't know how to do it. The need for outside expertise is focused and explicit, and the consumer will want to be kept fully informed, perhaps to participate in or even supervise the actual research work.

Each of these three—scholar, sponsor, consumer— has a legitimate role, and great amounts of research have been done by each approach. What is perhaps im-

portent it that, regard!-» of which one it the actual initiator, the cooperation of the other two i* indispensable to success. The workers, the support, and the subjects must ail be wilting and cooperative, at my one can stop the other two. In Internationally oriented socioiinguixtic research, this cooperation is likely to be especially important, since results are frequently sought as the buds for an action program in some aspect of language planning and policy, language development, or language engineering. So the scholar seeks financial backing and the permission to study a problem. The sponsor seeks to interest competent scholars, planning with the host government or institution. Or the consumer defines a problem through limited pilot studies and tries to draw the attention of an appropriate sponsor and the international community of scholars. The important feature of this need for cooperation is not just prevalent at the outset of a program. As we shall note further along, the presence of a continuing spirit of cooperation as the program develops will largely determine the degree of success reached. This is especially true for the applied socioiinguist, who wants to see his data considered and used in an effort to solve the problems that have been studied and defined rather than for the production of one more scholarly tome to gather dust on the library shelf.

Two early problems scheduling and recruiting—occur after someone has initiated a project and after the research design has been determined. Especially if the project is extensive, these have to be considered together, since getting activities accomplished depends on people who can carry them out. This is particularly true if a sponsor or a consumer will need among the research personnel senior scholars with wide or specialized experience, because such persons usually plan their professional activities several years in advance. The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa is an example of a complex project where scheduling and personnel were interrelated. The schedule called for four years of field work, though twelve to fifteen months was the maximum for any one country. Conceivably it would have been possible to field five teams simultaneously and complete the entire job of data gathering in a little over a year, but this would have been feasible only if fifteen or so people could have arranged their lives to as to have begun work at one time. On the other hand, having a one-year schedule as a priority requirement would have seriously restricted the group of scholars from which team leaders and members could have been recruited, so the longer design was chosen with individual country surveys scheduled as teams could be assembled. Though the problems of recruiting would have been adequate to justify sequential field assignments for the five teams in the East African Survey, there were other project purposes that were actually served better by the longer schedule (e.g. encouragement of local research activities, development of local institutions and resources, scholarship awards to enlarge the bate ol local expertise, and support for the promotion of local and regional professional organizations). The overall impact of the Survey would have been seriously reduced if the schedule had been limited to fifteen or eighteen months of the presence of Survey personnel in Africa.

How docs one go about recruiting? Essentially this is a matter of communication-getting information to the right people. A public announcement would undoubtedly bring a list of candidates, but these must be screened carefully, for pro-

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fessional as welt as for personal competence. A project can be greatly diminished by the presence of a team member who docs not fit in well with the physical environ* ment or who does not work well with personnel from cooperating agencies or with other team members. This is so important that almost all other factors should be juggled if necessary to insure the best possible selection of project personnel. The ability to work well with people, or perhaps the predisposition to want to work effec-lively with colleagues and the willingness to make adjustments, is crucial if the project is international in scope, involving crosscultural boundaries in addition to the usual range of inter-personal relationships that must be taken into account. There are no roles for prima donnas, for hypochondriacs, for loners, or for people with insecure psyches. The team leader should have final responsibility for selection of team personnel, since he must work with his team and must have confidence in the ability of each member to function productively.

There are, of course, other factors. If the project is to be carried out in a foreign rural environment, health is certainly of prime importance. A team member must know how to take care of himself, what precautions are important, and what immunizations are necessary. One sponsor I knew claimed that a case of jaundice in a research assis'»nt was “self-inflicted,** simply because the illness was the result of carelessness. Lost time due to sickness does not just result in missed opportunities to gather data, since substantial project funds may have to be diverted for medical expenses. Many overseas projects budget for health insurance to protect funding from unforeseen obligations of this kind.

Once the project director is ready to begin with staff recruitment, certain personnel policy decisions must be made; otherwise, makeshift decisions will produce an administrative structure with no rationale or consistency—a possible source of subsequent problems. One such decision is the basis for compensation for professional service. The guiding principle here as elsewhere is equity. The principle is easy, but its applications jometimes are not. A rate based on current or previous position is probably easiest to apply, since it defers the specific decisions to some other personnel office. If a new graduate without actual salaried work experience is involved, his rate of compensation can be bared on what he might expect to earn on his first appointment. One really sticky problem is to decide the advisability of different scales for nationals of different countries. As a practice this also can be justified by a scale based on previous salary, and in fact it is often inevitable if qualified, experienced personnel are to be recruited.

Another guideline that can be applied with some justification is the granting of a higher than current scale for research salaries that are not for career assignments, and it is probably wise to do so. If a participant, especially at the junior level, foregoes the opportunity to seek a permanent position, he will have no investment in a retirement scheme that he can count on, he may not have paid holidays, and he will take his chances on finding appropriate future employment. This is not to say that a research appointment is necessarily a personal sacrifice, since contribution to significant research certainly enhances one's employability, but the insecurities of temporary employment are present. This justifies a somewhat generous salary scale on a research project, to say nothing of the great potential benefits to the project of

a kind of participation by project personnel that represents more than normal dedication to a job assignment.

In planning for compensation it is also well to keep in mind such non-monetary considerations as recognition and credits. No one turns down money, of course, but it may be easy to underestimate the motivation to work for professional ad* vancement. Very often credit for authorship will be a sufficient reward to peripheral members of a project team who contribute a chapter or a section. Substantial contributors to the volume Language in Ethiopia were compensated in this way (no less than 31 authors or co-authors of chapters), and all seemed quite witling to accept as compensation a listing among the contributors to the study. Credits are welcome recognition, often beyond monetary considerations.

Another decision to be made involves the composition of a team for an international effort. The typical solution, especially in developing countries, has been a foreign team leader with foreign team members supplemented by whatever assistants can be found in the area of held work. This situation is often necessitated by that fact that there may be honest differences of opinion on the qualifications of locally available people, primarily because they may have fewer degrees and be less titled. However, resentment often arises when foreign scholars are brought in even for junior positions. There is a measure of justice in this opposition to foreigners who take good jobs, improve their own expertise, and then depart. Sometimes, even when locally available scholars are adequately trained, they may hold important positions that cannot be properly filled during an absence. To use such scholars might advance the project, but perhaps at the expense of the planned development of the national university or of a crucial Ministry program. No rule of thumb can be applied to these situations, but, in planning for recruitment, the project director should be aware of and sensitive to the problems he will encounter and to the solutions he must find for them.

One administrative detail that must be attended to today more than ever is securing permissions. In many American schools research can involve students as subjects only if there is a signed consent slip from parents or guardians. Many parents do not want their children to be the subjects of experiments, and in fact some schools never have “experimental programs." They prefer "demonstration classes," a designation which finds more ready acceptance. In contemplating research projects abroad, and particularly in the so-called developing countries, this administrative detail of permissions should be taken into account in the earliest planning. In some countries it is very difficult and unexpectedly time-consuming to secure permissions, and a project without early clearance can be delayed literally for years, often to a point where it must be abandoned. A scholar with a typical Western orientation may have difficulty understanding this situation: surely a country can benefit in its efforts to build a strong, viable nation by having current, authoritative research information. Why should they not welcome outside efforts to help find solutions, especially when externally funded support makes no demand on the national treasury?

The answer may not satisfy the Western research scholar. But many of these countries are basically suspicious of the motives of a foreign scholar. In their eyes,

“He is working for his own advancement." Many countries do not subscribe to the desirability of unabridged research, which they believe may not be completely impartial jnd scientifically disinterested/ Often there is local experience to support these reservations. Scholars have come, have explained their desires and obtained permission to conduct research, and have then used a great number of hours of official government employees who have been interviewed, or who have made files and records available, or who have accompanied the visitor on trips around the country to save him time in finding people and places. At the conclusion of the study the foreign expert says thanks and leaves. At home he produces a recondite treatise, which may not even be published (especially if it is a dissertation), but which, even if published, may not be widely circulated or useful in the country where the research was conducted. The most that country X may get is a polite “thank you" buried in the acknowledgments. Why should a new, small, struggling country devote the time and energy of its officials to the publish-or-perish enterprise of Western 3cadcmia? And there are cases where research that has been published directly contravenes the stated national policies of the country that hosted the study. An example of this is a study by a Scandinavian scholar who reported that a substantial percentage of Tanzanian students didn't enjoy the study of Swahili. Tanzania has enunciated and followed a firm language policy of encouraging the study and use of Swahili. A foreigner who reports data inconsistent with this basic policy finds no sympathetic reception for his ideas, even though the research reported may be essentially accurate. The scholar will not soon be welcomed for further research.

The need for permissions to conduct research in many cases reflects a problem of implementing and continuing the cooperation that was (or should have been) present during initial planning. A research scholar ought to be able to explain his goals and purposes in a way that will be acceptable to reasonable men. If he can't, perhaps his research is not well planned. If friendly contact is maintained while the research is being carried out, if consultations are held and advice is sought, two beneficial results may accrue: (I) some good advice and (2) a better understanding of what the research can be expected to achieve. This is a mutually educative process; the research should be improved, and it is possible that explanation and discussions of items along the way will be a means of avoiding the cumulative effect of all the data if none is revealed until the final draft report is considered. Cooperative consultation, if skillfully conducted, can therefore benefit both scholar and consumer. Furthermore, in most sociolinguistic research the attitudes of local officials and experts will legitimately be “part of the data," especially if any kind of action program is comtemplated. There is much to be gained by a cooperative approach to problem solving, and a high risk of loss if local interests are ignored.

A visiting research scholar owes his hosts a fair and sympathetic presentation of their problems, if he feels this is an abridgment of his academic freedom, he should pursue other research interests. This is easy to say, but in effect it poses a ticklish set of problems. Should a scholar suppress data and conclusions that are likely to be politically unpopular, or should he tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may? In many countries the latter solution is simply impossible. There are cases where research was contracted by a government, but, when the final report was

submitted, certain changes were required. It takes a scholar skilled in human relations to know when to give and when to stand and to know how to stand when he feds he must. The scholar who can't minimally adjust to these ground rules should remain at home to do his research and enjoy the independence without which he cannot work. This may avoid a conflict between what is evidential and what is discreet.

In some countries, not only will it Us necessary to secure official permission to undertake a project, most particularly a project initiated by the scholar, but all research instruments must be scrutinized and individually approved so the host country can be assured that the research as it is carried out is consistent with the project as it was approved. If a form contains an objectionable question, it must be eliminated. If there are very many objectionable features, the intentions (or even the integrity) of the investigator may become suspect, and in extreme cases research approval may be rescinded. This, of course, makes it more difficult for future projects. And a scholar who works abroad should accept the responsibility of maintaining the climate of cooperation which will make future research possible.⁴

Research in many countries is the handmaiden of national policy. If it supports locally-enunciated policies, a project may be admitted. If not, it is not likely to gain permission. Large numbers of requests to undertake research projects clog administrative channels, and replies are slow because officials are busy and have other, more important duties. (The Office of the Second Vice President must approve research requests in Tanzania.) So it may be well in initially planning a project to design a cooperative effort with a local institution, say the national university. This is probably a good idea for many reasons far more important than facilitating pet mission, which, considered alone, may be unworthy and opportunistic. But one very important possible advantage of a joint research effort may be that the national university has a blanket research approval or has well developed channels for obtaining required permissions. Furthermore, the involvement of local scholars, institutions, and interests will usually assure an adequate representation of local concern and add welcome expertise to guidance and analysis. Local people know local conditions and are greatly helpful in adapting the plans to the realities (and to the best opportunities) of the country.

Worse sometimes than a refusal to grant permission to undertake research is the acceptance of a project for the wrong reasons. Probably the most important “wrong reason" is to ensure that project money is spent in the country as a general boost to the economy. An expenditure-generating proposal can be attractive to a country anxious to attract foreign exchange, and in some cases a government may say yes to a project even if there is no real support for the proposal. This may be the case in the field of family planning in Kenya, where there are no less than 21 external agencies with projects. According to one account, these projects actually get in each other's way. Yet with all this study and service, there is an apparent lack of interest and absence of effective policy on the part of the government. A project which is tolerated by a consumer, perhaps out of a desire to encourage a bit of spending or possibly to avoid the risk of offending a sponsor whose support may be needed for other projects the government does want, is very likely to lead to frustration for the scholars. Scarce sociolinguistic resources should not be dedicated to these make-

One detail that should be checked is the policy.of the host country on research data. In some cases all research data by law must be left in the country of origin, deposited with the appropriate library or institution. This regulation grows out of experience with past projects, where valuable data (for example, oral folk literature) was collected on tape recordings and then removed from the country to serve the convenience of the visiting scholar. Well-laid plans for processing data in the “mother” country, where computers are handy or other help available, tould be thwarted by the scholar's ignorance of local regulations on the handling of data. It is best to find out during early planning just what obligations will be imposed.

If a sponsor or a scholar solicits cooperation within a country where an international research effort is contemplated, it would be well to define the concept “consumer" in the appropriate sense, i.e. the sense in which it will need to be implemented when the project actually gets under way. I know of one case where local cooperation was promised by a national university, and the promise was kept. But the research included a study of public education, and the university had no authority to speak for the ministry of education. This is the case in many countries where cooperation between the national university and the ministry of education is not something that can be taken for granted. In the project alluded to, it was almost a year before the research team even got permission to visit the schools.

Good technical planning wall substantially improve the research product, but, even though competent and informed administrative support is provided, there will be cases where all the data called for is not collected. Sometimes this may be the result of carelessness, such as the improper collation of forms for tests or questionnaires, where pages are omitted or included double. Or duplicated pages may come through the machine blank or imperfectly printed. Errors of this kind can be minimized by careful double-checking, but there will still be cases of missed data. Subjects sometimes forget to go on to a second page or to turn a page over. Or in spite of what may have seemed to be explicit directions, they manage to misunderstand. A well-formulated set of directions far administering a test or a questionnaire can minimize this. The simple expedient of checking papet s as they are submitted by subjects can catch omissions that may affect the balance of data during analysis, when it is too late to do anything about it.

Sometimes it is not subjects but project personnel who do not understand procedures. One case of this was observed in the Philippines, where Frederick Davis was conducting a long-term study of the medium of instruction in public primary schools.* To collect base-line information Mr Davis designed an English proficiency test, largely intended to confirm, for reasons of experimental validity, that students began school with no effective knowledge of English. One part of this instrument was a picture-identification test. When actually administered, the Philippine teachers who tested fifteen hundred children, realizing that very few children really knew any English, assumed that Tagalog was being tested, and the test was given in Tagalog. Since it was not possible to retest when this inadvertent result was detected, part of the English proficiency test was lost. But the data gained was deemed useful as a measure of the Tagalog vocabulary of six-year-old Tagalog-speaking pupils. So the

test results were salvaged and used, though not in the way originally intended. This was an example of making the best of a misunderstanding—a midstream error that was not an entire loss. But the problem might have been avoided if proper, specific training and supervised practice sessions had been provided. This is especially true when procedures are complicated or seemingly do not conform to commonsense estimates of the situation.

One way to minimize misunderstandings through misinterpretations of instructions and written instruments is to try them out. Item writers for examinations know this principle and use it regularly to screen out ineffective test items. Questionnaires can be similarly tried out to help find the ambiguities that are so well concealed from the person who drafts the forms.

In some of the above instances planning is perhaps essentially more a part of the professional and the technical areas than of the administrative area. But these are interrelated and perhaps cannot always be separately analyzed. It is well to plan in detail what to include as well as what to omit in making up a research questionnaire. Massive, long research instruments, especially questionnaires, are likely to overwhelm the subjects and leave them with a careless if not uncooperative attitude. If this happens, the reliability of the data may be threatened. Subjects who feel they are being imposed upon may not care whether their answers are serious. Frederick Davis once told me about a group of students who were given massive batteries of tests for several years running. They became weary and decided it was not worth trying to give so much information. So they played games with the tests, with, of course, disastrous results as far as collecting meaningful data went. These students were pushed beyond the limits of wilting cooperation.

If too much information is asked for, the result may prejudice the research. If too little is asked for, it is likewise a non-optimum use of facilities. Many scholars have asked themselves questions such as, “Why didn't I include a question on place of birth so I could make some estimate of personal mobility?” Typically, once the data is gathered, there is no going back for supplements. The balance between expecting too much data and not asking for enough is probably not difficult to achieve if an effort is made early enough in planning and if instruments can be tried out for effectiveness and effect. Sometimes additional data can be collected with no extra participation from the subjects. On an untimed test, for example, the test administrator can stack the papers in the order they are submitted and thus be able to determine whether students who go directly through a test and then turn it in will do better or worse than students who reread and recheck their papers.

In planning a schedule of activities, it is seldom possible to foresee everything that will happen. No one could have known, for example, that the revolution in East Pakistan would occur just in time to make it impossible to collect data for the project on sociolinguistic processes. While it is not possible to predict everything that will happen, it is quite certain that unforeseen problems will occur. Perhaps it is best to allow for slippage in the schedule to handle as many of these problems as can be helped by additional time. And it often helps to have contingency plans to fall back on in case the original plan cannot be carried out. This might make the difference between a research product and a history of abandonment.

The problems discussed above, while relevant to scciolinguistic research, are also relevant to other broad areas of international (and domestic) research where data must be gathered acr jss national and cultural boundaries through the cooperation of scholars and subjects. But international sociolinguistic research, involving as it does the language and language use patterns of many and diverse peoples, generates special kinds of problems. Some of these problems that are characteristic of (if not unique to) the field of linguistic investigation are discussed in the paragraphs that follow.

One problem of special relevance to sociolinguistic studies arises from the nature of the data and the difficulty of gathering and assembling appropriate, valid linguistic information. Speech varies in highly subtle ways, and the linguistic field worker must analyze as he collects. The primary data is evanescent and must be gathered on the fly. While it is very helpful and useful to make tape recordings for later study and checking, it is rarely possible to rely wholly on recordings; they are most difficult to interpret, and much better results are possible with a live informant. But the collection of relevant data demands careful and consistent abstraction of crucial features, transferred to an appropriately symbolic visual representation. Often assistants in field work have only minimal training, and it is difficult to be sure that data collected by different assistants are in fact comparable. These difficulties are copiously illustrated by the limited use that can be made of records left by early travellers, missionaries, and others.

The problem of collecting accurate data is frequently aggravated by informant bias. When language use is discussed or even when data elicitation techniques are used without specific explanations, many informants will tend to adjust their production to formal or prestige styles. When asking for opinions or judgments, accommodations are often made to correlate with the relative status positions of the communicants and the local prestige patterns of dialects or languages. Even political considerations can color the data, as when speakers of language A deny they can understand closely related language В because they wish to reinforce their request that language A, like language B, be adopted for radio broudeasting. A particularly prominent influence to skiw the data is often present when informants are literate in an alphabetic or syllabic writing system (e.g. in Indian and Arabic contexts), where informants may report pronunciations comparable to one in English that produces the t in often. The scholar must be aware of and sensitive to the use of prestige forms and the influence of orthography, and to the possibilities of different register patterns, social dialects, diglossic distributions, and so on.

One device frequently employed in sociolinguistic surveys is the self-report, especially to investigate areas of language domain, frequency, and extent of use of a language or dialect. These self-reports provide an efficient way of collecting considerable amounts of data, but informant claims should be checked for accuracy and validity. That this technique can be successfully used if employed with care is shown in the study Bilingualism in the Barrio by Fishman, Cooper, and Ma (Research Center for the Language Sciences, 1971).

Another problem associated with collecting and analyzing linguistic data is the rapidly developing research base of general linguistic theory. New and highly relevant research is accumulating at an astonishing rate, even when compared with that of other social sciences. Competing theories suggest different approaches and emphases, and the latest theoretically-based descriptions today may be outdated tomorrow. This is true of general linguistic theory, as well as of sociolinguistic theory, which is emerging only at the present time as a distinct discipline.

Still another difficulty is the selection of a representative sample of the target population that is to be studied. As in any study of human behaviour, there must be a control or randomization by age, generation, sex, location, etc., but for linguistic analyses other variables must be taken into account. Some of these are specific linguistic history [language(s) or parents and other relatives and associates]; history of •residence and travel (any experience that involves language contact); and such mundane details as freedom from any physiological speech defect, presence of a reasonably full set of teeth, and so on.

in developing countries a serious difficulty may be obtaining reliable demographic information as a necessary component of sociolinguistic correlations. Generalizations are less valid when population segments have not been and/or cannot be measured and tallied accurately. In some countries there has never been a reliable population census, and the sample surveys available may be outdated or otherwise of questionable reliability. Sometimes it is possible to arrange for the inclusion of one or more language questions in the national census. The research scholar should certainly inform himself of all the possibilities for coordinating research with other interested organizations, as mutually advantageous cooperation is often possible. The Ethiopia country study and the Unesco Work-Oriented Adult Literacy Project are cases in point. Both efforts were able to substantially enrich their data by their “piggy-back” cooperation in a joint study of language competence and language use through sample surveys taken in Kefa and Arusi provinces. Certainly the results of other studies, especially previous studies, should be mined for relevant results. .

One particularly characteristic problem of language surveys in an area where little research has been done and where the pattern of languages known to be spoken is complex is the determination of language names and references. Often several different names will be used to refer to the same language (Nara, Вагу a, Barea, Marda all refer to the same language in Northern Ethiopia), or conversely one language name will be used for several mutually unintelligible languages (as in the case of Gurage, applied to a whole group of languages in Southern Ethiopia). Sometimes a people may have a self-name that differs from the reference used by other groups. Sometimes a language name merely means “talk" or “speech," or a group name (or place name) will be used—rightly or wrongly—to refer to a language. All of this is further complicated by the possibility of very similar languages occurring physically in a spectrum where adjacent languages are always mutually intelligible, but languages separated by other languages are not. A complex situation of this kind can be very hard to sort out. The confusion can extend to related data when the investigator and his respondents misunderstand which language is actually being referred to. “Do you understand language X" is meaningless unless both scholar and subject are referring to the same language.

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Identifying who the speakers of a language are for purposes of establishing cultural affinity can be a problem. Even in the United States, where there is no shortage of demographic data, the problem of identifying Mexican-Americans is a complex one. The best solution, admittedly imperfect, is to identify members of this group by their recognizably Spanish surnames.

In planning a large-scale sociolinguistic survey, a problem of research design arises from the limitations of time, personnel, and resources. Investigators would like to study a wide range of phenomena, but invariably selections must be made that limit the range and scope of the study. The problem is to keep the overall study in balance, serving the demands of both microanalytic and macroanalytic concerns. In national surveys the latter approach is likely to dominate, with concentration on large-scale societal processes and on abstract constructs (language, ethnic group, domain, etc.). Yet studies of smaller-stale processes and more concrete constructs (social situation, register application, etc.) are also of interest and should not be entirely overlooked if a comprehensive linguistic picture is to be produced.

A related problem is the need to reconcile the techniques developed in the field sometimes referred to as “anthropological linguistics” with the more sophisticated requirements of sociolinguistic research, which has recently emerged as a separately identifiable field of study. Perhaps a refinement is also needed in anthropologically oriented studies, but the need for it is certainly observable in the highly organized, highly multilingual, rapidly changing societies that are often referred to as developing nations. In such a context the problems of macro vs. micro studies are even more seriously in evidence.

Ultimately it would be very desirable in sociolinguistic studies to secure data that permit diachronic inferences. How can we document historical changes, language shift, direction and pace of standardization, etc. if little or no data are available about conditions in the past? Estimates are possible by inference from data collected at one point in time (looking for generational differences and specific analyses of demographic data for evidence of population shift, as'in the use of Central Statistical Office sample survey data in the Ethiopia country study). But investigators would be much more comfortable with their descriptions if data gathered at two points of time could be compared. This underscores the advantage of continuing efforts to gather information about language use, thus making sociolinguistic data more useful and more reliable. National census figures are useful for showing trends precisely because the collection of information is a continuing process. The same is undoubtedly true for sociolinguistic data.

These, then, are the problems of research organization that are particular to sociolinguistic studies. Perhaps it is appropriate at this point to say a word about application—the use that hopefully can be made of the research scholar’s efforts: planning and development.

One area of planning relevant to any action-oriented investigation but particularly significant for sociolinguistic research is predominantly professional in scope but includes important implications for technical and administrative support. This is to provide early and effective plans for the use of data gathered. To what extent will the research team just gather data? Will the team attempt to make interpretations

of the data? If not, who will? Also, who wilt make recommendations on the actions that should be taken in light of the research findings: the data and/or interpretations? How can these recommendations be brought forcefully to the attention of officials and policy makers, without whose actions all hope for improvement may be futile? In a recent report William Harrison makes the importance of this point quite clear: "One of the most severe problems in many areas of Egyptian education, including the crucial one in language education, is the lack of information at the policy making level which is adequate and current enough to create a sustaining and durable policy."*

Probably the most promising suggestions arc: (I) to plan early for continuity through the stages of application and (2) to involve appropriate local scholars and institutions who will have an interest in seeing the information applied in an effective way. Surely local scholars will know the best wey to attract official attention, whether through direct communication, press releases, public symposia, or other means. And they will be present after the departure of the expatriate scholars to help with consultation for implementation, to answer questions that arise, to consider unforeseen new problems, and so on.

These are some of the problems that face those who plan and organize research, especially for projects that involve international commitments und cooperation, in the field of sociolinguistic surveys and language use. There are no doubt many p ob-lems not mentioned here and others that will not be anticipated. Careful planning is useful as a time-saving device not unlike a time deposit: an early investment will yield the most attractive dividends. It is my hope that this modest beginning of a checklist can be useful in efforts towards making research planning more efficient, more productive, and more satisfying.

1. I am much indebted to Robert L. Cooper for many suggestions and perceptive criticisms of an earlier draft of this paper, and I acknowledge his assistance with gratitude. I also profited from suggestions from Thomas P. Gorman and Marvin L. Bender.

3. After the present paper was completed, an article illustrating the interpretation by Africans of European-oriented research efforts appeared in the Nairobi Sunday Post of July 9,1972, page 5, entitled “Expatriate Research: Little Progress. More Problems." It is a lengthy article—three columns in the tabloid-sued paper. Some of the pertinent comments were:

Every developing country in Africa worth its name these days has them [research scholars). ... they come with a mixed bag of motives—mainly in search of a Ph.D. thesis, material for a new book, or in search of academic kudos to enable them to gain promotion and recognition in their home countries.

For in some western academic and professional circles the unwritten rule is "publish or perish.” And many scholars including renowned professors, in need of a breather from their routine jobs which afford them no opportunity to do research, take a tour of Africa to do what would not be possible at home.

... they have become a problem in modern Africa because of their motivation and outlook.

Often they come to prove a theory or a preconceived hypothesis. As such they prove ot' little value to their host countries.

... Often the expatriate scholar, though well-grounded in theory, misinterprets certain local situations, and tends to look at problems with different cultural values and a foreign mentality.

Furthermore they often come and make their research and return home without making available their findings to the host country,... In such cases the research findings find their way to western libraries in the form of nicely bound thesis manuscripts that finally end up by collecting dust,...

... there are a few cases, especially in the Institute of Development Studies in the University of Nairobi, where expatriate researchers are working side by side with African researchers to conduct useful and relevant research programmes aimed at steering rural development.

It is interesting to see that so many of the ideas mentioned in the present paper appear in the Nairobi newspaper article, articulately and cogently expressed.

4. In spite of the basically sound advice that official permission to undertake specific research should be secured, there may be times when a different tack is warranted. In some situations if one goes ahead and works with local officials (assuming they are wilting), no issue of the question of permission will be made, whereas if formal, top-level permission is requested. it will almost certainly be denied by over-cautious officials, who, though they may be willing to ignore research in progress, will not want to share public responsibility by granting approval in advance. A research scholar must be highly sensitive to the milieu in which he is working in order to be able to sense bow he can most effectively utilize his resources.

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Problems and Techniques of a Sociolinguistically-Oriented Survey: The Case of the Tanzania Survey

by Edgar C. Polome

Ar.y socialinguistically-oricntcd survey is bound to present problems sui generis ss the result of the specific features of the linguistic area surveyed, but the techniques used to collect relevant data must essentially consist of three of the most common approaches to such field work: (a) direct observation of the linguistic situation; (b) interviews with speakers of the various languages of the area; (c) questionnaires geared to the specific groups to be investigated. The detailed organization of the survey and the respective use of different methods of investigation will depend largely upon the more specific aims of the survey. In the case of the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa, gathering research data was only one of the four aims, and special weight was placed on the necessity to stimulate continued research by involving local specialists in the project.¹ The parties* pation of young scholars, specially trained for that purpose, in the data collecting and processing was accordingly an important feature of this survey. The task of “assembling basic data on the m^jor languages in each country," however, was essentially reserved for each country team. In order to perform this task, it was necessary to analyze the linguistic situation of each country in detail—descriptively, historically, and politically—before examining the impact of linguistic diversity on effective language use as well as on language planning and language policy. The structure of the relevant society had to be probed to determine the correlations between patterns of language use and particular sociocultural factors. The implementation of a national language policy in the educational system required special consideration to study the expected impact of the teaching of specific languages on the better educated upcoming generation— those likely to play a major part in nation building. As a result, three essential sections seemed to impose themselves on the country teams as components of their final report:

• The linguistic situation of the country, describing the linguistic diversity in the area and its historical background, with an attempt at classification of all languages involved and a characterization of the major languages.

• Language use in the country, involving (I) the history of the language policy and development of national languages; (2) the description of the local community and the linguistic correlates of its sociocultural structure; (3) the study of patterns of multilingualism and specific uses of definite languages.

• Language teaching in the country, providing an outline of the structure and historical background of the educational system and a detailed analysis of language teaching at all levels as well as the use of languages in the curriculum.¹

A systematic survey of the approaches used by the Tanzania team to provide such information may serve as an example of the problems and methods involved in a sociolinguistically-oriented survey. Though some features are specific to Tanzania, the work done is essentially representative of current methods in sociolinguistics and may contribute to useful generalizations and fruitful comparisons relevant to the basic issues of the study of language in society.

The Tanzania Survey was essentially data-oriented and tried to cope with the type of language problems characterizing devetoping nations. The study accordingly focused essentially on:

• the degree of multilingualism, with special attention to the measurement of linguistic diversity:

• the social roles played by the various languages involved: vernaculars, national language (Swahili), international language of wider communication (English), with a detailed study of the correlation between the use of these languages and current

• the study of the attitudes of Tanzanians toward the various languages commonly used:

• the national language policy and the degree of success achieved in its implementation, with careful analysis of the role played by Swahili in nation building:

• the language-planning measures taken by the Tanzanian government to make Swahili suitable for adequate use in all social, economic, and cultural activities of the ccuntry as well as the coordinated efforts by private and government-sponsored agencies to promote and develop the national language.¹

The approach to the study of these problems by the Tanzania team* was strongly affected by specific local situations. The following pages provide a concise description of these situations.

As a consequence of the irreversible decision of the Tanzanian government to carry through its policy of making Swahili the only commonly used language of the nation, a number of implicit restrictions were imposed upon the survey, namely: (1) the status of Swahili as a national language was not to be questioned: (2) any systematic linguistic study of the local vernaculars was discouraged. This meant, essentially, that extensive studies of attitudes toward Swahili versus English had to be avoided and that linguistic investigation of she vernaculars had to be carried out in correlation with their specifically local role and with the study of interferences between Swahili and Bantu or non-Bantu dialects. The position of the Tanzanian government in this matter was perfectly consistent with its declared policy: it is evident that it could not tolerate the type of ves-or-no questions usually put to students to measure their attitudes toward the language, e.g. “I dread the X language lesson/* “Learning

ibc X language it to difficult that t dislike it very much,** and “l do not think that there is much value in learning the X language.”* Such “loaded” questions are indeed likely to confuse the value judgments of Tanzanian students regarding Swahili; an inquiry along these lines a few years ago actually proved most embarrassing to the Tanzanian Ministry of Education • As for the study of vernaculars, it should be pointed out that the Swahili inspectorate actively encouraged my inquiry on the phonological and grammatical interference of the rnqjor Bantu languages of Tanzania on the local forms of Swahili used by less educated speakers, since it would help teachers in their effort to improve the standard of Swahili by identifying mistakes predictable from the ethnic origin of their students. Moreover, the Ministry of Education sponsored the research done on vernaculars within the framework of the survey insofar as it was functional and could not be misconstrued by local speakers as enhancing the status of the ethnic languages with respect to Swahili.

As a consequence of its systematic effort to ensure the primacy of Swahili, the Tanzanian government was particularly anxious to circumscribe the actual role of English in Tanzanian society. Many of the questions the survey was asked to investigate were consequently centered around this topic, but the Ministry of Education was particularly concerned with the use that students who bad to interrupt their education at the end of primary school would make of English after leaving school: was it worth the effort and expense involved in teaching them this language if English was not to be used by them efficiently in their later productive life? In a country tike Tanzania, where resources are limited and where the availability of trained teachers of English has been considerably reduced by the shift from expatriates to local manpower, the investigation of such a problem is indeed crucial for future government planning.’

In a socialist country with a strongly hierarchized, one-party organization, the problem of clearing all research activities in close collaboration with the local academic authorities is essential. It was therefore a major concern of the Tanzania team to contact all Tanzanian authorities from the Regional Commissioner down to the local officers before proceeding with field work in any area and to obtain their permission and support as well as the aid of the relevant TANU party officials. The aims, methods, and expected practical use of the survey were carefblly explained to them, and the questionnaires to be used were submitted for their approval so that any sensitive question that might cause problems in the present-day Tanzanian sociocultural framework might be avoided. Although this repetitious and lengthy procedure was sometimes tedious, it proved most effective, since it ensured ready access to informants who would otherwise not have been easily reached or who would have been most reluctant to collaborate. Working through the Ministries of Education, Information, Social Welfare, and Rural Development, the team involved as many Tanzanians as possible in the research, training university students for field work, lecturing to groups of teachers and students in Teachers Training Colleges, giving specific instruction to tutors in secondary schools, and explaining questionnaire techniques to local officials helping in administering them. The Tanzanians*

"feeling of participation" which resulted from this approach appeared to be a major element in promoting good will and a keen interest in the research and contributed largely to its success. Nevertheless, aside from the time-consuming activity it entailed, the approach imposed by the clearance problem had a considerable number of drawbacks. For example, the lack of direct contact between the team and the informants (e.g. in the case of questionnaires administered through rural development or social work officers) made a control on the validity of certain data impossible, as insufficient training and misinterpretation of questions entailed major inaccuracies in the responses. Additionally, working through administrative channels caused numerous delays and excluded the study of the essential psycholinguists problem of attitudes of the informants versus the languages spoken by them. However, on the whole, the return of the enquiries conducted through official channels has been highly satisfactory: more than 90% in the case of the secondary school questionnaires through the Ministry of Education; about 60% in the case of the uneducated adult population questionnaires through the regional Social Welfare Services.

While the team visited practically every part of the country in which it was allowed to work, certain areas were restricted and could never be studied directly, namely, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, which were left totally out of the survey, and the southern regions of Ruvuma and Mtwara and the southern part of Iringa and Mbeya, about which information was collected from local people through official channels and from students from these areas residing elsewhere in the country.

One of the major drawbacks of working with large samplings in Tanzania was the lack of computer facilities. Only one computer was available at the Treasury Department when the project started, and no computer time could be obtained; moreover, no trained manpower was available for coding, card-punching, and programming. As the original questionnaires had to be left in the country, coding the data with poorly-trained help was a major problem and led to subsequent complications when the University of London and the University of Texas computers kept rejecting a considerable number of cards containing obviously erroneous information which had slipped in during the coding procedure and could not be verified against the original. This problem ultimately required numerous months in the adequate computerization of the survey data.

The survey of the languages of Tanzania w as intended to give an accurate account of the past and present linguistic situations of the country, dealing with the available data from a descriptive, historical, and political point of view.

An attempt was made to collect all the available mate».ale on the languages used in

Tanzania and to survey the existing literature, to gather identical data on as many languages as possible, to examine and revise their classification, and to provide short structural sketches of the major languages.

Inventory of the languages and available materials. In his linguistic bibliography of East Africa, Whiteley (1958) lists I00 Tanzanian languages, of which 3I are totally undocumented; for many of them, only scarcely accessible short vocabulary or grammatical notes collected rather at random by various local civil servants or missionaries appear to be extant.*

More recently, Whiteley (I97I, p. 147) identified II4 ethnic-linguistic units in Tanzania (102 Bantu, 7 Highland Nilotic, 4 Eastern Cushitic, and I Click language). However, in a footnote, he added the Hadza, a second click-speaking group. He also omitted the Mbugu in his total, which accordingly includes 116 linguistic groups. To these the Tanzania survey would now add I9 ethnic-linguistic units. All the scattered materials on these languages which could be traced in Tanzania have been examined and microfilmed. A copy of these microfilms has been deposited in the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam.*

Collection of linguistic data. To provide basic information on the Tanzanian languages, the following data were gathered whenever possible:

• A wordlist combining the basic vocabulary of the Swadesh expanded list (without the terms irrelevant for East Africa) with the Guthrie and the Meeussen lists for common Bantu lexical items, for a total of slightly more than l,000 words. The lemmas were given in English and Swahili to avoid confusion in the case of items like bark (Swahili gome, of tree: mbweka. of dog).

• The translation of three sets of Swahili sentences: {l) 75 sentences compiled by D. Lehmann for the comparative study of Bantu languages, containing a lexicon of about 300 root-morphemes, presented in coherent contexts with basic syntactic patterns; (2) 36 sentences illustrating the Bantu verbal derivation system, based on W. Whiteley's display of the system of extensions for the root -fung- "close” in Swahili;"¹ (3) 75 groups of phrases and short sentences illustrating the main concord and syntactic patterns of Bantu. The target was to obtain the translation of these sets by 3t least three native speakers of each language. All the translations of the first set were taped, and the linguistic background of the informant was duly recorded. Linguistic information was thus gathered on about 88 Tanzania! languages. Unfortunately. no similar materials could be compiled for the non-Bantu languages.

• A grammatical questionnaire based on the principles of contrastive grammar which endeavored to collect an extensive set of grammatical data on the class and concord system, the conjugation, the invariables, and the basic derivation and syntactic patterns of the major languages as contrasted with Swahili. It followed the outline of a description of a Bantu language suggested by C. Dokc" and the plan of my Swahili Language Handbook (1967).

• A set of questions covering the interferences between major Tanzanian languages and Swahili on the phonological and grammatical levels. Samples of interferences were given with their ethnic-linguistic localization:

Additional information was also requested about similar and/or different cases. This questionnaire was addressed to Swahili teachers all over the country and focused on their observations of the recurrent “mistakes” of their students of various ethnic backgrounds in their teaching experience. The aim of the study was to correlate the interferences in Swahili with the linguistic data on the phonology and grammar of the relevant ethnic languages.

Classification of the Tanzanian languages. For the Bantu languap.es, the prevailing classification is Guthrie s which, through three revisions, remains essentially the same: large geographical zones, comprising groups of varying size and closeness of relationship sharing a set of phonological and grammatical features. “To place the groups in sets ... an arbitrary blend of characteristics is made” iGuthrie 1948, p. 27), so that the validity of these larger units may be questioned. The approach is essentially typological, whereas a genetic-historical method might be more advisable. In his Comparative Bantu 11967-1972), lexical data become the essential basis for comparison and regrouping, but a rather static interpretation of diachronic semantics leads to the surprising assumption that definite lexical items whose meaning has changed through centuries of Bantu linguistic development тзу not be counted for comparison purposes or must be referred to parallel Bantu roots with different basic meanings.'* In his contribution to the Kenya Survey, J. Sharman has submitted this approach to a very thorough and constructive criticism. It stands to reason that, if lexical items are to be used for language classification purposes, the principles of word-geography have to be applied rigorously. An attempt in this direction was made by Andre Роіотё (1971) on the basis of the survey data for 50 Northern Tanzanian Bantu languages. The outcome of the research was thoroughly discrepant with Guthrie’s zones E, F, and G and some of their subdivisions. A further analysis of approximately 200 isoglosses covering the entire Tanzanian territory is in progress.

On the other hand, the Uganda md Ethiopia surveys have shown [Ladefoged 1971; Bender, Cooper, and Ferguson 1972 (see this volume)) that it is essential to reexamine the relationship between languages classified in the same unit to determine the degree of variation between them.

When detailed and reliable linguistic information is lacking, the use of diagnostic traits favored by Guthrie and Ferguson may be the only possible solution, but when sufficient data are available, a better assessment of the situation is undoubtedly possible through a thorough analysis of phonemic and lexical correspondences. Using the survey data, Susan Polomd (1971) has studied the synchronic phonological systems of twelve Chagga dialects to establish a comparative basis for dialect relationships. This has made a redistribution of the Chagga linguistic territory on the Kilimanjaro in three major divisions and sub-dialect areas: (I) Hai: Siha, Musoma. Machame, Kibosho; (2) Vunjo: Uru, Old Moshi, Vunjo, Kilema. Ma-rangu, Mwika; (3) Rombo: Mashati, Usseri.'* Moreover, a comparative study of present-day reflexes of Proto-Bantu forms for cross-dialectal lexical items revealed a grouping parallelling that was implied by both geographical data and informants’ views. A parallel independent study carried out in 1972 by D. Nurse of the University of Dar es Salaam confirmed these results. Perhaps the most significant result of this enquiry was the confirmation of the reliability of the informants sub-jcctive evaluation of the degree of mutual intelligibility of the various dialects involved. The same conclusion was reached by B. Heine (1972, pp. 5-6) in his interviews in the Musama region, which led to a reclassification of the Bantu languages of that area {Kuna. Kabwa, and Kerewe. and their subgroup Ngurimi as well as Zanaki). As regards the classification of non-Bantu languages, the Tanzania survey will rely essentially on the work ofC. Ehret (1968, 1971), with the recent revisions and additions by B. Heine and B. Blount.

Structural sketches. On the basis of the collected materials, a structural sketch of the fifteen major Bantu languages of Tanzania will be given; non-Bantu will be represented by data on Masai, Luo, Turu, and Sandawe. These structural sketches will cover an inventory of the phonemes of the languages and a survey of their main grammatical features (nominal and pronominal concord system, conjugation, and basic syntactic patterns).

To provide an adequate background for the understanding of the present linguistic situation in Tanzania, three main points have to be closely examined: (l) the spread of the Bantu and non-Bantu languages in Tanzania; (2) the origin and development of Swahili; (3) the introduction of English and of Asian languages in Tanzania. Fortunately, a considerable amount of research had been done by historians on the migrations of Bantu and non-Bantu peoples in the Tanzania area (Huntingford 1963; Sutton 1968,1969; Ehret 1968; McIntosh 1968; Kimambo 1969) so that the basic information on the establishment and spread of the population speaking languages of various origins is readily available to account for complex local multilingual situations. A considerable number of special studies on remnant groups, however, remains to be done.¹⁴

While the origin of Swahili is still a disputed issue,^u the Arabic penetration in East Africa which is responsible for its spread as a language of wider communication is well-documented (Gray 1963; Smith 1963; Bennett 1968; Alpers 1969; Whiteley 1969, pp. 42-56). More important for the survey was the diachronic study of colonial policies which sheds light on the shift in emphasis on definite languages, e.g. the use of Swahili as a language of wider communication; the introduction of the language of colonial power in administration, education, justice, and other spheres of social life; the emphasis on certain tribal languages; and the downgrading of other local languages, especially with regard to educational policy (Whiteley 1964, pp. 5778). It stands to reason that through the years divergent attitudes of the colonial power with regard to the language of the curriculum in primary education can have a considerable impact on the linguistic situation. In this regard, the study of German archives in Tanzania indicates how the decisions taken by the German colonial government to sponsor Swahili have actually been decisive in the role this language has played in education as well as in administration from a very early date, and it can oe said that this German decision has been one of the major factors contributing to the ultimate adoption of Swahili as the national language in Tanzania (Brumfit 1971).

The study of the colonial period, especially the British period, provides the background for the present-day situation. Though the available documentation is limited,'* the materials gathered by Whitcley (1969) and M. Abdulaaz (1971) constitute the basis for a thorough study, presently in preparation by M. Abd’daziz, of the language policies and of the various measures taken by the government in the held of language planning in Tanzania. This study will also devote particular attention to the linguistically-oriented societies tending to promote the development of literature in Swahili, such as UKUTA, which played an important part in enhancing the prestige of Swahili as a cultural language and in prompting government action to implement the national policy of using the language as the main language of communication in various fields of everyday activity.¹⁷

In order to assess the sociocultural correlates of the patterns of everyday language use, of the degrees of multilingualism and linguistic proficiency, and of the patterns of literacy and reading habits in Tanzania, a thorough study of Tanzanian society was required. This involved a detailed examination of the social stratification on the basis of ethnic, economic, educational, religious, and other cultural criteria.

Special attention was given to the position of the woman in society, since not only are women more conservative in their language usage but the considerable lag in education for girls and their confinement to the home is responsible for a stronger maintenance of the vernacular and, in certain cases, for their lack of knowledge of the languages of wider communication. The contrast between rural and developing urban areas was also emphasized, and all the data obtainable from census surveys and other demographic sources were carefully compiled. While the survey team was in Tanzania, the government conducted an extensive survey on family budgets and on other aspects of the socio-economic life of the society. The resulting information, when available, will also be used as background for a study of the socio-economic parameters of the linguistic data.

As regards age groups, the generation gap resulting from different exposure to education was examined in relation to its influence on the position of the individual in society. In traditional societies, older people with less education can enjoy a very high social status independent of their formal educational background. The role of such poeple in society was carefully described and the reason for their special status analyzed in order to understand the linguistic correlates of such situations.

A third important point in the preliminary study of the Tanzanian community was the examination of the educational system of the country with focus on the languages taught in the curriculum in primary education, the preparation students received for the shift in language of the curriculum in secondary education, the tests imposed on students to check their achievement at the end of primary education, and the average results of these tests.'* As regards secondary education, the continued teaching of Swahili as a subject, the contents of the syllabus, and the available teaching materials were scrutinized with a view toward assessing the improvement in knowledge of the national language to be expected from a better educated younger generation. Achievements in English and its efficiency as a medium were also analyzed in view of its continued important role in economic, social, and cultural life. Further attention was given to language problems in other educa* tional contexts, e.g. by examining what languages were actually used in technical education for teaching and in textbooks, what kind of textbooks were written or translated into Swahili, etc. At the university as well as at the Teachers Training College level, an enquiry was made into the kind of preparation future teachers receive with regard to the teaching of the national language as well as English or French as foreign languages or of any other language of wider communication.'*

Another important problem examined by the survey was the policy with regard to adult education and literacy campaigns: What kind of international collaboration was there in the literacy campaign? What was the role of UNESCO? What kind of action was being taken? In what area? At what segment of the population was the program aimed? What kinds of tools were used to implement the policy? How did this fit in with national language policy? In the case of Tanzania, the last question was particularly pertinent since, up to 1961, most of the literacy programs were conducted essentially by the missions in the local major ethnic languages. Since then alt programs must be conducted in Swahili, and it is obvious that such a political decision had a considerable impact on the implementation of the literacy program and upon the smooth continuation of prior work.

The extensive work done in the field of education will constitute the third major section of the survey report, edited by С. P. Hill. The study of the background of the current situation was considerably facilitated by the availability of a first-rate survey of the historical development of Tanzanian education: Society. Schools and Progress in Tanzania, by J. Cameron and W. A. Dodd.*⁰ An abundant and reliable set of source material also aided description of the other aspects of Tanzanian society. *'

language use consisted essentially of questionnaires, interviews, and observation.

The content of the questionnaires used by the survey was essentially based on three types of data: (1) background on the informant himself: (2) questions illustrating his socio-economic and educational status; (3) questions illustrating his language competence. The informants were usually reticent to supply their name, and in most cases, it was decided to leave the questionnaire anonymous. The same reluctance was also found with regard to providing personal family information, so this type of information was usually kept to a minimum: the important fact was to be able to trace the ethnic and geographic background of his parents and in certain cases of his grandparents, since mixed marriages are a constant source of language shift or of a shift from the vernacular to Swahili.

Obtaining economic information was also particularly delicate. It was practically impossible to obtain indications as to the salaries of definite persons, but in many

cases the scales of salaries were established in such a way that the profession, the level of education, and the rank of the person in his administrative or professional field were sufficient indication of his financial situation Insistence on obtaining further details on this subject would have created difficulties and generated informant distrust of the interviewer. As has been shown in the Tanzanian Census" as well as in other surveys,” the economic status of the individual can be measured by certain outward signs in his social context. Possession of я oicycle or of a sewing machine or electronic equipment like a tape recorder, a record player, or a transistor radio are extremely useful indications. The type of roof on the house, the methods used for cooking food, and other such data concerning the house were also found to be extremely useful in measuring the economic position of the informants. This approach involved a preliminary study on the indices of the socio-economic status in collaboration with University of Dares Salaam sociologists.”

Determining the informant's status with relation to the social stratum to which he belonged was also a delicate problem: age can play an important part as well as clanic and ethnic connections or definite social functions. In non-Wcstern societies, the prestige attached to social functions may be extremely different from that in Western society. In a one-party state like Tanzania, an uneducated, rather poor man who fulfills the function of a block leader for ten houses is a very important man, even though most of the people under his jurisdiction may be economically much better off. It was therefore essential to clearly define the social roles played by individuals. Accordingly, two types of questionnaires were devised—one for the average citizen and another for definite sub-groups of society.

In the first case, questions relative to social activities had to be phrased differently depending upon whether they applied to a rural or to an urban population, and in the case of the rural population, a distinction had to be made between men and women. In framing these questions, the extensive preliminary study of Tanzania served as a constant guideline.”

Actually, the survey circulated several sets of questionnaires nationwide on general language use:

• The adult questionnaire, which was administered through various channels, including: (1) local officers of the Ministries of Information, Rural Development, and Social Welfare, who picked out a limited, random sample of mostly uneducated adults in rural areas, after having been briefed by team members on the proper handling of the questionnaire; (2) students in linguistics and in sociology of the University of Dar es Salaam who had attended special training sessions on sociolinguistic research; (3) team members in their field work, especially in Dar es Salaam and in selected representative communities (a fishing village, a coffee cooperative, an agricultural commune, etc.) for whom it served more as an interview schedule than as an actual questionnaire, since it contained, in addition to a common core, specific questions relevant to urban versus rural communities and male versus female as well as literate versus nonliterate informants. In the case of educated informants, only guidance was provided, and the informants completed the questionnaires on their own, e.g. in the case of the survey of the Asian urban middle class. The total sampling covered about 1,200 people from alt walks of life.

• The secondary sekoal questionnaire, which was prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. All the students entering high school during the school year 1969-1970 were submitted to it, with a total response of 8,333 valid questionnaires. Most of the schools were visited in advance, and explanations on the administration of the questionnaire and on the intent of the survey were given to the headmaster and to tutors especially appointed in each school to administer the questionnaire, so that all the necessary explanations could be given by them to the students. Guidelines were also sent to the schools when the questionnaires were sent out. The entire operation was run through the Ministry of Education to give it the necessary prestige and to ensure return of the forms. The local education officers were also alerted to the fact and made sure that the questionnaires were duly filled out and sent back to the survey office. This operation proved to be the most informative and most successful of the project.

• The university questionnaire, to which the students were submitted on a voluntary basis. About a fourth of the students responded after the survey director gave an hour-and-a-half lecture about the survey and about the intent of the questionnaire. which contained various questions covering the specific activities of the best-educated part of the younger generation, especially their intellectual pursuits.

• The Combined Research Project, set up with the help of the Institute of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Ministry of Education. It consisted of a study of the linguistic background of selected students to measure the impact of the pattern of language use at home on the school performance of pupils on language subjects. The project, directed by С. P. Hill, was planned most carefully. Several months in advance, a four-day workshop was organized in Dar es Salaam to instruct the Teachers Training College tutors in supervising the project and to train them in language research techniques. Before the students started working on the project, С. P. Hill visited the relevant Teachers Training Colleges and explained the details of the administration of the questionnaires to the students involved in the project. During their teaching practice in rural areas, the teacher trainees submitted their classes to tests of their knowledge of English and Swahili to select from among them the best, medium, and worst pupils in language performance. The parents of the pupils selected were interviewed according to a schedule corresponding, by and large, to the adult questionnaire. Results of these interviews were then tabulated by the teacher trainees as part of their final examinations.

In all the general language use questionnaires, the focus was on the informant's competence and performance in the languages of which he claimed a certain degree jf command. The method used was essentially that of self-evaluation, since the conditions under which the questionnaires were administered provided little opportunity for accurate, direct testing of language knowledge.¹* It appeared, however, quite feasible to measure the degree of knowledge of an informant by listing a series of situations and asking him whether he was able to handle the language in those situations. The situations were classified in various groups: whether he could perform a certain linguistic act like greeting, asking for directions, discussing everyday life problems, bargaining when shopping, discussing political problems, talking about his profession, etc. or whether he could understand certain types of discourse, e.g.

greetings, directions,« news item on the radio, a political speech, a lecture, etc. The contexts were carefully graded and were adequate for the social context in which they were expected to occur. Another type of question dealt with the language used in certain activities such as counting, adding, swearing, cursing, talking to friends, talking to relatives, and talking to strangers. These questions applied to all the lan* guages which the speaker claimed to speak and/or understand. Upon spot-checking, it was found that the way most informants graded themselves was usually honest and accurate. For educated persons, additional questions concerning reading and writing were added as they applied to the person's main vernacular, to Swahili, and to English. Here again, various situations were taken into consideration.” Some of these were particularly illustrative of the relative status of languages like the vernacular, the national language—Swahili—or the international language of wider communication—English—in the value scale of the informants, e.g. when schoolboys regularly preferred to resort to English to write love letters to their girlfriends.

Another problem connected with language use also received major attention in the questionnaires, namely, the impact of mass communication on society. The survey team wanted, in particular, to analyze the use of literacy in Tanzania and to measure the impact of the press on the population. In more detailed questionnaires for literate people in towns, information was gained as to the most recent books they had read, asking them to indicate the title and even why they had chosen such a book. This made it possible to connect the motivation for reading with the socio-economic background of the informant. Along these lines, a special survey of about

1,000 renders was conducted in the various public libraries in Dar es Salaam and elsewhere throughout the country. Besides some basic background information, people were asked very specific questions concerning their reading habits, so that it was possible to list the most read books and to find out how these correlated with the ethnic, educational, and socio-economic background of the readers. Such information should prove most useful to the government in planning its support of literary development and of the publication of works in the national language. The material available in Swahili is indeed rather limited in Tanzania; it usually does not go beyond the kind of literature read in high school. This explains why so many of the respondents indicated that they were disappointed with the available literature in the national language.” On the other hand, the use of urban versus rural informants also provided an interesting check of the correlation between reading practices and the distribution patterns of the local press as obtained from the main publishing houses. It should not be forgotten that, especially in rural areas, one newspaper passes hands very often and that the number of copies available in an area does not at all reflect the actual number of readers, which can be considerably higher. The availability of reading rooms in the various small communities under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Information makes newspapers and journals accessible to a large public. In visits to such reading rooms, it was found that there were always a considerable number of people reading recent periodicals and daily newspapers. Another aspect of the impact of mass communication covered by the questionnaires was the listening pattern of the informants. Certain programs were particularly popular, e.g. information for rural people given immediately after the news in Dar es

Salaam every day in the week. The kind of programs that people listened to also provided an indication of what kind of linguistic influence they are exposed to, since the radio network in Tanzania uses Swahili and English exclusively. It will be interesting to ask the same kind of questions when TV becomes available.

The use of language in religion was the subject of a special enquiry both in the Christian and the Muslim communities. Special attention was given to the differences in use of languages in the liturgy and in direct communication with the congregation, as well as to shifts from the vernacular to Swahili in rural parishes in recent years. The increasing use of the national language in church is indeed a clear sign of the success of Tanzania's linguistic policy.

The interview technique was used whenever members of the survey team were able to contact the informants directly and when no extensive sampling was required for research purposes. To begin with, the area where interviews were to take place was carefully canvassed, e.g. the llala suburb of Dar es Salaam, in which a block of 200 houses was selected for examination. One person in each house was interviewed for an hour and a half, with informants picked at random with the help of the local TANU representative. However, in view of the status of women in Tanzanian society, the great bulk of the informants were men. The interview was conducted with the help of Tanzanians who could put the interviewee at ease and who could gain his confidence, so that he could answer the questions in a very relaxed way while the participating linguist listened; filled in the interview schedule; and, in some cases, taped it. The interviews were conducted in Swahili. Since the community was essentially an urban community, all the interviewees had a sufficient command of the language. The interview schedule was rather similar to the questionnaire used for the adult population, but it had been especially framed for the interview situation.

A different type of interview was conducted with a limited group of people—the second year students of all but one of the Teachers Training Colleges. This sample covered most of the areas of Tanzania and involved students from all over the country. The students belonged to the same age group and had the same educational backgrounds and professional aims. They could therefore be considered as a socially-cohesive group. The interview was conducted in the schools, and the students were chosen on a random basis (about SO per school). The questions dealt with the students' background and tried to And out; (l)which languages they used at home, with their friends, and with strangers; (2) what degree of command they had of the vernacular, of Swahili, and of English; and (3) by indirect questions, what kind of attitudes they, as future teachers of Tanzania, had with regard to the vernaculars. By asking them whether they would teach their children their own vernacular or would ask their wives to learn their vernacular in cases where they were from a different ethnic origin, it was possible to measure their degree of loyalty to the vernacular and to And out why this loyalty was maintained. In spite of the indoctrination in the National Service and in their school years in favor of the national language. a large majority remained keenly attached to their tribal language, which they considered a means of identification. In the case of inter-tribal marriage, many

insisted on their wives learning the language of their parents, and most of them strongly felt that their children should study the vernacular so that they could be accepted into the society of their grandparents. A check was also made on the languages used in their religious training and in their parishes. This made it possible to verify some of the data obtained in the enquiry made by questionnaire to all the parish priests as to the use of language in church. Another feature revealed by these interviews was their knowledge of vernaculars other than their own and their very keen awareness of the degree of inlerintelligibilily of these vernaculars.

The technique of observation was applied to various fields, in particular to the use of the language in public life. Though the national policy would prescribe the use of Swahili in most aspects of daily life, there was often a great difference between the wishes of the government and the actual language used when the implementation of the Swahilization of public notices was examined in the signs of public offices, on roads, in hotels, on trains and boats, etc. The remaining predominance of English was particularly obvious at the post office, where practically all forms, except those of the savings bank, were exclusively in English. Similarly, in the banks which had been nationalized for quite a while, all the forms were in English. Accordingly, a careful survey was made of the no ices posted in City Hall and in other administration buildings as a source of information for actual language use. Besides this, various enquiries were conducted on the language used in trade, particularly in the market place. In the Kenya and Ethiopia surveys, the markets in larger towns as well as smaller communities were examined as to the products being offered for sale and the ethnic background of the people selling them. A number of transactions were observed in order to register the language used for greeting, for advertising the merchandise, for the sale operation itself ^including bargaining), for counting at the moment of payment, and for the final greeting. Similarly, some observers watched a number of operations at post offices, in banks, in railway stations, in bus ticket stations, etc., carefully noting the languages used in the transactions. These data are especially valuable for checking the responses of informants in their questionnaires on the use of languages in certain social contacts.

In regard to the judicial system, there is a considerable variation in the language used between the different types of courts in Tanzania. The higher courts of the country still use English, whereas on the lower court level, vernaculars are still currently used as well as the national language. To assess the situation, a Tanzanian researcher, M. Douglas Kavugha, was sent around the country to observe the use of interpreters and the language used by the judge, lawyers, prosecutor, witnesses, the plaintiff, and the accused in a number of cases, in order to establish specific percentages and patterns of usage. The amount of interpretation necessary was quite characteristic. In some cases, vernaculars had to be interpreted into Swahili and then the Swahili in turn translated for the judge. In certain cases, the resident magistrate was indeed an expatriate.

Although the Tanzania survey resorted to the questionnaire method to examine the use of language in the church, on numerous occasions direct observation was

alto и led to determine the language used for the various parts of the service and for preaching. On such occasions, Catholic and Protestant ministers were also asked which language they would use when visiting their parishioners, what language they resorted to in religious education, and what books were available for this purpose, especially the catechism books or the Bibles. Particularly interesting was the change in sale of Bibles. Whereas in Sukumaiand most of the Bibles sold until about 5 years ago were in the local vernacular, a considerable shift to Swahili has taken place quite recently. This might reflect the change in policy on adult education since 1961, as the purchase of the Bible is the first immediate result of the acquisition of literacy among the adult population. In other areas, like Gogoland, the sale of the Bible in the local vernacular has practically been discontinued. Moreover, many parish priests indicated that in recent years shifts have taken place in their preaching habits: whereas ten years ago they preached essentially in the local vernacular, most of the preaching is done in Swahili nowadays, especially for the younger generation, with occasional translation into the local vernacular for the older population. In many cases this was also due to movement in the population which had brought new people to the area as a result of some economic project, such as the construction of a dam or the establishment of a sugar processing factory.

The technique of observation was also used in many othc, cases, especially codeswitching. Obviously, one of the most difficult problems is to determine what triggers switching in a bilingual person, and only prolonged observation of his linguistic behavior can give hints on this. While it was only possible to pursue such observation on a casual basis, the use of the observers in various offices provided some information, showing, for instance, that the recognition of a person of the same ethnic background would be one of the motives for switching. The shifting to a different style or a reference to some technical process would also produce switching. Some information on this was supplied by the linguistic diaries kept by a few volunteers, in* dicating quarter hour by quarter hour during a whole worL:.g day, and during a whole holiday, what they did, what kinds of subjects they talked about with whom, and what language they used in each case. When possible, they also specified their reasons for switching languages. This kind of subjective information provided some valuable documentation for further study of the motivation for switching in bilingualism.

This short sketch of the methods used in the Tanzania Survey illustrates its significance as a large scale, linguistically-oriented survey. None of the approaches described here was really innovative, but their combination and adaptation to a specific local situation may provide fruitful hints on their relevance and efficiency for future research in this field.

4. The Tanzania team was in the field from June 1969 until August 1970. It was composed of Edgar C. Polomtf, Chairman of the Depart ment of Oriental and African Ianguages at the University of Texas at Austin; С. P. Hill. Lecturer at the Institute of tdueaiion at the University of London; and David Barton, graduate student in linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Although etc* teamwork prevailed in the preparation of the mgjor soeiolinguistie questionnaires, С. P. Hill took special responsibility for the language and education aspects of the survey, whereas I’. C. PolomC concentrated on the description of the linguistic situation There was also a major division of work in some special projects: D. Barton devoted a great part of his activity to the thorough soeiolinguistie study of the llala district of Dar es Salaam; С. P. Hill was entirely responsible for the study of the readers in public libraries; and E. C. Polo mi covered the field of language and religion, with the help cf a local assistant for Islam.

5. There is a whole literature on this problem of attitudes (cf., for example. W. Lambert. "A Social Psychology of Bilingualism," in Journo! of Soda! issues. XXIII: 2 (1967). pp. 91 109). The typical sentences mentioned here were applied to Welsh by W. R. Jones ("Attitudes towards Welsh us a Second Language. A Preliminary Investigation," in British Journo! of Educational Psychology. 19(1949), pp. 44 52).

6. Cf. Anders Andcrsson, Multilingualism and Attitudes. An exp/oraiive-devcripiise study among secondary school students in tihiopia and Tanzania. Uppsala, Institute of Education. 1967.

7. Part of the questionnaire given to students entering secondary school contained questions relevant to this subject but applied to third persons (friends of theirs who had not been admitted to secondary schools). The information gathered therefore remains fragmentary and partly questionable, since it comes, essentially, from second-hand sources. A systematic study of selected young school-leavers should be made, and tests should be administered to measure their competence in English, After a number of years, they should be given similar tests to measure the maintenance, improvement, or regression of their language skills in English and the results should be correlated with their activity in adolescent and adult life. It is hoped that the Institute of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam will conduct such an enquiry in the future, especially since the data of the survey arc locally available in the original questionnaires preserved by the Institute of Swahili Research

8. A careful check of the libraries in Dar es Salaam and elsewhere in Tanzania indicated, unfortunately, that quite a number of the documents listed hy Whiteiey have disappeared since 1958.

9. The survey volume-Language in Tanzania - will provide complete bibliographical data on these sources.

10. W. H. Whiteiey. Some Problems of Transitivity in Swahili. London. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1968, pp. 107 110.

11. С. M. Dokc. Outline Grammar of Bantu. Johannesburg. Department of Bantu Studies. University of the Witwatersrand, 1943, pp. 17 65.

12. Cf. M. Guthrie. "A Two-Stage Method of Comparative Bantu Study," in African Language Studies. Ill (1962), pp. I 24. csp. 5 II. Thus. Guthrie’s Comparative Bantu I, Vol. 2.1970. p. 177, reconstructs P. B. ⁹-ddmb "lip” and *-ddmd ’’mouth” as separate items, though he admits the primary meaning was probably "lip” "but it is not possible to determine where the mutation to ’mouth’ occurred with any certainly" hence, the separate listings! Similarly for the feline predator P. B. •-cimba. he has three entries:

The root *-dhh-, "to fish with a line," is considered as not represented in Swahili, although

the technical term nodoana. ’’hook,*’ reflects a direct derivation from this root.

13. Cf. Bryan 1959. p. 117: "The Shaka (Chagga) dialects may conveniently be grouped as follows:

“Dialects of Vunjo administrative division of which that of Marangu may he taken as typical.

R*o. on the eastern slopes of Mt. Mcru. The are not administered with the Shake Note that MG, (i e . Malcolm Guthrie's third revision of his classification) classes Khd as a separate language. To these dialects MG, adds Hat "

14. An excellent example of the kind of research to be done in this field is provided by Isaria N. Kimambo’s confirmation through the analysis of oral history (1968) of the original close connection of the Gweno in the Pare mountains with the Chagga. to which the linguistic data clearly point. Similarly, further research on the spread of the Southern Nilotic groups would shed light on a complex problem like that of the background of the Mbugu language in the (Jsambara area (cf. M. Goodman. "The Strange Case of Mbugu." in Dell Hymes, cd . Pidgimzation and Crealization of Languages. Cambridge University Press, 1971, pp. 243 54. It would also explain the survival of some isolated Nilotic groups in the Kilimanjaro area.

I$. See among others F. Johnson, Zame.tiтрака siku hizi(London. 1930);G. W. Broomfield, "The Development of the Swahili Language." in Africa. 3:4 (1930). pp. 516 22 (continued in "The Re-Bantui/ation of the Swahili Language." in Africa. 4:1 (1931), pp. 77 85): B. Krumm, tinner uttd Wortfnrmen orientatiseken L’rsprungs in Suaheli. Hamburg, Frcderichsen-De Gruytcr & Co.. 1922. pp. 19 22; R. Rcusch, “How the Swahili people and language came into existence." in Tanganyika Soles and Records. 34 (1953). p- 20

16. It is often difficult to find traces of the decision-making. Our experience was that the file on language policy at the Ministry of Education in Dar es Salaam contained only a circular, published by one of the last British administrators at the time of Independence and indicating how Swahili should be emphasized. Only public declarations of ministers and circulars giving instructions to the schools as regards the language policy in the classes shed some light on the facts, for it was impossible to find dear documentation on the work of specific committees involved in decision-making. Very often, decision-making appears to have been based on action outside the immediate government circles. One of the main moving forces was undoubtedly the National Swahili Council, appointed by the President. It worked rather independently and made recommendations to the administration, which would implement them in various ways in the various departments. At an earlier date, the colonial administration established an Inter-Territorial Committee to regularize the spelling of Swahili and to determine which type of Swahili could be considered correct for textbooks (Whitclcy 1969. pp. 79-96). ‘ e archives of such committees are extremely valuable since the discussions which took place over the years in connection with this direct action on the language contain invaluable hints on the social-linguistic background of decision-making. Unfortunately, most of them remained inaccessible to the survey team.

17. Cf. Whiteley 1969. pp. 110-112. For the parallel role played by linguistically-oriented societies in India, cf. J. Das Gupta, Language Conflict and Sational Development. Group politics and national language policy in India, Berkeley-Los Angeles, University of California Press. 1970. pp. 98-126 and 197-224.

18. In Tanzania. Swahili is used as a medium and is taught as a subject in primary schools. English is taught as a subject only in primary schools but it used as a medium in secondary school. The achievement test in English at the end of primary education is therefore of vita) importance to screen candidates for secondary education.

19. In keeping with the aims of the survey as defined by the Ford Foundation (Fox. p. 20). the team director, E. Polome, gave a series of lectures at the university on the role of Swahili in nation building, on the problems of multilingualism, on the methods of sociolinguistic research, and on other questions relevant to the study of the Tanzanian linguistic situation.

He also actively participated in the drafting of the syllabus for the new program in Swahili on the B.A. level.

21. E g. J S. R. Cole and W. N. Denison. Tanganyika. The Development of its Laws and

Consiltltilion, London. Stevens & Sons. 1964; W. T. W. Morgan. East Africa: its peopt and resources. Nairobi-London. Oxford University Press. 1969;-- Tanzania Todt

A portrait of the United Republic. Nairobi. University Press of Africa. 1968; A. B. Hl rick. S. A. Harrison. H. J- John, S. MacKnight and B. Skapa. Area Handbook Jo, Tanzania. Washington, D. C., U. S. Government Printing Office, 1968: К. E. Svendscn and M. Zeisen.SelJ Reliant Tanzania. Dares Salaam, Tanzania Publishing House, 1969; etc.

22. The 1967 Census concentrated on housing conditions. Is the house permanent, semi-permanent, or not? How many rooms are there (excluding the kitchen)? Is there piped water, a bath or shower, a water toilet on the premises? Is there electricity? The Household Budget Survey of 1968 1969 asked much more specific questions about the foundations, the floor. Boor and wall materials, the roof frame, the drinking water supply, and the toilet system.

23. E.g. the Philippine Language Policy Survey questionnaire, in which information about the type of family dwelling and the ownership of such items as a car, a tape recorder, a washing machine, a TV set, a vacuum cleaner, etc. are asked. Similarly, the Kenya Survey enquired about the material the roof of the family dwelling was made of.

24. This was done with particular care in the case of the llala study (cf. Barton 1972. esp. Chapter l). The existence of two basic studies on Dar es Salaam—one by a geographer (Harm J. de Blij. Dar es Salaam. A Studv of Urban Geography. Evanston. Northwestern University Press, 1963), the other by a sociologist (J. A. K. Leslie. A Survey of Dares Salaam. London-New York. Oxford University Press. 1963b-as well as a set of informative articles on "Dar es Salaam, City. Port and Region*' in a special issue of Tanzania Notes and Records. 71 (1970) were especially helpful in providing further background information on the only major urban area in Tanzania.

25. E.g. the place where men would meet friends would be different from the place where women would do so. (One of the most common places for women's friendly conversation or gossip would be the well or the spot along the water for washing clothes; whereas men would tend to socialize in bars or clubs.)

26. Only in the case of the Combined Research Project could some easy tests оГ language knowledge be introduced for the national language and for English: the method used consisted of omitting every fifth word in a coherent text. The informant was then asked to fill in the word which he thought most adequate in the context. This rather crude procedure gave at least a hint of the degree of comprehension of the text and the mastery of the language in the field of the lexicon.

27. The model provided by Joan Rubin's study of bilingual usage in Paraguay (1968, esp. pp. 518-520) was followed and adapted to Tanzanian situations.

28. The questionnaire actually encouraged the readers to indicate explicitly what kind of books they would like to have in Swahili, so that the result of the enquiry may have a direct bearing on the framing of the local publication policy.

Abdulariz, M. H. "Tanzania's national language policy and the rise of Swahili political culture." In W. H.Whiteley.ed., 1971. pp. Ita-178.

Alpers. Edward A. “The coast and the development of the caravan trade." In 1. N. Kimambo and A. J. Temu, eds., 1969, pp. 35-56.

Barton, David. Study of Language Use in llala Ph.D. dissertation. University of Texas at Austin. August 1972.

Bennett. N. R. "The Arab impact." In B. A.Ogot and J. A. Kieran.eds., 1968. pp. 216-237.

Bromfit, Anne. “The development of a language policy in German East Africa.'* In Journal of ike Language Association of Eastern Africa. 2:1 < 1971), pp. 1 • 9.

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Some Reflections on the Uses of Sociolinguistic Surveys¹

by Sirarpi Ohannessian and Gilbert Ansre

The earliest and perhaps most exhaustive of linguistic surveys in modern times. The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI К was undertaken by Grierson because the Imperial Government of India needed “systematic facts" for the task of governing the subcontinent. The need for reliable information on which to base language policy has continued to be the m^jor justification for sociolinguistic surveys. Yet, as the LSI amply demonstrates, such surveys often also have a function and influence far beyond the gathering of linguistic information on the society they study. The Grierson survey has been followed by a large variety of perhaps more sociolinguistically oriented surveys, and, given the present growing concern with sociolinguistic problems, more such surveys are likely to be conducted. The present paper is therefore intended to set forth a few reflections on the direct ways in which sociolinguistic information can be used by a society or government and to consider some of the more indirect ways in which sociolinguistic surveys have been and can be of service, not only to the social groups they are set up to study but to those who carry out the study.

If language is vital to an understanding of a society and to the promoting of that society (i.e. national development), then it seems necessary to have as accurate a picture of language in use in that society as possible. Such a picture would help towards a better understanding of what the situation is. in order that thought may be given to what it ought to be and how this goal may be achieved without doing violence to the society. One major task of sociolinguistic surveys, therefore, is to provide as relevant and accurate a picture as can be obtained for the consideration of those responsible for decisions on language policy.

Many other factors, however, besides linguistic information enter into the development of language policies, and sociolinguistic surveys can only provide the kind and amount of information which the limitations of their aims, scope, duration, methods, and techniques permit them to. In addition, they must often operate within the further limitations of what the political and social environment in which they are carried out considers acceptable types of inquiry. Within these limitations and on the basis of the knowledge he acquired from the survey, the sociolinguist is in a position, when so required, to help formulate alternatives for policy decisions related to language use in a community. He also can point out alternative courses of action for carrying out decisions, but his primary task is that of providing relevant information ra’her than guiding policy, unless, as a member of the society under study, he is in a position to take such responsibility.

“Language policy" encompasses a very wide variety of actions and decisions within a society. Even at a national level, language policies are often not formally drawn up and stated. They have, in many instances, evolved through a series of historical events or are based on tradition and sometimes can only be understood through systematic observation of what is taking place in the various aspects of the life of a community. Decisions on language (or actions that have decisive influence) may be taken by a large variety of individuals and institutions and may range, for instance, from such a major decision as the choice of a national language to orthographic uniformity in primary school readers, from the adoption of scientific terminology in a newly established national language to the choice of language to be used by men working underground in mines, or from the selection of the language of administration for government to that used by partisans in political campaigns.

When sociolinguistic information is obtained, it seems essential that it should be made available to those who may need it with as little delay as possible. One major problem in this regard is that, despite the need for "hard" data on sociolinguistic situations as a basis for policy decisions, there is often a gap between the completion of a survey and the availability of its results to those who can best use them. This b a serious problem, since sociolinguistic information can soon be dated. Also, published results often are couched in technical language and need interpretation. Their publication, generally in learned journals or in book form, is time-consuming, and scholars tend to write for their colleagues rather than for the educated layman who is often baffled even by what specialists may consider elementary terminology. One of the greatest needs in the organization of sociolinguistic surveys is to see that machinery is provided to make results available, perhaps in simplified form, in a non-technical language or in translation, as widely and as soon as possible. The organization of seminars or meetings between users and survey personnel can also be a very productive means of making results available in usable form.

The scope of sociolinguistic surveys is very wide and may include many facets of the life of a community. Surveys may cover the community's component social groups, its educational system, its administrative or economic system, religion and religious groups in the community, and so on. The following pages will try to illustrate how the availability of reliable sociolinguistic information on some of these areas may be useful to those concerned with language activity and language policy.

In most societies, even those generally accepted as speaking the "same" language, there are groups that are linguistically distinguishable. The distinguishing elements are often very complex, but language differences provide an index to "ethnic" groups within a society, supplying much information both from a demographic point of view and from the point of view of differences along social, economic, occupational, educational, and many other lines. A great deal can be learned about the aspirations, loyalties, presuppositions, prejudices, fears, and other feelings of the members of a society through an understanding of how they behave linguistically. Such behavior includes the patterns in which various groups may utilize one or more languages or dialects, the patterns of language use for different occasions and under

different circumstances, the patterns of behavior and attitudes of a group towards its own language (or dialect) or that of other social or ethnic groups, and the feelings of people about the suitability of these languages for various purposes. It also includes patterns of behavior towards a standard language (if any), towards the official or national language, and towards lingua francos or creoles or pidgins or “town” varieties of languages.

Other indices to attitudes can be language use in religion. The dynamics of language affiliations, i.e. the degrees of adherence to older forms of a language for religious purposes (e g. classical Arabic in various Muslim communities, Latin in Catholic communities, and Tibetan in Mongolia) or the use of modern varieties of a language to make religion “understandable” to people, could all point to ways in which religious groups could be allied to or alienated from a national cause. These are also very strong indicators of the worshippers’ concepts and beliefs about his deity. Often a worshipper who holds strongly to an uncommonly used—often older and not well understood—variety of a language believes that he is best able to contact the deity through this language. This implies that the deity understands (or speaks?) that language best.

In this area, it is often noticed that people are able to worship better in a specific language than in another, e.g. many highly educated Africans who are fluent speakers of either English or French find that they worship better in their indigenous languages. In some cases, whole varieties of a language can develop around the religious activity.* This may be referred to as the divination variety and is believed to be the language in which the deity communicates with the worshippers. In some of these cases, special interpreters are used to translate the language to the worshippers. The phenomenon of glossolalia, documented elsewhere, is also a specialized use of language.

A study of the whole phenomenon of language in religion and how it relates to social functions of the community can prove very significant. The use of such language types are strong pointers to the concepts and beliefs of the worshippers about their deity and their own relationship to it.

A variety of language may be used by a religious community in order to prevent outsiders from understanding what they are saying. Used thus, this variety is an “ingroup” variety and may be seen as meant as an instrument for excluding others. A student of the sociology of language (used here interchangeably with sociolinguist) is interested in knowing not only the structure and meaning of the variety but also the role that it plays in the life of the community and the rest of society. Why is the group utilizing linguistic material for “isolating" itself from others? What is it that necessitates this isolation? How is such isolation related to the community’s understanding of itself, its deity, and the rest of humanity?

On the other hand, a variety of language may be used by a religious community in order to enable outsiders to understand their message more clearly. This variety then becomes an instrument for bringing others into the religious fold. It is a “proselytizing” variety. It is usually selected for use to enhance the understanding of others not in the religious group.*

variety for “excluding" others as well as use another language or variety for “including" others. Usually, the group is not fully aware of its retigio-linguistic inconsistency.

Sociolinguistic information of a variety of kinds, therefore, can provide insights into attitudes, trends of thought, and directions of social and other change, as well as give indications of the deeper motivations of the majority or of groups within the community. An understanding of these factors can make it possible to influence opinion for the benefit of the nation.

Sociolinguistic surveys can also assess the processes of bringing about change in a community. They can study such aspects of change as the way knowledge about language accumulates; how it is called on and utilized with regard to social change, i.e. what individuals, institutions, or social groups appear to initiate, sustain, and perpetuate change; the channels of power in the process of affecting change; and the most important groups to influence. Surveys can look at results of language policies in different places, examining what they have achieved under what conditions and what they have failed to achieve and why. They can study the sociolinguistic situation over a period of time, at intervals, or in comparison with some other carefully chosen situation in order to understand better how change comes about and what agents help bring it about. Tne International Project on Language Planning Processes, described in this volume by Joshua Fishman, looks at processes in one aspect of language innovation and change, that of adapting language in three different countries to three specialized purposes by planning the introduction of new technical vocabulary.

Education in most modern societies is increasingly becoming one of the most important agents for social change. This is more so in newly independent nations where often the aim, content, and method of education are quite new, and the whole process is geared towards bringing about drastic physic?.!, social, and often psychological change. Also, substantial funds are directed to education as the major means by which nationals can prepare themselves to take complete responsibility for their political, economic, and social as well as educational affairs. Language in education, therefore, is of crucial importance. An analysis of educational needs from a language point of view is invaluable for educational planning in such countries.

Language in education is also of importance in the more technologically “developed" countries. In the United States, for instance, attention has been turning to the problems of minority groups who speak oi ;r languages than English or other than standard varieties of English. Here there i a great need for sociolinguistic information on such matters as what the linguistic factors are in considering an American “educated," what the effects of other forms of a language are on status in a society, whether or not development of minority dialects or languages is conducive to educational growth and not just change, what the role of language is in group solidarity, and so on. There is also a need for information on dialect variation and use, the distribution of various languages and dialects in school systems, the degrees of

bilingualism in various groups, language shift, attitudes among both minority groups and the majority group towards the language or languages of others, styles of learning prevalent in minority groups us compared with what the majority-oriented educational system demands, and so on. To give one example, the choice of an appropriate and acceptable variety of Spanish for use in bilingual education programs in the southwestern United States could benefit greatly from information on attitudes among both Spanish-speaking and non-Spanish-speaking parents, teachers, and linguists in the community towards such a choice.

It is beyond the scope of this paper to attempt even a brief discussion of the variety of levels and aspects of education whose planning and execution would benefit from reliable sociolrguistic information in various parts of the world. It might, however, be useful to focus on the situation in one area (sub-Saharan Africa), to look at only one or two aspects of education in it, and to consider in what ways sociolinguistic surveys could provide helpful information.

Typically, countries in sub-S3haran Africa have won independence relatively recently, and as politico-geographical entities their boundaries often are the result of recent colonial history rather than of a closely-knit socio-cultural unity among their citizens. These, in greatly differing numbers, speak a wide variety of languages and dialects which are often mutually unintelligible but on most of which relatively little linguistic work has as yet been done. In some cases not even a reliable list of languages and dialects spoken in the country exists. A great number of these languages have not been reduced to writing, and in many only a few tracts from the Bible exist as literature. These languages have often been closely associated with ethnic identity in the past, and as a consequence are regarded, by at least some, as divisive rather than unifying elements in the work of nation-building.⁴ In general, population mobility is encouraged to “mix’* ethnic and therefore linguistic groups, and modern industrialization has helped bring about, at least in some of the urban areas, linguistically very heterogeneous communities.

In discussing language in education, we should not be limited to the medium of instruction in the classroom alone. We ought to consider the teaching of specific languages as subjects in the curriculum and the effect they have on the cultural awareness and psychological sense of value of the student. Educational authorities stand to gain a lot from sociolinguistic surveys which give information on how the teaching of and about an indigenous language gives the students and the population at large a clearer sense of the worth of the language in the society as well as a better sense of national identity, even in the face of occasional linguistic diversity.

Also typically, these countries rely in varying degrees on the former colonial language (which usually only a minority commands efficiently) for administrative, economic, social, and educational purposes and sometimes as a unifying factor in nation-building. Patterns of multiple language use or language “complementation** are developing in some of the countries, and these may become stable. For instance, in Tanzania, the numerous languages and dialects that are spoken by ethnic groups are used for personal and social purposes and fulfill the role of the intimate home language. An African lingua franca, Swahili, fulfills the function of the national language and serves a great many official purposes. A world-language, English, serves the role of an official international language which is also used for a number of

internal official purposes. In Senegal, Wolof and French serve somewhat parallel purposes, but countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia lack a national lingua franca, though some of their major languages arc widely understood and used in the regions where they are mainly used only in the spoken form and have not been vigorously promoted in education.

One of the most important decisions in the educational systems of these countries is what language or languages should be used as media of instruction at various levels in the process of education. The question is very closely related to language choice on a national level, often reflects the pattern of language complementation in the country, and is, in the main, a political decision based on the socio-economic needs of the community, especially manpower needs. In all these cases (e.g. Tanzania. Senegal, Ghana. Nigeria), a detailed knowledge of the sociolinguistic situation would help in decision-making, for though the choice is a political one, it should be an educated one based on the sociolinguistic data of the country. It is, however, sometimes assumed that once decisions are made and plans drawn up, “specialists'* can find easy ways to carry them out. On the contrary, further decisions are necessary for the most effective implementation of a language policy at the very many levels in education, and a great deal of information and insight into the actual linguistic situation is crucial.

rhe choice of a language as a medium of instruction for the early primary grades is one very important part of the decision. At this level, education is more widely available than any other, but, because the dropout rate is usually very high after the first few years, these early years of schooling are likely to be all the formal education that a large proportion of the population will have. Whatever the pattern of language complementation in a country, or in its educational system, in essence three major alternatives for choice of a medium of instruction exist, although many variations regarding time of introduction of a language, duration of use as medium, and simultaneous use in varying content areas are possible. The alternatives are: (a) the child's mother tongue; (b) an African national or regional lingua franca (often not the child’s mother tongue); and (c) a world-language, in this case English serving as an example.

The language in which a child is initially taught to read is one major aspect of the choice of a medium of instruction in early primary education. The choice for each child is limited to only one language, generally one of the three alternatives given above. (In some cases it may be a religious language, e.g. Arabic or classical Ethiopian.) A wise choice will need a great deal of psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and pedagogical information. Some of thi> information will be necessary in considering all three alternatives for initial literacy and some will be peculiar to each. The following paragraphs will briefly discuss some of these considerations.

If the first alternative (i.e. the child's mother tongue) is being considered, the types of information needed for decision-making will include such factors as the number of ''languages'' in which it will be necessary to have reading materials and the type and quality of existing materials as well as of available literature in, and on, these language». These are basic types of information, but more specific detail will be necessary before action can be taken. Fo. instance, if materials are to be prepared in a particular language, it will be necessary to decide on exactly which variety of the language is to be used for the purpose. Such a decision will need to take into account not only linguistic factors but the attitudes of the community. The feelings of the people as to what constitutes separate “languages" and which dialects or varieties of these languages they consider as suitable and acceptable for use in education will be very important factors in deciding on the choice of a variety for teaching reading since, presumably, these languages would also serve as media of instruction in the early years. Also, specific information on the distribution of the speakers of various languages and dialects in classes to be found in industrialized urban areas, in provincial towns, and in rural areas will greatly affect decisions.*

Perhaps i' would be useful here to illustrate some of these points with the example of a project which is in some ways unique in modern Africa in that it has been able to take advantage of a language survey, to rely on linguistic and sociolin* guistic information gathered through years of research in the area, and to have trained linguists and the government of a state cooperate in the scheme. The project is currently (1972) being carried out in the Rivers State in Southern Nigeria and represents perhaps the most serious attempt made so far to prepare materials for initial literacy in the majority of the languages of a complex multilingual area in Africa. The following is taken from a brief account of the project given in a paper entitled The Rivers Readers Project.* by Kay Williamson of the University of Ibadan, a linguist whose area of special interest is Ijo. one of the major languages of the area. Dr. Williamson is a member of the committee of three which coordinates the project.

According to the classification of the Greenberg survey of the languages of West Africa (Languages of Africa, 1963k the languages spoken in the Rivers State belong to some five different linguistic groups, two of which are Benue-Congo and three Kwa. Within each group, there are several different languages, some with sub* divisions in themselves, each comprising several dialects. In her account. Dr. Williamson identifies the relative size of school populations in each of the languages that she lists under the five divisions.

Before the creation of the Rivers State in 1967, the area had been part of the Eastern Region in Nigeria and the policy had been (as in many other anglophone Af* rican countries) to start primary education in “the vernacular” and switch to English as a medium of instruction in the higher primary grades. But the lack of suitable materials in many of the minor languages had often (as elsewhere) meant starting reading in English, or, for a large number of children, in another African language that was not their mother tongue. The creation of the Rivers State saw a great revival of interest among groups in their own language and heritage. Neither the choice of a single language for the entire area nor that of only a few languages appear to have gained acceptance for initial literacy. The Rivers State Government, therefore, agreed to sponsor the Rivers Readers Project, whose aim was to publish material: for the primary schools in some twenty languages and major dialects of the State, the intention being that “so far as is reasonably possible, each child should be introduced to reading in his own language before he is expected to begin in English.”

It may be of interest to took at some of the important decisions the project had to make and to consider how sociolinguistic information on the situation helped in

their making. One of the first things to decide was what constituted a language for purposes of the project.⁷ Those involved in the task found that, in addition to the tin* guistic information available, the single most important factor in determining this was ‘4he expressed feeling of a group of people that it constitutes a distinct and internally cohesive linguistic community." although this coherence differed from one area to another. For example. North-Eastern Ijo is considered a single language in the Ijo group of the Kwa languages. It has three dialects, but it was decided to produce separate readers in each of the dialects because the three communities felt themselves to be clearly distinct, had separate country councils, and had an earlier tradition of publications. On the other hand, a single reader was produced for Ikwerre, which had two major dialect groups that could be recognized as separate languages. In this case, however, their speakers were willing to attempt to overlook great dialectal diversity in their desire to create a single common standard language, so a single reader was produced for both (with the possibility that another dialect may be used when the book is revised).

Another important factor that affected decisions was the size of the community. When a linguistic community was very small, such factors as the desirability of its integration into a larger group as well as economic factors had to be taken into account. The general policy, however, was "to study the situation further and decide each case on its own merits." A further factor that was taken into account was the existence of a previous tradition of writing in the language, since this made the acceptance of another language for reading difficult. Where no such tradition existed, materials were prepared, but it was sometimes necessary, when consensus was difficult, to make arbitrary decisions in the choice of a linguistically "more central" variety.

The organization of the project may see somewhat irrelevant here, but it is perhaps one of the most important elements ш the effective use of sociolinguistic information. The project, as Dr. Williamson points out, is a cooperative effort involving moral and financial support from the Rivers State Government (and some support from UNESCO and The Ford Foundation); cooperation from linguists at the University of Ibadan, members of the Institute for African Studies, the Department of Education, the Institute of Linguistics at Zaria; language committees that check expression and wording in texts; and a number of individuals—materials writers, teachers, and so on. The Ministry of Education organizes conferences to familiarize teachers with the some 30 books and other materials that have so far been published. The important point in all this is that linguistic and sociolinguistic information in and of itself may not be enough, but that the concerted efforts of those in a position to make policy decisions; those capable of providing linguistic and sociolinguistic information; and the actual administrators, materials writers, and teachers can, together, produce substantial results provided there is also interest and enthusiasm for the task. The Rivers State Project appears to rely to a great extent on such interest and willing cooperation on the part of the people involved in it.

Although linguistically complex, a community or a school in a rural area such as the Rivers State generally draws the great majority of its children from the same area. Classes, therefore, are on the whole linguistically homogeneous. Many communities in Africa, however, especially the large urban centers, draw school children from a targe variety of geographic areas *nd have linguistically very mixed populations, so that the teaching of reading in the child's own language presents more serious problems here than in rural areas. (It is interesting to note that Port Harcourt, the only city in the Rivers State, uses English from the beginning.) Information on language distribution in such multilingual areas, therefore, is of great importance for decisions on the language of initial literacy.

In an industrial area such as Zambia's Copperbelt, for example, it is not uncommon to find ten or more dilferent mother tongues claimed in a class of about 40 children. Linguistically mixed communities in which such classes are found are generally neither uniform nor stable in composition, so that fairly precise information (preferably periodically updated) can serve as a very important basis for satisfactory decisions. Of equal importance is information on the language competencies of teachers in the African languages they may be expected to teach, since they, too, may not form a stable population. It seems evident that information on all these factors would help in deciding whether the economic and administrative problems involved would make it feasible, or indeed possible, to provide the right materials in the right languages to be taught by the right teachers to the right children in such linguistically mixed communities.

It would be necessary in such a situation to find out whether there are fairly homogeneous groups or patterns of bilingualism and multilingualism among the children, and what, in actual fact, their “first" languages are. If these are trends in language shift from a number of minor languages to the mtyor regional language, it may be more feasible to abandon the idea of providing instruction in all or most of the languages and decide on a few "major" ones. This, in effect, is the second alternative listed above and will be discussed later.

It has already been mentioned that the existence of a written tradition is an important factor in the choice of a language for initial literacy. In considering a program for teaching reading in most of the indigenous languages, it will be essential to know whether the languages in question have been reduced to writing, whether their orthographies are adequate, and whether there is any need for reform and standardization. Many African languages were first reduced to writing by missionaries, some of whom had little or no training in linguistics. Traditions have grown round these orthographies, and people have become very attached to them. However, there are also occasional inconsistencies in spelling, sometimes found in the tame text. Since consistency in spelling is generally regarded as desirable for educational purposes, some consideration is likely to be given to the problems of orthography in most programs concerned with teaching reading in primary schools.

Any contemplated change in an orthography, however, appears to rouse intense emotions. Such emotions are found not only among speakers of languages that have had many centuries of written history (and might, therefore, be in need of reform because of centuries of sound change in the spoken language) such as West Armenian, but also in languages that have a relatively short written history such as Lozi in the Western Province of Zambia. Experience has shown that it would be rash to launch on any orthographic change without information on the attitudes of each linguistic community to its graphology. The history of the earlier attempts at improving and unifying the orthography of Twi and Fame, two branches of the Akan language of the Gold Coast, is a good example of the problems that beset precipitate action which doesn’t take into account the altitudinal and practical aspects of the situation." A careful survey of the situation would provide such information and suggest not only a feasible and hopefully acceptable system o* orthography but strategies that would take into account attitudes and perhaps involve members of the community in order that standardization or reform (if indeed necessary or desirable) might be achieved with the least amount of friction.

Other important factors that would affect decision; are the economic value and other advantages of each mother tongue for purposes of literacy. For instance, are there any disadvantages in acquiring initial literacy through a minor language in order to attain employability in such fields as agriculture, trade, the crafts, technological occupations, and for further education? What is the proper type of manpower needed for a self-sustaining economy? Is the use of the indigenous language advantageous for basic (permanent) education? Will it help in early conceptualization and generalization ability? Is it truly necessary for the majority of people to learn the “official" metropolitan language to be able to function well in the nation? In assessing these and other factors, it would also be necessary to consider the less quantifiable but perhaps more important aspects of having status accorded to one’s mother tongue at school, the sense of pride and identification which learning through it might provide to the child. It would also be necessary to consider the more tangible benefits of receiving instruction through a language that is familiar to the learner, especially when only a limited time is likely to be spent at school. A survey might, for instance, be able to demonstrate which ones, among early school dropouts who learned to read in their mother tongue or in an initially unfamiliar language, could best function in various occupations, follow written instructions, and assume responsibility for supervision, provided, of course, that teachers and materials are available to teach through the medium of these languages.

So far only the first alternative in the choice of a language in teaching beginning reading has been discussed. If the second alternative, i.e. teaching through an African lingua franco, is being considered, there are two different but basic sets of questions to be asked. First, if there is an indigenous national lingua franca, what is the proportion of areas in which it is a "first" and an effective "second" language? For what proportion of the school population would it be necessary to prepare materials with a "second language" approach to the teaching of reading, i.e. materials that do not assume that the child understands what he is being taught to read? For instance, if materials were to be prepared in Swahili for speakers of other Tanzanian languages who did not know the language, they might first make provision to teach orally the Swahili words and sentences that the children would be taught to read later. On the other hand, such provision would not be necessary for Swahili-speaking children, and the choice of such words and sentences would not necessarily have to take into account their suitability for oral classroom teaching. Other questions to be asked would include: Are there speakers of some languages for whom Swahili is more comprehensible than to others? What is the degree of exposure that children have to Swahili prior to coming to school? How available is it in all parts of the country in radio and television broadcasts?

(f, on the other hand, regional lingua francos within a country are being considered for this second alternative, the answers to a number of other questions wilt influence decisions. In most of these countries, for a variety of reasons (including wider comprehensibility, number of speakers, previous missionary activity in the language, and so on), certain languages have been established as “regional'* languages and some have become lingua francos, mainly in the areas where they are widely spoken. In considering them for initial literacy, some of the information needed for decisions would include: What are the degrees of intelligibility between this regional language and those of the children in class in each region? What proportion of the present children speak it as a first language? How does this differ in various types of communities such as rural and urban areas? What are the attitudes of (.thnic groups to having their children taught to read in a “near" or “related" language? Are the regional languages acceptable to all groups? What varieties of these major languages should reading materials be in? For instance, are “town" varieties more useful or acceptable than “rural" or more “pure" varieties? If the latter, then which particular one? What are the attitudes of communities (mother-tongue speakers and others) towards such a choice? Are there abundant written models of these languages on which to base materials? Are standard forms developing in some regional languages? Questions regarding orthographies would again have to be asked, as well as questions about grammatical descriptions, about teachers and their proficiency in the languages, about materials, and so on.

The third alternative for initial literacy will probably be related to the choice of a major European language (e.g. English or French) as a medium of instruction from grade I; otherwise reading will probably be introduced in an indigenous language. Such a choice would have to be based on a consideration of many of the answers to the questions asked above and an assessment of the advantages of each alternative, since problems in beginning reading in a language often totally unknown to the child when he comes to school would include psychological, pedagogical, and cultural factors.

Information on the extent to which English is used by various groups in the community would affect decisions for its use for initial literacy. What proportion of the population does actually use English and for what purpose? For what groups or occupations is English vital? Will it be put to use by early dropouts, by unskilled laborers, and so on? What is the extent of the use of English in urban versus rural areas? Should initial literacy in English be accessible to all children? What are the manpower resources of the country for teaching English? Are there sufficient numbers of competent teachers and inspectors for all classes to start in English from grade I? If not, should resources be husbanded so that the teaching of English is more effective for fewer numbers? If so, two principal choices may be open. One would be to postpone ail teaching of English to the upper grades; the other to teach it to selected groups. Here decisions will be necessary on the criteria for the selection of groups. Should language aptitude be a criterion? If so, how should it be measured? What are other criteria for the selection of groups? How acceptable and reliable are they? What are administrative and professional problems in carrying such selection out? What are the attitudes and aspirations of parents for their children in this regard? Would teaching initial reading in English to selected groups be regarded as discriminatory? Would it be the beginning of an unfair class system in the country? These are not new problems but have been debated for a long time.*

An important aspect of this third alternative is that if literacy starts in English, further problems regarding the time and manner of introducing literacy in in* digenous languages have to be solved. Although the world*language may be important from economic and manpower-oriented points of view, the teaching of local languages is regarded as of very great importance in these countries as a means of providing a sense of identity and pride and as a major way of preserving the cultural heritage of their peoples. Questions similar to those asked for the first and second alternatives will again have to be taken into consideration for beginning reading in an indigenous language, as well as such questions as the transfer of skills (negative as well as positive) to readingthe mother tongue (or the lingua franca), from English orthography; the question ot types of reading material if the languages are not being used as media of instruction; and the cultural content of such reading materials if only a few languages are to be taught to all ethnic groups in the community. Apart from these, the question of the possibility of increasing national productivity in industry when education is given mostly in the indigenous language rather than in the metropolitan language is pertinent.

Another, but very important, dimension to the question of initial literacy is that of existing educational conditions in the country. What are the prevalent practices in teaching reading? Through what methods and in what languages are children being taught to read? Are practices uniform throughout the country? If not, where and how do they differ? Are there any schools where literacy has started in English? If so, what difference has this mede to reading ability or educational performance? In what types of schools and under what conditions has such teaching been carried out? Are there any factors in text materials, in teacher competence, or physical facilities that might affect apparent differences in results in different language medium schools? Are there motivational factors that affect the learning of reading in one language or another? Are there better prereading materials for English than the other language (or languages)? Systematic and objective information on past and current experience can be very important factors in formulating courses of action.

The problem of teachers has come up in every single one of the alternatives under consideration, and some aspects have already been mentioned. Surveys may study the pattern and process of the selection and training of teachers. They may look at practices in posting, teachers' attitudes, and the effectiveness of their work, as well as point to possible avenues for improvement. Important questions in some of these countries are: What does the actual process of training for teaching language and literacy consist of? What is the linguistic content of it for indigenous languages? Is there any provision for teaching these languages to children who do not already speak them? Who trains teachers? What is their experience and preparation? Is training related to any research or experimentation in language teaching? How .'ware are those in charge of teacher preparation of modem developments in lan-<;uage teaching theory and practice? Is there any experimentation in teaching methods in progress?

In many developing countries there is evidence of high interest in the teaching of local languages both on the part of authorities and of the community. This interest is

sometimes reflected in the press. The provision of money, time, and trained person* nel for the teaching of these languages, however, has often given way to other, more pressing priorities which the nation needs. Status for the languages and advancement opportunities for those who teach them are sometimes lacking. A sociolinguistic survey could study the situation; verify the existence of such inadequacies and lacks (or their absence); determine the attitudes of administrators, teachers, parents, children, and the community in general towards indigenous languages; and suggest alternative courses of action. For instance, do teachers want to teach these languages? If some do not, what are the reasons for it? What effect does this have on their teaching? Are there opportunities in the country for advancement through the use of these languages? Do opportunities exist for the teaching of (or through) these languages? What are teachers' attitudes towards teaching local languages versus teaching English? Is doing the latter more prestigious? Does this draw the better teachers to teaching English? Is it desirable to change this attitude? If so, by what means and what methods? Clear answers to these and other such questions could help in decisions both on the allocation of resources to the teaching of these languages and on the preparation of teachers for them.

These have been only a few and rather random examples of the hosts of questions that would need reliable answers for decisions on just one aspect of educational planning—language choice for initial literacy for young children—in one specific area of the world. It is perhaps unnecessary to take up other aspects of education for similar treatment here, but it seems reasonable to argue that, all things being equal, decisions would have a more sound basis with the type of information such surveys could provide if the funds, manpower, and time were available.

At this point it might be useful to give one or two negative examples. One is from the educational scene in the United States. In recent years, substantial amounts of federal funds have beer, directed towards bilingual education programs in various parts of the country (over 86.3 million for the fiscal years 1969-72 under Title VII of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act). The awarding of these funds to various projects, however, has not been based on "hard,** systematic facts about the current sociolinguistic situation, and dear criteria for the allocation of funds has been generally lacking. As a result there has been a considerable amount of duplication of effort, especially in such areas as materials production. Funds have, in some cases, been allocated to programs in areas with a far lower percentage of nonEnglish speaking elements than others, and in other cases assumptions on such aspects of the situation as the language proficiencies (e.g. ability to command English) of children coming to school for the first time have proved to be unreliable. Even if a very small proportion of the funds available for bilingual education had been spent on an overall assessment of the relevant sociolinguistic situation in a few major areas such as New Mexico, Texas, New York City, and California, the utilization of funds might have been far more effective.

An example from Ghana in the 1950's is the Accelerated Development Plan in Education, advocated for the use of English as a medium of instruction from the first year in school. This, of course, failed because of the unrealistic nature of the proposals. If time and resources had been spent on a carefully planned survey of the linguistic competence of both the pupils and the teachers and the attitudes of

parents to this recommendation, the educational system of that country would have been spared some of the resulting deficiencies in the pupils* command of both . Hcjgli&h and the Ghanaian languages.

It can be argued that a great deal of the types of information discussed above is already known to Ministries of Education or that it can be easily obtained through the normal channels of the educational system. It is possible that some of the information is indeed to be found in Ministry of Education files or in the experience of inspectors, headmasters, and teachers, but it is doubtful that systematically collected information of all the types discussed above is readily available to those who need it. It should perhaps be stressed that some of this information can only be obtained through sustained, controlled, objective observation in carefully selected areas and classrooms. Some of it will need to be collected and analyzed by people with many years of highly technical training in linguistics and related fields and competent in sophisticated research techniques and statistical analysis. Almost all of it, however, needs the special skill of the sociolinguist to interpret for the specific situation under study. If scholars with such training are nationals of the area and are available, it seems obvious that they are the best to carry the responsibility for surveys, not only because of their deeper knowledge of the area but from the point of view of continuity in the implementation of decisions based on a survey. Even if such scholars are not available, however, a survey is likely to be far more useful if. as many nationals of the area as possible are involved in it, and all available local resources are tapped for the collecting of information.

Apart from serving a useful purpose as a basis for decisions on language policy in education, sociolinguistic surveys can be invaluable sources of teaching material in teacher training colleges, in secondary schools, and in universities. They can be the basis for “know your country" or “district" or “region" courses or units in secondary schools and university programs. They can provide a much clearer picture of the language situation, not only to the potential language teacher but to all teachers (who, in effect, are often language teachers as well as teachers of their own subjects) and to all administrators and inspectors as well as the educated layman. The findings of surveys on the structure and relationships of languages can form first steps in the preparation of reference grammars, pedagogical grammars, and text materials, and the linguistic, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic research carried out by surveys can form the foundation for further investigation in these areas. The educational value of such knowledge is very great. Many people—especially in developing countries—who are highly educated in other fields are very limited in their knowledge of such demographic data on their own country. The more sophisticated they are in this area, the more relevant their education will be to their environment.

The' ole of language in economic development has on the whole received relatively littl; attention from either economists or linguists. This is probably because the study of the subject has originated in mainly monolinguistic countries. Additionally, it would seem that the great influence which varieties of language have on industry, on buying, and on selling has not been seriously examined. A great deal of interesting

information could result from a study of the language of commerce and trade in a community, but such study should not be limited merely to the lexical items peculiar to buying and selling. Questions such as what sort of language variety enables one to sell better and wttat sort lessens sales and how language use can help promote gainful commercial or industrial activity could be answered through a careful sociolinguistic study of the economic life of a society.

In almost all communities there are at least two levels of economic activity: the “major." often national and international, area and the “local." often retail, area. In multilingual communities these levels are often closely associated with language use. It is usual to use a metropolitan language (e.g. English and French in Africa) for the higher levels of economic activity. In communities such as those in Eastern t‘ irica briefly described above, for instance, in addition to official, administrative, and other uses, the world language has often been used in industry and commerce and in the running of airlines, mines, banks, export and import trade, and so on. Technological aid, now available from a wide variety of sources, is usually received through the medium of the world language adopted by a country.

It seems evident that in such communities patterns of language complementation are very closely related to the continued functioning and existence of many aspects of the life of a community. But, since different functions are carried out in different languages, it also seems evident that language competence of one particular type may lead to more economic and social advancement than another. In such a situation surveys can assess the significance of a particular language. They can study patterns of competence in use and examine their distribution in the community. They can study the instances of economic success from the point of view of language competence. They can assess how easily such success is open to all members of the community, whether the resources of the country are sufficient to make it open to everyone, and whether there are alternative patterns of language use if this seems necessary.

Sociolinguistic surveys can be useful when we are planning the prc.notton of a specific language for the socio-economic activity in the nation. They can study ways in which the language of the majority (or some indigenous language chosen as a national language) may be developed to carry increasingly more of the functions carried by the world language in various spheres of activity and assist in its systematic adaptation to carry such functions. Eventually they can help identify ways in whieh such a language can be used for the entire social, economic, and educational life of a country so that economic gain can be linked to language policy and no linguistic barriers can prevent any member of the community from aspiring to occupations that may currently be open only to the elite few.

It is possible to argue that the indirect impact of surveys is both more profound and more lasting (though less measurable) than the immediate uses to which their results may or may not be put. The Grierson Survey of India, with which this paper began, after about three quarters of a century has continued to be, as P. B. Pandit points out in his paper in this volume, the basis for all census operations. It is still

ERIC

the major source of information on the languages of India; it is still claimed as an authoritative source by political groups; its results still provide material for university courses; its influence can be seen in the flourishing of linguistics in several distinguished centers in the country; some of the basic techniques it used to collect information are still productive; and a host of other studies both by Indian and other scholars have followed the LSI's lead. It is doubtful that this varied and lasting impact was envisaged either by Grierson or the government that commissioned him.

Other aims besides the collecting and analyzing of sociolinguistic information, however, can also be a planned part of a survey. As Clifford H. Prator’s account in this volume points out, this type of activity was only one of the four major aims set for the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa. Those in charge of the planning deliberately set out to strengthen the resources of the countries involved, to establish channels of communication between them, and to put them in touch with the wider linguistic world. The Survey also appears to have been instrumental in making people aware that language plays an important part in their cultural and social lives. This is evident in reports of individuals taking a more active interest in their own languages and doing work on them.

There has not, as yet, been time to assess the impact of this Survey on the study and teaching of linguistics in Eastern Africa, but as the students that were sent for overseas training through Survey funds return to their respective countries and start to contribute to their institutions, the influence of the Survey becomes more clearly disccmable. When the Survey started, only one university in this area had a linguistics department. Already two new departments of linguistics have been established in universities in Uganda and Kenya. The fact that about one hundred students were enrolled in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages at the University of Nairobi in 1971, for instance, is probably in some measure due to the influence of the Survey. A recent communication (November 1972) indicates that an introduction to Zambian language studies may be started for fourth year students in English and French at the University of Zambia in 1973. The Survey has also been instrumental in the establishment of the Language Association of Eastern Africa and affiliate groups in the five countries involved. The list of publications resulting from the Survey appended to Pntor's paper is evidence of the intellectual activity created by it, and the Ferguson, Bender and Cooper paper, again in this volume, bears witness to the Survey's contributions to the theoretical aspects of sociolinguistics.

It is also much too soon to assess the impact of the Survey on the senool systems of these countries, but a few developments in one country may provide indications of possible influence. In Zambia the Survey enjoyed the unfailing support and encouragement of the Ministry of Education from the start. The Ministry made suggestions for the activities of the Survey and on areas of research. It was kept informed of progress and was given preliminary reports on Survey studies. Interest has already been expressed in using draft chapters of the Survey report in secondary schools and teacher training colleges. Because of interest shown by the Ministry, the Zambia survey concentrated a great deal of attention on the teaching of Zambian languages. The following developments no doubt reflect, to a large extent, this interest, but they may jIso, in some small measure, be due to the fact that throughout the Survey year there was constant interchange of information and

ideas, both bi formal and informal meetings, between Ministry of Education and Survey personnel. There were no special inspectors for Zambian languages in 1970; they have been appointed since then. Zambian languages were assigned only two or three periods a week in 1970. The new common syllabus (which has since been worked out, published, and distributed to schools) gives appreciably more time to them. (For instance, in grades 5,6, and 7 they must be taken daily, i.e. five periods a week.) Materials had been published only in two of the Zambian languages in 1970 (though some part-time work was going on in the remaining five of the seven officially taught languages). In 1972 fourteen teachers had been seconded to the Curriculum Development Centre to write Zambian language courses in all seven languages (two teachers for each language).

Teacher training colleges had no common curriculum, syllabus, or policy for the teaching of Zambian languages in 1970. A Common Syllabus was drafted in 1972 and will soon be published. There were no senior positions in Zambian languages in teacher training colleges comparable to those in such subjects as English and mathematics. By 1972, however, grade I lecturers had been appointed to senior positions in these colleges. Panel meetings have been held to standardize orthography in all seven languages, and one Survey scholar (a Zambian) has participated as an active member. Perhaps most innovative of all, eight Zambian teachers and materials writers are receiving in-service training in language teaching at the University of London’s Institute of Education, in collaboration with the School of Oriental and African Studies. (The scheme is under the auspices of the Commonwealth Education Study Fellowship Programs—1972/73.) The impact of this training should be very important not only for the teaching of Zambian languages but for the teaching of English and French in Zambia.

Whether the indirect impact of surveys is planned or unplanned, the very activities of a sociolinguistic survey arouse interest and a keener awareness of language and its use among the variety of people with whom surveys come in contact in an area. The Grierson survey worked through village school teachers and officers of the Education Department. Eastern African nationals who were involved in the Survey in that region included Ministry of Education officials university professors, teacher training college lecturers, inspectors, headmasters, school teachers, university students, secondary school students, and many others. The questions asked through them and the situations observed—classrooms, post offices, libraries, markets, courtrooms, church services, and so on—have probably brought language problems into sharper focus and imparted a keener awareness of how language is used among people in these coun* -is.

The impact of sociolinguistic surveys on the scholarly world—both domestic and expatriate—is another facet of their indirect results. Sociolinguistic surveys are reported, for instance, to have aroused interest in the everyday use of language among local scholars previously concerned mainly with its historical aspects; to have opened channels of communication between local university departments that scarcely knew of each others’ work previously; to have recruited people with hitherto parochial interests to take a closer look at the role of language in their disciplines; and to have brought scholars into contact with government administrators. They have resulted in new courses at Western universities whose interests had not

previously been so sharply focused on the areas to which they loaned scholars for survey work; they have increased the availability of information on developing areas to institutions which can disseminate such information and be of service to the areas themselves; and so on. Ashok Kelkar's paper (which appears in this volume) on the scope of surveys summarizes the major areas of their usefulness to the scholarly world.

Before concluding it should be stated that neither in their direct nor indirect implications on these areas can it be claimed that surveys do not, or cannot, have shortcomings and fail to meet the expectations of many people. Their shortcomings may result from a lack of time, lack of personnel, over-ambitiousness on the part of those responsible for the work (or over-expectation from “experts'* on the part of others), personality problems, flaws in planning and methodology, anxiety to utilize incomplete data, financial problems, and so on. The papers by J. Donald Bowen and Edgar Polome in this volume discuss some of the problems attendant on the organization and running of surveys. .

In addition to these shortcomings, it is possible that, even with the present experience in sociolinguistic surveys, not all the appropriate types of data and information are being collected. For instance, it may be that sociolinguists are as yet unable to adequately assess the role of language in economic development, in legal systems, and in the political process because they have not yet developed sufficient sophistication for inquiry into these areas. As more varieties of sociolinguistic surveys are conducted, they may lead to more interdisciplinary cooperation and to a better understanding of the dynamics of language use and language change.

The major use of sociolinguistic surveys is to provide as accurate and as relevant a picture of the “situation" as possible to the many individuals or groups that have the task of making decisions on matters related to language and to interpret the implications of their findings for the particular community under study in order that decisions may be based on sound information.

The sociolinguist concerned can do this in his role as linguist or “pure” sociolinguist; then point to alternative choices in decisions and strategies for carrying them out. But, if he is a national of the area under study, then as a responsible citizen he can interpret what the data show the situation to be and what can be done to promote and induce the right kind of change. He can then consciously decide to become an agent of change and help those in charge to plan and honestly execute a strategy for change with an eye on the sociolinguistic facts and in collaboration with both the public and the politicians and administrators in his community.

Over and beyond this, however, sociolinguistic surveys can also have a profound influence on the area they study by focusing attention on language and its importance, by providing a basis and stimulus for further study, and by helping build up interest and resources both in the area under study and in the home institutions of the scholars involved, whether they are nationals of the country or expatriates.

NOTES

1. The present paper was first undertaken by Sirarpi Ohannessian. Discussions with Gilbert Ansre in the summer of 1972 led to his contributing a number of ideas and a framework on which to build the paper. A draft version was written by Sirarpi Ohannessian and sent to Gilbert Ansre who suggested some changes and contributed sections to various parts. The paper also utilizes some of the ideas expressed b' participants at the September conference.

2. The Yewe cult of Eweland in southern Ghana, Togo, and Dahomey is a good example. Members of the cult speak a specific language variety which is clearly akin to Ewe but quite distinct and understandable only to the members. This variety is presently under investigation and promises very interesting results. Also, diviners in many communities use either a completely different language or a variety of the usual language during the crucial moments of worship.

3. Many translations of holy scriptures, especially the Bible, are meant not only to modernize the language for easy understanding of Christians but also to be more easily understandable to the non-Christian.

4. For tribal identity and modern ethnicity see Fredrik Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organisation of Culture Difference (The Little, Brown Series in Anthropology). 1969.

5. In a paper entitled “St. Stephen of Perm and Applied Linguistics.** Charles A. Ferguson discusses, in quite a different setting, the types of consideration to be taken into account in language choice, choice of an appropriate variety as standard, and in devising a writing system for a non-literate society. He uses as his major example the work of a fourteenth century Russian Orthodox bishop. In Joshua Fishman. Charles A. Ferguson and Jyoti-rindra Das Gupta, eds., language Problems in Developing Nations. New York. John Wiley and Sons, l96S.pp.2S3-265.

6. Williamson. Kay. “The Nigerian Rivers Readers Project." The Linguistic Reporter 14:6 (December 1972), p. i-2.

7. For a discussion of what may be defined as “language." “dialect." and “variety.** see the introduction to Charles A. Ferguson and John J. Gumperz. “Linguistic Diversity in South Asia,” International Journal of American Linguistics (Publication 13 of the Indiana Research Center in Anthropology. Folklore, and Linguistics. Part 3)26:3 (July I960), p. vii.

8. See K.O. Dickens, “Unification: The Akan Dialects of the Gold Coast.** The Use of Vernacular Languages in Education (Monographs on Fundamental Education), Paris, UNESCO. 1953,pp. IIS 123.

9. See, fo: example. Report of the Commonwealth Conference on the Teaching of English as a Second Language held at Makarere College, Uganda from January 1-13.1961. Printed on behalf of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee by the Government Printer, Entebbe. Uganda, vi, $6 pp.

The Linguistic Survey of India-Perspectives on Language Use

by Prabodh B. Pandit

So*here in Hindustan is the language of the village the same as the language of the court and of the schtud.

from George Abraham Grierson's note to the Seventh International Oriental Congress. Vienna, September 27th. 1886.

The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI), compiled and edited by Sir George Grierson, is one of the most comprehensive surveys of languages undertaken and completed by one scholar. To put it in Grierson’s own words, . I claim that what has been done in it for India has been done for no other country in the world.”¹ The survey was undertaken in the last decade of the 19th century, and the editing and publication were completed in 1927. It consists of eleven volumes with a total of about ten thousand pages. It encompasses all the language-families represented in India and gives samples, descriptions, and a vocabulary of selected words of the languages surveyed; “... the number of languages spoken in that portion of Indian Empire subjected to the Survey amounts to 179, and the number of dialects to 544, all of which are described in these vo» imes "*

The Survey is the culmination of the machinery for data collection established by the then Government of India. The transfer of power from the East India Company to the British Crown in 1858 brought the governance of India to a new turning: *he mid-Victorian affluence and enlightenment had brought a new awareness of governance as a science and even an art. “Knowledge is power” was the slogan grasped in the most literal sense—to know about, to understand, and thus to master the situation, whether it be the life and labour of the London poor or the mosaic of people in the far-flung empire. The great phase of comprehensive data-collection in India—archaeological, ethnographic, sociological, demographic, statistical, and economic—had begun in the decade from I860-1870. This type of activity, particularly as exemplified by the first great decennial Census of 1870-71 and the district gazetters, brought into focus what information was missing or could not be handled by routine civilian training. Grierson succeeded in getting the Herculean assignment sanctioned and centralised as he wished because the imperial philosophy of how to govern (so as to avoid the type of "disaster of 1857") required systematic facts. True to the spirit of its origin, the LSI, as a factual masterpiece, has been used mostly by fact-finding organizations like the Census rather than by any ambitious student or institution of linguistics. Grierson, with a comprehensive map before him, exhibited many valuable insights in his writings, and yet, barring an exceptional Sir Ralph Turner, other latter-day scholars have considered Grierson a mere data-collector.

Individual scholars had already published detailed studies of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families. Sketches of grammars and translations of the Bible

had also been published for a number of Munda and Tibeto-Burman languages. Grierson himself had contributed two of the major works published before the Survey was undertaken: Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Sub-Dialects of the Bihah Languages (1883 1887) and Bihar Peasant Life Being a Discursive Catalogue of the Surroundings of the People of that Province (1885). The other major contributions were Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages by А. P. R. Hoernle (1880); Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India by John Beanies (1872 79); and A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages by Robert Caldwell (1856).

The collection, classification, and publication of data from the Survey extended over a period of thirty years. Grierson presented a summary of the results of the Survey in the Introduction of the first part of the first volume, published in 1927. The second part of the first volume consists of “a comparative vocabulary of 168 selected words m about 368 different languages and dialects.'* "A third part," Grierson continues, "is being prepared by the competent pen of Professor Turner of the School of Oriental Studies. It will be a Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, for the special use of philologists. It will appear in due course, and will complete the Survey."’ Sir Ralph Turner's Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages was published in 1966; a second volume. Language Indexes. came out in 1969; and a third volume, consisting of the phonetic correspondences (coded by computer) is under preparation. One can say that the Survey is yet not quite complete!*

Grierson submitted the proposal for the Survey to the Government in 1887. The proposal was a -quel to the resolution of the Seventh International Oriental Congress held at V ienna in September 1886, which Grierson and Hoernle attended as official delegates. The Vienna resolution proposed “a deliberate systematic survey of the languages of India, nearer and further, not only as they exist at the present time, but as far back as mss. take us."' The resolution was supported by President R. von Roth and Vice-President Weber of the Aryan section as well as by a host of eminent scholars attending the Congress. Grierson, then the Collector and Magistrate of Gaya, presented a note to the Government giving an outline of the proposed Survey. This proposal was eventually turned down by the Government in 1891, but it is interesting to note its contents.

Grierson proposed that the Survey should be divided into three branches; (i) grammatical, (ii) vocabulary, and (iii) literary. The actual materials for the grammar were to be obtained from village school-teachers, with the assistance of officers of the Education Department; Grierson suggested that the best method for collecting materials for grammar would be to write the forms of Hindi grammar and distribute these with instructions to write opposite each the corresponding word in their own dialect. Similarly the vocabulary could be collected by getting Grierson’s Bihar Peasant Life translated in each district. Grierson had successfully tried this technique in his works on Bihari grammar and vocabulary. His Bihar Peasant Life is a veritable mine of information on village life for the dialect regions of Bihar—crafts and occupations, words for various types of baskets and ploughs, and so on. It is “a word and object" study. Of course, this technique could be limited

to the Indo-Aryan language areas only, where a working translation from Hindi could be obtained. For the Non-Aryan language areas, Grierson counted on missionaries and, in many places, on "native gentlemen.'* Information regarding the literature of the dialects could be linked with the search for Sanskrit manuscripts (which was being conducted by scholars and the Government) by including a search for vernacular manuscripts as well.

The whole survey was to be under one supervisory authority under which there would be provincial directors (about 14). It was most important that such a huge un* dertaking should be under one authority, because unless the work was done to scale and unless various pieces of information from one section could be compared with those of other sections, the work could become, as one scholar commented, “un amas informe de papiers asserics." Grierson estimated that the work would take about three years at a total estimated cost of about Rs. 350,000. The Government circulated the proposal among various scholars to obtain their observations (which were favourable) as well as among various provincial governments. After a protracted correspondence, the scheme was given up because the government could neither spare the officers nor spend the money for the Survey.

Grierson, however, continued his efforts and proposed an alternative. In a letter to the Home Department, dated February 13,1891, he wrote:

Now, do you think that the Govt, of India could help me n this—to make a collection of specimens of every language and dialect spoken in India? That h not a thing that would require special men. I would gladly undertake the editing of the collection; so far as I was able, in my spare time, and no doubt others would help me. All that would be necessary would be to give me plenty of time, and to help me in printing, etc., I would suggest sending out forms to be filled up in every district, asking for the name of each dialect or language, and one or two other particulars, and giving a standard fable, or other extract for translation. A complete collection would be not only interesting but. 1 believe valuable.⁷

The Government responded favourably; it was also conceded that "perhaps the work might usefully be dovetailed into the Census results."* The proposal pushed forward was that "a sort of catalogue raisonnel should be prepared of the languages of India."* It was estimated that this inquiry could be completed in three years, at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,000 per year.

The proposal was accepted, and Grierson, who was by now the Opium Agent to the Government, was put on special duty for this work. The Survey was extended to the whole of India except Burma, Madras, and the Hyderabad provinces. The provinces covered were Assam; Lower Bengal; Nepal; the North-Western Provinces; the Punjab, including Kashmir and the neighboring countries; Rajputana; Central India; the Central Provinces; Berar; Bombay; and Sindh, together with (in the case of British Provinces) the connected Native States.¹* Grierson planned the work in two stages. He explained the plan in a circular dated May 19,1896, which was sent to all the political officers in the provinces. "The first stage will consist in

making a rough preliminary catalogue of all the names by which every form of speech used in the area under survey is known. The second stage will consist in collecting specimens of all the various forms of speech so catalogued; and of revising the first rough catalogue by the help of these specimens." "

One of Grierson's major tasks was to identify various language names obtained as mother-tongues in the Census returns, since the same language might be known under different labels in different places. Sometimes the difference might be only in nomenclature; sometimes it might be a dialectal difference. The plethora of language names have usually been a puzrie to Census superintendents. J. A. Bains, for example, in his General Report on the Census of India in 1891, observed that the instructions issued regarding language ran as follows:

Enter here the language ordinarily spoken in the household of the parents, whether it be that of the place of enumeration or not.

The question put to those enumerated was, no doubt, simple enough, but even to the most optimistic Superintendent of Census, this is no reason for expecting a straight answer. In accordance with the general tendency noted in the introductory portion of this chapter, the first impulse, in many cases, is to return the name of the caste as that of the language. For example the potter gives 'potterish,' the tanner 'tannerish* or the weaver ‘weaverish* as his mother-tongue, especially if he be either a member of a large caste or a stranger to the locality where he is being enumerated.¹¹'

In his general report on the 1901 Census, Grierson has made some interesting observations about language nomenclatures:

Having fixed the locality of our language, it is by no means easy to get at its name As a rule, in Northern India, natives do not grasp the idea connoted by the word 'language.* They understand that connoted by 'dialect* readily enough, but their minds are not trained to grasp the conception, so familiar to us, of a general term embracing a number of inter-connected dialects. It is as if we in England spoke of ‘Somersetshire* and ‘Yorkshire* dialects but never used the term 'English language.* Moreover, the average native rarely knows the name of his own dialect, though he can recognise without difficulty the dialect spoken by a stranger. A man of Oudh may be unaware that he himself speaks Awadhi, though he will say at once that A speaks Bhojpuri, and that В speaks BrajbhSshi. Again many dialect titles are of the nature of nicknames, such as Jangali, the language of the forest boor, or Rathi, that of the ruthless ones. JangSir, for instance, is a well-known name of the language of a certain tract in the Punjao, but when you go into the tract and ask for the JangAlf speakers, you ?rc assured that it is not to be found here, but is the speech of the fellow a little further on. You go further on and get the same reply, the language receding like will-o-the-wisp at each stage of your progress. From all this it follows that, in Northern India, the language names have generally been invented by the English, while the dialect-names have been obtained, not from the speakers, but from 'the fellow* who is not *a little further on.’¹¹

In the first stage of the “catalogue raisonnce'* which was to become the Lin* guistic Survey of India, Grierson circulated a form (see Appendix A) to be filled out for each district or tract. With the form he sent a series of instructions and a letter to all the officers.

From his observations it is clear that Grierson was aware of the multilingual situation and resulting code*switching situations:

The object is to learn what natives of India call the languages which they themselves speak.... I hope it will be clearly understood that the names which I want entered are the names of genuine local dialects. In some parts of India people are more or less bilingual. A man will speak one language in his own house and among his familiar friends, and another language, a kind of court language, when talking in the city bazaars, in a public court, or to a superior. It is the former language which I wish to have recorded.... To take a concrete example: In Allahabad, for instance, the language spoken in the courts, in the bazaars, and to European gentlemen is no doubt Hindustani, but the language (or languages) of the surrounding districts differs widely from Hindustani. According to one excellent authority no less than six different dialects are current in that single town. Hindustani should only be entered if it is the bome-language of any particular class or group of people, c «., of the Musalman population of any town or tract.'*

The second stage of the project was to collect specimens of the languages and dialects. Grierson prepared a standard format for eliciting information on grammar, which he eventually edited for each dialect under the heading “Skeleton Grammar.” A skeleton grammar uniformly occupied two pages of the Survey; each one was preceded by a more detailed description of the pronunciation and grammatical usage. In many cases, Grierson also used the data supplied by existing grammars and other accounts of the language. The specimens of languages were collected by eliciting one piece of local colloquial conversation and by a translation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the local patois. The parable was selected because it supplied a good variety of pronominal and tense ^rorms and, above ail, because translations of it were available in numerous Indian languages and dialects. A volume of all the available translations was prepared so that a native might listen to the parable in a language known to him and then repeat it in his vernacular. The specimens were presented in roman transcription with literal translation and a free rendering into English.

Grierson used a practical roman transcription system rather than a phonetic alphabet of any kind because of printing difficulties and because the data were collected by district officers who could not use phonetic alphabets.

That Grierson was aware of the lack of phonetic sophistication in his data is evidenced by the following statement from the introductory volume:

The reader who may have to consult the volumes of this Survey will no doubt regret, as 1 do. the absence from its pages of any reference to the important subject of phonetics. When the Survey was begun that science was in its childhood. It was hardly known in India, and. even in Europe, it had not yet sue* cccded in producing an alphabetic system capable of representing alt possible sounds which had been universally adopted by general consent. At the present day. the state of affairs is very different, and the alphabet of the International

In this Survey, most of the materials have either been received from govern* ment officials, who—however familiar with the practical use of the dialects on which they reported may have been—did not pretend to be skilled phone* ticians, or else have been collected from books by many authors who gave no real particulars regarding the sounds recorded in them. In such cases all that we can hope for is an approximate representation, which may or may not be accurate, of the various sounds, and here the use of phonetic script would give the reader a false sense of security that might easily lead him astray. As it is obvious that one system must be used throughout, the specimens in this Survey have all been recorded in an alphabet based on the well-known official system employed in India for the transliteration of Indian words. This is the system with which alt government officials are familiar, and which they can be trusted to employ correctly.¹*

Grierson's materials, with notes on pronunciations, are quite consistent and useful. He had difficulties with tones, and he writes that he does not know how to transcribe them satisfactorily. Gramaphone records of a number of specimens were also prepared. Grierson reports in the Introductory volume that, “At the time of writing (Arpil 1924) . . , altogether 218 records, illustrating 97 languages and dialects have been prepared."¹*

Grierson compiled a list of 241 selected words and phrases, elicited from each district and ":Ct, which supplied him with data for grammatical analysis and subgrouping of languages. The list is appended to every sub*group, and in the second part of the first volume (comparative vocabulary) he has .. endeavoured to ar* range some of the more important facts shown by the Survey in a form that will make reference easy for those interested in comparative philology.”'* Grierson gives a list of 216 vocabulary items in 364 languages and dialects of the world.

One of the more interesting features of the Survey is the sampling of the writing systems. This was the period when printing was being newly introduced and in* digenous writing systems with local cursive varieties were stwi in vogue. Grierson had the samples of the writing system collected from the district officers, and he fre* quently noticed differences in the writing systems related to occupations and communities. The variety of writing systems and the factors determining the choice of a cursive variety deserve more attention in sociolinguistic surveys. Grierson has supplied some interesting cases of the variety of writing systems for the same language. He has given various types of “mercantile”—commercial—forms of writing prevalent among various castes and communities of Sindh where two major types of writing systems—Nagarf and Perso-ЛгаЫс—are prevalent.'* Similarly, for Kashmiri. which also employs the same two major types of writing systems, Grierson has given information on the varieties of cursive forms.'* The same procedure has been followed for Panjabi.** For each language. Grierson supplies an exhaustive ЫЬ-liography which encompasses almost stl the available literature on Indian languages up to the date of the publication of the Survey.

The first two stages of the Survey were completed while Grierson was in India. \ v.-se were: (a) the collection of data on the distribution of the communities with the k'^r huage*diaicct names and (b) the collection of language specimens, including the vocabulary, the translation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and one more piece of narration or conversation in the local colloquial dialect. In 1899. Grierson bad to return to England on medical advice. From that period onwards, the Survey work was conducted from England. Grierson had already received most of the specimens, but the work of classification, analysis, writing up of the skeleton grammars from the data, and supervising the printing (which was done in India) from such a long distance was a formidable task. Often, the samples required some clarification, and they were shipped back and forth until a suitable answer came from the source where the samples were collected. Later on, Professor Sten Konow assisted Grierson in editing some volumes, but the overall supervision remained with Grierson. When fully published, the Survey consisted of eleven volumes (sec Appendix B).

The introductory volume of the Survey deals with a summary of findings of the Survey: a historical account of each language family and the proposed sub-grouping within each language family. The Survey deals with the languages spoken by about 290 million people. The following is a summary of the number of speakers for each language family and the languages and dialects:

It is evident that the family which contains the greatest variety of languages is Tibeto-Chinese (Tibeto-Burman and Siamese-Chinese language groups).

The LSI served the immediate requirements of the Census of India. The decennial Census Surveys brought in enormous amounts of language entries, and the classification of these entries according to some reasonable scheme of scientific nomenclature based on language families and sub-groupings within a family was a formidable task. The LSI provided a frame of reference for the identification of language and dialect. In the 1881 Census, different Provincial Superintendents gave some information about the languages in their provinces, but nowhere was a scheme

of classification for ati the languages proposed. Grierson wrote the chapter on languages in the 1901 Census. This chapter, which was a preliminary draft of the later detailed account of the introductory volume of the LSI, provided a scheme of classification which was followed in all the subsequent Censuses. Grierson also gave maps to mark off linguistic regions, but at the same time he was quite clear about the nature of such “boundaries":

When such boundaries are spoken of, or are shown on a map, they must always be understood as conventional methods of showing a state of things that does not really exist, it must be remembered that on each side of the conventional line there is a border tract of greater or less extent, the language of which may be classed at will witn one or other. Here we often find that two different observers report different conditions as existing in one and the same area, although both are right. For instance, the Census places the northwestern frontier of Bengali some twenty or thirty miles to the east of that fixed by the Linguistic Survey, and I no more maintain that the Survey figures art right than that the Census figures are wrong. From one point of view both are right, and from another both are wrong. It is a mere question of personal equation.*'

Unfortunately, Grierson’s maps and boundaries have been periodically used by political pressure groups to “claim" an area for a language group. These quarrels started with the reorganisation of states into “linguistic provinces,” and they still continue.

The Census operations have grown. They now elicit information regarding the mother-tongue and other languages known to the speaker. The “two questions” which deal with language data in the Census elicit information about bilingualism. Grierson was not concerned with the information regarding bilingualism, nor did he obtain any systematic information regarding language use in bilingual or multilingual communities. He was more concerned with identification and nomenclature of a language-its boundary, grammar, and vocabulary—but occasionally he gives a very vivid picture of language use in India. Besides specifying the features of regional dialects, he notices the differences between the literary and colloquial varieties. He also frequently cites specimens of “mixed dialects.” In his earlier note for the Survey proposal, Grierson observes:

The literary or Government language of any trav't is widely different from the language actually spoken by the people. In some cases this is only a question of dialect, but in others the polite language learned by Europeans, and by natives who wish to converse with Europeans, is totally distinct both in origin and in construction from that used by the same natives in their homes ... nowhete in Hindustan is the language of the village the same as the language of the court and of the school. This is true to a certain extent all over the world, but in India the difference between the two languages is peculiarly great.**

Grierson’s interest in language relationship and 'anguage-history prevented him

from paying more attention to language use. More lively are the accounts of the authors of provincial Census reports, which came out before the LSI and the 1901 Census. (Although these authors were not students of language, they were shrewd observers.) In particular D. C. J. Ibbctson’s Report on the Census of Punjab 1881 ** and J. A. Baines’s General Report on the Distribution of the Population According to Mot her-Tongue, Census of India 1891, deserve some attention in this respect. Writing about Bengali, Baines says:

Bengal, too is the province of all others in which there is the widest gap be* tween the small literary castes and the masses of people. One of the results is that the vernacular has been split in two sections: Hrst the tongue of the people at large, which, as remarked above, changes every few miles; secondly the literary dialect, known only through the press and not intelligible to those who do not also know Sanskrit.... For instance, when the instructions for filling up the Census schedule had to be translated into the vernacular for use in this province, the local Superintendent of the operations, a civil servant of much experience of men and cities, obtained versions, not from the men of light and leading in the capital, but from officers administering districts, who knew what the lieges will and can understand. A good working translation was thus obtained, which, when read over to a Calcutta scholar, no doubt made him stare and gasp, and mourn over the opportunity thus lost of giving the widest possible dissemination of culture in style.²⁴

Though intended as a “catalogue raisonnee” (to be dovetailed into the Census operations), the LSI is a monumental work of linguistic erudition and scholarship. Grierson gave a historical account of each language family—its early stages and sub-groups (Grierson’s criteria for sub-grouping were the similarities in the grammatical structures of languages). He was most familiar with the Indo-European-Indo-Aryan languages, and the LSI became a pioneering work in Indian linguistics. That the source material for the historical study of Indo-Aryan was the colloquially spoken varieties—rather than the medieval literary documents—was amply demonstrated by the LSI. The data collected on such a vast scale made it possible for later scholars to interpret the history of Indo-Aryan with more refined techniques of comparison. A number of historical studies of different Indo-Aryan languages have followed the LSI. Two studies in particular—Jules Bloch s Formation de la langue Marat he (1919) and Suniti Kumar Chatterji’s Origin and Development of the Bengali Language (1926)— which influenced all the subsequent work in Indo-Aryan languages have used data from the LSI. Chatterji successfully refuted Grierson’s classifications of Indo-Aryan languages into ‘’Inner.*’ “Outer,” and “Mediate” languages. Grierson, in the Foreword to Chatterji’s book, congratulates him for producing the wealth of data—with phonetic sophistication—available only to a native observer. Bloch's later work, L’lndo Aryan du Veda aux temps Modernes (1934), is a panoramic survey of the history of Indo-Aryan languages, which, again, is made possible mainly by data from the LSI. A number of individual language studies have followed these: Evolution of A wadhi (Baburam Saxena, 1937); The Formation of MailhUi Language (Subhadra Jha, 1958); Origin and Development of Bhojpuri

(Udai Narain Tiwari, I960); Formation of Konkani (S. M. Katre, 1942); A Phonology of Punjabi (Banarsi Das Jain, 1934); Assamese, its Formation and Development. 2nd ed. (B. Kakati, 1962). Each of these have, of course, added and improved vastly on the dialect data supplied by the LSI. There have been a few attempts -exercises in comparative method—to apply techniques of comparative reconstruction and arrive at a statement of the Proto-Indo-Aryan and its successive splits and compare the sub-groupings with those proposed by Grierson and Chat-terji. Most of these are dissertations, dealing with a selected number of Indo-Aryan languages and selected data of 200 to 600 vocabulary items. Some have used the data from Grierson; some have collected their own data. The findings, necessarily, are inconclusive; they are; A Test of the Comparative Method: A Historically Controlled Reconstruction Based on Four Modern Indie Languages, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Franklin C. Southworth, 1958); A Controlled Historical Reconstruction of Oriya. Assamese. Bengali and Hindi (D. P. Pattanayak, 1966); A Controlled Comparative Reconstruction of Bangru. Braj. Panjabi, and Rajasthani, unpublished M. Litt. dissertation (Shree Krishnan, 1968); A Controlled Comparative Reconstruction of Kashmiri-LahnJa-Panjabi-Sindhi, unpublished M. Litt. dissertation (Thakur Dass, 1969).

from the Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages, no attempt has been made at a comprehensive reappraisal of the problem of language relationships and sub-groupings in Indo-Aryan.

Following Grierson’s Bihar Peasant Life, which is a study of the vocabulary of the Bihari dialects, a number of vocabulary studies were prepared in Indian Ian* gUfcgcs from time to time, many of which were unpublished dissertations.

Jules Bloch, in his Application de la cartographic a I'histoire de Ttndo-Aryen (1963), has studied the distribution of morphological features of Indo-Aryan and plotted on the map of India the distribution of some morphemes from the data supplied by the LSI and subsequent language studies. These provide some explanation of morphological innovations in Indo-Aryan and demarcate the relic and focal areas. Grierson’s survey provides excellent material for such studies, but very little work has been done in this direction.

The LSI did not cover the Dravidian language area completely, and recently the Government has supported survey work in the area not covered by the LSI. The work on Munda has been continued by the Munda Project of the University of Chicago. The Department of Census and the Department of Anthropological Survey continue to collect data on Tibeto-Burman and other languages and dialects hitherto not described. The LSI has contributed both to the practical requirements of the Census and to the scholarly study of languages. It may be noted, however, that the utilisation of the LSI towards understanding the problems of language teaching and language development has been neglected. The retevar.ee of language-dialect description to problems of literacy and language standardisation has not been realised in the developing countries, nor was the LSI geared to these specific needs.

guages in India (and this number has been frequently highlighted both in the LSI [which underscored the need for a Survey] and in the Census) is that all these varieties of dialects and languages are interpreted as barriers to communication. The notion of "linguistic area" is relatively recent. The multiplicity of languages and dialects may not represent multiple barriers in communication so much as a linguistic area with a large number of common syntactic and phonological features. Review and reinterpretation of a number of “mixed languages" and transition areas of the LSI, in the light of cut rent research in sociolinguistics, would give a better account of language communication in multilingual communities. Multiplicity of languages does not appear to be a transient feature in India; speakers maintain their languages even if they are amidst other language speakers. One of the features of multilingualism or bilingualism in India is its stability. Despite the high rate of illiteracy and lack of any tradition of formal language teaching (of Indian languages to non-native speakers), the incidence of bilingualism is significant. The Census data regarding bilingualism indicate that speakers of different languages live side by side, in considerable number in rural as well as urban areas, thereby making a sizable population of each language a bilingual group.

Why are the bilingual situations stable? When a speaker of German or Spanish or Yiddish migrates to America, he gives up his language after the second or third generation. Similarly, immigrants in other countries in Europe give up their languages after a few generations and accept the majority language. The Indian language speaker—whether it is Kannada or Panjabi—maintains his speech, no matter where (in India) he settles down or how long he has settled there. In order to settle down among other language speakers, an Indian does not have to give up his language. He is welcome despite his different language; speaking a different language does not make him an alien. The underlying acceptability of any Indian in any Indian cultural setting is symptomatic of a cultural identity and homogeneity at a deeper level; it permits retention of identity markers—whether it is language or religion, food habits or dress habits. Continuous language contact in such multilingual communities results in a set of rules shared by diverse languages, at the same time retaining identity markers, mainly at the morphophonemic and lexical levels.

Sociolinguists have asked the question, "Why do people maintain their language?" It seems that this basic question can be answered only in the context of the general acceptability of other language-speaking Indians in an Indian cultural setting. A sociolinguistic inquiry in India may give us a new perspective and prompt us to rephrase the question to, "Why do people give up their language?"

1. George Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, reprint (Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1967), I. I.p.ii.

4. The Comparative Dictionary in three volumes is now complete and published. See the bibliography.

5. Government of India, Language Monographs. Census of India Vol. I, Part Xl-C(i), (Delhi,

Superintendent of Government Printing. 1961), p. 122 and 126, hereafter referred to as Census Monographs.

6. From A. Barth’s comments on Grierson’s proposal at the Vienna Congress. In op. cit. in fn. 5. p. 126.

16 Op. cit. in fn. 1,1. I. p. 196. A complete list of records is given in Appendix II of the same volume, pp. 412 424.

21. George Grierson. /90/ Census of India (Calcutta. Superintendent of Government Printing) and op cit in fn. 5. p. 372.

Beames, John. Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India. 3 vols. 187279. Reprint. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharal. 1970.

Bloch. Jules. Formation de la langue Marathe. 1919. Reprint. English trans. by Dev Raj Chanana. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass. 1970.

__L'lndo Aryan du Veda a их temps Modernes. 1934. Reprint. English trans. by A.

____ Application de la Cartographic a Vhistoire de Tlndo-Aryen. Paris: Imprimerie Na-

Caldwell. Robert. A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages. 1856. Reprint. Madras: University of Madras. 1961.

Chatterji. Suniti Kumar. Origin and Development of Bengali Language 2 vols. 1926. Reprint. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1970.

Government of India. Census of India Delhi: Superintendent of Government Printing. Grierson. George. Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Sub-Dialects of the Bihari Languages. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1883 1887.

__Bihar Peasant Life-Being a Discursive Catalogue of the Surroundings of the People

of that Province 1885.2nd ed. Patna: Superintendent of Govern n nt Printing. 1926. Hoernle, A. F. G. Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages. London: T rubner, 1880. Jain, Banarasi Das. A Phonology of Punjabi Lahore: University of Punjab, 1934.

Kakati, B. Assamese, its Formation and Development: A ScientifiCTreatise on the History

and Philologv of ike -I Siamese Language 2nd ed. Revised and edited by Golock Chandra Goswami. 1962.

К at re, S. M. for mutton of копкам 2nd ed. Poona- Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute. 1942.

Pattanuyak, D. P. .4 Controlled Historical Reconstruction of Orica. Assamese. Bengali and Hindi. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.

Shree Krishnan. “A Controlled Comparative Reconstruction of Bangru, Braj, Panjabi and Rajasthani.*’ M. Lilt, dissertation, University of Delhi, 1968.

Southworth, Franklin C. *‘A Test of Comparative Method: A Historically Controlled Reconstruction Based on Four Modern Indian Languages.** Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1958.

Thakur Dass. “A Controlled Comparative Reconstruction of Kashmiri, Lahunda, Panjabi and Sindhi." M. Litt. dissertation, University of Delhi. 1969.

Tiwari. Udai Narain. Origin and Deselopmem о/ Bhojpuri. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, I960.

Turner, Ralph L. .4 Comparative Dictionary of Indo Aryan Languages. 3 vols. London: Ox-fo i University Press, 1966 1971.

Local name of the dulcet or form ol speech To be written in the local Vernacular character and in the Roman character.

Name of language ol which if is a dialect, if known To be written in the Roman character.

Approximate number ol persons speaking the dialect in the IikjIiH to which the return rclcrv

Assessing Multilingualism: An Abridgement of "Problems and Procedures in Ethno-linguistic Surveys"

by Willem D. Reyburn

This paper is an abridgement of Problems and Procedures in Ethnolinguistic Surveys. an outline based on a pilot study in a multilingual area, by William D. Reyburn, April 1956 (mimeographed for limited distribution by The American Bible Society).* The original paper is no longer available. The survey was carried out by Marie Fetzer Reyburn and the writer during ten weeks in the autumn of 195S. The study was undertaken at the invitation of Dr. Eugene A. Nida for the purpose of developing an approach to the assessment of multilingualism in order to anticipate more accurately the needs for Scripture translation in areas of language competition.

The original report and the present paper reflect the assumption, of a dominant language (Spanish) and two secondary languages (Miskito and English). Insufficient attention was given at the time of this study to the various roles played by competing languages in the communication of various types of information both within the in* group and with outsiders.

At the request of the editors of this volume, I have not attempted to revise but merely to abridge the original version.

Since the original study was largely concerned with the counting of bilingual traits within the various language communities, it is to be hoped that some of the methods suggested in this paper may be tested in the area of the survey, for a new generation of bilinguals has by now come on the scene.

l.l Library Research. Surveys should begin in the library where piT ished data on the area and peoples concerned may be assembled. This infor ition may be abundant or nonexiste.it. Duplication of effort can often be avoided by securing information from anthropological and linguistic journals as well as from less technical writings such as travelogues. If possible, data of the following kinds should be secured: (I) general cultural history; (2) ethnographical data; (3) vital statistics {if available]; (4) linguistic data. One should be especially careful to observe the various •This paper has been further abridged for this revision by eliminating an outline of a problem for a hypothetical Indian village— Muchopan.

factors of acculturation, as these have been operative over a space of many years. Non-technical writings such as travel accounts may be worthless but are sometimes valuable for insights concerning materia! acculturation, as such authors arc normally very conscious of the level of material culture found in an area.

1.2 Cooperation with nf,Hanoi bodies. National institutions such as government agencies, universities, and missions in the particular area should be contacted in advance and presented with the basic purposes and Procedures of the proposed work and invited to cooperate by supplying answers to detailed questions concerning: (I) availability and capacity of assistants and the languages they speak: (2) transportation and communication facilities available; (3) history of any related research.

1.3 Field equipment. A tape recorder is essential as are supplies for recording written information. Such supplies include:

• A 5 x 8 card Ше set up on the basis of the Outline of Cultural Materials, thus providing an efficient system for handling cultural information. One must select, however, those cultural categories which are pertinent to the survey.

• Pencils with medium hard leads. Writing with ink is apt to be blurred by rain and moisture.

The equipment one uses is normally guided by one's own experience in the field as well as by personal habits.

1.4 Sampling. Ethnolinguistic studies which are designed to provide information covering a large area and complex populations will require statements of two kinds: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative statements are the kind usually made by anthropologists and sociologists and indicate the general trend of conditions and describe institutions such as marriage or subsistence economy as a unit. Linguistic statements are made about units (phonemes, morphemes, phrases) which are necessarily repetitive and need little quantification for accurate statements of their occurrence and distribution. Whereas linguistics deals with discrete units and discounts the populations! differences involved, ethnolinguistics deals with the cultural and linguistic differential of the population. The latter requires the handling of quantitative information and means that qualitative statements must be based to a large degree upon counting likenesses and differences. The data of ethnolinguistics are concerned mainly with the status of transitional systems. Where cultures and languages are found in complex give-and-take situations, it is the rate and direction of change which will be of primary importance to persons such educators and missionaries who are making long term investments which, in some cases, a.*c made with the tacit assumption of a static universe.

niques. It is very unlikely thut reliable results can be obtained without сагеІЫІу planned sampling processes. This requires а proper process of selection of the elements to be sampled, control of the si/e of the sample, variability of the data, and the manner in which the results are calculated. Again the great diversity of cultural and linguistic patterns in areas where ethnolinguistic surveys are needed increases the possibility of gaining false impressions.

Before undertaking a survey in a country, a scale of graded complexities should be established. This means that the lower the level of ethnolinguistic complexity, the more homogeneous is the culture. Consequently, a smaller sample is required.

It is possible to determine the cultural institutions which contribute to ethnolinguistic complexities. These should be listed and observed or inquired about throughout the area of survey. Provided one takes several precautions, it is possible to state the relative complexity of each area by observing the kinds of contact situations which are active. A list of such factors may include accessibility of roads to language areas; economic, political, or religious dependency status of the subordinate language group; schools in the dominant language; and industry which throws large numbers of subordinate and dominant language groups together. In short, one seeks to locate all of the actual or potential factors which bring people together into contact situations. It is not enough to set down a number of such dements and list the villages or areas which have them. One needs also to know how long these contact factors have been operating and how the people have responded to them. Theoretically, it would be desirable to investigate all contact factors and set up an index of these which will show their relative influence throughout a large area. Such a grading of contact complexities will serve to assist the investigator in preparing the detail of his survey, the construction of questionnaires, the interpretation of results, and in the securing of a representative sample of responses.

1.5 Pilot survey. In order that one may know what one is going to survey, it is essential to have some acquaintance with the subject at first hand. Prior knowledge may be gained to some extent from t.l and 1.2. However, a pilot or exploratory survey is often much more useful. Such a pilot survey should prepare one to set up the complexity gradation suggested above. Also, how the information can be secured, what information will be relevant, and how much detail to be included should be answered in a pilot survey. Without a pilot survey, the investigator works blind and will not have a sound basis for the preparation of his survey. If a survey is to be made of Mexico and Central America, a pilot survey should be made first to outline the specifications of the proposed survey and to classify the entire area into groups according to complexity. For example, the type of information that can be obtained in Brus Lagoon among the Miskito is not available for some of the remote mountain tribes of Guatemala. A sample of Miskitos showing breakdown of mat-rilocal marriage residence is highly important when related to the inroads caused by labor migration. However, matrilocal residence may be irrelevant to another area and its changing economic patterns. Only after making a pilot survey and classifying the areas should the actual survey be launched.

1.6 Use of assistants. In many areas it will be necessary to secure the services of

local individuals to assist in the gathering of information. These individuals may or may not be available. In some cases, everyone is employed in his own agricultural activities. It is advisable to ask about seasonal activities so that a survey does not occur at the busiest season such as planting or harvesting. Assistants used are employed for two purposes: informant and investigator. It is usually easier to secure an informant than an investigator. When sampling a complex ethnolinguistic area, it is advisable to select assistants in such a way as to permit work among people of their own native language. If there are capable literate bilinguals available, one may spend several days instructing and working with these assistants who can then carry on most of the routine activity of a census. One should remain nearby to go over difficult problems. It is also advisable that one take the census of a portion of the area along with his assistant in order to understand better the problems that arise. If assistants are not available, one must often seek the use of bilingual interpreters. It is necessary to explain carefully the method of the work and to give the interpreter ample time to team the routine. It is probably true that the undertaking of such work requires extra-ordinary patience both on the part of the investigator and of the people. The matter of financial payment should be agreed upon by the researcher and the assistants before work begins.

It is advisable to present the proposed survey to local government agencies and to local administrators. These individuals can create an uncooperative attitude among the poeple, which would invalidate much of the work. The effectiveness and participation of missionaries will usually depend on the overall acceptance the mission has had in the area.

It would be impossible to set down the complex array of cultural features of ethno-linguistic situations. The investigator must rely on his ethnological training and experience to guide him in the separation of cultural factors which are relevant from those which are irrelevant or of secondary importance. If we assume for the purpose of this study that a survey is concerned principally with acculturation areas in which speakers of culturally subordina:e languages are being assimilated to culturally dominant languages, we may set forth some generalizations which will serve to guide the investigator in his elimination of factors to be evaluated.

2.1 Population problems. It would be helpful to know the exact size of each language population within a given area. However, one may as well face the fact that' this is too ideal at the present time. The problems that face a complete population census in nonliterate areas of wide population dispersion are formidable. For the purpose of ethnolinguistic surveys, a pilot study will provide a reasonably sound basis for estimated population totals. In areas of mixed language populations, the proportional representation of each group in the area is desired. However, conclusions concerning acculturation should not be drawn from these data alone. It is the overall cultural control or influence that determines the relative effect of each group, e.g. North Americans in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, do not number more than three families, but their effect on the entire area is vast since they determine the economic activities of hundreds.

2.1.1 Estimating populations. In areas where censuses have been taken, these should be given due consideration, paying attention, of course, to such factors as the motivations of the census takers and attitudes of the people concerning fear of legal matters, taxations, etc. Also important is the number of villages to be investigated: the types of aggregates and degree of dispersion, i.e. villages versus nonvillages. Usually it is possible to ask informants to name the villages within a restricted area, and then, by visiting a cross-section of these, one can arrive at a fairly accurate estimate of the population. Local missionaries are often the best source for this information. It is best to do population work with the aid of maps so that areas of greater density may be indicated and the density of the population spread over the entire area may be depicted; also, economic factors normally vary from place to place and may show an increased migration to the areas of greater food supply. Sampling methods should be used to determine the average number of occupants per household (provided, of course, the proper dwellings can be identified as households). These calculations are valuable in quickly determining the population of villages where life is not too complex. The number of males may be much less in a given area due to occupational hazards, and certain age groups within a population may be largely missing due to epidemics, childhood diseases, etc.

Any endeavor to get accurate information concerning the absolute totals of population could become very expensive and time consuming. Hence it is best to proceed as follows: (I) check for published accounts and government censuses; (2) check with local administrative units; (3) if I and 2 are not available, set down on a map alt villages known to capable informants and ask them to compare the size of each plotted village with the informant's own village [a complete census having been taken there); (4) carefully select a representative sample of villages and carry out a census; (S) calculate the relation of the sample to the total number of villages. These estimates must take into consideration the predominant settlement pattern and make allowances for nonvillagers who permanently live outside of the village area.

In some cases aerial recennaisance may be the only way to make a total population estimate. Here also, a careful sampling procedure should be representative of the entire area. This can usually be done by plotting on a map with the help of traveled informants the positions of inhabited areas and their particular characteristics.

2.1.2 Composition of populations. Ethnolinguistic surveys are concerned in a large part with the results of the contact of languages and cultures and the mixing of populations. In complex areas, a population composition study should be made. Such surveys should consider the following:

• Sex ratio of males to females. This is important in calculating death rates, since men have a higher death rate than women. Also, the role of women in society can often only be understood from their excessively high ratio over men.

• Age composition is likewise vuluable because it «hows the age spread throughout the society and. since mortality mounts rapidly for the older people, it is significant in calculating the death rate.

• Ethnic and linguistic composition is of prin- ry importance in ethnolinguistic surveys. By sampling procedures, it is possible to determine the relative size of each

linguistic group within * population. Each linguistic group should then be broken down into other components such as sex. age, bilingualism, education, and religion. Each of the ethnic groups should be studied as to its social organisation, attitudes toward o'her groups, economic and social activities, etc. When such things as intermarriage, death rate, and resistance to out-groups are known, it is possible to assess the dynamics of bilingual situations and the process of assimilation or resistance to assimilation taking place.

It is impossible to state the facts of acculturation and bilingual change in a community unless we know the details of the population components which are interacting. Often this kind of study will reveal the depth of resistance offered by a linguistic minority under a politically dominant group of another language. The United States has many more foreign language elements in its population than, say, Peru; however, the assimilative effect in the U.S. is much more intense than in Peru.

2.2.1 Cohesive ingroup attitude. A society whose social organization is tightly built around a unifying force will usually tend to resist outside influence. A careful observation of rules of marriage residence, settlement patterns, and lines of authority will often show where openings are beginning to break in the social structure and where change may be expected. For instance, if we know that an older, fixed rule of matrilocai residence is beginning to loosen and if we also know that the economy of the particular group is unstable and that there is a desire to seek employment, we may be able to predict that assimilation would accelerate rapidly if a nearby industry were established. If a rigid matrilocai rule of residence shows no signs of change even in spite of labor migration for males, we cQuId expect that the tempo of assimilation would be considerably retarded due to the fact that children would continue learning their native language in their mother's home and only males would learn the dominant language as adults.

2.2.2 Sense of security or insecurity. This factor may be related to many aspects of a people's life in complex ways. The decay of a political system which has run its course, the threat on economic continuity due to floods and pests, mistreatment by other ethnic groups, an awareness of being technologically backward, and many others are things which should be investigated to determine the relative sense of security or insecurity maintained by the group.

2.2.3 General social visibility. One should pay particular attention to those factors which determine the social horizon of a group. Some people do not compare their way of life with others. However, some people are very conscious of discoverable cultural differences and proceed to select those things which they wish to attain. In this connection, the role of the schoot is very important.

2.2.4 Desire to innovate. In all cultures there are probably innovators. One should determine if the desire to innovate is a general attitude or if there are particular individuals who are the innovators. The prestige role of these people should be investigated to determine their overall effectiveness.

2.2.5 Need for assimilation. By observation and discussion with individuals in the society, one can determine the real and imaginary needs for assimilation. It is fairly safe to say that assimilation does not take place unless it is felt to be necessary by the subordinate group. The factors which determine this status may be exceedingly complex and of considerable historical depth.

2.2.6 Mobility. Communications, roads, seaports, airlines, vehicles, and railroads are important factors in allowing people to move out of their group and seek em> ployment elsewhere or to admit foreigners.

industry. Both the industries that exist in an area and the local resources which are potential industries are important. An industry and a road may cause more bilingualism in one generation than has taken place in ten without these.

schools and education. The school plays an important role in bilingualism in areas where a dominant language is established and is used in education. The following are some of the points which should be observed:

• Composition of the student group, i.e. what proportion of the students are native speakers of the dominant language? How are they* divided as to age and sex?

• Average years of school attendance, i.e. what level of schooling do most of the children attain?

• How effectively do children command the dominant language at the various school levels?

• What proportion of the total of school-age children are regularly attending school?

• What opportunities outside school does the student have to contact native speakers of the dominant language?

• What is the attitude of these teachers toward the use of the nondominant language?

• The use of nondominant language in school-related activities, e.g. recreation, going to and from school, etc.

• If both the subordinate and dominant languages have a written tradition, how does this affect the learning of the dominant written form?

• A graded scale of the student group should be set up from the first to the last grade showing the degree of linguistic transfer in understanding, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking in the categories of the dominant language. The purpose of such studies is to inquire into the extent to which the new language is internalized in the behavior of the learner. Comparison should also be made to find out what takes place in the language behavior of the student who leaves school and has little or no contact with the dominant language.

• In areas where students have little or no contact with speakers of the dominant language, observations should be made concerning the coverage of the school in the entire area of the child’s daily life, i.e. schools in many areas are completely divorced from the practical area of daily living and consequently the acquired school vocabulary is insufficient for expressing the problems of getting a living and growing up. Schools in these situations have little effect on life style of the child unless he continues into secondary education and acquires a set of values outside his home community.

national consciousness. It is important to know to what extent a group of subordinate people believe themselves to be a functioning part of a national political unit.

churches. The acculturation role of the church complex, whether of a national or foreign body, should be studied.

government activities, real and expressed. What actual or potential interest does the government hold for the area and its inhabitants?

attitudes tow ards the subordinate language. It is common in Latin America for Indians to look down on their language after they learn from the Spanish that Spanish is a language and that their unwritten tongue is only a “dialect.” The feeling is more complex than this, however, as the attitudes do not often change after the Indian language has been put into written form.

An anaiysir. of the kinds of data suggested above should serve to prepare ait anthropological background from which to view the facts of language change and assimilation.

2.S Bilingualism. A general methodology for cthnoiinguistic surveys cannot encompass all of the complexities involved, because these are mainly cultural. However, an approach is needed which will enable the investigator to classify his area of study into types of bilingualism, for the bilingual is a main element of his study. A full typology of linguistic acculturation has never been worked out, and much correction and adjustment will be needed to design a valuable tool of classilication and analysis.

The purpose here is to set up graded types of linguistic acculturation. When a number of regions within a large political or cultural area can be classified and supported with cultural analysis, it will be possible to see at a glance the overall trends for a sizeable згеа containing numerous ethnic and linguistic groups.

Before setting down an attempted typology, it will be necessary to list briefly some of the basic assumptions of ethnolinguistic studies.

• Normally, a socially cohesive group with a common cultural tradition needs only one language for its cultural need.

• Languages in contact situations are subject to change, especially in the process of borrowing vocabulary.

• When two or more languages com; together, a complex setting of cultural factors (usually related to contrasts of dominance-prestige versus submission) determines the languages which will undergo assimilation.

• Bilingual individuals will increase in number in proportion to the need felt by the monolinguals and their opportunity to have direct access to the other language.

• In the process of assimilation to a second language, the rate of linguistic assimilation is related to the rate of cultural assimilation.

• The tempo of assimilation is determined mainly by the willingness of the sec*

ondary group to be assimilated and their socially and psychologically felt need for assimilation. (There arc, however, examples of forced assimilation.) ,

• Linguistic factors are operative in bilingual and assimilative process, but these are very secondary to cultural factors.

• Bilingualism does not normally result from “studying" the other language but from vital contact in the practical affairs of everyday living.

In ethnolinguistic studies it is the bilingual individual who is of primary interest, since such persons are the tenders or innovators in what may or may not be a trend towards assimilation. However, it is obvious that individuals who have contact with another language may know very little of that language or may be considered the equivalent of native speakers. Hence it is necessary to classify bilingualism at the in* dividual level befoie proceeding with the ciassiiication of language areas. Since bilingualism means the utilization of two languages (multilingualism being included here), it is necessary to indicate that languages can be used in several ways. If we wish to include the use of visual symbols, there are. for practical purposes, four elements of language which may be employed in the communication process: reading, writing, understand, and speaking. These factors we will call Communication Elements (CE).

R Reads. A person who only reads a foreign language. He does not write it, speak it. nor understand its spoken form. This is commonly found among people who teach themselves to read foreign languages, particularly dead languages; but reading alone is seldom operative in language-culture contact situations.

R-W Reads and Writes. These persons can read and write a foreign language without understanding the spoken language or speaking it. This is the case when one studies dead languages or the same as R with the added capacity to write.

U Understands. These persons have become accustomed to hearing a foreign language spoken and understand the meaning of spoken messages but do not speak it themselves. This is commonly found among people who hear a language spoken about them but who do not have the need for speaking the language. This is often the case of national servants working in the homes of foreigners. It is also sometimes true of foreign language students or persons who are in the process of becoming bilingual.

U-S Understands-Speaks. These people understand and speak a language but do not read or write. This is the nonliterate.

tivity than writing, many individuals acquire the ability to read without learning to write. This is especially true in less schooled areas of the world.

sion of the two elements of normal human communication as welt as the use of visual symbols for reading and writing.

We wish also to be able to designate the degree of bilingualism in a somewhat quantitative sense. This can be accomplished with accuracy only by careful examination and by setting up a well graded scale of differences. For our purpose, however, which seeks to assess trends, the quantitative distinctions in individual bilingual capacities are not so important. A quantification would be desirable, however, which separates bilinguals into at least two groups—those who acquire the second language as children (under 14 years) and those who acquire it as adults. This is an important criterion for dividing bilingual capacity. It is usually the case that a second language acquired in childhood, if continued, is more perfectly acquired than a second language acquired in adulthood.

We may represent the kinds of bilinguals by the use of a simple scheme presented below which we will refer to as the Chronological Bilingualism Classification (CB).¹ If we let A stand Гог complete mastery of the dominant language and В stand for the complete mastery of the subordinate language, we can say that A and В are monolingual individuals. (In dealing with actual languages, it will be best to use the initial letters of the languages concerned), a and b will represent an incomplete mastery of A and B. We do not attempt here to state the degree other than as full mastery (i.e. being accepted as a native speaker by native speakers) versus incomplete mastery. The order of letters indicates the chronological order in w hich the languages were acquired. _t represents childhood learning, while j represents adult learning, i is not required in practice after the first letter which indicates by its position that the language was learned in childhood.

The above twelve classes of bilinguals represent combinations of two languages from the point of view of acquisition in childhood or in adulthood and w ith the accompany ing distinction of full mastery and partial mastery. It will be noted that A|Bj and B|Aj would be special cases, as one does not normully learn a language to complete mastery in adulthood. Also, t| B| and b| A_t would represent special cases in which one imperfectly acquires a first language but gains full mastery of a second language in childhood. There are pathological cases which need not be considered, eg. «iBj, i|b|, «|b_{, b|Aj, etc. It is understood in this scheme that one's first language need not be just a single language, c.g.:

In these cases the bilingual learns two languages simultaneously in his youth. One may also acquire bilingualism over an extended period of time, e.g. AibjCjd]. Given special circumstances, one may acquire such combinations as AtbtCt, in which one language learned as an adult is imperfectly learned and the other perfectly acquired. It is important in these classitications tha» a childhood (first) language means one that was spoken continually from birth to at least puberty and that the child was fully accepted as a native speaker of his language. Although it is not usually necessary, it is possible to indicate that a childhood or adult language has been lost, e.g. (a₍ }B|(Cj)dj. It is highly improbable that a human can completely forget a completely learned childhood language which is spoken under normal communication density from birth to 12 or 14 years in the cultural and societal setting of the language. Hence, assuming that A_t is so learned, we would not expect to find (Aj »bj. However, it may be possible for A| or A|bj to be partially forgotten, in which case wc may indicate the following:

This is the case of many adult immigrants in America who acknowledge considerable loss in their original language capacity and who nave not acquired American English to full acceptance. Distinctions of this type take us closer to the detailed study of language change produced when learning another language, which is more properly a linguistic study than an ethnoiinguistic one.

The two classitications above are extremely useful in preparing ethnoiinguistic data on a particular group. It is also essential to determine the numerical relations obtaining between Communication Elements and Chronological Bilingualism before attempting to analyze and interpret trends of linguistic acculturation. Ideally, an ethnolinguistic investigation will show the numerical components of bilingualism (CB) and the distribution of communication dements (CE) for a population at a given time. In order that the rate of change in assimilation can be shown, it is necessary that CB and CE information be secured over a period of several genera* tions. This added time depth element, when related ito cultural information, provides a picture of assimilation which can be stated numerically. Also, it makes it possible to show graphically the precise method as well as the tempo of change. If we were to attempt this operation vrth cultural factors, the material would be far too complex for lack of discrete dements with which to operate.

l.l Geographical and cultural setting. The area of the Honduran survey tics in the Department of Colon along the scacoast of the Caribbean between S3* and 8$* west longitude and between IS* and 16* north latitude. The shore line east from Iriona runs slightly south of east to Patuca Bar, where it cuts sharply to the southeast. The total coastal line is approximately 200 miles from Iriona to the Rio Coco, the disputed boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua.

The Department of Colon is divided into eight municipalities, with a total popu* lation of 35,465.8. The area of the Honduran survey lies in the municipality of Iriona, which records a total population of 9.S99, of which 2,780 are classified as urban. The political administration is practically nonexistent in isolated areas of La Mosquitia. There is. however, a "comandante” who serves as a police official over » number of Miskito villages. Each village in turn his a subcomandante who is usually a Spanish-speaking person. Otherwise, a local Misquito serves the post. There is no remuneration, and not much prestige is attached to the job, for the prin* cipat person in a village is a Misquito Moravian pastor or a Moravian missionary.

The linguistic groups that inhabit the area in order of their numerical populations are the following: (1) Miskito; (2) Spanish; (3) English; (4) Paya and Sumu. The Carib are considered outside the actual survey area. According to figures gathered during the registration of families for the distribution of relief packages, the Miskito Indians in Honduras may number as high as 8,000. However, other estimates place the figure closer to 5,000. The 1945 Honduras census lists a total of4,436 Indians in Colon. The registration of families for the distribution of relief packages in the Caratasca Lagoon area was carefully controlled by the Moravian missionary at Caurquira. This registration totaled 4,835. It is reasonable that this figure repre* tents not more than half of the total Honduran Miskito population. Hence 8,000 is probably a fair estimate. Due to the absence of exact figures, it is difficult to calculate the increase or decrease in Miskito population. However, there is every reason to believe that the population is steadily increasing.

The Miskito Indians in Honduras represent a racial blending of negroid and mongoNd characteristics. The dominance of negroid physical characteristics is found throughout the entire Miskito population out is more marked in Honduras

than in Nicaragua. The former have most likely been aft'ccted by the English speaking negroes from British Honduras who have intermarried with the Miskitos over many generations.

The English' speaking dement is made up of bilingual Miskitos us well us English speaking negroes from the islands and from British Honduras. Their number is hard to estimate, as they are physically inconspicuous in Miskito society but are of considerable cultural importance.

The Spanish-speaking clement tends to remain as such rather than to mix with the Miskitos. There are, however, some cases of admixture. This group is conscious of its major political and economic roles and does not feel the necessity of identifying itself with the Miskito people.

The Paya are a very secondary element in the o¹ picture. They are rapidly decreasing, and most of them appear to be bilingual ya and Miskito. The Sumu are likewise a small group which have had closer Spanish contact, since they live in denser Spanish-speaking areas. They are largely bilingual in Sumu and Spanish. Their main location is in Nicaragua. It is interesting to note that the Paya and Sumu are of distinct Indian physical makeup, since they have not intermarried with the negroes.

The Carib, although outside the survey area, are an extremely valuable contrast to the Miskito, their nearby neighbors. The Carib are a west African type who have taken over an Indian language and certain aspects of its material culture. However, the Carib possess certain characteristics which are not often found among American Indians. The Miskito have intermarried with the English-speaking negroes, but in the process the offspring have been raised in a dominantly Indian society amidst Indian values. In brief, the Miskito have assimilated the negroes who have not been built into a society of their own through which they could perpetuate their own way of life in competition with Miskito culture and society.

1.2 Organising the Honduran Survey. Our purpose was to determine the following: (a) geographical areas we should work in: (b) questions we could get answers to that would be reliable and provide information of an ethnolinguistic nature; (c) kinds of information we could gather through observation of local activities, through informant interviews, and through census-taking. We assumed that cultural information would be secured through observation and informant interviews and that this information would be necessary to assist us in analyzing and interpreting detailed information on bilingualism and the tempo of linguistic assimilation.

To answer (a), we set up a scale of cultural and linguistic diversity which showed the crude comparative cultural diversity for ten Miskito villages. Items which were chosen to determine degree of complexity were those factors which are operative in bilingual situations in La Mosquitia: (I) presence of 3 or more languages; (2) easy access by air or sea; (3) presence of school; (4) presence of church with 2 language services; (5) presence of stores; (6) presence of nearby industry; (7) presence of migrant males; (8) presence of foreign missionary; (9) presence of radios; (10) presence of resident non-Miskito monolinguals. These 14 points (I contains 3,2 contains 2,4 contains 2) are easily determined (degree of literacy, for example, is not usually known as easily as the number of radios and schools). If a village possessed each of

the above, it was rated as 14. A scale was then constructed showing the relative position of each village. The least acculturated village theoretically should possess at least I point (the existence of I language). The results showed:

With this scale it was possible to sample a cross section by working at both extremes as well as in the middle. The construction of such a scale before visiting these points in the survey assumes the presence of people who know the area and who can provide accurate information. It was necessary to select these obvious features which were well known to informants.

In order to answer (b) and (c) above, it was necessary to construct a set of“guide questions'* which were used to begin the detailed investigation of a village. These were of two types—Village structure and Census-taking—and were constantly revised throughout the work.

The detailed study of Brus Lagoon was set up in the form of a set of questions aimed at investigating the extent of bilingualism and associated cultural factors. The guide used in Brus Lagoon is given below.

Education: amount, place, language of instruction, children who have left school, children presently in school, literacy, in what languages.

Languages: spoken, which learned first, where each learned, language used in home, language preferred, reasons for preference.

Race miature: race or nationality of self, spouse, parents and grandparents of both self and spouse.

Interethnic attitudes: toward Carib, Pay a, Sumu, Spanish, and English speakers.

1.3 The survey. M.R. secured a capable bilingual assistant whom she taught to assist her in the house-to-house interviews. The work in Bros Lagoon lasted four weeks. When M.R. began work in Brus Lagoon. W.R. made a trip to survey the areas of Paplaya (Carib), Eban, Kokobila, Rio Platano, Patuca Bar, Caurquira, Guampusirpi, Brawila, Wawina, and Ahuas. Approximately two weeks were spent by W.R. on the itinerant survey. The value of the separate working by W.R. and M.R. in Honduras was twofold: first, to concentrate in one village and second, to relate the findings of this village (Bros Lagoon) to the genera) picture throughout the areaofLaMosquitia.

• The disadvantage of working through interpreters. Loss of valuable information is an inevitable fact, and at the same time one gathers information which may be the interpreter's contribution to the informant's reply.

• Keeping the (Questions short and to the point yet interesting enough to that attention would not lag.

• Problems inherent in the questions such as those which require considerable recall on the part of the informant.

Constant endeavors were made to investigate the tempo of change across generation levels. Questions were built into the interviews which were designed to elicit these generational differences. Another technique employed was a "values examination" of the upper two school grades in Brus.

1.4 Some results. It would be of value to present a detailed cultural analysis of ethnolinguistic findings in each area where surveys are made. Only in this way can numerical results become fully meaningful. Since the content of this report is primarily methodology only, an outline of results will be given here.

It is hardly necessary to add that the kind of results obtained in this initial investigation should not be thought of as the best nor the only results that an ethnoliit-guistic survey may provide. In the Honduras survey, the main problem was that of designing and conducting a survey at the same time. The suggestions presented in this report may enable an investigator to proceed more rapidly and efficiently in the organisation and execution of a survey than was possible in this preliminary attempt. Below will be given some ethnolinguistic findings taken exclusively from the Brus Lagoon data and a brief outline of cultural information related to these findings.

In Brus Lagoon occupants of 82 houses (in this case 82 percent of the total in Brut Lagoon) were interviewed. The total population of Bros Lagoon at the time of the investigation was $39 persons divided as indicated in Table I (see Appendix A).

In addition to the Miskito population, there are twelve Spanish monolinguals (eight are teachers or teachers' wives) and one multilingual missionary family. Other foreigners married into Miskito families are counted in the population total.

Interviews taken in Bros Lagoon were concerned more with the distribution of communication elements than with the actual occurrence of chronological bilingual types. However, it has been possible to reconstruct the CB types from the data. In the two listings given below, a total of 208 adults are listed by CB types. These include the Spanish monolinguals in Brus Lagoon, since they are an extremely influential CB type. The age divisions making up the CB types are as follows:

The 208 «dull» constitute twenty-two distinguishable CB types which are listed below. Abbreviations used are N1 m Miskito, S s Spanish, and E e English.

Since these data do not show CB types by generations, it is necessary to indicate the CB types by age groups. In order to do this, two tables are given which show the absolute number of CB's according to age and sen (see Appendix A). The proportional distribution of CB by age groups is shown for the CB's of the first table only; ail numbers are expressed in percentages.

The six components of the С В type* in Brus Lagoon are M m, S s, E e. These components are distributed as follow s;

CB component distribution is represented graphically in Table 4, and the distribution of CE to CB types is given in Tables 5 and 6 (see Appendix A).

Front the data and tables, it is possible to see at • glance the biliogua’ statue of Brus Lagoon with respect to the living adah population. While no attempt will be made to deal fully with the children here, it should be possible to state that at least

m, 75 percent of the children of Brus lagoon wilt contain an «, component in their CB type through contact with t4 school, which is by far the most effective and efficient school operating in the survey area. The present adult population shows component s as 30 percent and M as 49 percent. Wc can expect in another generation considerable loss in E and e which will go over to » and S. M will not drop much simply because the total number of people who possess a component M wilt in the next generation be more than those possessing any other component. However, the loss of E and c will go not to M but to s. S. and m. The difficulty in stating the tempo of assimilation in this case is due to the fact that information was not gathered in terms of generation levels. We must have some idea of the numerical distribution of CB types in depth as well as relative population figures at each level. This information, when accompanied by cultural data, enables us to make more accurate and detailed statements of the rate of assimilation.

From the CE-CB tables it may be observed that 67 individuals read Miskito, 55 reed Spanish, and 3 read English. (Some individuals read two or three of these languages.) 40 percent of the adult males investigated are literate, while 21 percent of the female adults investigated are literate. 70 percent of the literate males read Miskito and Spanish; 40 percent read only Miskito. 47 percent of the literate females read Miskito and Spanish; 40 percent read only Miskito. The vast majority of the present children will read Spanish as well as Miskito.

In Bros lagoon 27 houses possess both Miskito and Spanish Scriptures, 19 houses possess only Miskito Scriptures, and 3 houses possess only Spanish Scriptures. Thirty-three (49 percent) of the houses visited possess no Scriptures.

1.4.1 Some cultural factors. A detailed discussion of the cultural data which must be gathered to interpret the meaning of ethnolinguistic findings would take considerably more space thin can be given here, since our primary concern in this paper is the development of a method for ethnolinguistic surveys. Hence a very brief outline will suffice to indicate some of the kinds of information that are relevant.

Parent-child attitudes toward the dominant language and culture were considered. A survey of adults in Brus Lagoon and especially outside of Bros Lagoon shows that 95 percent of those parents express some feelings against the “ladinos.” By way of contrast, however, the student investigation shows that (I) Spanish is said to be by far the “most important” language; (2) that all of the students questioned desire to continue their education in the interior; (3' 50 percent wish to marry a Spanish monolingual; (4) all students desire a “profession” as pastor or teacher; (5) all agree that the head of the school has been the most influential in their lives; (6) books are presently the most important possession for 90 percent; (7) the missionary is given by 70 percent as more important than medicine-man or teacher; (8) 100 percent prefer to read the Bible in Spanish; (9) 75 percent prefer to pray in Spanish, 25 percent in Miskito: (10) 100 percent prefer to sing in Spanish; (II)90 percent prefer to hear a sermon in Spanish. 10 percent in Miskito; (12) 80 percent have Scriptures in Miskito and Spanish, 20 percent only in Spanish; (13) 80 percent plan to be teachers, 20 peicent plan to be pastors; (14) 100 percent say the church and school are the most civilizing instruments in La Mosquitia; (15) 100 percent desire their younger siblings to attend school.

The values expressed by these children may coexist with a basic resentment for the iadino. However, the desires of the young school products will be extremely important in directing the trends of their assimilation. At present the Brus school has twelve graduates in the interior who are taking advanced work, i.e. beyond the sixth grade.

2.1 Geographical and cultural setting. The areas of the Nicaraguan survey are separated into three distinct types culturally and geographically: (a) an extension of approximately 130 miles along the Rio Coco between Kum and Asang, (b) the port towns of Puerto Cabezas and Blueftelds. and (c) the mining community of Bonanza in the lowland hills of the interior. Geographically, the Nicaraguan side is much the same as in Honduras, with river forests, pine covered grassland savannahs, and seacoast.

Historically, the area has been subjected to more intensive culture contacts with both the English and Spanish than has Honduras. The British maintained a sort of remote control on the area through alliance with Miskito kings until the (I S. forced Britain to relinquish its control in I860. This act gave the Nicaraguan government in Managua its first opportunity since the Independence movement to extend its sovereignty to the Atlantic coast. However, the central government was unable to incorporate the area into the national economy due to its very d' * rent ethnic and linguistic composition and its almost complete geographical isolation from the interior of the country. (As late as I9SS, there was no road connecting Bluefields with Mangua.) In 1894 President Zelaya forcefully took possession of the coastal area, and the Nicaraguan government has been making slow but decisive attempts to establish Spanish dominance along the Atlantic coast area.

The linguistic groups which inhabit the Nicaraguan area are Miskito, English creoles, Spanish, and two secondary Indian groups—Sumu and Rama. The Miskito population inhabits the banks of the Rio Coco from the sea inland to the hilts-—a distance of over 300 miles by river. They are also located along the coast south as far as Pearl Lagoon. The English-speaking creoles are located mainly in the port towns of Cabo Gracias, Puerto Cabezas, and Bluefields. Spanish speakers are found in the same areas. Spanish, Miskito, and, to a lesser extent, the creoles are also found in the interior at Bonanza and Siuna—the two mining districts. The Sumu in Nicaragua are somewhat analogous to the Paya in Honduras in that they are numerically subordinate (probably not numbering over $00 in all). In Miskito areas they are linguistically acculturated to Miskito, and in Spanish areas they are quite assimilated to the Spanish. They, tike the Paya, have not mixed with the negroes. The Rama are an extremely small group estimated to number less than 200 who live on Rama Cay, an island south of Bluefields and scattered along the coast southward. The Rama are largely acculturated to the creoles and appear to have married among the creole population. According to informants, most of the Rama are bilingual in Rama and English.

ЕЩС 0й •

communities on the Rio Coco—two towns of mixed population on the coast and one in the interior. A total of 9 locations were visited. A questionnaire was drawn up and used in six of the nine locations: Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, Bonanza, Waspan, Asang, and San Carlos. Local assistants were trained to work in the various areas and cooperated in the collection of data from some 2,000 interviews. Six weeks were spent collecting the information in Nicaragua, making ten weeks for the entire survey. In addition, two weeks were required to transfer the data to ranched cards and another week in sorting and tabulating results.

The problems encountered in the Nicaraguan survey were basically similar to those in Honduras. However, the size and cultural complexity of the areas in Nicaragua greatly increased the problems of securing a reliable representative view of the ethnolinguistic situations.

The difficulties faced were partially offset by the availability of capable Spanish, English, and Miskito-spcaking assistants (quite a few handled alt three languages) who did a very outstanding job in the house-to-house interviews. In attempting to get representat’ve samples, the procedure normally involved obtaining estimates of the proportional population in each area and then deciding how many interviews would be needed from eaph portion of the population. This situation was controlled in so far as possible by assigning each assistant to an area related to his particular language and background. This was not always easy to do because English and Spanish speakers are quite intermingled in their settlement patterns in the three main survey areas. The Miskito settlements are usually rather separate and control was easier to maintain.

2.3 Questionnaires. Interviews were guided by questions which were designed to assess the extent of bilingualism and related cultural factors. Some of the questions we sought to answer through the interviews are the following:

• What proportion of the Spanish people are having direct access to the English and Miskito people in these languages?

• What portion of the Miskito people have direct access to the Spanish and English in these languages?

• What portion of the English people have direct access to the Spanish and Miskito in these languages?

• Over a period of generations, what is the trend of unidirectional and multidirectional communication?

• What are the social and cultural factors that are most determinative in the process of (a) becoming bilingual and (b) becoming assimilated into dominant monolingualism?

• What is the role of reading, writing, and published literature in the changing scene of a bilingual community?

The questions that were used in the questionnaire pose certain problems which make some aspects of the questionnaire of dubious value. Also, there were cases where the assistant failed to record the information in the proper place, and hence it was lost since we did not attempt to “correct" any questionnaires once they were

completed. Approximately four hundred interviews were made in the area between Kum and Saupuka on monolingual and bilingual questionnaire*. The questionnaires used in Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, Bonanza. Asang, San Carios. and Waspam were mimeographed on legal size heavy mimeograph paper (see Appendix B). The long form contains IS question groups, white the short form contains eleven. The mayor difference between the long and the short form interviews is that the long form includes questions concerning social ranking, possession of Scriptures, use of Scriptures. church preference, and children, which are not found on the short form. Interviews were carried out with adults only. The long form was used with the male head of the household if there was one, and the short form for the female counterpart. However, when the male head was not at home, the long form was used with the female, who in some cases also gave the information concerning her spouse (recorded on the back side of the short form). In some cases the male members of the house supplied the information for both himself and his wife. Hence a single sheet refers to a single household. Of the 2,000 interviews that have been set up on punched cards, 1,343 are long forms and 6S7 are short forms. Under ideal conditions, 1,343 long forms would call for the same number of short forms. There are reasons for this disparity; for instance, in Bluefields a large portion of the male population was absent seeking employment in other areas.

2.4 Some results. It is not possible within the limits of this paper to indicate more than a few of the gross results of the survey in Nicaragua. Table 7 shows the distribution of Spanish, English, and Miskito according to male and female speakers in the six areas investigated. Table 8 indicates the age groupings for each language according to sex in the six areas. Tables 9 and 10 show the distribution of CE in Bluefields and Puerto Cabeza respectively (see Appendix A).

TaMeS

Table 6

	M
	E		E
	S SC\|H»\| Sai\| Sbij		S	Es\|M\|	ES\|W2	Еі)Я{	ES\|Rl2
Total	till	1	1	1	1	1	1
u		Ic
US	i 1	1					1
U-S-R	U-c-m ls-m		1 VC
U-S-R-W R K\V M	1 in -s			!m	ls-m	ІІ-С-ІП

		Table 7 Language Л rea Distribution by Sex
	Blucfclds	Puerto Cabezas	Bonanza Wasoa*		*****	Saa Carlo*	TOTALS
Spanish Males	142	48	82	0	0	8	280
Spanish Females	238	47	97	0	0	6	388
English Males	150	131	43	1	0	0	325
English Females	335	138	45	1	0	0	519
Miskito Males	5	69	49	18	21	34	196
Miskito tmales	6	145	36	23	22	46	278
Non-National Males	7	0	2	0	0	2	II
Non-National Females	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
TOTALS	886	578	354	43	43	96	2.000

			Bbefields					Puerto Cabezas							Bonanza			Waspan					San Carlos
	S		E		M		S		E		M		S		E		M	S E	M			S	E	M
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F M F M F	M	F	M	F	M F	M	F
20-30	16	56	18	70	0	1	12	23	19	36	34	69	29	49	4	12	26	30	6	9	2	4		12	21
31-40	32	60	35	82	0	0	II	12	38	37	14	37	25	20	15	22	17	5 1	1	4	2	1		11	18
41-50	38	46	29	50	2	2	10	4	32	31	13	22	15	19	8	8	6	I 1	7	7	2	1		8	4
51 60	30	38	31	58	3	1	II	3	24	19	5	11	8	9	13	3	0	0	2	3	2	0		0	0
61-70	19	28	20	39	0	2	2	3	9	II	3	4	4	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0		2	1
71 +	7	10	17	36	0	0	2	2	9	2	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	2

ERIC18

Survey of Language Use and Attitudes Towards Language in the Philippines

by Bonifacio P. Sibayan¹

An in-depth survey of language and attitudes of Filipinos towards language was conducted by the Language Study Center of the Philippine Normal College in 1968/ A total of 2,379 householders (parents), 2,342 teachers, 1.577 adolescents, 194 printers and publishers, and 130 radio station operators were interviewed. Those interviewed came from 254 communities scattered throughout 21 regions of the country. (For the purposes of the survey , Manila was considered one region of 23 communities.) Sis questionnaires and one SO-itcm wordlist for each of sis major Philippine languages (Bicui, Cebuano, Hihgaynon, llocano, Tagalog (Pilipino), and Warty) were developed for the survey. The questionnaires were: General Information (GIQ); Householder (HHQ); Teacher (TQ); Publisher (PQ); Radio Station (RQ): Adolescent (AQ). Most of the data on householders, teachers, publishers, and radio stations has been processed and analyzed, and this paper deals with the most important findings.

The GIQ yielded biographical, economic (type of dwelling, furniture, etc.), and other information on the respondents and contained "exit questions" which were asked if a respondent did not qualify for further interview. Those who did qualify were subsequently interviewed on the basis of the questionnaire most appropriate to their backgrounds. The following is a brief description of the kind of information elicited by each of the remaining five questionnaires:

# The HHQ yielded information on the language background of the respondent and his family, his opinions and preferences regarding language use. his attitudes towards variations in language, and his knowledge and preferences concerning language in the schools as well as more detailed information on his economic and social standing than did the G IQ.

• The TQ gathered information on the actual work of the teacher respondent, his background and competence, the languages he actually used in teaching, and the language he favored or discouraged for certain subjects. Information on textbooks, supplementary materials, periodicals, reference books, teacher-prepared materials, and radio/television programs used in teaching various subjects was also elicited, and for each of these types of materials the quantity, date of publication (for books and periodicals), source (radio/TV), frequency of use, and language(s) used were recorded.

• The PQ was used to father information on the type of publishing business engaged in, the kinds of materials produced, and the length of time the firm had been in operation. Information on printing facilities and capabilities was also recorded.

• The RQ was used for recording various kinds of information on radio and tele vision facilities and programs, including information on how widespread these programs were.

• The AQ collected information on adolescents' language backgrounds, skills, preferences, uses, and attitudes toward languages as well as information on their educational and social backgrounds.

The communities surveyed in each region were selected on the basis of how well they reflected the demographic characteristics of the region. With the exception of Manila and the capitals of the provinces, most of the communities surveyed were barrios. (The barrio is the smallest political unit in the hierarchy, i.e. nation, province/city, municipality, barrio.) Three sites were selected in each municipality or city: the poblacion or center of town, one barrio not less than three kilometers away, and another not more than eight kilometers away in the opposite direction.

Four householders from the poblacion and three from each of the barrios were, on the average, interview sd. In wide, sparsely populated areas where transportation is extremely difficult (there were four regions that could be characterized in this manner), the 4-3-3 rule did not apply.

Householders were selected for interview on the basis of their proximity to important landmarks in the town, such as a Roman Catholic Church, public market, public school, etc.; the type of house they occupied (permanent, semi-permanent, non-permanent); length of residence in the community (at least live years or five of the last eight years); age (50 or less); and schooling of children (must have children who are going to school or have had some schooling or are of preschool age). An interviewee was rejected if he did not meet the foregoing criteria, if any member of his family was or had been a teacher in the elementary or secondary schools, or if a relative in the same barrio had been interviewed.

Teachers were interviewed from at least one public and one private elementary school where the children of most of the householders interviewed studied, with three teachers interviewed in each school visited. In a complete elementary school (consisting ot grades 16), the grades 1,3, and 5 teachers were interviewed, while in schools with only the first four grades, the grades I, 3, and 4 teachers were interviewed. In places where there was a private high school but no private elementary school, teachers of high school freshmen were interviewed.

In addition to the data gathered through the questionnaires, for each community the interviewers completed a community data information sheet which included the dates of the survey; community contacts; characteristics of the poblacion or barrio (eg. resources and landmarks, includin' « ^msp of the community); and a Ust of households surveyed, schools visited, end persons, publishers, end radio personnel interviewed. Each interviewer also kept a daily job record.

Twenty»three interviewers and two held supervisors were selected from among more than 200 applicants between the ages of 20 and 35. All of those chosen were college graduates, none of whom had had teacher training or was a teacher. They were paid 300 pesos a month №3.90 was equal to $1.00 U.S. at that time), a salary which com» pared favorably to the starting salary of elementary school teachers, which was only 212 pesos a month. They were also reimbursed for actual transportation costs and received a per diem off 14.00 white in the field.

The interviewers first completed two and a half weeks of training, conducted by the senior staff of the Language Study Center, in phonetic transcription (I *ii hours daily), interview and wordlist elicitation techniques (1¹ г hours daily for each), and use of the various questionnaires (I *-u hours daily). The questions in the question» naires were translated into the various languages which would be used in the field hy the interviewers. Before the interviewers were sent to the field, they had a week's practice in the city of Mnnila interviewing people and completing the forms.

The interviewers were provided with an identification letter, letters of introduc» tion from the President of Philippine Normal College and the Director of Public Schools, and a copy of the letter previously sent to the Mayor of the town, just in case this letter had not been received (this happened in several cases). In addition, they were provided with field kits, pencils, paper clips, and other supplies.

Upon arrival in a community, interviewers followed a set procedure: They reg» istered with the police department, called on the Mayor and school superintendent or his representative, and located a lodging place. After wiring their addresses to the Language Study Center, they acquainted themselves with the community and located landmarks before they started interviewing.

Atl interviewers returned to Manila at least twice during thesia»month period for consultation and rest.

Three supervisors were assigned t? work with all the interviewers to ensure the reli» ability of the data gathered. A sample of the respondents was contacted and asked whether they had actually been interviewed. Spot checks were also made by the supervisors and senior staff without the knowledge of the interviewers. (The services of one interviewer were terminated because it was found that he was not doing his job as required and expected.) The supervisors also saw to it that the interviewers had ample supplies, that travel arrangements were made, and that salaries and per diems were paid.

The senior staff of the Language Study Center met with interviewers working in the Visayan Islands and Mindanao in the first week of October 1968 at a regional conference in Cebu City, Central Philippines, to review the work completed.

Coding of the data began November 15. 1968 and was completed on June 30. 1969. The data was processed by means of computer programs specially developed for the survey after it had been completed. Hindsight later taught us that data analysis procedures, including computer programs, should have been planned and developed during the planning of the survey, since some of the data could not be analyzed properly because of the kind of format used in gathering them.

The most common estimate of the number of languages spoken in the Philippines is 87. A total of 79 names of languages were reported spoken by the survey respondents, but only those spoken by more than 1% of the respondents were used for most of the analysis and interpretation of the data in this report. (Linguistic research on whether these are, in fact, different languages still remains to be done.) The nine languages mentioned by over 82% of the respondents correspond to the nine most important or major languages spoken by Filipinos, as reported in the I960 population census conducted by the Philippine Government. With the exception of Masbateflo, the languages are the same as those represented in the recently reconstituted Institute of National Language.¹ This indicates that the survey data indeed reflect the opinions and attitudes/beliefs of the great majority of Filipinos (see Table I in the Appendix.)

All the respondents interviewed learned a Philippine language as their first language. Two percent of the householders and 3% of the teachers reported teaming more than one language simultaneously during childhood. No one, however, reported learning English first, which proves that English is clearly a second language.

The function of language in the life of a people. What are the roles of the various languages in the life of the people? When is the ethnic or local language used? When is Pilipino (the national language) used? What is English used for? These questions are not only interesting but call for answers that are important in language planning.

English is the language of distance—of semi-formal and formal usage for the Filipino. The vernacular or ethnic language thus dominates the Filipino's speaking life. It is, to him, the language of intimacy or nearness—the language of the home, the neighborhood, and the market place. Pilipino seems to be the next most important language, and because the percentage of those respondents indicating that they use Pilipino is slightly higher than the percentage of those who reported learning Tagalog as their first language, it can be inferred that Pilipino is gaining speakers among non-Tagalogs. The data appear to support the common impression that Pilipino is becoming a lingua franca, gradually taking the place of English. Pi-lipino, however, as yet has not become the language of the home in non-Tagalog speaking areas, although some day it may be learned as a second native language

What languages do Filipinos use when they contact absent members of their families? While it seems that Filipinos are generally not inclined towards contacting absent family members (only 58% of the teachers and 51 *ГЬ of the householders reported doing so), when they do, most do so in writing. It is interesting to note that English is used for this purpose (as reported by 22% of the teachers and 7% of the householders), which is in contrast to the fact that practically no English is used in speaking in the home. This is largely due to the fact that most of the writing done in school is in English.*

It is commonly believed that the majority of Filipinos are eithet bilingual in Philippine languages or have acquired English as a second language. This is substantiated by the reported use of language combinations. The data also indicate that there is more bilingualism among teachers than among householders, which may be due to a number of factors, such as the fact that teachers have, on the average, more formal education than householders and their spouses as well as greater mobility (and mobile populations tend to learn other Philippine languages).

Language preferred for reading certain materials. What language do Filipinos prefer for reading? What materials are read in what languages?

As was indicated elsewhere in this report, the vernaculars dominate the speaking life of the people. It seems strange that a people who use their vernaculars for speaking, when asked in what language they prefer to read certain types of material, indicate a definite preference for reading in English, with a relatively small percentage indicating a preference for their native language and a still smaller percentage indicating a preference for Pilipino. Even householders who seldom use English in their spoken activities (and of whom only 7% report they write in English) overwhelmingly prefer to read in English. This proves the very important influence or effect of the language of instruction in the schools as well as the influence exerted by the predominance of newspapers, magazines, and books published in English. Another factor influencing this preference for English is the fact that the quantity of reading matter in the vernacular is very scanty (see Tables 4 and 5 in the Appendix).

Materials read and the actual languages they are read in. While it is one thing to report what one prefers to read and in what language, what one actually reads is another matter. The latter is limited by availability of reading materials and one's ability to get such materials, since the cost of printed materials has become prohibitive.

Several things stand out regarding the reading habits of the respondents. All materials, with the exception of comics (which are read most often in Pilipino), are read more often in English than in any other language. The most widely read materials in English are first newspapers and then books and weekly magazines. The vernacular is used mainly by householders for reading weekly magazines. Very few teachers read newspapers in their native language. If they ever read in the vernaculars, they choose religious materials (very often prayer books), weekly magazines, and comics, although the percentage of teachers reading these materials is negligible (see Tables 6 and 7 in the Appendix). In the initial report made on the survey (Otanes and Sibayan 1969, p. 97), the following statement was made:

It appears that English still dominates reading, particularly the more serious and purposeful types of reading. There is still much to be done to make Pi-lipino an important language for reading by the people. Based on their wider circulation compared with other categories of reading materials, it would appear that the most useful and most influential printed media for language development are the newspapers and magazines.

What is known as the “language question” or “language problem” has centered mainly on the problem of the language of instruction in the schools. It seems quite clear that the language of the school assumes an importance that is not usually accorded to other contexts for language use. The Philippine experience with English is that because it has been and is the language for acquiring an education, it has become the language of government, of the courts and the law, of business and industry, and of science and technology, to cite four important domains in the life of the people.¹

Preference for language of instruction in the schools. English is preferred by the majority of householders and teachers as the medium of instruction in primary, intermediate, and high schools, although more householders than teachers prefer it. The preference of both householders and teachers for English as the medium of instruction increases from primary to high school. A seemingly disturbing finding is that while 23% of the householders and 20% of the teachers reported that Tagalog was their first language, the great majority of these native speakers do not seem to prefer Piiipino as the language of instruction. This information lends itself to many interpretations, depending on one's beliefs and biases. It can be interpreted to mean that the Filipino should continue to use English as the main, if not only, medium of instruction; this is the position of Dean Leopoldo Y. Yabes of the Graduate School of the University of the Philippines* It can also be misinterpreted and used to condemn the respondents for being colonial minded or, worse yet, stupid and incapable of knowing what is good for the nation, a: one columnist in a Piiipino daily has written.^r I think the best interpi etation of the data should be essentially as stated in the initial report (Otanes and Sibayan 1969, p. 141):

These data need not be interpreted as implying that plans to use Piiipino as the medium of instruction must now be abandoned and that the country must return to the use of English as the medium of instruction at all levels. It is probably a better interpretation of the data to say that if Piiipino is to be used as the medium of instruction on a nation-wide basis at any level of instruction, the change from the present set-up must not be abrupt; the public must first be encouraged to accept such a change.

I believe that while the people do not object to Piiipino entirely (they think that it should be learned for patriotic reasons, for understanding one’s heritage, and for the teaching of certain subjects), the language should be made capable of allowing the individual to have access to the world’s knowledge and of enabling him to achieve

personal advancement. The data should be interpreted by policy makers and Ian* guage planners and implemented as practically saying: "Do something to make Pi* lipino do many of the things that English is doing for the Filipino now." That means, for example, that programs to increase scholarship in and through Pilipino must be instituted. The data suggests patience, especially with people in non-Tagalog speaking provinces.

Another interesting fact is that, after English, Filipinos prefer their native Ian* guage to Pilipino if they have to decide on an "all-one-language” medium of instruction. The possibility exists that this preference for the vernacular rather than Pilipino in regard to the education of their children is based on the respondents desire, whether conscious or unconscious, to maintain their ethnicity, which, to paraphrase Fishman (1966, p. 402), often asserts its dominance over symbols calling for much wider allegiance such as Pilipino for the nation. On the other hand, the choice of English over the vernacular or Pilipino is a practical response to a situation in which the exigencies of modern life faced by the Filipino demand the use of English and in which its choice as a medium of instruction is dictated by such necessities, (see Table 8 in the Appendix).

This type of information is useful to language planners and to those who implement policy. Its import is that the language that will ensure the greatest measure of success, especially as pertains to the economic area of life, wilt become the people's choice as far as the education of their children is concerned. This means that programs designed to make Pilipino the most desirable or main medium of instruction will have to make provisions for enabling the language to provide access to economic advantages without unduly favoring native Tagaiog speakers* Increasing scholarship in Pilipino through encouragement of its use in colleges and universities, as well as in high schools, must be planned for.

The interpretation of the data need not imply that because in 1968 the majority of people were not favorably disposed to sending their children to schools where instruction would be conducted only in Pilipino, the situation would not be subject to change. It is possible that if in 1868 a Filipino had been asked what language he preferred to have his children educated in, he would have said Spanish. In 1968 his choice was English. I have reason to believe that, with intelligent and systematic planning, by 2068 or in another hundred years (or perhaps much earlier) his choice would be Pilipino •

Form of PUipino preferred for school use. Pilipino is still in the process of being standardized. Because of this, some of the liveliest debates have arisen involving the question of “puristic" and “non-puristic" Pilipino. Points raised in these debates have included spelling, borrowing, usage, and language use in science and technology.¹⁰

When confronted with the need to choose which form of Pilipino should be used or taught in the schools, teachers were much more decisive than householders as to which form they wanted. The teachers’ answers tended to confirm the more or less universal assertion that language teachers are notorious in their desire to teach “correctness." Three out of four teachers wanted to teach the puristic form of Pilipino, while only slightly better than two out of five householders preferred this

form. (The puristic form of Pilipino includes the use of Tagalog words, where available, as translations of English or Spanish terms.) Additionally, the spelling preferred by teachers tends to follow that advocated by the Institute of National Language."

While teachers evidenced decided preferences for one form over another, many Filipinos did not seem to care very much about the kind or form of Pilipino that is taught in the schools. For example, one out of ten householders had no preference and one out of five did not know. Surprisingly enough, only about 3 ! 2% stated cate» gorically that Pilipino should not be used in the schools, which leads one to believe that the question is still very much an open one.

Language best suited for teaching certain subjects. While the respondents overwhelmingly chose English for an all-one-language (when the alternatives were either all-English, all-vernacular, or alt-Pilipino) medium of instruction, responses to the choice of a medium of instruction for specific subjects reveal some interesting information. Respondents were asked to indicate what they thought were the two subjects (from a list of subjects being taught in schools at the time) which could best be taught in either English, Pilipino, or the vernacular.

The choice of subjects seems to confirm the widespread opinion that scientific and technical subjects are better taught in English and that Pilipino and the vernaculars are inadequate media for these subjects. (Arithmetic and Science were most frequently mentioned as subjects best taught in English.) In response to the specific question, “Which two content subjects could best be taught in Pilipino throughout the whole Philippines?*', the majority of the respondents indicated Good Manners and Health Education. The local language was designated as the best medium of instruction for Good Manners and Work Education.

The data suggest that many of the respondents were favorably disposed to the idea of using Pilipino as the medium of instruction for non-scientific and non-technical subjects. This would further seem to suggest that the people are willing to accept a multilingual type of instruction in which English. Pilipino, and the vernaculars have separate domains.¹²

One observation on the data seems pertinent. Householders and teachers were more sure about what could best be taught in English, less sure about the use of Pilipino. and least sure about the use of the vernaculars. While this again seems to conflict with data cited earlier where the vernacular was preferred to Pilipino as the language of instruction in a one-language-only school, in actuality there is no conflict. In being somewhat surer of what can best be taught in Pilipino. the Filipino is perhaps demonstrating that he recognizes that Pilipino has certain advantages, such as availability of materials, which the vernaculars do not have. These interpretations are speculative at best, and the subject needs much deeper study.

Why parents want their children to use or learn certain languages. Why do parents want their children to learn certain languages? What do they see language doing for them and their children?

Householders believe that their children should learn English so that they will be able to: (1) learn more rapidly, (2) communicate more effectively, (3) show they have a good education, (4) get a good job, (S) have more opportunity to travel, and (6)

maintain dignity and self-respect. On the other hand, they believe that Pilipino should be learned and used for patriotic reasons and for understanding one's heritage. Teachers want their children to study and use English for the same reasons as householders do, with the additional feature that their children's knowledge of English can be used to help develop their own country. Teachers also felt, as did householders, that Pilipino should be learned and used for patriotic reasons and for fostering a better understanding of one's heritage.

The reasons given above demonstrate that while English is related essentially to personal advancement or personal goals, Pilipino is integral to the more abstract aspirations and goals of the Filipino.

Medium of instruction: what really is taking place. Up to 1940, the use of various languages in the schools was separated into strict domains. On June 19,1940 the National Language (later to become known as Pilipino) was added as a subject in the fourth, i.e. last, year of all secondary schools and in the second or senior year of all normal schools. By 1957 the vernacular became the language of instruction in grades I and 2. while Pilipino continued to be taught as a subject in elementary schools, secondary schools, and in programs for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Education degrees. By the time the language survey was taken, the overlapping domains in the use of languages in the entire system had become a fact.

One of the purposes of the language survey was to determine the real language "picture" in the schools, especially as pertained to what was actually being used as the language of instruction. Officially, the local language was used as the medium of instruction in the iirst two grades, and English was the medium of instruction from third grade through college, with the local language (vernacular) as an auxiliary medium of instruction in grades S and 6. Pilipino and English were taught as subjects from grade 1 through high school and in several courses in college. Pilipino was used in college as a medium of instruction in courses on the works of Josd Rizal.

What was actually taking place in the schools with regard to the language of instruction presented a very interesting picture (see Table 9 in the Appendix for some insights into this situation). The teachers’ responses to the question: “What languages are used in class when you teach the following subjects?" show that there is no subject that is exclusively taught in one language. Even English is taught with the use of some vernacular (34% report they use some vernacular and 2% say they frequently use the vernacular in teaching English). What sounds strange is that only 26% of those responding report using only English to teach English, and 43% report that much English is used to teach English. The situation for Pilipino is quite similar to that for English. Twenty-six percent report using nothing but Pilipino to teach Pilipino, with another 37% reporting that they use a great deal of Pilipino and a further 9% reporting that they use only some Pilipino for teaching Pilipino.

What languages are used in class for teaching content subjects? Let us look at two such subjects—Arithmetic and Good Manners. In a question discussed earlier, teachers reported that Arithmetic was best taught in English. They also reported that if Pilipino were used throughout the Philippines, Good Manners would be the subject lending itself best to that language. This subject also topped the list of subjects considered as best taught in the vernacular. The data show that English is the

main medium of instruction in Arithmetic, followed by the vernacular and Pilipino. In the case of Good Manners, most teaching is done in English, with the vernacular used second and Pilipino third. It is clear, therefore, that while English may be the first choice of teachers, it has no monopoly as the language of instruction (see Table 9 in the Appendix).

It is possible that the schools are now serving as instruments in the development of a “mix-mix" language often facetiously referred to as Engalog or Tagltsb.'* This is now widely used in advertisements, both in print and over radio and television. With the rising tide of nationalism, matters are getting to the point where it is no longer fashionable to speak good English. While most of the books available for learning the content subjects (science, mathematics, technology, etc.) are in English and most reading is done in English, discussion is permissible in English; Pilipino; and, in some cases, the vernaculars. One of the results of this situation is that many teachers complain that their pupils are not able to explain their lessons well either in English or in Pilipino.

Attitude towards language: languages encouraged and discouraged. An important factor in the formation of the attitudes of children towards a subject (including language) is the attitude of the teacher. In answer to the question: “What language do you encourage in teaching the content subjects?", almost half of the . 2,100 respondents gave no response, which may be interpreted as an attitude of neutrality or indifference. While a little less than 40% of those responding encourage English and 4% encourage Pilipino, it would seem that most teachers do not have very strong feelings about the language of instruction in the schools.

Very few teachers reported that they discouraged the use of any language in class. There were more teachers who discouraged the use of Pilipino than English. An interesting piece of information brought out by the data is that practically all those who discouraged the use of Pilipino come from Tagalog-spcaking regions. It is possible that these teachers believe that, inasmuch as their pupils are native speakers of Tagalog, it is much more important to use the available time for learning another language. The data could also be interpreted to mean that the opposition to Pilipino in the schools in the non-Tagalog provinces is not as strong as some people think.¹⁴

Preparation ofpupils for the next highest grade: the role of language. One of the nagging questions that beset the Filipino is: What language is adequate for instructing the child? Teachers were asked: “Do you think your pupils were adequately prepared to do the work required in the grade when they entered your class?" While more than half (S4%) said yes, a large proportion (45%) said no. Asked whether their pupils would be prepared for the next highest grade, the majority (87%) said yes, and slightly better than one in ten (11%) said no.

Teachers who did not think their pupils were prepared for their classes were asked how these students could have been better prepared. Of the 753 who thought their pupils were not prepared for their classes, only 189, or one teacher out of four, said that the adoption of English as the medium of instruction from grade I up would be the solution. The majority (about 75%) gave reasons other than the use of English as a remedy. This would seem to confirm the growing belief that a child can

learn in any language provided the teaching-learning conditions (good teachers and good materials) are adequate.'*

Teachers' competence in the use of Pilipino. English, and the vernacular tn leaching the content subjects Much of the success of an educational program depends upon teacher competence. How do Filipino teachers perceive their competence in the languages of instruction? The teachers were asked to rate themselves regarding their ability to teach the various content subjects in Pilipino. English, and the vernacular. The scale called for the teachers to rate themselves “best.” “second best.” “average," “poor but can improve,” or “impossible” for each language. About 30% of the teachers did not respond to this question. Another 30% rated themselves most competent to teach in English, roughly 20% rated themselves as best in the vernacular, and less than 10% rated themselves as most competent in Pilipino. Approximately 2% rated themselves as impossible of improvement in Pilipino, about 1% reported that they could not teach in the vernacular, and another ¹ u% indicated they were “impossible" for improvement in English. About a third of the respondents did not indicate their competence in Pilipino, better than 20% did not indicate their competence in English, and roughly 40% did not respond as to their competence in the vernacular.

What do these figures imply? They would seem to imply the general inadequacy of the majority of Filipino teachers to use any o^r the languages prescribed for instruction in the schools. This is understandable in view of the fact that there are now too many factors that make the mastery of English practically impossible.¹* The competition of the three languages for the time of the teacher and the pupil makes mastery of any given language difficult. Inadequacy in Pilipino is even more understandable. As yet. no intensive training has been provided anywhere to develop the skills necessary for teaching well in Pilipino. A possible exception to this may be the graduate programs in Pilipino at the Philippines Normal College, the University of the Philippines, and the Atcneo de Manila University. As for the vernaculars, in spite of the fact that they became the languages of instruction in 1957, there is no college or university offering any training in their use anywhere in the Philippines. Teachers are simply required to teach in the vernacular that both they and their pupils speak.

The way teachers perceive their competence as reflected in the above figures has quite serious implications. In spite of the fact that English is the main language of instruction, the number of teachers who report that they do not feel very competent in the use of that language (fully two-thirds of the respondents either did not respond or reported that they felt inadequate) is a very serious indictment of teacher education institutions or of the English language as a medium of instruction. The latter is often the position of many advocates of Pilipino. With regard to Pilipino, there is also a definite need for much better programs for educating the Filipino teacher in its use.

following occupations in your community?*' With occupations that did not require academic training (carpenter, farmer, fisherman, housewife, and market seller), Pi* tipino and/or the vernacular were all that was necessary. Filipino, English, and the vernacular were required for clerk, doctor, lawyer, mayor, midwife, policeman, priest, secretary, surveyor, teacher, and veterinarian.

In selecting the occupations to be investigated, it was assumed that certain occupations had higher prestige (doctor, lawyer, priest, teacher) than others (tindera or seller in the open market). The languages needed for success in these occupations, however, were considered from the standpoint of being useful rather than of having prestige (cf. Wcinrich 1953, p. 79 and Fishman 1966, p. 444). One example brought out in the survey is that of Spanish which, from a commonscnse point of view, is a language that has prestige. But in the Philippines Spanish is no longer considered useful for success in any of the twenty-one occupations. (The ability to speak Spanish was considered by only fifteen householders [0.67%] as being necessary for a successful priest.) The respondents did not believe that knowledge of English alone would make a person in any of the twenty-one occupations successful. For success in the occupations that require a format education, one has to be bilingual in English and Pilipino, and, in non-Tagalog provinces, it is assumed that one must also know the local language.¹⁷

Form of Pilipino favored for journalism. As indicated earlier in this paper, the form of Pilipino desired by the people varies according to use. speakers, occasion, etc. What form of Pilipino is acceptable for journalism? The respondents were asked whether they had read copies of two periodicals that were using two varieties of Pi* tipino quite different from the Pilipino used in the schools. Taliba. the Philippines* largest daily in Pilipino, uses what its editors call modern Pilipino, which is characterized by the use of English and Spanish loan words that have gained wide currency in the educated Tagalog spoken in and around Manila. Katas, a magazine, explicitly opposes the rules of Philippine orthography advocated by the Institute of National Language and upholds the retention of original spellings of the loan words in the lending language. Katas also deliberately introduces words from other Philip* pine languages. Only I % of the householders and 3% of the teachers had seen Katas, so no conclusion on its style is made here. Taliba. as expected, is more widely known—24% of the householders and 35% of the teachers had read it. The readership of this Pilipino daily seems to be confined to Manila and the surrounding areas. Of those who had read the paper, 19% of the householders and 25% of the teachers approved of the form of Pilipino used in it. This is in contrast to the percentage of those who favor the puristic type of Pilipino for school use. This again proves that people have separate domains for certain forms or styles of language. The easy-going, conversational style which mirrors the Mani!a*spoken Tagalog must be very acceptable, judged by the rise in circulation of the paper from 34,000 in 1966 when it used puristic Tagalog to 147,664 (audited circulation) in June 1970.'*

Language for radio listening. Radio programming has become so popular that only the very poorest family does not now own its own radio. Even peasants in the remotest barrios have transistor radios (Japanese transistorized radio receiving sets are very cheap). Only 1% of the householders and teachers did not have access to radio listening sets. Most of the respondents listened to between one and live stations.

Respondents were asked what languages they listened to for news, popular music, talent programs, drama, and religious programs. For news and talent programs, householders listened more to Pilipino, while teachers listened more to English. As regards popular music, both householders and teachers listened more to English than to Pilipino programs. In the area of religious programs, householders listened more to local language programs, while teachers listened to English, it is in the area of drama that both householders and teachers listened to Pilipino and/or vernacular programs. It is possible that more drama programs are available in Pilipino than in any other language (see Table 10 in the Appendix).‘*

The question ‘is Tagalog different from PilipinoT* may not seem important to us, but it is to many Filipinos. The use of the term Tagalog has connotations of regionalism, and many view it as the basis of the national language now officially and legally recognized as Pilipino.^’

Three out of four teachers thought that Pilipino and Tagalog were the same, while only three out of live householders thought they were the same. One out of five householders did not know. Among the reasons given by those who thought the terms were different were: some words are different, the grammars are different, and Tagalog has more borrowings -reasons that seem to be merely impressionistic (as are practically all opinions of this nature).

The initial report of the language survey (Otanes and Sibayan 1969) was officially submitted in May 1970 to the Board of National Education. No official statement had been made by the Board as of the writing of this paper. Other events have taken place since the survey was completed, and these are summarized and analyzed below from an impressionistic point of view.

Bureau of Public Schools Director's order permitting the use of Pilipino in non-Tagalog speaking provinces, in January 1971. the Director of Public Schools issued a letter giving school officials and teachers in non-Tagalog speaking provinces permission to use Pilipino as the medium of instruction in grade I provided there were both teachers trained to teach Pilipino and adequate teaching materials. Data on the number of schools and teachers or classes that have taken advantage of this permission was not available to me at the time this paper was written.

Presidential Commission ю survey Philippine educationOn December 24, 1969, the President of the Philippines created a commission to “undertake a thorough study and assessment of education in the Philippines and make recom-

mendations for policy and implementation." The Commission (as the body came to be known) worked through most of 1970. It made full use of the initial report on the language survey contained in the Language Policy Survey of the Philippines (Otanes and Sibayan 1969). The following is a quotation from the Commission’s statement on Language of Instruction:

Language of Instruction. The Commission believes that bilingualism in Pi-lipino and English is both a fact of Philippine national life today, as well as a desirable condition in the contemporary world. The choice is not either Pi* lipino or English, to the exclusion of the other in our educational system. It is recommended that Pilipino be the main language of instruction at the elementary level, with the main vernacular as the medium in the first two grades.

At the secondary and higher education levels, it is recommended that Pilipino or English, whenever practicable, be the instructional medium. As a preface to these language recommendations, however, the Commission notes that the language issue facing the nation today has implications transcending the educational system. It therefore expects that the decision on the language question be taken at the level of higher politics, possibly through action by the Constitutional Convention. (Education Survey Report, p. 16)

One of the most difficult and most emotionally loaded problems the Filipino faces today is the reconciliation of long-range aspirations, most often not immediately realizable, such as the use of Pilipino in most language domains (as crystalled and seen by its leaders) with the current popular preference for programs such as the use of English in education. The Commission skirted the issue when it decided that the solution of or decision on the language question must be taken up on higher political levels, possibly by action of the Constitutional Convention.™ The recommendations of the Commission on language of instruction clearly reflect a concession to the rising tide of changing ideologies and political temper of the people. The Commission found it difficult to make recommendations that have to concede to the people’s conflicting loyalties and aspirations, such as their attachment to their ethnic languages, the desire for an ideological language symbolizing the nation so that every Filipino must learn a common indigenous language, and their purely practical and mundane attachment to English as the language which the Filipino requires for access to much of the world’s knowledge presently unavailable in either Pilipino or the vernacular.

The Filipino is confronted with the problem of reconciling the demands made on him by his personal goals, ethnic loyalty, modernization, and nationalism. When the Filipino today says publically that he prefers to have his child educated in English, he is likely to be misunderstood by staunch nationalists, when all that the average Filipino really wants is to be able to share in the “good life” that is accessible, at least at present, through English. And when he says that his next preference for educating his child is his native language, he is yielding to the tug that his ethnicity make* on him. Hi* ethnic loyalty has ils origins in a past that includes Wood ties, geographic proximity, common customs, and beliefs—the kind of beliefs that shaped his primordial awareness, sentiments, and attachments (Fishman 1966, p. 402). most of which are summarized in the language that he speaks or in how he calls himself: tlocano, Cebuano, Bicolano. Pampango. etc. If he places Pilipino as his third choice, it is not because he dislikes Pilipino or that he is not patriotic; it is just that his national awareness and identity with the larger society through Pilipino have not yet been sufficiently developed. The demands of nationalism often call for other awarenesses which sometimes require shedding ofT some ethnic loyalties and attachments, something many Filipinos presently are not quite ready to do.

With intelligent language planning (aided by studies such as the survey reported on in this paper), the demands of ethnicity, nationalism, and modernization can be harmonized. English, Pilipino, and the vernaculars could all contribute their share to the advancement of the Filipino.

1. President. Philippine Normal College and Consultant, Language Study Center of the Philippine Normal College. I wish to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following, all of the Philippine Normal College: Dr. Fc T. Ouncs, Aisociate Professor of Pttipino and linguistic» and Director, Language Study Center, for criticizing the manuscript; Gloria V. Baylon, Assistant Professor of linguistics, and Emma Santos* Castillo, both of the Language Study Center, who assisted in processing the data and preparing the tables on the TQ; Alfonso O. Santiago, Assistant Professor of Pilipino, for gathering data on Pilipino and assisting in the translation of several manuscripts and papers from Pilipino to English; Felix Ricafort, graduate assistant in Pilipino; Benjamin M. Pascual, Director of Publications of the Graduate School and Assistant Professor of English, for helping edit the manuscript; Dr. Alejandrino Q. Perez. Assistant Professor of Pilipino, for securing several papers on Pilipino rules and regulations; and Hermie Tengco and Mila Riboroso Acctbal for typing drafts and the final copy of the paper.

2. The survey was conducted with the endorsement of the Board of National Education—the education policy-making body of the Republic of the Philippines- in ita Resolution No. 3). March $. 1968. in which the BNE said, "the results of which will be used as guidelines to language planning and as a baseline for future evaluation of the effects of language plant. .. .** The survey was financed, in part, by grants to the Center from the Ford and Asia Foundations. The initial report on the survey was submitted to the Board of National Education in early 1970 (Otanes and Sibaysn 1969). A second report will be released soon. A partial report on the Manila and suburbs data was made in April 1969 in my "Language Planning Processes and the Language Policy Survey of the Philippines” read at the Conference on Language Planning, Instiute of Advanced Projects. East West Center, Honolulu, April 7 10.1969 (see bibliography).

3. Possibly in response to a clamor in many quarters that the Institute of National Language (Syrian ng Wikang Pambansa) should be representative of the various languages as originally constituted in 1936, President Ferdinand E. Marcos "reconstituted" the Institute on March 16,1971 by appointing nine members, eight of whom represent the eight major languages, with the ninth member representing the cultural minority languages. One of the purposes of the reconstitution of the Institute is "to facilitate and enhance the effective propagation and development of the national language and to actively involve all linguistic groups in this nationalistic endeavor....” Prior to the reconstitution of the Institute, it had only a director and an assistant director. (See Executive Order No. 304, March 16, 1971 by the President of the Philippines, MslacsAang, Manila.)

4. The сам of my own family it typical. Mott of the convenation it in tlocano and in Та* galop, etpccially with the two younger children, who grew up in Manila. Englith it generally used, for example, when wc discuss technical subjects or world politics. When we write to each other, we all им Englith regardless of the subject.

5. S. Takdir Aliyahbana, one of the most important advocates and builders of Bahaia Indo* nesia. pint hit hopes on the propagation of Bt in the schools. Private convertnUont and discussions with him during the Conference on Language Planning, Institute of Advanced Projects, Last West Center. Honolulu. April 7 10, 1969.

6. In an article in a widely circulated weekly, the Philippines Free Press (May 22, 1971. p. 8ff >, Dean Vahes used this data to prove that because the Filipino people desire English at the medium of instruction, plans for instituting Pilipino at the main medium of instruction should be abandoned. In a conversation with Dean Yabet after hit article came out. he told me that he was in favor of the development of Pilipino at the national language (in the senM of a lingua franca) but not at a language of instruction.

7. The writer of the column wrote of the survey: “If the real objective of this survey it to come up with a sound basis for determining what they call language policy, they should have conducted a different kind of study. And not a survey to find out the opinion of people who are ignorant in the importance of a language in nation building." Jose M. Buhain, “Stupid Language Survey'' in his column Upong Dies Lang, Рііфіпо Star. January 9, 1971. (Translated from Pilipino.) The Pilipino Star is a tabloid, written in Pilipino, which circulates mainly through newsboys in and aiound Manila

N This is one of the fears of many non-Tagalog speaking Filipinos. It has been voiced by Gcruiuki Lacuesta, publisher of Katas maga/me and by Leopold» Y. Yabcs in the article referred to m fn. 6 above.

9. See Sibayan 1971 For a dissenting opinion of this »ne hundred year plan, see Ltamzon 1970. He writes: “Nor does this process of 'modernization' need a century to accomplish, as some maintain. This is a myth. The сам histories of modem Hebrew and more recently of Bahasa Indonesia have demonstrated the opposite." Based on information I gathered in a visit to Indonesia in 1968, t am convinced that Bahasa Indonesia is not as yet a modernized language. The Indonesians are still struggling to modernize it. For the case of Hebrew (which took three generations to arrive at a "fairly clear-cut outline") see Blanc 1968.

10. For detailed discussion on these debates, including accounts of Congressional hearings, see Sibayan 1971.

11. At the time of the survey (1968). the letters c, f. j. q. v, *. z, were not considered "part" of the Pilipino alphabet, although they were “recognized and accepted" in proper names. On October 20. 1971, the new members of the Institute of National Language (INL) circulated a notice recommending that (he Pilipino alphabet include (Ьем letters plus II, rr. ch. ng, and n. thus making a 31-letter alphabet. The INL conducted hearings all over the Philippines on what the people thought about the change. In accordance with law, decisions of the INL are subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines. The 31-letter alphabet proposal submitted to the President on August 1.1972 was returned to the Director of the INL on January II, 1973 with the observation that the double letters are not necessary and that only the Spanish letter Я be retained. After a long period of consideration, the Director finally returned the proposal to the President on April 2$. 1974, reiterating the stand of the nine-man Board that the 31-lcttcr alphabet is the best for Filipinos. The reasons are too lengthy to summarize here. As of this writing (July 1974), no action has been taken yet by the Office of the President. Officially, the 20-letter abakada . stands.

12. In a paper I wrote in 1968,1 advocated a vertical bilingual approach where Pilipino may be used at all levels--in universities, high schools, and elementary schools-with some subjects taught in English and some in Pilipino. On June 19,1974 (by coincidence, exactly 34 years to the day the national language based on Tagalog was first taught as a subject in the

schools), the Department of Education and Culture issued the guidelines for the implementation of the bilingual policy adopted by the National Board of Education “to develop a nation competent in the use of both English and Pilipino." The Department order defined bilingual education operationally (meaning for the purpose of Philippine education only) as “the separate use of Pilipino and English as media of instruction in definite subject areas, provided that, additionally, Arabic shall be used in the areas where it is necessary.'* Pilipino becomes the medium of instruction beginning with the schoolyear 1974-197$ in primary and secondary schools in the following subjects: social studies/social science, character education, health education, and physical education. (A four-year transition period is provided for non-Tagalog speaking areas. This means that the use of Pilipino becomes mandatory in the foregoing subjects starting in the schoolyear 1978-1979.) All other subjects, mainly mathematics and science, continue to be taught in English. For all practical purposes, this follows the recommendations mode as a result of the survey conducted in 1968 which is reported here. (SeeOtanes and Sibayan 1969.)

13. One of the Philippines* better writers and columnists comments on this phenomenon: “The student activists seem to have found the perfect solution to our language problems. The rhetoric of their revolution - as displayed in their placards, their waiting-shed speeches, teach-ins and TV appearances-is couched in a new free-wheeling language which is alternately the Tagalog of the Manila streets and the English of Greater Manila academe. It is delightful to watch them see-saw from one to the other, almost without thinking, the spontaneity of their Tagalog even matched by the fluency of their English.... Senators, bishops and professors are talking that way too, if only to prove their radical chic... . Pilipino is superseding English as medium of instruction and communication and outrunning Department of Education regulations. . . . The phenomenal rise of the “Engalog" and “Taglish" tabloids and the new Tatiha must be taken into account, as must the steady deterioration in the quality and comprehension of English as spoken and written by Filipinos.'* Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil “Language Difficulties." in her column “Consensus of One," The Sunday Times Magazine. February 21,1971, p. 11.

14. The opposition to Pilipino in the Constitutional Convention (which opened on June », 1971 to rewrite the Constitution of the Philippines that was written in 1934 and adopted in 193$) came mainly from non-Tagalog delegates who composed the majority. They opposed Pilipino on the ground that it was based on only one language, Tagalog, and not on all Philippine languages. According to these delegates, Pilipino (spelled with a P) excludes the great majority of Filipinos and does not reflect the collective aspirations of all Filipinos in the development of the national language. They felt that Filipino (with an F) will better express such aspirations. The Constitution which was ratified on January 17, 1973 recognized Pilipino as an official language but not as the national language. The Constitution, promulgated in English and in Pilipino, also provided that “The National Assembly shall take steps towards the development and formal adoption of а common national language to be known as Filipino."

1$. The data gathered in the bilingual experiment conducted at the Laboratory School of the Philippine Normal College show that the language of instruction does not afFect the scholastic achievement of the children in terms of quantity of content acquired. However, Social Studies and Science seemed to be learned better in Pilipino, while Mathematics was learned better in English. For the initial report on the experiment see Tucker, Otanes, and Sibayan 1970. The final results of the four-year experiment (1968-1972) are now being written up and should be available in 197$.

16. For the status of English twenty years ago, see Clifford H. Prator 1950. Dr. Prater's comments then are even more pertinent now. However, in his last visit to Manila in 1968, Dr. Prator was surprised by the quality of English spoken by young graduates, since it was in contrast n. what he had observed in 1950. See p. 38 of his report. Compare fn. 13 on Nakptl's comments.

17. The twenty- one occupations were: carpenter, clerk, doctor, electrician, farmer, fisherman, housewife, lawyer, mayor, midwife, policeman, postman, priest, secretary, market seller, seller in the best store, surveyor, tailor, teacher, veterinarian, and waiter. For detailed statistical data see Otanes and Sibayan 196%. pp. 111 -126.

18. The English language newspaper with the widest circulation is the Manila Times, with an audited circulation of 227,031 as of June 30,1970.

19. The language survey did not secure data on TV viewing habits or patterns. According to a recent survey by International Research Associates (INRA), Tagalog programs are “tops'* with the people of Luzon, the island where Manila is located. The INRA survey shows that 21% (slightly more than 4 million persons) of the entire population of Luzon (19.521.018) watch television. Three out of four respondents (73%) prefer Tagalog programs, and 22% prefer English, with about 4% not caring whether the programs are in English or Tagalog. 81 % of the respondents either spoke Tagalog or were conversant with it. which is why they prefer Tagalog programs. Evelyn A. Opilas, The Manila Times. August 2,1971. p. 10. #

20. The Supreme Court of the Philippines (in a resolution. July 15.1970) denied the petition of former Congressman Inoccncio V. Ferrer (a Visayan) to stop the propagation of Pilipino. especially by the government. The court, in part, ruled "... the public acquiescence and recognition that the people and the government had given to it. as sanctioned by Commonwealth Act 570 approved by Congress declaring the Filipino National Language as one of the official languages of the Philippines effective July 4, 1946. have placed the issue of wisdom and propriety in the choice of Pilipino, based on Tagalog as our national language, beyond the authority of the courts to review and set aside."

21. There were nine committees that examined the educational system: (I) educational administration. (2) curriculum, (3) educational finance, (4) higher education, (5) educational logistics, (6) human resources and manpower development. (7) science education, (8) teacher education, and (9) vocational-technical education. The question of language was taken up mainly by the committee on curriculum. I served as resource expert in teacher education and curriculum.

22. In contrast to the Commission's recommendations, the Philippine Association for Language Teaching and the Linguistic Society of the Philippines take a definite stand on the language problem as follows: “We endorse the policy that as rapidly as is feasible Pilipino be made the medium of instruction on all levels of the educational system except that the vernaculars should be used in the early grades. This endorsement is premised on a realistic program of financial support which will make possible the adequate preparation of teachers and instructional materials. Since language develops through usage and not by legislative fiat, its propagation should follow a natural process of evolution aided by persuasion rather than coercion. The propagation of Pilipino should not in any way be detrimental to the maintenance, study and cultivation of the vernaculars as the languages of familiar communication among its speakers. The development of Pilipino with elements from the other vernaculars will be better achieved when the speakeis of these languages begin to he bilingual in Pilipino and these vernaculars. Because of the present status of English as the language in which scientific and literary materials are available and as one of the international languages, particularly in Southeast Asia, its teaching as a second language should be continued and upgraded and made available to all to ensure equality of opportunity."

Agbayani. Aguedo F. “Development and Evaluation of the National Language." (Privileged speech delivered before the House of Representatives on March 6. 1967.) The Manila Times (March 10, ІѴ67).

Alisjahbana. S. Takdir. “Sc .» Planning Processes in the Development of the Indonesian/ Malay Language." In P.jw, ■> aan and Bjdrn Jernudd (eds.), 1971, pp. 179-187.

Blanc. Haim. "The Israeli Koine as an Emergent National Standard." In Fishman, Joshua A., Charles A. Ferguson and Jyotirindra Das Gupta (eds.), 1968, pp. 237-251.

Davis, Frederick. "The Language ProWcm in Philippine Education." The Philippine Journal of Education, 45, pp. 497 498 and 546 547.

Ferguson. Charles A. “National Sociolinguistic Profile Formulas." In Bright, W. (ed.L 1966, pp. 309 324.

______ “The Language Factor in National Development." In Rice, Frank A. (ed.h 1962,

Fishman. Joshua A. Language Loyalty in the United States. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.

__“Nationality-Nationalism and Nation*Natkinism." In Fishman, Joshua A., Charles

__“Sociolinguistics and the Language Problems of the Developing Countries." In

Fishman. Joshua A., Charles A. Ferguson and Jyotirindra Das Gupta (eds.), 1968, pp. 3

__ Charles A. Ferguson and Jyotirindra Das Gupta (eds). Language Problems of Developing Nations New York: John Wiley A Sons. 1968.

Frei, Ernest J. The Historical Development of the Philippine National Language. Manila: Bureau of Printing. 1959.

Hai. Muhammad Ahdul. "The Modernization and Development of Bengali since the Establishment of Pakistan." In Rubin, Joan and Bj8rn Jernudd (eds.), 1971, pp. 189-192.

Haugen, Einar. language Conflict and Language Planning. Cambridge. Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1966.

__“Instrumentalism in Language Planning." In Rubin, Joan and Bjttrn Jernudd (eds.),

Hayden. Joseph Ralston. The Philippines: A Study in National Development. (Reissue.) New York: Macmillan, 1950.

Jacobs, Robert (ed.). English Language Teaching in Nigeria. (Mimeo.) Lagos, Nigeria: Ministry of Education, 1966.

Jernudd, Bjorn. “Some Introductory References Pertaining to Language Planning.' In Rubin, Joan and Bjdrn Jernudd (eds.), 1971, pp. 311 323.

Kiunisala. Edward R. "Pilipino for Filipinos." Philippines Free Press (January 12,1963).

Kloss, Heinz. "Bilingualism and Nationalism." Journal of Social Issues. XXIIL2 (April 1967), pp. 39 47.

Lambert, Wallace E. “A Social Psychology of Bilingualism." Journal of Social Issues. XXIIL2 (April 1967), pp. 91 109.

Llamzon. Teodoro A. “On the Medium of Instruction: English or Pilipino." Philippine Studies. XV1II:4, pp. 683 694.

Macnamara, John. Bilingualism and Primary Education. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1966.

-- “Bilingualism in the Modern World." Journal of Social Issues, XXIII:2 (April 1967), pp. 1-7.

__"Successes and Failures in the Movement for the Restoration of Irish." In Rubin.

Monroe, Paul. (A) Survey of the Educau nal System of the Philippines. (This is popularly known as the Monroe Survey Report or simply the Monroe Survey.) Manila: Bureau of Printing, !925.

N'oss. Richard. Higher Ldueattoti Development in South-East Asia, III, 2. Language Policy, UNESCO.

Olancs. Fe T. "Implications of the Grade IV Literacy Survey of 1962." The MST English Quarterly. 17 (January April 1967). pp. S 8.

_and Bonifacio P. Sibayan. Language Policy Survey of the Philippines. Manila: Language Study Center. Philippine Normal College, l%9.

Page. R.B. Lc. The National Language Question London: Oxford University Press. 1964.

Philippines. Commonwealth of the. "An Act to Establish a National Language Institute and Define Its Powers and Duties." (Commonwealth Act No. 184.) Manila: Bureau of Printing, 19.16.

Philippines, President of the. "Reconstituting the Institute of National Language and Defining Its Powers and Duties." (Executive Order No. 304.) Manila: MalacaAang. 1971.

Philippines. Republic of the. Use of the Dialect as an Auxiliary Medium of Instruction in Primary tirades. (Bureau of Education Circular No. 71.) Manila: Bureau of Education, 1939.

___Revised Philippine Educational Program. (Bureau of Public Schools (formerly Bureau

of Education], Department of Education Circular No. 3.) Manila: Bureau of Public Schools. 1957.

__General Education Policies. (A report of the Board of National Education.) Quezon

__Using Pilipino' in Referring to the National Language. (Bureau of Public Schools,

Department of Education Circular No. 19.) Manila: Bureau of Public Schools. 1959.

__Census of the Philippines. Summary: Population and Housing. (Bureau of Census and

__The Use of Pilipino as a Medium of Instruction. (A Proposal.) (Mimeo.) Manila:

__Report of the Committee on Curriculum on a Proposed Revised Curriculum for Ele-

mentury Education. (Mimeo. у Manila: Board of National Education, Committee on Cur* riculum, 1968.

Survey Report: Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education.) Makati, Rizal: The Commission. 1970.

Prator. Clifford II. Language Teaching in the Philippines. Manila: United States Educational Foundation in the Philippines. 1950.

Ramos, Maximo. Jose V. Aguilar and Bonifacio P. Sibayan. The Determination and Implementation of Language Policy. (Philippine Center for Language Study Monograph, 2.) Quezon City: Alemar-Phoenix. 1967,

Rice. Frank A. (cd.). Study of the Role -f Second Languages. Washington. D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics for the Modern Language Association of America. 1962.

Rubin. Joan and Bjdrn Jernudd (cds ). Can Language Be Planned* Sociolinguistic Theory and Practice for Developing Nations. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1971.

Sibayan. Bonifacio P. "Some Problems of Bilingual Education in the Philippines." Philippine Journal of Education. 45, pp. 18 22ff.

__Pilipino as a Language of Ins true Hon in Philippine Schools. Colleges, and Universities.

__"Language-planning Processes and the Language-Policy Survey in the Philippines." In

__"Pilipino. English, and the Vernaculars in Philippine Life." The Catholic Teacher. 14

__"Language Policy. Language Engineering, and Literacy: The Philippines." In Sebeok.

Thomas A. (ed.), Current Trends in Linguistics: Vol. VIII. Linguistics in Oceania. The Hague: Mouton, 1971.

__"Long Range Development of Pilipino.” (Paper read before the symposium on the

Philippine Languages, 7th Annual National Convention, The Psychological Association of the Philippines, January 31, 1970.)

Stewart, William A. "An Outline of Linguistic Typology for Describing Multilingualism." In Rice, Frank A. (ed ), 1962, pp. IS-25.

Swanson. J. Chester. (A) Survey of the Public Schools of the Philippines-1960, by a staff of Americans and Filipinos chosen by the International Cooperation Administration of the United States and the National Economic Council of the Republic of the Philippines. (This is popularly known as the Swanson Survey Report or the Swanson Survey.) Manila: Carmelo and Bauermann, I960.

Tucker, G. Richard, Fe T. Otanes and Bonifacio P. Sibayan. An Alternate Pays Approach to Bilingual Education. (Georgetown University Monograph Series on Languages and Lin* guistics, 23.) Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1970.

Whiteley, W.M. "Some Factors Influencing Language Policies in Eastern Africa." In Rubin, Joan and BjOrn Jernudd(eds.). 1971, pp. 141-158.

Yabes, Leopoldo Y. "For English Now: Against 'Pilipino* Dictatorship and Cultural Iso* lation." Philippines Free Press. LX!V:2I (May 22,1971К pp. 8ff.

♦Tinder* - teller in the local open market. (Bated on Ouircs and Sibayan. 1969. Table 30. pp. 58-60.)

Languages used in stroking to nine categories of persons

	4
•>	s	ГЫ lid	p LC2	LC2 P	Ш Ш
	$
m	Tindera	PL1 PL1	a. o.	LC2 LC2	PL2 PL2
r*>	Doctor	PLI LC2	•J a. a.	LC2 E	ш a.
«	Teacher	PLI LC2	3 a. a.	LC2 E	E LCI
№	Priest	PLI PLI	a. ui	LC2 LC2	ш a.
«*	.5J 1	PLI PLI	a. A.	LC2 LC2	X Z Ш
n	І 1	PLI PLI	a. a.	LC2 LC2	PL2 PL2
	%
ft	i	PLI PLI	at a. Z	LC2 LC2	X 2C fte
	Q
-	Spouse	PLI PLI	06 CL Z	LC2 P	NR LC2
	■Jtf I	X H X	x H X	X H X	X H X
		—	<4

ERJC

Types of reading materials and language preferred for reading

Raak	Science	Cnrrent Everts	History	Biography	Religion	Techno.	Fiction	Poetry
1 HH:	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E
	(28%)	(30%)	(29%)	(28%)	(27%)	(26%)	(27%)	(26%)
T:	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E
	(81%)	(83%)	(80%)	(76%)	(75%)	(71%)	(78?;)	(75?„)
2 HH:	PL)	PL1	PL1	PLI	PLI	PLI	PLI	PLI
	(10%)	(11%)	(10%)	(10%)	(14%)	(»0%)	(11%)	(to?;)
T:	LCI	LCI	LCI	LCI	LCI	LCI	LCI	LCI
	(5%)	(7%)	(6%)	(6%)	(7%)	(4%)	(6%)	(8%)
3 HH:	P	P	P	P	P	PLI	PG	P
3 HH:	(5%)	(6%)	(6%)	(6%)	(7%)	(4%)	(5%)	(6%)
T:	P	P	P	P	LC2	LC2	P	P
T:	(3%) LC2 (3%)	(3%) LC2 (3%)	(3% LC? (3%)	(4%)	(5%)	(3%)	(3%) LC2 (3%)	(3%) LC2 (3%)

^ E - English. PL1 - lint Philippine Language mentioned by respondent, LCI - Language Combination I (English + Pil), LC2 - Lang. Combination 2, (Other language combinations). P — Filipino. HH • Householders. T • Teachers. (From Otancs and Sibayan. 1969. Table 46. p. 82.)

(English a Pilipino). LC2 - Language Combination 2 (Combinations other than English + Pilipino), В « Books. C • Comics, N • Newspapers. WM • Weekly Magazines, Gl • Government Information Materials. RM ■ Religious Materials, О - Other Materials. HH - Householders. T • Teachers. (From Otanes and Sibayan. 1969. Table 48. p. 91.)

Philippine Language - any and all Philippine Language» other than Pihpino (Tagalog). (From Ounes and Sibay an, 1969, Table S7,p. 142.)

Languages used in class far teaching certain subjects (leathers' responses!

fX - 2.100)

Snbject Tая#л	Used	N* Response		None		Some		Meet		AH
		Л’	©/	N	© -*	N	V	Л’	«» •	N	•/
	E	17)0	8!	69	3	254	12	46	2	21	1
Pilipino	P	603	29	4	.2	179	9	777	37	537	26
Pilipino	V	1296	62	52	2	688	33	50	2	15	.71
	E	462	22	3	.14	173	8	910	43	552	26
English	P	1707	81	41	2	303	14	37	2	12	.57
English	V	1269	60	45	2	721	34	42	2	23	1
	E	924	44	18	1	177	8	625	30	356	17
Arithmetic	P	1621	77	45	2	261	12	59	3	114	5
	V	1123	53	42	2	565	27	123	6	247	12
	E	992	47	22	1	148	7	620	30	318	15
GMRC	P	1612	77	34	2	265	13	69	3	120	6
	V	1140	54	35	2	548	26	110	5	267	13

E - English. P - Pilipino. V - Vernacular. Read 17KHMr„ldid not respond. Onl> 3". reporicd using no English in teaching the subject Pilipino 254 |І2"„> use some fcngltsl» to reach Pilrptmi. 46<Г.| we much English to teach Pilipino A surprising 21 <Г„І leach Pilipino as a subject using entirely English as the language of instruction.

Householders' end (tochers' three most frequent language choices in each type of radio program

£ ■ fcngluh, P ■ Pilipmo. PL I • Philippine Language I tint Philippine language mentioned by re* tpondent.HH • Hoowholtkri. T « Teacher» (From Olanewand Sibayun IV6V,Table 7J.p. 170.1

The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa in Retrospect

by Clifford H. Prator

The aim of this conference on sociolinguisticaily oriented language surveys is stated as being “to examine the types and categories of such surveys, the problems in their organization, the methods and techniques used and the disciplines involved in car* rying them out. the direct and indirect uses to which sociolinguistic information has been put, and the ways in which it might be better utilized.** Within this framework, this particular paper is an account of one of the most extensive sociolinguisticaily oriented surveys yet organized. This Survey bore the somewhat complicated official title of Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa and was carried out between 1967 and 1971 in that area of the continent comprised by Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

The section of the paper devoted to a description of this Survey will draw heavily on several partial accounts that have appeared in print.¹ The paper will then go on to attempt a preliminary assessment of the results of the project and to identify some of the problems that arose in carrying it out.

The basic concepts that gave rise to the project were elaborated over a period of several years by a rather large group of individuals, including both Africans and non* Africans, who were concerned with the linguistic problems of Africa.

An obvious forerunner was the West African Languages Survey sponsored by the universities of that area and begun in I960 under the direction of Joseph H. Greenberg with the financial backing of the Ford Foundation. But this trail-blazing attempt to survey the language situation in a multi-national area concentrated on the analysis and description of lesser known languages. The publications that have come out of it are technical articles and monographs of more direct interest to professional linguists than to government officials or language teachers. As a byproduct of this survey, however, the linguist investigators accumulated a sufficient store of information on the general language situation in West African countries to permit a complete revision of the basic handbook on the subject—Westermann and Bryan’s Languages of West Africa.*

In 1961 the specialists who gathered from all over the world—appropriately enough at Makerere University College in Uganda—for the Commonwealth Conference on the Teaching of English as a Second Language noted in their report that: “The organizers of this Conference had difficulty in obtaining the information needed to ensure that its members would be adequately informed about the uses of English, about the place of English in the educational system, and about experiment

and research on all aspects of English as a second language. Statistical information from one country is not readily comparable with that from another. In most cases statistics about the use, as opposed to the teaching, of English are not collected.**¹The representatives from African countries deplored the fact that, while not enough was known about the conditions under which English was used and taught, much leu information was available about the social and educational function of the languages of Africa.

At a number of other conferences nominally devoted to fostering the teaching of English, it was pointed out that in much of Africa circumstances were making it necessary to redefine the social and educational role of the language before real progress could be made in strengthening instruction in English. It was further noted that a valid redefinition of the role of English would be possible only when much more was known about the current and potential roles of African languages. Thus, in 1962 the National Advisory Council on the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language, newly established to advise American Government agencies regarding their TEFL activities, recommended, as one of the “Decisions" reached at its May meeting, that an in-depth study of the entire language situation be carried out in one of the developing countries of Africa.

The impetus given by those already involved in the analysis and teaching of African languages was thus reinforced by that provided by the group primarily concerned with the teaching of English. Significantly, the two groups envisaged no conflict of interests. One of the basic concepts of the Survey, then, was the recognition that the language situation of a country should be studied in its totality and that any success in defining the role of one language in a given setting should help define that of all the languages used in the same setting.

In the fall of 1965, the Fo,d Foundation representative in East and Central Africa was impressed by the number of language projects being proposed within the region and by the great need, emphasized in the proposals, for basic information that could be applied to the solution of the pressing linguistic problems faced by each country. Believing that an informed language policy was essential _to a country's social and economic development, he thought that something similar to the West African Languages Survey might be called for in eastern Africa. At his invitation. Charlc¹* A. Ferguson and 1 visited Nairobi. Addis Ababa. Kampala, and Dar-es-Salaam c_rly in 1966 in order to assess the situation. We were asked to try to answer two fundamental questions: (I) was the situation ripe for a language survey of eastern Africa; and (2) if so, how should the work be planned so as to provide the types of information that would be of most practical value to administrators and educators?

Consultations with academicians and ministry officials in the countries visited swiftly led to the conclusion that the situation was indeed ripe, in the sense that the need for a survey was widely felt and that strong local support would be forthcoming. The answer to the second question was not so easily arrived at; the best that could be done was to offer certain hypotheses that would then be tested in the course of the survey. The most serious linguistic questions with which the governments of eastern Africa were faced involved a few mqjor languages rather than the great

number of minor tongues. Therefore, the survey would concern itself primarily with such languages as Amharic, Swahili, and English. As policy decisions depended more often on the social role of languages than on their structural Qualities, it was felt that more attention should be paid to language use than to linguistic analysis. Since reliance had to be placed chiefly on the schools for the implementation of Ian* guage policy, the survey had to provide information on the effectiveness of language teaching. Because choices had to be made among the widely divergent forms in which most African languages arc spoken, perhaps the techniques that the sociolinguists were developing for studying linguistic diversity and ‘The systematic covariance of linguistic structure and social structure'⁴ would be useful.

By the spring of 1967, then, the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa was clearly an idea whose time had come. With the exception of Ethiopia, the countries of the area were newly independent and eager to formulate or implement new language policies that would reflect their independence. In all five countries, the linguistic situation was complex and obscured by a great paucity of facts concerning language use as well as by an almost total lack of local personnel capable of undertaking, and available for, sociolinguistic research.

The aims of the proposed Survey had already been formulated in September 1966 at a meeting of representatives of the national universities of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. These were stated as being: (1) to assemble basic data on the use and teaching of the тгиог languages in each country; (2) simultaneously to stimulate local research in linguistics, sociolinguistics, and language pedagogy; (3) to foster closer and more productive contacts among specialists in different countries and across disciplinary lines; and (4) to strengthen the institutional and personnel resources in the language sciences in eastern Africa. It seems important to note that the gathering of research data was to be only one of the four aims. The other three, which may well turn out to have been more significant than the first, involved the strengthening of local resources.

To achieve the first aim, a book-length study of the overall situation with regard to the correlated phenomena of language use and language teaching would be prepared in each of the five countries. Each of these country studies would attempt to provide as much as possible of the basic information judged to be relevant to the formulation of sound language policies and to the effective implementation of policy through the educational system and the mass media of communication.

With regard to language use, the studies would try to answer questions such as the following: What languages are used in the country? By whom are they spoken and where? What is the relationship of these languages one to another? What is the extent of multilingualism among individuals and in geographical terms? What is the correlation between language use and social status? Under what circumstances does a multilingual speaker shift from one of his languages to another? What are the linguistic needs of the various groups making up the society? What are the attitudes of various ethnic and social groups towards the languages most often used?

With regard to language teaching, answers to a parallel set of questions would be attempted: To what extent does the language instruction given in the schools correspond to the actual linguistic needs of the society? Under present circumstances.

what degree of success is achieved in the leaching of various languages? What factors contribute most to pupils* success in learning a given language? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the materials presently available for language instruction? Of the instructional methods in current use? Of the mechanisms whereby teachers are trained?

As is unfortunately always the case, the funds available for the preparation of the country studies were strictly limited. It was thought that the budget would provide for approximately fifteen man-years of field work, i.e. three per country. The high point of the Survey would come in each country, then, with the period of twelve to fifteen months during which a team of three visiting scholars would be in residence at the national university, working with local scholars and students in the gathering of data. Each three-man team would include a senior scholar as leader and two younger scholars selected so as to ensure a balance among the various types of disciplinary specializations demanded by the broad scope of the study.

With the second and fourth aims in mind, a substantial amount of money was earmarked for grants in support of local research and development projects in each country. Their purpose was a double one: to stimulate research in an environment where research had seldom been applied to language problems and to encourage the extensive participation of local scholars and officials in gathering the information needed for the country studies. It was clearly recognized that the three man-years of work that each country-study team could furnish would be totally insufficient for the monumental task in hand and that local insights were indispensable for proper orientation. Funds were also earmarked for a limited number of fellowships whereby citizens of the five countries could obtain training in linguistics and related disciplines—in eastern Africa when possible, overseas when necessary. Priority would be given to Africans already employed or regarded as potential employees by educational institutions or government agencies.

The organization of the Survey was complex, necessarily so in view of the variety of institutions that bad a legitimate interest in it. Policy control was invested in a Council made up principally of two representatives of each of the five national universities. Field personnel brought in from outside Africa were employed directly by the Ford Foundation, which thus played an unusually active role m the total operation. The University of California, Los Angeles, was deeply involved in the planning of the project and staffed the Survey office in Nairobi (established in the summer of 1967) which provided administrative and professional coordination. The funds available for local research grants and for fellowships were administered by the University of East Africa's office in Kampala. The Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington recruited an Advisory Committee that included a number of the most distinguished American and British specialists in sociolinguistics, African linguistics, and language pedagogy. The Survey was thus predominantly international, non-governmental, and academic in character.

The scheduling of the country studies was influenced by the availability of suitable personnel, housing, and office space. Uganda seemed the best place to begin because of its compactness and relative accessibility. It also appeared to be a country in which language policy was in a very formative stage. The Uganda

country-study team* arrived in Kampala, then, at the beginning of 1968. Kenya, where English was being introduced in the schools at an earlier grade level than ever before but Swahili was exerting a strong appeal, was next.The Kenya team* arrived in July 1968. The Ethiopian team,^T prepared to concentrate on information that might be useful in implementing a long-established pro-Amharic policy, reached Addis Ababa at the end of the same summer. The Tanzanian study,* largely concerned with the development of Swahili, began in June 1969. Zambia, where English was very firmly established but where there were stirrings of interest in the teaching of local languages, was left until 1970, since accommodation for the team could not be provided by the University until then.* When his presence was not required in the Survey office in Nairobi, the field director of the project, a specialist in teaching English as a second language, worked with whichever team most needed his assistance.¹⁰

The Advisory Committee, having rendered very great services in the original promotion and planning of the Survey as well as in the recruitment of professional personnel, held its final meeting in Dar-es-Salaam and dissolved itself at the end of 1968. The Survey Council met for the sixth and last time in May 1970, in Nairobi, and turned over to the newly formed Language Association of Eastern Africa its responsibilities for the formulation of policy and the awarding of fellowships and research grants. Three months later, when only the Zambia team remained in the field, the Survey office in Nairobi was closed, and the field director returned to the United States. The return home of the leader of the Zambia team early in 1971 marked the official end of the entire project. This seems to be an appropriate time, then, to attempt a preliminary assessment of the results.

None of the five country studies had as yet appeared in print at the time this paper was prepared. Although the gathering of data was completed very much as scheduled, the all-too-familiar delays developed in the actual writing and printing of the manuscripts. The volumes in the series are to have parallel titles—Language in Ethiopia. Language in Kenya, etc.—and each will be co-sponsored by an appropriate institute or committee of the university at which it was prepared. The first completed manuscript, that for Language in Uganda, was sent to Oxford Press in

1969." Language in Kenya was submitted to the publisher in 1971. The last finishing touches are now being added to the manuscript for Ethiopia, and it appears that the writing of the Tanzania and Zambia volumes is well advanced. Since no official editor for the series has ever been named, it is not at all clear just where the responsibility for seeing that the volumes appear without unnecessary delay now lies.

Some of the team leaders initially assumed that most of the writing for their country study must be completed while they were still in the field. Others planned from the beginning to devote their time in Africa largely to data gathering to find ways of doing the writing after returning to their home institutions. In view of the perfectionist scholar’s inveterate tendency to underestimate the length of time it will take him to do a job and of the great expectations aroused in some circles in eastern

Africa by the Survey, it is not surprising that a number of team members have given much more time to the writing than the Survey paid them for. In fact, several of their home institutions have made substantial financial contributions in order to assure that team members could remain together and that the studies could thus be more adequately written up. It is by no means certain, then, that the delays that have arisen are in all cases to be regretted.

The delays do mean, however, that no one is as yet in a position to judge the overall value of the series or to estimate the total impact it eventually may have. Some of the data collected have already been made public in the form of technical articles published in scholarly journals of limited circulation, included in anthologies, or read at conferences. (See sections I and II of the list of “Publications Deriving From the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa” which is appended to this paper.) And large sections of the country studies have circulated in manuscript form among colleagues and graduate students at the home institutions of team members. The general reaction to such partial previews of the material has been quite enthusiastic. Several theses and dissertations that attempt to apply Survey data to the solution of specific problems have already been written or are in progress. (See section III of the appended list.) The authors of these studies tend to agree that, when the five volumes appear, they will indeed make a very substantial contribution to the stock of information related to language policy available in eastern Africa. But the eventual reaction of educators and officials in that part of the world will probably be mixed. Donald Bowen has pointed out some of the reasons: “(1) there may, in view of the widespread notice given Survey activities, be a tendency to expect more than a one-year effort can hope to produce; (2) scholars, government officials, and others are not fully agreed on what data are most noeded— some may feel a study is too narrow, others that it is too broad, producing generalizations of restricted applicability; (3) some critics may have preconceived notions of the linguistic situation and will resist any evidence that does not substantiate these notions—they may therefore disagree with facts or interpretations or may feel that facts should be subordinated to national policy; (4) there are differences among teams as regards preparation, qualification, interest, that will tend to specialize certain directions of investigation to the possible neglect of others.”¹* To which I would add that some readers may also feel that the authors have not always succeeded in their announced intention of writing the studies in relatively nontechnical language for the average educator and concerned layman.

Perhaps the important point to make here is that there is still much that could be done to ensure that the series will be widely read and correctly understood in eastern Africa and that the most will be made of the insights it is capable of providing. The calling together of the present conference seems to be a step in the right direction. One would hope that it could be followed by a number of workshops in Africa at each of which a particular country study and any theses derived from it could serve as position papers and influential officials and educators could consider concrete questions of language policy. It is to be hoped, also, that the Oxford University Press will use the publication subsidies it has received from the Survey in such a way as to make certain that copies of the studies reach the hands of a wide and carefully

selected group of policy makers. Ways might be found of encouraging the use of the studies as texts in university classes¹¹ and even as required reading in advanced teacher-training colleges. If translations or abridged and popularised versions of certain volumes could be prepared in Swahili and Amharie, as was repeatedly urged by the Survey Council, the impact of the series would undoubtedly be greatly increased. In all such efforts the Language Association of Eastern Africa, with adequate financial support, could be particularly effective. And unless such efforts are made, much of the potential effect of the Survey may be dissipated.

Though the effects of the data-gathcring activities of the Survey on the formulation of language policy are thus still difficult to assess, other results are easier to document. There is every evidence that the aim of stimulating local research in linguistics, sociolinguistics, and language pedagogy was, in fact, achieved. Much new research was. of course, directly subsidized through the grants made by the Survey Council to individual scholars; teachers; and, in a few cases, students. Many of those who applied to the Council were neophytes who needed professional as well as financial assistance. If the Council felt that a particular proposal indicated uncertainty on the part of the applicant as to how the proposed work should be carried out, the applicant was encouraged to work out a more specific plan of operation in consultation with team members. It was noted that, whenever a country-study team arrived in a given country, research proposals from that country increased markedly both in number and in quality. During its lifetime, the Council made a total of 63 grants for both applied and theoretical research in a wide range of relevant disciplines. The long list of topics chosen for investigation makes fascinating reading.

The Survey also stimulated research in ways other than by direct subsidization. Many local scholars were invited to contribute to the country studies sections which their special knowledge or experience made them particularly qualified to write. Most of them required no financial assistance, and their only reward was the satisfaction of having their material included in the eventual volume. Added stimulus was provided by the frequent conferences and workshops sponsored by the Survey and by the newly organized language associations about which more will be said below.

There is likewise sufficient evidence to permit a preliminary assessment of the extent to which the Survey succeeded in its aim of fostering closer and more productive contacts among specialists in different countries and across disciplinary lines. The earliest meetings of the Council revealed the degree of isolation in which scholars and educators professionally concerned with language teaching had been carrying out their work in eastern Africa. Many of the university representatives were unknown to one another; Amharicists were surprised to discover how many interests they shared with proponents of Swahili; writers of English texts found they were sometimes duplicating the efforts of teachers in neighboring countries. Even within a given country, government officials were often unaware of the achievements of university staff members, there were unbridged gaps between the departments of a single university, and contacts between academicians and non-academic workers in the field such as missionaries were frequently lacking.

The situation today is radically different, and at least a substantial portion of the

changes that have occurred must be credited to the activities directly sponsored and the influence indirectly exerted by the Survey. In each of the five countries there is now a well established national language association, whereas four years ago there was only one such group, that in Nairobi. These associations are broadly based rather than narrowly specialized. Their membership includes teachers and officials, methodologists and literary scholars, linguists and social scientists, in fact “anyone interested in discussing languages" as the constitution of the Language Society of Uganda puts it. They issue bulletins or newsletters, organize conferences and seminars, and develop projects cooperatively.

The Language Association of Eastern Africa links these national associations together and provides the infrastructure for interdisciplinary communication on an international scale. The LAEA grew out of two Survey-sponsored Regional Conferences on Language and Linguistics: conceived at the Dar-es-Salaam conference in December 1968, it came into legal existence at the Nairobi conference of May-June 1970. It has its own twicc-ycarly publication, the Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa. '* A very accurate idea of the LAEA’s range of interests can be gained from the list of headings under which papers were presented at the 1970 regional conference: language policies in eastern Africa: language modernization and standardization: Amharic, Kiswahili, and other African Ian* guages as media of instruction in primary schools; teaching African languages in secondary schools: English in primary schools; French in secondary schools; English in secondary schools; language transition problems at secondary and university levels: the place of literature in language teaching; the role of mass media in development; oracy and literacy; the status of linguistics and language teaching at universities in eastern Africa; the development of national literatures.¹¹

It would certainly be a gross exaggeration to claim that the Survey was entirely responsible for the remarkable development of programs in African languages and linguistics that has taken place since 1967 in the universities of eastern Africa.¹* Much of it would have taken place anyway because of the very obvious need for such strengthening and its dear relationship to national development and national pride. But the Survey was in progress at the right time, and team members were often called on for support and advice when new departments and courses of study were being planned. Material help in the form of faculty-development grants was provided in a number of cases. Also, actual and prospective university staff members were the most frequent recipients of the 30-odd man-years of post-graduate training made possible through the fellowships granted by the Survey to citizens of the five countries.

Like any complicated undertaking, the Survey had its full share of problems. These varied greatly in kind, in importance, in generality, and in degree of inevitability, so much so that it is not easy to know how best to classify them in a presentation such as this. The difficulty is increased by the realization that any classification attempted will be intensely subjective. However, since two of the chief aims of thif conference

are to determine what we can learn from past experience and to identify as yet unanswered questions, t have tried to arrange the selective listing of problems which follows in terms of their apparent solvability. This means that I have first listed problems for which at least partial solutions may have been found and then have moved on to problems that proved less amenable to solution.

The Survey was on the whole successful in fielding country-study teams with the requisite interdisciplinary balance and the necessary research skills. For the work in hand an rdeU three-man team would probably have been made up of specialists in African linguistics, sociolinguistic survey techniques, and language teaching. Once a team leader was identified, he was in most cases given a free hand in choosing the two junior scholars to work with him. This usually resulted in teams whose members cooperated well and complemented one another in essential ways. The fact that the field director was in a position, when needed, to participate directly in the work of particular teams proved helpful in avoiding potential lacunae in the coverage of the studies.

Undue haste in the selection of personnel and the long delays that sometimes ensue between the authorization of funds and the fielding of a team were avoided in this case by enlisting the support of institutions which were willing and able to make key staff available on very short notice. The decision to schedule the studies to run sequentially rather than simultaneously not only facilitated the employment of topflight personnel but proved advantageous in other ways: later teams were able to profit by the experience of earlier teams, and the Survey benefited by a longer total period of time in which to exert its influence on the entire region.

The steps taken to ensure maximal governmental involvement along with minimal governmental control seem to have been reasonably successful. A very high priority was placed on explanatory interviews with government officials, not only at the time applications were made for the necessary research permits but during the planning stage and while data were being gathered. Copies of each issue of the Bulletin went to a long fist of officials in relevant ministries. Each time the Survey Council met in a given country, several of the local officials upon whose good will and understanding we were most dependent were invited to attend thw meeting as observers with all expenses paid.

The selection of voting members of the Council was a matter of great concern, since the body was to exercise considerable powers. The choice of two representatives from each participating university was worked out in consultations between the Foundation and the universities, but the results were not totally satisfactory. The Foundation tried to ensure the selection of faculty member? with a deep professional interest in the questions raised by the Survey; in some cases, the universities preferred individuals in important administrative positions who later could never find time to attend Council meetings. Yet the Foundation and the Survey office were more than once accused of having rigged the membership of the Council.

Such misunderstandings might have been avoided had it been possible to maintain an even greater volume of communication among the several hundred people who were involved in one way or another in the Survey. Projects related to language policy, especially when the participants are of several different nationalities, have a

great potential for generating emotional misunderstandings. A field director who will regard public relations as his top priority is essential, as are adequate travel funds, many public explanations of intentions and procedures, endless meetings, and the habit of sending copies of practically all correspondence to practically everyone.

Good public relations can be considerably facilitated by selecting for the project a title that is properly descriptive yet easily understood. We originally wanted to use the word “sociolinguistic" in the name of the Survey, but were surprised to discover that the meaning was not at all self-evident and that some people were even put off by what they felt to be the novelty and pedantry of the term. The title finally chosen, though somewhat cumbersome, at least had the virtue of explicitness and emphasized the practical nature of the research to be undertaken.

In a project that is international in scope, great care must be taken to avoid favoring one country at the expense of others. Initially the Survey was fairly successful in doing this. Council meetings were rotated from one country to another, the field director spent time in all five, and countries where few requests for fellowships and research grants bad been made were given precedence in subsequent requests. Toward the end, however, because of the need to effect economies and the unusual accessibility and resources of Nairobi, Kenya clearly came to be favored and other countries—particularly Zambia—were definitely shortchanged. The viability of the Language Association of Eastern Africa may thereby have been seriously damaged.

It has often been argued that the Survey attempted to do too much in too short a time and that it would have been better to concentrate on a smaller geographical area. This is a position that I. for one, am not yet ready to accept. I still believe that the kind of team that was mustered in each country can and probably has assembled, within a period of twelve or fifteen months, a corpus of relevant data that will be sufficient to set thinking about language in eastern Africa ahead by at least a decade. I think, too, that the value of the data gathered in one country will be greatly enhanced by the availability of parallel data on neighboring countries. And I am glad that the Survey avoided to some extent the traditional academic tendency to try to find out той and more about less and less and that team members were in most cases willing to come down from their ivory towers and look for the type of information that might be applicable to the solution of practical problems. Above all 1 am convinced that, by allotting its resources as it did, the Survey generated a total impact much greater than could have been produced by investing all of its man-years in one or two countries.

Some team members, however, did find it very difficult to carry out research of the type required by the Survey under the limitations imposed by the circumstances. In such cases it was often possible for the team leader to assign them to the in-depth investigation of some particularly interesting problem of very limited scope without sacrificing the desirable overall balance between specialized and general research. Team leaders who were able ю make brief preliminary visits to their assigned country several months before field work was begun seemed to find this a great advantage in coping with the limitations of time and manpower. Similar advantages, at little added expense, might have been derived from enabling the leaders to give their junior colleagues a more extensive orientation prior to departure for Africa.

All of the teams faced the problem of deciding how far they should go in recant* mending the adoption of specific language policies. Many African officials in policymaking positions urged that such recommendations be made; in fact, a number of needed policy decisions have been postponed, with the explanation that “we’ll wait and see what the Survey has to say about that.” On the other hand, expatriate team members understandably had very serious reservations as to the wisdom and ethics of expressing their opinions on controversial issues when the decisive factors might necessarily be emotional and/or political. There was also a middle road that could have been followed: to express opinions only on technical matters such as the adequacy of a particular set of textbooks and to limit oneself in more controversial matters to pointing out the possible relevance of certain data to the questions involved. It is still too early to judge how well this very important problem was solved.

The decision to fill the salaried positions on the country-study teams almost exclusively with expatriate personnel seemed unavoidable at the time it was made. In • most of the countries there was, so far as we could see, not one available scholar with the qualifications needed to do the types of research the Survey was to undertake. But despite its apparent inevitability, the decision had unfortunate consequences: it laid us open to suspicions of organizing the project for the benefit of outsiders, and it may have eliminated some opportunities to contribute to the development of local personnel. I now think, then, that we should have tried much harder to employ more Africans, particularly in administrative positions, even if this necessitated setting up jobs that were to some extent supernumerary.

1. С. H. Prator, "The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa." in English Language Teaching. XXIV:! (October 1969). pp. 59 63. С. H. Prator. "The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa: Inception and Initial Activities”; J. D. Bowen. "The Language Survey: 1968-70." pp. 8-12; and S. Ohannessian. "Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Zambia” (all in the Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa. 1:2 (1970), pp. I -14). The most complete account is that contained in the eight numbers of the Survey Bulletin published during 196769 and probably now obtainable only from those who participated in the Survey.

2. Dietrich Westermann and M. A. Bryan. Languages of Africa. London, Oxford University Press. 1952.251 pp.

3. Report of the Commonwealth Conference on the Teaching of English as a Second Language. Entebbe. Government Printer. 1961. p. 41.

4. William Bright, Sociolinguistics. Proceedings of the UCLA Sociolinguistics Conference. The Hague. Mouton, 1966, p. 11.

5. Peter Ladefoged, experimental phonetician from the University of California, Los Angeles; Ruth Glick. specialist in comparative education, also from UCLA; and Clive Cripcr. sociolinguist from the University of Edinburgh.

6. Wilfred H. Whiteley. linguist from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies; David Parkin, social anthropologist, also from SOAS; and Barbara Neale, sociolinguist from the University of Texas.

7. Charles A. Ferguson, linguist from Stanford University; Robert Cooper, sociolinguist from Yeshiva University; and Marvin Bender, linguist from the University of Texas.

8. Carried out by Edgar Роіотё. sociolinguist from the University of Texas; Peter Hill, spe-

cialist in the teaching of English as a second language from «he University of London's In* stitute of Education; and Henry Barton, linguist, also from Texas.

9. Unfortunately, by the time the Zambian study was begun, budgetary pressures permitted the employment of only a two-scholar country-study team: Sirarpi Ohannessian, specialist in TESL from the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. and Mubanga E. Kathoki. linguist from the Zambian Ministry of Rural Development, the only African team member.

10. Clifford H. Prator, held director in 1967 68, worked with the Uganda team, and J. Donald Bowen, 1968-69 and 1969 70. with the group in Ethiopia.

15. In the spring of 1972 Language in Uganda was used in seminars on "Language Policy in Developing Countries" taught at UCLA and at the American University in Cairo.

14. Edited by Thomas Gorman of the Department of English, University of Nairobi, and printed by the East African Publishing House, P. O. Box 30S7I, Nairobi.

15. A volume of selected papers presented at the 1968 regional conference has been published under the title Language in Education in Eastern Africa. Thomas Gorman, ed., Nairobi, Oxford University Press, 1970. A similar volume for the 1970 conference was prepared by Farouk M. Topan of the University of Dar-es-Salaam.

16. For a detailed account of the progress that has been made, as well as of the weaknesses that still remain, see the symposium report on "The Teaching of Language and Linguistics in Universities in Eastern Africa," in Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa. 1:2(1970), pp. 45 64.

PUBLICATIONS DERIVING FROM THE SURVEY OF LANGUAGE USE AND LANGUAGE TEACHING IN EASTERN AFRICA

Gorman, T. P„ ed. Language in Education in Eastern Africa. Papers from the First Eastern Africa Conference on Language and Linguistics. Dar-es-Salaam: Oxford University Press,

Ladefoged, Peter. Preliminaries to Linguistic Phonetics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971.122 pp.

__ Ruth Click and Clive Criper. Language in Uganda. Nairobi: Oxford University Press,

Whiteley, Wilfred H., ed. Language Use and Social Change: Problems of Multilingualism with Special Reference to Eastern Africa. London; Oxford University Press for the International African Institute. 1971.406 pp.

Bender, Marvin L. ‘The Current Status of Linguistic Research in Ethiopia." Rural Afrlcana.

__ "The Languages of Ethiopia: A New Lexicottatistic Classification and Some Problems ot Diffusion." Anthropological Linguistics. 13:5 (May 1971), pp. 165-288.

__"Problems of Transliteration into Amhcric." Journal of the Language Association of

__"The Role of Phonological Innovations in the Lexicostatistic Subgrouping of Ethiopian Languages." (A paper read at the Third Annual Conference of African Linguistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, April 7-8,1972.)

__“Toward a Lexkostatistic Classification of Ethiopian Languages" In Proceedings of

ike Colloquium он Hamito-Semitic Comparative Linguistics. London, March 1970. forthcoming.

_and Robert L. Cooper. “Mutual Intelligibility Within Sidamo." Lingua. 27:1 (June

1971), pp. 32-52. (Presented in slightly different versions at the Croupe Linguistiqu* d‘Etudes Chair,ito-Semitique meeting, Paris, July 1969; at the First Ethiopian Language Conference, Addis Ababa, October 19ft*; end at the Second International Congress on Applied Linguistics, Cambridge, England, September 1969.)

, Robert L. Cooper and Charles A. Ferguson. “Language in Ethiopia: Implications of a Survey for Sociolinguislic Theory and Method." Language in Society, 1:2 (1972), pp. 215233.

Bowen. J. Donald. “The Language Survey: 1968 70." Journal of ike Language Association of Eastern Africa. 1:2 (1970), pp. 8-12.

......“Report on the Language Survey." (Paper read at the First Ethiopian Language

__“Staffing Schools in Developing Countries: An Ethiopian Case Study." In H'wi-

papers in English as a Second Language. Vol. 4. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970, pp. 71-86.

__“A Tentative Measure of the Relative Control of English and Amharic by Eleventh-

grade Ethiopian Students." In Workpapers in English as a Second Language. Vol. 3. Los Angeles: University of California Pres*. 1969, pp. 69-97.

Chamungwana, W. M. S. “Primary School Entrants' Knowledge and Useof Swahili." Dar«es* Salaam: University College, n.d. Mimeo.

Cooper. Robert L. “The Description cf Language Use in Ethiopia." Journal of the Language Associationof Eastern Africa. 1:1 (1970), pp.6 10.

_and Susan Carpenter. "Linguistic Diversity in the Ethiopian Market." Journal of African Languages. 8 3 (1969). pp. 160-168. (Also in Joshua Fishman, ed.. Advances in the Sociology of Language. Vol. 2. The Hague: Mouton, 1971.)

Criper. Clive and P ter Ladefogcd. “Linguistic Complexity in Uganda." In W. H. Whiteley, ed., 1971, pp. К 159.

Ferguson, Charlu A. “Contrasting Patterns of Literacy Acquisition in a Multilingual Nation." In W. H. Whiteley,ed., I97S. pp. 234-255.

__“The Ethiopian Language Area." Journal of Ethiopian Studies. VI 1:2 (July 1970), pp.

__“The Role of Arabic in Ethiopia, A Sociolinguistic Perspective.** In James E. Alatis,

ed., Report of the Twenty-First Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Studies (Georgetown Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics, 23). Washington, D C.: Georgetown University Press, 1970, pp. 355-370. (Preliminary version read at the First Ethiopian Language Conference, Addis Ababa, October 1969.)

Kashoki, M. E. “Town Bemba: A Sketch of Its Main Characteristics." African Social Research. 13 (June 1972), pp. 161-168.

Kavugha. Douglas. “The Language of the Law Courts in Tanzania." Dar-es-Salastn: Institute of Swahili Research, n.d. Mimeo.

King, Michael and Johanna King. “Some Correlates of University Performance in a Developing Country: The Case of Ethiopia.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2:3 (1971), pp. 293-300.

Ladcfoged Peter and Clive Criper. “The Methodology of the Uganda Language Survey." Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa, forthcoming.

Language Association of Tanzania. The Bulletin of the Language Association of Tanzania, Vole. I to 111. (Supported by grant from SLULTEA.) Dar-cs-Salaam: University College. 1969 !97l.

Mlay. Hezekiah and David Mkindi. “An investigation into the Pattern of Language Use of Multilingual» in Tanzania by Means of Linguistic Diaries.” Dar-es-Salaam: Institute of Swahili Research, n.d. Mtmeo.

Neale, Barbara. “Asians in Nairobi: a Preliminary Survey.” In W. H. Whitcley, cd„ 1971, pp. 334 34b.

. ‘‘Kenya’s Asian Languages.” In W. II. Wbiteley. ed.. Language in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp. 69 85.

--“Language Use among the Asian Communities.” In W. H. Whitcley. ed.. Language in

Ohannetstan. S. “Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Zambia.” Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa. 1:2(19701, pp. 13 14.

Prator. С. H. ’’The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa.” English Language Teaching. XXIV:I (October 1969), pp. 59 63.

“The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa: Inception and Initial Activities." Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa. 1:2 (1970), pp. I 7.

Scrpell. Robert. Xvanja Comprehension by Lusaka Schoolchildren; a Field Experiment in Second Language Learning. (Human Development Research Unit Reports, No. 16.) Lusaka: University of Zambia. 1970. Mimco.

Tcquebba, Zena and Roger Cowley. "The Kunbl People and Their Language.” Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 9.2 (July 1971), pp. 99 106.

Watson. A. i. and H. A. Mwaibabile. "Pre-reading Exercises in Tanzanian Primary Schools.” Bukoba. Tanzania: Katoke College of National Education, n.d. Mimco.

Admasu, Yonas. "Developing Amharic for Modern Use." Master's thesis. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. 1970,97 pp.

Beck, Thomas. "Ethiopia's KafTa Province: Realities of Language Use and Imperatives for Language Policy.” Master's thesis. Los Angeles; University of California, Los Angeles, 1971,75 pp.

Click. Ruth. "The Relationship Between Selected Sociolinguistic Variables and the Ability to Read English Among Ugandan Children." Doctoral dissertation. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, 1971,109 pp.

Gorman. Thomas P. "A Survey of Educational Language Policy and Inquiry into Patterns of Language Use nnd Levels of Attainment Among Secondary School Entrants in Kenya.” Doctoral dissertation. Nairobi, Kenya: University of Nairobi, 1971,562 pp.

Kariuki. Albert. "Student Achievement in Language and Subject Matter in Two Kenyan Primary School Curricula." Master's thesis. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. 1972.

Mugalasi, Samuel. "The Role of Swahili in Uganda.” Master's thesis. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, 1972.

Okcju. John. "Sociolinguistic Survey of Language Education in Uganda." Master's thesis. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. 1972.

Polomt, Andre Robert. "The Classification of the Languages of Northern Tanzania." Master of Arts thesis. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin. 1971.

Polomd, S::*vn Elizabeth. "A Phonological Survey of the Chagga Dialects of Tanzania." Master of Arts thesis. Austin. Texas: University of Texas at Austin. 1971.

Shcwaye. Tesfaye. 'The Viability of the Vernaculars as Media of Instruction in Ethiopian Schools.” Master's thesis. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. 1971.

Walusimbi, Livingstone. "The Relative Clauses and Focus in Lugunda." Doctoral dissertation. Los Angeles: University of California. Los Angeles. 1973.

Madina: Three Polyglots and Some Implications for Ghana

by Gilbert Ansre

The Madina Sociolinguistic Profile Project is a joint undertaking of linguists in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and the Linguistics Department of Northwestern University. The purpose was to find out, in very general terms, what the “language use" situation was like in Madina, a recently founded and fastgrowing township which is located near the University of Ghana in Legon. Investigations in this settlement, including an earlier study by a team of three social scientists from the University, have revealed very interesting demographic and linguistic characteristics. This particular sociolinguistic study has been going on in various degrees of activation since 1967.

Loosely related to the Madina project, although it could be seen as a separate investigation by itself, is "A 12-Hour Study of Three Ghanaian Multilinguals." This study was carried out with the main aim of obtaining a more accurate account of the actual language habits of three well-attested polyglots. In Western Africa, at least, statements on the use of many languages by the same speaker have been made on the basis of casual observations or of claims elicited from respondents under interview conditions. The 12-Hour Study required a closer scrutiny of the subjects than usual. (See Appendix II.)

This paper is designed to draw attention to certain aspects of the Madina survey and of the 12-Hour Study and the implications which they have for the rethinking, reshaping, and redirecting of language policy and programs currently going on in Ghana. The two complement each other in that while the Madina project covered a whole village and asked a wide range of questions, the 12-Hour Study concentrated on a few individuals only and asked a limited number of questions in greater depth.

other societies, especitlly in the urban areas.) With the keen interest in Madina kin* died by the newly-published historical, sociological, and demographic study—A/o-dina Survey*— produced by three social scientists in Legon, emphasis was on what the general picture of language use in the township looked like.

In referring to the theoretical basis of the study at the beginning of his first paper, Berry indicates that of the various generally accepted categories under which linguistic situations are discussed (e.g. **l. purely linguistic, 2. purely demographic, 3. sociocultural, 4. social-psychological, and $. political" after Greenberg), we decided not to be involved in the linguistic description of languages. We had assumed the linguistic features of the languages of our subjects as given. Our interests were in the other four categories. At the time, we tended to shy away from the so-called ’•political" aspects. But we did not completely lose sight of the implications that a sociolinguistic study might have for the country's language policy. As Berry put it:

The Ghanaian linguists, for their part, were acutely aware of the urgent need for such surveys in view of the new interest in local languages which was being expressed on all sides, especially by educationists, in demand for an official statement of the language policy at the national level. (These demands have since been formalised in the IS resolutions of the... planning conference held in Legon in May 1968.)*

Despite this concern, it was necessary for the linguist, at this particular time, to move cautiously in involving himself in language policy matters, lest his good intentions, and usually clearer understanding of the situation, precipitate adverse reactions from those who might happen to hold views different from his own. In any case, some of the questions asked in the sociolinguistic survey were on language habits, preferences, and hopes, and these could reveal general trends which educationists, politicians, and other policy makers might find useful. Some of the questions which are relevant to the particular theme are:

Is there a language you do not know but which you would like to know? (BlOi) What do you think will be the main language spoken in the future in Ghana? (315c)

Of the total of 2,127 respondents to this question, we have the following mother tongue claims:*

In effect, a total of 65 languages were claimed as mother tongue by members of the locality with a population of approximately 2,150 adults aged 16 and over.¹ Although we had known all along that Madina was quite a multilingual community, we had had no idea there were so many mother tongues. This is by no means representative of all of Ghana; in fact, it is almost certain to be about the top of the scale of the multilingual phenomenon in the whole country. But this is indicative of the situation in the larger metropolitan centers like Accra-Tema and Sekondi-Takoradi as well as in the mining townships. Kumasi is likely to be less so and may be followed by places like Koforidua, Nsawam. Ho, Tamale, and Cape Coast.*

Berry has already made a brief comment on this question. There is hardly a negative-answer to this question. In virtually all cases, the mother tongue was claimed as the language still spoken best. It may be mentioned here that the phenomenon of ’‘language shift** is almost unknown in many parts of Western Africa. Despite the urbanisation and the shifting of populations, it is considered a disgrace in many quarters to lose one's own mother tongue. This national view has been clearly demonstrated in Madina.

In addition to the large number of mother tongues attested, there was evidence of many individual members of the Madina community being polyglots. The next question was meant to elicit the details of this information.

The non-L languages in which a significant number claimed “good” spoken competence are as follows:

These figures represent a very high number of polyglots. Statistically speaking, this claim means that each individual spoke some 3.$ languages very well on the average (including his or her mother tongue).

The languages are now arranged in the order of the highest proportion of non-native/native speaker relationship.

If the claims are true, there are more non-native speakers for nine languages in Madina than there are native speakers. By far the highest proportion is claimed for English; and this is to be expected, in view of the fact that it is the official language and has the highest premium and motivation for learning and in view of the fact that there was only one native speaker resident in Madina. French, of course, has the same function for the non-Anglophone residents of Madina, of which there is a significant number, mainly from Togo, Dahomey, Upper Volta, and Niger.

Ga is the indigenous language of the Accra section (called “Ga Traditional Area’*) in which Madina is located, and despite the fact that only 26 Gas were actually recorded as living in Madina, some 810 others spoke it. The language of local communication plays an important role here. Thus. Ga is the Ghanaian language with the highest proportion of non-native speakers to native speakers. It should be pointed out, though, that the total number of native and non-native speakers of Ga amounts to some 39% of the Madina population.

A significant proportion of the people who first settled in Madina were Northern Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians who spoke Hausa* as a second language. They have continued to be a significant and influential group in the town. Thus, although only 47 respondents claimed to be native Hausa speakers, as many as 506 claim good speaking ability of Hausa as a second language. Competence in spoken Hausa is claimed by about 26% of the Madina adult population.

We should just mention briefly that an interesting but numerically small number of non-native speakers of Dagbani and Nzcma exist within the community (67 and 28 respectively). Possibly, they came from areas where these languages are used as languages of relatively “wider communication." It is unlikely that they learned much of their Dagbani and Nzema in Madina. “Fluent" speakers of these languages were about 4% and 2% of the population respectively.

Alcan and Ewe are two languages which show similar and interesting patterning. Although in terms of the ratio of non-native to native speakers, these languages occur as seventh and ninth respectively on the list (2.88 :1 and 1.17: 1), in terms of actual numbers of speakers they are clearly the most dominant languages in Madina.

Akan, to begin with, was spoken as a mother tongue by about 29% of the population. Then some 59% of the respondents claimed to speak it as well as non-natives, making a total of more than 88% good speakers of Akan in the township. The claim that Akan is known widely in Ghana by non-native speakers is substantiated here. But we must remember the cosmopolitan nature of Madina. This situation does not hold in rural, non-Akan areas of Ghana.

Ewe had the highest number of native speakers—approximately 31%. Some 778 non-native speakers claimed ability to speak it well (i.e. 36%). This makes a total of over 67% of the respondents with ability to speak Ewe well. The two languages show up as the most significant in Madina, with Ewe as the most predominant mother tongue and Akan as the most predominant second language. This tends to be the general state of affairs in the urban areas where these languages are used.

We shall draw attention to only one more language under the questions dealing with the mother tongue in relation to other well-spoken languages—Dangme-Krobo. With 198 native speakers (9% of the population), it was the third largest mother tongue. Further, 325 more claimed to speak it well, bringing it to 24% of the respondents. The geographical proximity of Krobo and Ada to Madina is probably the main reason for this, but this language has an increasing number of speakers in Ghana.

The main objectives in asking this question were: (a) to force a distinction between at least two types of ability to cope with a language and (b) to obtain further evidence of the multilingual character of Madina. In all, some 22 languages were attested in this category.

Again, a sizeable proportion of the respondents understood some form or other of Akan. Six clusters are indicated here. Akan forms a group by itself. English is also by itself. Then follows the cluster of the other three main Southern Ghana languages—Ga, Dangme-Krobo, and Ewe together with Hausa. French is also re-gardcd as being in a group by itself. Dagbani, the major language of Northern Ghana is next, followed lastly by a cluster of Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian languages. It should be interesting to keep track of this trend and see what the situation will be in the future.

Questions on literacy were asked. While these represent different types of questions from those dealt with hitherto, they nevertheless are somehow related to the present discussion. Answers to them are summarized below:

It was reported in the Medina Survey that about two-fifths of the Madina population were without formal education (p. SO). This pattern is corroborated by these responses. Approximately 53% of those who responded to the question on reading ability gave affirmative answers, while slightly over 49% claimed to be able to write. Subsidiary questions were put to ascertain what languages were in fact read or written and what kind of matter was actually read and written. Thjese cannot be discussed in detail here. Most of the reading done is in the indigenous languages of Southern Ghana, although there is also report of reading the news and other material in English. Also, a few claim ability to handle the Arabic script, but the majority of the literate people in Madina use the Roman script. Further analysis of these subsidiary questions will have to be undertaken.

It must be noted that reading and writing ability will be attested more in the adolescent age-group (10-16), because the majority of children in this group are undergoing formal education. This will raise the total literacy percentage quite significantly.

In the next question we tried to ascertain the language aspirations of respondents:

Question: Is there a language (or languages)you do not know but which you would like to know? (BlOi)

Although this type of question is usually described as one on language attitude, answers to it also show, within the context of attitude, what the respondent's aspiration is. Certainly we get what the respondent's reactions (mainly psychological and social) are to a language he does not know* But this type of question also provides us with information on what he would like to do—and this may either be in spite of or because of what his feelings might be toward the language.

In this particular case, the main aim is to draw attention to the aspirations which the already well-established polyglot respondents of Madina had for acquiring more languages. In all, wishes to learn no less than 40 languages were recorded, representing a spectacularly wide range of the languages of the world:

Also, 3 each of Frafra, Fuiani, Chamba, Zabrama, and ‘Zugu*; 2 each of Russian, Wolof, and ‘Kado\ and I each of Chinese, Anum (Kyerepong), Efulu, Grushie, Wali, Dagaari, Ijaw, Kabre Wangara, Ungala (Congo), Dutch, Greek, Italian, and Polish.

These responses reflect a great variety of interests and pressures. They also show a significant clustering which we are unable to discuss now. For our present purposes, we need only to draw attention to the proportions of respondents who were interested in knowing Hausa (approximately 24% of all responses), Ga (16%), French (14%). English (14%), Ewe (9%), Alcan (9%), and Dagbani (3%).

The last question related to the theme of this paper sought to obtain respondents’ views on a national language for the whole of Ghana.

Question: What do you think will be the main language spoken in the future in Ghana? (BlScI

This question is an important one, especially in view of the recurrent and serious discussion of the subject in the country and because it must be closely linked with any language policy in education.

Approximately 80% of all our respondents gave specific languages. This would seem to indicate that quite a high percentage of people have either given the subject some thought or have specific opinions on it. The opinions expressed patterned thus:

Also, 2 respondents each selected Dangme-Krobo, Dagbani, and French, while 1 respondent each selected Kotokoli, Zabrama, and Arabic.

Clearly, the majority of our respondents opted for Akan as the national language, with English as a second choice. This represents quite a liberal attitude to Akan on the part of a predominantly non-Akan community (i.e. about 71%). Other investigations, even conducted with subjects of university-level education, have indicated stronger opinion against the choice of Akan. One important factor which probably contributed to this “softer” attitude to Akan might be the fact that the re-spondcnts themselves were polyglots and lived in an overwhelmingly multilingual situation. The present writer maintains the hypothesis that, other things being equal, a polyglot has a more tolerant attitude, not only to a language he is able to speak and to its speakers but to other languages and their speakers as well. This hypothesis has not been conclusively verified in Madina, but it seems to have been supported by the data. The implication this has for the formulation of language policy and plans will be referred to later.

We may sum up briefly the state of affairs as indicated in responses to these questions discussed:

• In spite of this, its inhabitants are still very closely attached to their mother

• About half of the adult population can read and write in one form or another.

• There is, relatively speaking, a more tolerant attitude on the part of non-Akans to the use of Akan, the major indigenous language of Ghana, as the national language than in other parts of the country.

The second investigation entitled “A 12-Hour Study of Three Ghanaian Multilin-guals" was undertaken partially as an experiment to find an efficient method of validating language claims made in Madina and partially to obtain an idea of how polyglots actually used their languages over a given period. In brief, three subjects who were known to be bilingual, trilingual, and at least one quadrilingual, respectively, were invited. Ail were highly literate and ideally suited for responding to the questionnaire-type sociolinguistic investigation. These have been labelled A. B, and C respectively. A could handle Akan and English well; В Dangme, Ga, and English; and C Ewe, Ga, Akan, Larteh (Guan), and English. The questionnaire they had to respond to contained a battery of very simple questions, and they were required to fill them in at thirty-minute intervals for at least 12 continuous hours. (See Appendix II for questionnaire.) The experiment itself was so brief that we do not intend to use it alone for drawing any definite conclusions. The data has been collated into simple matrices but has not been codified. However, preliminary examination of the material ^r4ows certain traits in the language habits of all three subjects which are of interest:

• All three subjects used an indigenous Ghanaian language whenever they had the chance and English only when the co-communicant could not speak any of the languages they could. The only exception to this was when В and C spoke together, and this was later explained by В as due to a preconception of his that native speakers of Cs “father tongue” were incapable of speaking the common language he and C shared well. This was before В got to know that in fact Cs mother-tongue was actually the shared language. This preference for the indigenous language over

English by three “academic types'* who have used English as their language of conscious intellectual activity for over twenty years applies at home, in business, and in some of their academic discussions.

• All three spoke a Ghanaian language to members of their family."* tt is true that a number of spouses sharing the same mother-tongue or a common Ghanaian language do speak English to their children (and Ghanaian languages to each other and their other relatives). But this phenomenon has been observed as rather rare in Legon. The majority of couples in this group speak the indigenous languages to their children-

• All cases of writing and formal meetings recorded were carried out in English. Writing in the Ghanaian language, in general, is very rare. Also, the common practice among the formally educated in Ghana is to hold any formal and official meetings involving members of different language groups in English.

There was an interesting case in which a subject who had spoken one language to a co-communicant before spoke a different Ghanaian language—apparently because of the presence of a third party—despite the fact that all three could have spoken the first language or English. Also, there was an instance in which a conversation with a respondent’s friend began in English and changed first into Twi and then into Larteh (presumably as it got more informal and intimate).

What are the implications of these facts and conclusions for language planning in Ghana particularly and elsewhere in general? Before the question is answered, it must be noted that the formulation of a language policy—including the choice of specific goals -is but one aspect of the total process of language planning and development. Other aspects have to do with the various stages of implementing the policy thus formulated. Within the scope of implementation, we may distinguish several stages or emphases such as: (I) alphabetisation and the production of basic descriptions; (2) the production of popular books of study, e.g. school primers and readers, grammars, etc.; (3) the incorporation and standardisation of vocabularies and technical usages; and (4) the emergence of specific styles and models. All the stages mentioned above relate to the area of literacy. But there should be comparable stages in the development of non-literary realms of language as well.

In Ghana, we have to work at a variety of stages at the same time and on a multiplicity of languages (some 54 or so). Even the fundamental issue of choice has not been fully decided as yet. While some languages are yet to be alphabetised, others have just had their basic descriptions produced, and work is going on in yet others on standardisation and the search for natural styles and artistic types. The sociolinguistic studies do not have immediate bearing on these planning issues, but the complexity of the state of affairs which the studies revealed or confirmed are pointers to the magnitude of the job at hand. Language planners must get themselves adequately informed on the situations they are supposed to be reshaping, and the professional Ghanaian linguist cannot help but become a participant-observer of the situation he is studying as well as changing.

Also, mainly Гог the sake of clarity in discussion, we must distinguish between the quest for a suitable language policy Гог carrying out effective education of pupils and the quest for a policy for the enhancing of other aspirations, c.g. national unity and integration, international communications, and so on. In almost all previous cases of the linguist's involvement in language planning in Ghana, "educational" language planning has featured more prominently than "political" language planning. Typical of this trend was the : -68 Conference on the Study of Ghanaian Languages, in which the focus of attention was clearly on the educational aspects of language planning. This has been the field in which the linguist has felt he could make the greater contribution. He has shied away from the more delicate and unpredictable activity of championing a national political language policy.

Nevertheless, there has been a great deal of discussion on language planning in general throughout the country. In 1961, the question of introducing the learning of Akan into all Ghanaian schools was first raised in Parliament. The subsequent debate and decision have been touched upon elsewhere." This year, a decade after, & private member's motion was again made in Parliament:

That in view of the importance of a national language as a factor for national unity in Ghana, this House requests the government to set up a national committee of experts to promote and co-ordinate all efforts being made to evolve a common Ghanaian language or ‘lingua franca.’

In view of the importance of a national language as a factor for national unity in Ghana, this House should take note of the necessity of a common Ghanaian language or lingua franca.

So far, attempts at legislating on the issue of a national language or on any steps that apppear to be the promotion of one of the nuyor Ghanaian languages over the other have failed.

In a monograph entitled Language Policy and Nation-building in Ghana. David Smock draws attention to the need to relate educational language planning to the goals of nation-building. Although the theme itself is not new, this is the clearest and best documented treatment of the subject. He advocates a common national language but leaves the choice to Ghanaians. He sees the schools as the place with the best opportunity for a conscious and careful cultivation of a national language ,to bring about cohesion, greater communication, and development in the country.

How can we utilize the findings of sociolinguistic research in devising and implementing useful and effective language policies for education and socio-political objectives? The data obtained in the two studies and other information will be used in making some very tentative suggestions by way of illustration.

• Because of the clear prevalence of the use of the indigenous languages at particularly personal levels of communication, any policy that seeks to eliminate them

in the foreseeable future is bound to fail. In both the Madina study and that of the three polyglots, we find that the use of the Ghanaian language persists very strongly. No kind of legislation would eradicate it, not to mention the unsuccessful attempts to legislate on the issue. And if education is meant to enable the individual to communicate maximally within his society, then we must give prominence to and promote this communication in our educational system.

• Multilingualism will be here with us in Ghana for a long time. The adherence to the mother-tongue is so strong. “Language shifting" is hardly noticeable, and the tendency to have one common Ghanaian language is not realisable as yet.

• Teaching Akan as an additional language in Madina would not be an impossible task. In fact, if properly undertaken, people will have a reasonably tolerant attitude toward it. This, of course, is known not to be the case in many other parts of the country.

• Despite the nationalism in Ghana, English is still accepted as a language that would continue to be the official medium of inter-language and international communication. Data from elsewhere would indicate that people holding this view form a strong proportion of the Ghanaian population. This calls for improved teaching of English as a subject in school. In this connection. “Current English Usage" must be stressed, and effective transfer stages from the use of the mother-tongue as a medium vo the use of English must be built into the educational system.

• With the situations we have, i.e. marked multilingualism in the cosmopolitan areas and greater monolingualism in the rural areas (certainly with some exceptions). we must not completely reject the idea of at least a “two-tier" educational language policy in which we have the use of the mother tongue of the locality as the medium of instruction in the rural areas and the language of wider communication—whether the local language or one which h spoken by the majority of the residents—as the medium in the more multilingual communities. In any case, with the majority of pupils living in the rural aree . it is important to consider a policy for them as the general rule and that for the larger town as the exception.

• It has been mentioned elsewhere that knowledge of other languages enhances the tolerance of the speaker to other languages and their speakers and that since this tolerance leads to mutual respect and understanding which is the prerequisite to national harmony and cohesion, it is in the national interest to promote more contact and more chances for learning to speak other languages. This is particularly vital since there is dear evidence that any attempt to promote only one language or a few languages will continue to be strongly opposed.'*

• The role of written and spoken English in Ghana is not likely to lessen in the foreseeable future, since so much of it continues to be used and since almost all op-posers of a common national language prefer to maintain English as the ufficial language. Also, evidence from elsewhere shows that Ghanaians want to maintain very cordial ties with the nations of the world, especially the English-speaking nations. This, it is generally accepted, must be done through the medium of English.

• At the same time, there is a strong feeling that, whenever possible, a Ghanaian language or languages should be the main means of projecting the country’s culture and personality. Policy makers are therefore obliged to promote both English and the indigenous languages. At the present stage it seems clear that any strong emphasis on the one at the expense of the other w ill be regarded as wrong and will be rejected.

What is the practical usefulness of sociolinguistic studies? These are hard to ascertain from only a few surveys. The problem is that, since sociolinguistic surveys describe a state of afTairs rather than prescribe what should be done, it is going to be very difficult (if not impossible) to use them in making proposals which are contrary to the trend of developments already in progress. The linguistic trends in the society need to be discovered first by the student of the “sociology of language”; then he can recommended what must be done. The main contribution that sociolinguistic studies can make to language planning and development is in *he field of bringing the actual state of affairs existing in the society under study to the notice of the policy maker. In many countries today there is g-eat need for this. (See joint paper with S. Ohan-nessian for elaboration of this.)

1. “The Madina Project," presented at the Twentieth Anniversary Conference of the African Studies Programme in Northwestern University, 1968, and "The Madina Project, Ghana, (Language Attitudes in Madina)," presented at the Ninth Intel national African Institute Seminar at Dar-cs-Salaam in December 1968 and published in Research Review 5:2 (1969) of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

2. A. K. Qua r coo, N. O. Addo and M. Peil, Madina Survey: Л Study of the Structure of a Contemporary Sub-urban Settlement, institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, 1967.

3. See Proceedings and Resolutions in J. П. Birnic and G. Ansre(eds.), The Study of Ghanaian Languages, Institute of African Studies and Ghuna Publishing Corporation, 1969.

4. In a few cases it would seem that languages claimed to be different by respondents are actually the same. e.g. Buli, Builsa, and Kanjarja. Investigators are continuing to establish more objective identification.

5. As much as possible, various language names given by respondents and known to be the same have been collated under one name. Names of languages which have not been identified appear in quotes. Investigators are continuing to establish more objective identification.

6. The question of how the numbers of speakers of particular languages may be related to social, professional, or other groupings is not dealt with in this paper. See Quarcoo, Addo, Peil, p. 60ІГ. for a brief discussion.

7. While we cannot discuss the interpretations of “speaking a language well" here, it may be mentioned that a claim of ability to speak a language well in West Africa is usually quite reliable, especially if that language happens to be an indigenous one. Surely, cases to the contrary can be attested to. But the next question concerning languages claimed to be known but over which the respondent does not have adequate control is meant partially to be a kind of cross-check on this one.

8. Hausa has often been referred to as a “trade language" in Ghana. While this description is partially true, especially in some of the larger market towns in the eastern half of the Northern and Upper Regions, »b<- use of this language has been observed more in correlation with the Muslim religion and a certain section of the labour stratum of the country than with commerce. The presence of the Hausa merchant, although much diminished, is still evident in Ghana, especially to the curio-seeking tourist. But one hears more Hausa spoken by people (especially from Northern and Upper Regions and from outside of Ghana) who use it as a common language in daily life and during worship, particularly in the “exhortation” section of the Muslim liturgy. Secondly, that sector of Ghana's labour force which is locally labelled as “daily rated labour” usually uses Hausa as a common language at work. This seems to be due to the encouraged use of Hausa in the military and police force during the colonial era. Descriptions of these heavily influenced varieties of “pidgin" Hausa are yet to be undertaken. But it is more accurate to refer to Hausa in Ghana as a religion* and labour-oriented language than as a trade Ian* guage.

9. This is borne out by interesting cases in which the reasons given for wanting or not wanting to learn or use a language were not utilitarian but clearly emotional (see Berry 2).

10. C was unmarried at the time of the study but has since married one of the co-communicants. This practice of using the Ghanaian language in more informal situations and English in formal discussions applied to them even at that time.

11. See G. Ansre, “On the Official Language of Ghana,” Symposium on Multilingualism, Liverhulmc. Brazzaville. 1962.

12. For the development of this argument and practical suggestions, see G. Ansre, Language Policy for ike Promotion of National Unity and Understanding in IVest Africa, presented at the International Conference on Cultural Diversity and National Understanding within West African Countries at Ife in December 1970.

4. (i) Which, of the following languages, would you understand if you heard them spoken

3. _ _

5. (i) Do you listen to any other language^) on the radio (e.g. from stations outside Ghana)

Language I. Letters 2. Notices 3. Newspapers 4. Textbooks 5. Story Bks. 6. Others

9. (i) Is there any place apart front your home and your place of work where you spend

10. (i) Is there any language^) which you do not know but which you would like to know?

12. (i) К there any language!*) you speak which you do not like to speak at times?

13. (i) Is there any language^) you do not speak which you would not like to speak even

IS. What do you think will be the mam language spoken in the future in a) Madina?------

HalJ-hour Check-sheet on Language Use I. Where have you been in the past half-hour?

ERJC ¹ '•*

Sociolin^ .stic Research in Latin America

by Mervyn C. Alleyne t. INTRODUCTION

Language surveys, in the sense that they are coming to be generally understood, have been rare in Latin America.' Language surveys imply an awareness and a recognition of language diversity. And nowhere is this recognition and awareness greater than in Africa and Asia. On these two continents, the post-war period saw the emergence of indigenous peoples challenging the imperial order. It saw an end to any idea of cultural assimilation of indigenous peoples into the imperial cultural system, and this meant, as far as language policy is concerned, that linguistic diversity, not only in terms of indigenous language vis4-vis European language but in terms of the multiplicity of indigenous languages, had to be accepted.

The picture is different in Latin America, where the former colonialist became nationalist; was partially assimilated to the indigenous population; and continues to dominate politically, economically, and linguistically. There is, in fact, considerable linguistic diversity in Latin America, but nowhere in the world has the "melting pot" myth prevailed more, both as the goal of official cultural policy and as an ostrichlike belief or psychological oubli. There has, therefore, been, up to now, no great effort expended on language surveys. Generally speaking, Latin America aims at linguistically uni modal nations, and no serious attempt has as yet been made, except perhaps in Paraguay, to incorporate indigenous languages into the national life. This report will therefore deal with sociolinguistically oriented research, broadly conceived, rather than with language surveys in a specific sense.

The area covered by this report is Central and South America and the Caribbean. All studies or projects included in this report hav; been started within the last seven years, and most are only partially completed. This reflects the fact that the kinds of interests on which the studies and projects are based have only very recently arisen. Sociolinguistically oriented studies are here taken to mean, in a broad sense, those studies of language which do not have as their main focus the development or verification of formal theories of linguistics and which do not abstract language from its social setting. The main features of such studies is that they have, as their chief concern, language variation (i.e. the use of different styles, languages, and dialects by individuals within the same community or nation) and that they arc interested in the correlations between language phenomena and socio-cultural phenomena. Those studies therefore include: regional dialectology; social dialectology; bi- or multi-lingualism; language standardization.

Although we include regional dialectology in this report, it must be said from the

start that regional dialect studies in the area have followed traditional lines and have not been concerned with different levels of speech in each of the regions studied. They have largely been content with vague, ill-defined notions such as lengua culta. dialecto vulgar, archaismos and with identifying those features of the Spanish language of the area which are distinctive either because they are found nowhere else in the Spanish-speaking world or are not found in "castellano." Much of the work takes the form of private research by individual scholars. But there is one dialect geography survey which is large in scope and which is being undertaken by a team of researchers. This is the work being carried out for the Atlas Unguistiso Etnografico de Colombia by the Instituto Саго у Cuervo. It follows very closely the Linguistic Atlases of Romance-speaking areas of Europe in the use of a questionnaire and the intention of publishing the information in the form of maps. The results are already showing the tremendous “inherent variability" of speech in rural areas of Colombia. This variability is a characteristic feature of transitional societies, transitional in the sense that they are moving from a homogeneous rural culture towards some degree of modernity and urbanization. They are subject to all sorts of influences, from urban “cu/ro" sources by way of formal education and the mass media and from urban popular sources by way of personal and social contacts. A brief report for one locality states:

En un mismo sujeto alternan distintos tiposde pronunciacidn. Nuestros infor-mantes articulaban a veces rr vibrante multiple у // a la manera castellana, mientras que en otros casos hacian rr asibilada о articulaban у рог ll. No era infrecuente la realizacion de sonidos intermedios htbridos. En su conciencia linguistics parecia actuar vagamente un ideal normative que se acerca ba-stante al patrdn castellano, seguramente mantenido alii, en buena parte, durante siglos. Cuando se les pedia repetir una articulacidn la realizaban, en-faticamente, ala manera castellana.*

It is not certain that all the data on speech variation are being systematically collected, and it is not clear how the information, if collected, will be set out on maps. If the publication and interpretive studies of the maps follow the pattern of the other Romance language atlases, the results will probably be of particular interest to those concerned with folklore and settler history. The pedagogical implications so far are few. One must admit, however, that it does probably lead to a greater awareness of regional differences on the part of teachers in rural areas, which may in turn lead to a better understanding of some of the problems of Spanish language teaching in rural areas and to a redefinition of teaching norms. Within this framework, sociolinguistically oriented studies which would deal with the structure of communication in the rural areas would be clearly more interesting and useful than studies which describe the distribution of isolated phenomena from one region to another and attempt to account historically for this distribution or studies which deal with a single region but organize the data very badly for lack of a sound theory and methodology.

There are two other projects concerned with regional dialectology. Nelson Rossi has published the Atlas Prevto'dos falares baianos (Instituto Naciona! da Lingtus-

tica (INL), 1963). And there is the Proyecto de A tlos linguistico у etnolinguistico Je Chile (A LECH i >

Social dialect studies in Latin America, apart from mention of vulgarismos in re* gional dialect studies, have been limited to .studies of the "norma cuha." These studies are part of a large scale project to describe educated norms of language usage in all the major urban centers of Latin America. The project is being carried out under the auspices of the Programa Interamericano de Linguistica у Ensenanza * de Idiomas (PILEI) and the Associaci6n de Linguistica у Filologfa de la America Latina (ALFAL). with the support of the Oficina Internacional de Information y< Observation del EspSnol (Madrid), which expressed a desire io see the project extended to the cities of the Iberian peninsula. The coordinator of the Steering Committee is Professor Juan Lo,ie Blanch, and the most comprehensive report so far has been published in PILEI’s El simposio de Mexico. 1968: Actas. informes у conmni-caciones (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM1 1969). The project is conceived as an extension of traditional regional dialect studies. As a reaction against the concentration of such studies on rural phenomena, this project focuses on urban phenomena and is inspired by the feeling that dialectology has tended to ignore Urban forms of speech which politically, socially, and economically are more important than rural forms. Beyond that, the studies have not been influenced by the methodologies currently being developed to study urban language phenomena, and the investigations have been limited to the “habla culta media (habitual), con referencias a las actitudes for»..c*. fhabla esmerada) e informal (habla familiar) propias de las grandes urbes." For each city, the project aims at a figure of 600 informants representing both sexes in equal proportion and representing three generations—25 to 35 years, 36 to 55 years, and over 55 years. It distinguishes the following four types of data collecting: (a)didlogos espontaneos. secretly recorded • (half of these without the participation of the linguist in the dialogue); (b)didlogos* litres between two informants; (c) didlogos dirigidos between one or two informants and the researcher; (d) samples of speech ir. formal situations: lectures, speeches, classroom teaching, etc. Rigorous care was said to have been taken to ensure the suitability (idoneidad) of the informants. Informants were selected with reference to the following factors: family background; education, both formal and informal: occupation; travel and other cultural experiences. In addition, they had to fulfill requirements of birth, residence, and education in the city under study.

It is hoped that synchronic, descriptive studies of each city will be published in monograph form. These studies will deal with phonetics and phonology, mor-phosyntax, vocabulary, and colloquial idiomatic expressions (estruciuras colo-quiales у afeclivas), and will begin with introductions touching on the main historical, geographical, economic, and sociological aspects of the city.

A common Questionnaire Guide is being used for all cities and embraces separately phonetics/phonology, vocabulary, colloquial expressions, and various aspects of morphosyntax. It is not clear, however, how the questionnaires and the re-

The project organizers also expect that, from the precise knowledge gained from the research, other benefits would accrue, such as the teaching of Spanish more adequate to the idiomatic reality of each Latin American country, “appropriate" Cas-tilianization of indigenous communities, determination of general Spanish norms to be used in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language, etc. .

It is perhaps unfair to criticise the project when the results, even preliminary, have not been published. Yet some legitimate criticisms can be made of its nature and aims in so far as they have been expressed by the coordinator:⁴

• It is true that today in Latin America urban speech represents the usage of one-third or one-quarter of the population. But “urban speech" is very complex in composition, and the particular modality chosen for study by the project is demo-graphically insignificant in the nation and even within the city.

• Rather than setting out to discover how a certain group of persons, “selected with rigorous norms to ensure their suitability." express themselves verbally, it might have been more useful to look at the kinds of data (and their distribution in different stylistic or situational contexts) to be found among persons of different statuses or classes.

• The project seems to be proceeding without any apparent concern for new developments in the methodology and ideology of urbu,. . dect study. It has made an <?priori conceptualisation of the existence of an oral standard dialect.

• The stylistic levels of formality and informality are very ill-defined. For example, all of the four categories of data collecting might well represent some degree of formality, if factors such as topic of dialogue and social relations between interlocutors are taken into account.

In the Caribbean, apart from studies underway in Puerto Rico which are part of the project on “la norma culta”' and a study of the French language of Haiti by Pradel Pompilus," there has been concentration on the other pole of social differentiation in language. Projects directed by Denis Craig in Jamaica and Lawrence Carrington in Trinidad have both focused on children's speech of a maximally non-standard type, although Craig particularly is interested in how children of different social backgrounds compare in the use of standard forms and non-standard forms and in the purpose (communicative or affective) for which language is used. The scope of the Caribbean project seems wider than the Latin American one. The aim, as stated by Craig in an unpublished project report (November 1971) is "to study and compare different socio-cultural sets of speakers in the following respects:

(i) Perception of the structural characteristics of Standard Jamaican English on the one hand and Jamaican Creole on the other.

(ii) In relation to (i), decoding and interpretation of different types of language as influenced by different kinds of situational accompaniments to communication.

(iii) Effects of culturaj/cognitive dispositions of the listener on decoding and interpretation as stated at (ii).

(iv) The range of individual variations in respect of (i) and (ii) within each socio-cuttural set of speakers.

(v) The structural and content characteristics of expressive speech in varying situations and the correlation of these characteristics with varying social and psychological factors.”

The sampling of the children in both Caribbean projects aims at selecting representatives of different socio-economic groups. As far as production of language is concerned, two stylistic levels of speech behaviour are identified: formal speech (talking about pictures with strangers, for example) and informal speech (talking casually in small, homogeneous peer groups without awareness of being recorded). While recognising the difficulty of eliciting different stylistic levels of speech behaviour among children, it must be stated that the levels identified in the projects are too few and should at least have included conversation between members of different social and age groups.

Both projects will have to use computers to help in the analysis of the data. The scanning of the transcribed scripts and the quantifying of analyses for comparisons will involve special kinds of programming which are yet to be worked out.

The wide focus of the projects, as far as the data collecting is concerned, reflects the heterogeneity of linguistic behaviour in Jamaica and Trinidad. It is well known that a linguistic continuum exists which contains a number of minimally differentiated levels or “lects," beginning with a level (often referred to as “creole”) which is probably not mutually intelligible with Standard International English, though in each case it is clear that there exists one single speech community. The description of the continuum is now a crucial issue in sociolinguistics. The linguistic competence of any speaker in this situation is very complex, and one of the chief aims of the projects is to map out this competence. For a number of speakers representing different socio-economic groups, the project identifies: (1) the linguistic patterns actively known; (2) the linguistic patterns “used only under stress,” (3) the linguistic patterns passively known; (4) the linguistic patterns r.ot yet knov n.

Again, one must observe a lack of socioiinguistic refinement in the above identification of categories. Category 1 should certainly be expanded and differentiated in terms of which stylistic or situational contexts trigger the use of which levels of speech. In this event. Category 2 would become one of the situations or styles differentiated in Category 1. For Categories 3 and 4, the researchers have not spelled out what procedures they use to test persons in these categories.

Both projects have an explicitly stated aim of benefiting the teaching of English in Jamaica and Trinidad. The precise form of English to be taught has not been specified nor has the problem been posed in the research projects.

Some of the problems for tanguage teaching posed by this language situation are: ²

• The teacher is unable to control the learner's verbalisation of experience within the limits of standard structures already known or learned, because the learner con² tinually slips back to a non-standard lect.

• The reinforcement that comes from satisfaction of mastering new structures is minimised.²

Pedagogicalty. the projects aim at improving educationai materials for the teaching of English. It is recognised that the teaching problem lies somewhere between a foreign language teaching situation and a native language teaching situation. Traditional types of contrastive analyses are not appropriate because one is not dealing with a discrete bilingual situation. Teachers and writers of material therefore have to be sensitive enough to understand the point or zone on the continuum to which their students belong and make the contrastive analyses and grading and sequencing of materials sensitive to the different production and comprehension levels of the students. Both projects stress the importance of recognising “intermediate varieties" in tackling the problem of the teaching of English. Carrington, for example, sees the value for the sequencing of materials of Wolfram's matrix of cruciality, which is based in particular on the social diagnosticity of linguistic items, but is of the opinion that, in order to be more relevant to the Caribbean situation, it should be based on “the systemic implications of linguistic items,” i.e. the extent to which a given feature of the learner's dialect disturbs the acquisition of Standard English. Recognising the existence of implicational relations or co-occurrence restrictions within the continuum 'i.e. triggers within the sub-systems of the continuum which set offchain reactions of shift to different levels), Carrington feels that the method of teaching Standard English should depend heavily on pulling the trigger mechanism and allowing the ensuing chain reaction to move the learner's production into the ever increasing range of his receptive ability. In this way, the teaching procedures would be imitating the actual processes of linguistic shift within the continuum.

What all the social dialect studies lack is a focus on the ethnic or cultural function of non-standard dialects. Rather than regard these ‘Meets" as categorically non-standard and non-prestigious and the attitudes towards them as categorically disassociative and negative, investigators should devise tests to discover what appear to be very ambivalent rather than categorical attitudes and to discover the kinds of prestige which a mastery of non-standard styles gives within the communities where non-standard speech is the norm.

In an area so rich in language diversity as Latin America, it is surprising to note that major studies of bilingualism are very few. One can mention the study of Paraguayan bilingualism (Guarani-Spanish) by Joan Rubin,¹'² the study of Peruvian bilingualism (Quechua-Spanish) by Wolfgang Wolck," and the study of Bolivian bilingualism (Quechua-Spanish) by Xavier Albo." The outstanding aspect of the first two studies is their focus on attitudes and, particularly in the case of the Wolck

study, the implication for language teaming. Wolck devised a subjective reaction test to discover what associations were caused by each of the two languages and what was the social value of each language in the identification of speakers. Five passages of informal speech recorded by three different persons of different social status and of different linguistic competence (Spanish monolingual and two bilinguals) constituted the stimuli. For the evaluation of the stimuli, the method of semantic differential was used together with an occupational suitability scale. Pairs of contrasting attributes representing poles on ah evaluative scale were chosen for their usefulness, frequency in actual usage, and clarity, but the tabulation of the results confirmed that there was a clear and significant division of these attributes into affective (emotive) and referential (cognitive). The rote of attitudes in language learning is well known. What is less well known is the role of attitudes in determining political-type resistance to certain language teaching programmes. Thus, the resistance of some Quechua communities to mother tongue teaching can only be understood through studies of subjective attitudes and of the social function of different languages or different levels of usage in a bilingual situation. Knowledge gained from such studies will help educators and planners orient themselves better and be more sensitive to the psychological problems of initiating new programmes. One of the interesting findings of the Wolck study is that stable bilinguals are more likely to show the least differences between ratings of Spanish and Quechua stimuli on the referential scale. There appears to be an inverse proportion between the degrees of bilingualism and the recognition of status differentiation between the two languages.

Albo's research is massive in detail. The published work does not merely present the results of research but deals exhaustively with the techniques, instruments, and methodology of the research. It places considerable stress on data collection, an emphasis which is to be found in all the current empirical work of importance in sociolinguistics. It examines the question, basic to sociolinguistic studies, formulated by Joshua Fishman in terms of “who speaks what language to whom and when" and provides a wealth of ethnographic data.

In almost every Latin American nation having an "indigenous" problem, there is now an intensification of castilianizaiion programmes. Many of these are proceeding with little more than good intentions, and one cannot overemphasize the importance for these programmes of basic sociolinguistic research in addition to other pedagogical and resource inputs.

Apart from the studies of the norma cult a referred to above, there has been a recent upsurge in studies leading to the standardization of indigenous languages. This is especially true in areas like Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, where there is a feeling that literacy for indigenous peoples should be first gained through the mother tongue. Except for the study by Xavier Albo which includes variation within Quechua in the Cochabamba valley (Bolivia), studies of standardization select one dialect or language of demographic, economic, or political significance; describe the language in

accordance with the techniques available locally or depend on existing descriptions: and then devise an orthography for it. All these projects of standardization, such as the one on Chontal in Mexico headed by Fvangelina Ariana de Swudesh, the Guatemalan project "Francisco Marroquin." or the work of the Office National de iEducation Communautaire in Haiti, see the problem of orthography as one of devising a compromise between a phonemic spelling and a spelling which facilitates passage to literacy in the otticial language (Spanish, French). In one case—Haiti— where an attempt was made to establish a completely phonemic orthography by two foreign priests. Haitians evidenced a strong reaction. Here again, a sociolinguis-ticatly oriented study, especially of attitudes, can help to avoid some of the pitfalls in the sensitive area of language education.

Most socioiinguistically oriented research has as its explicit aim the improvement of education, specifically as it relates to the teaching of language arts. The basic assumption that underlies the research is that sociolinguistic research is u^ful. But the translation of this idea of usefulness into effective action in language teaching is not always easy or possible.

Sociolinguistic research in the Caribbean projects and the project for the study of the norma linguistica culta are elitist in ideological orientation and make certain assumptions about the prestige dominance of middle c'ass speech that may have been true 10 years ago but which are very questionable today. They do not consider the very crucial question of the factors which have made so called non-standard dialects so tenacious and which are now/ causing the expansion of the use of these dialects rather than their recession. The research seems, unfortunately, to be inspired by the work of Basil Bernstein, a British sociologist who investigated the verbal performance of working class informants in middle class contexts and came out with concepts of "elaborated" and "restricted" codes typical of standard and non-standard speakers respectively.¹¹ Sociolinguistic research which begins (consciously or subconsciously) with these assumptions about the superiority of middle class speech based on its assumed structural and cognitive resources or social prestige will be unable to provide a useful understanding of the educational problem. The action which usually follows such research may pay lip service to the need to "preserve" these non-standard dialects and to take them into account by means of contrastive analyses with the standard in the preparation of pedagogic materials, but it fails to consider the central function of the non-standard dialect in the lives of its users and their communities.

Today the reality of many urban centres of Latin America and the Caribbean is that the speech of middle class, educated persons is not clearly the most important in its prestige, nor in its "logic," nor in its cognitive and expressive resources. Alberto Escobar makes the point very effectively:

b^ce trcinta afios, es hoy menos vigentc. quc hoy 6sa cs menas cstablc у aceptada. no tan solo porquc cn ргорогсібп decrece cl mimero de quicncs la cultivan, sino tambiin porquc es mayor у mas insistcnte la violencia quc sobrc ella cjercen las sub-normas dc los grupos socialcs quc sc hallan en proceso de adaptation a los patroncs urbanos, у quc al hacerlo estan modiftcando las relaciones cntrc los divcrsos scctorcs de la socicdad citadina. Paralclamcnte, no pucdc ignorarse quc la nucva composition demografica cn las ciudades ha trafdo сото corolario una masificacion cn las formas de la comunicacion de masas, у quc cstc hccho. que vj invadiendo incluso cl lenguajc cscrito de los diarios scnsacionalistas, ocasiona cn estc nivel el que la hcgcmonia de la norma culta sea cada vw mSs restringida.¹⁴

Much of the sociolinguistic research done in this area, in spite of its good intentions. tends to support existing class prejudices rather than correct them. The action, if any, which follows may be more enlightened, but the conceptual and ideological framework in which it takes place still remains out of touch with the socio-caltural reality.

The other impediment to effective action is well known and needs no special recounting here. The communicative gap between sociolinguistic researchers and educational policy makers and pedagogists remains considerable. Very often the results of research leave the country where it was carried out and become available only to subscribers to learned linguistic journals or participants in teamed conferences. Happily this is becoming less so, and international researchers are understanding more and more the importance of making the results of their research available to a wider audience and of collaborating with policy makers and pedagogists who are often more aware of certain social and political aspects of language situations.

I There have been two surveys of some importance. The Programs Jntcramericano de Lio-gUislica у Епкйапга de Idiomas (PILED produced the first survey, which concentrated for the most part on resources and practices in the fields of linguistics and language teaching in the Western Hemisphere. The results arc published in El Simposio de Cartagena: A etas, comunicaeiones, informes. Bogota, Institute Caro у Cuervo, 1965. The other survey is the Proyecto Sodolingulstico del Instituto de Invesilgadones Sodales. Universidad Nacional Autdnoma de (UNAM). Mexico, which aims at studying^

the possibilities for the hispani/ation of indigenous Mexicans. In this survey, a number of statistical maps are planned to show the proportion of monolingual and bilingual indigenous Mexicans in the total population and their geographical distribution. At least one publication has appeared: Oscar Uribe Villegas, Vn тара del monoHngulsme у el hi-linguismo de los indtgenas de Шхісо en I960. Mexico. Institute dc Investigates Sociales, UNAM. 1970.

2. Noticias Culturales 128 (Seticmbre 1971). 4 (Bogota, Institute Caro у Cuervo).

3. Herrera, Gast6n Carrillo, “Proyecto de ALECh," Cuadernos de FUologia I (1968). 77 85.

5. The Puerto Rican researcher identified with the project is Edwin Figueroa Berrios, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Picdras. Puerto Rico.

7. Craig. D., An Etpehment in Teaching English. Caribbean Universities Press, 1969. p. 5.

8. Craig. D., "Teaching English to Jamaican Creole Speakers." Language Learning 16 (1966 k 58.

9. "Implications of the nature of the Creole continuum for sequencing educational materials" (unpublished mimeograph. June 197I).

10. Rubin, Joan. National Bilingualism in Paraguay (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica. 60), The Hague- Mouton, 1968.

II Reported in W. \V5lck, El Prayec to BQC. Afetodologia de una encuesta sociolinguistlea sabre el bilinguismo quechua-castellano (mimeograph. 1970) and in W. Wdtck. Language A ttitude Tests: Speaker reactions in a bilingual situation (mimeograph. 1970).

12. Albft, Xavier. Social Constraints an Cochabamba Quechua (Dissertation Series, 19), Cornell University. L A. Studies Program, September 1970.

13. Cf., for example. Basil Bemstein, "Elaborated and restricted codes: their social origins and some consequences." In Dell Hymes and John Gumpera, eds.. The Ethnography of Communication. American Anthropologist 66:2(1964). 55-69.

14. Escobar. Alberto. "Problematica de las lenguas nacionales." In El Simposio de Mexico: Actas. informes ,i comunicaciones. Mexico. UNAM. 1969,41.

Albd. Xavier. “Two Bilingual. Bicultural Situations: Catalan-Spanish and Quechua-Spanish.” (Unpublished.) University of Michigan. 1967.

__"Sociolingufstica de losvallesde Cochabamba, Bolivia." In El Simposio deSdo Paulo:

Alleyne. Mervyn C. "Language and Society in St. Lucia." Caribbean Studies 1(1961). I -10.

__"Communication between the Elite and the Masses." In T. Mathews & F. Andie, eds..

__ ed. Boletin de Sodolinguistica. Publicacid.i de la Comisidn de Etnolingufstica у Sociolinguistics del PILE!. Kingston. University of the West Indies, 1969.

Arguedas. Jos6 M„ ed. Mesa redonda sobre el monolinguismo Quechua у Aymara у la edu-cacidn en el Peru (Documentos regionales de la etnohistoria andina. 2.) Lima. Ediciones de la Casa de la Cultura del Peru, 1966.

Barker. G. Roger. “Social Functions of Language in a Mexican Community." Acta Ameri-сапа 5(1947), 185 202.

Burns. Donald. "La linguistics у los problemas de la lengua en Bolivia.*' El Simposio de Cartagena: Actas. informes, comunicaciones. Bogota, Institute Саго у Cuervo. 1965.82-91.

__“Bilingual Education in the Andes of Peru." In Fishman et al.. eds.. Language

Ccdergren. Henrietta. Social Dialects in Panama City. (Doctoral dissertation.) Cornell University. 1972.

Diebold. Richard. Jr. Bilingualism and Biculturalism in a Huave Community. (Doctoral dissertation.) Yale University. 1961.

Efron. Edith. "French and French Creole Patois in Haiti." Caribbean Quarterly 3(1954), 199213.

Fishman. Joshua. R. Cooper. R. Ma. et al. Bilingualism in the Barrio. Washington. D.C.. U.S. Office of Education. 1968.

Foster. George M. "Speech Forms and Perception of Social Distance in a Spanish-speaking Mexican Village." South Western Journal of Anthropology 20(I964).I07-122.

Garvin. Paul and M. Malhiot. ’‘The Urbanization of the Guarani Language.” In Fishman, ed.. Readings in the Sociology of Language. The Hague. Mouton. 1968, 365 374.

Haugen. Linar Rilingualnm in the Americas 4 Bibliography and Research Guide. University, Ala., University of Alabama Press, 1956.

Hellinga. W. G. Language Problems in Surinam: Dutch as the language of the schools. Amsterdam. North Holland Publishing Co.. (95$.

Hymes. Dell. ed. Puiginizatwn and Creolization of Languages. London. Cambridge University Press, 1971.

Капу. Charles E. “Some Aspects of Bolivian Popular Speech.” Hispanic Review 14(1947). 193 205.

Komfield, William J. “The Sociolinguistic Factor in an Andean Bilingual Town.” (Unpublished.) University of Pennsylvania.

LePage. Robert. “The Language Problem in the British Caribbean.” Caribbean Quarterly 4(1955), 40 49.

McQuown, Norman A. “Measures of Dialect Distance in Tzeltal-Tzotzil." In William M. Austin, ed. Report on the 9th Annual Round Table on Linguistics and Language Studies. (Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics. II.) Washington D.C., Georgetown University Press. 1958. pp. 129 144.

__“Indian and Ladino Bilingualism: Sociocultural Contrasts in Chiapas. Mexico.” In

Elizabeth D. Woodworth, ed.. Report of the lith Annual Round Table on Linguistics and Language Studies. (Monograph Scries on Languages and Linguistics, 15.) Washington D.C., Georgetown University Press, 1962, pp. 85 106.

Rice. Frank, ed. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia. Africa and Latin America.

Rona, Josi Pedro. "Vulgarization" о adaptacidn diastrdtica de neologismos у cultismos. Montevideo. Departamentode Linguistics, 1962.

__“The Social and Cultural Status of Guarani in Paraguay.” In W. Bright, ed., Socio~

Rubin. Joan. National Bilingualism in Paraguay (Janua Linguarum. Scries Practice. 60). The Hague, Mouton. 1968.

Sercno. Renzo. “Boricua: A Study of Language, Transculturation and Politics." Psychiatry 12 (1940). 167 184.

Sola, Donald. “La description de los idiomas multidialectales." Paper read at the 39th Con-greso Internacionalde Amcricanistas. Lima. Peru, 1970.

Solberg, Myrl E. Tht Acquisition of Quechua (approximate title). (Doctoral dissertation.) Cornell University, in progress.

Stewart. William. “Functional Distribution of Creole and French in Haiti." In Elizabeth D. Woodworth, ed.. Report on the ISth Annual Round Table on Linguistics and Language Studies (Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics. 15.) Washington, D.C., Georgetown University Press. 1962.149 162.

Urioste. Jorge. “Spanish-Quechua Bilingualism: Reflections on a Theory of Competence." (Unpublished. (Cornell University, 1969.

Valdman. Albert. “Language Standardization in a Diglossia Situation: Haiti.” In J. Fishman, C. Ferguson, J. Das Gupta, eds.. Language Problems of Developing Nations. New York. John Wiley & Sons, 1968.

Vcrin. Pierre. “The Rivalry of French Creole and English in the British West Indies.” BVir-tndische Gids 38( 1958).

Language in Ethiopia: Implications of a Survey for Sociolinguistic Theory and Method*

by M. L. Bender, R. L. Cooper and C. A. Ferguson¹

Sociolinguistically oriented language surveys on a national scale have generally been justified in terms of how useful the collected data will be for language policy makers (Ferguson 1966), but an equally persuasive case can be made in terms of their contribution to the theories and methods of sociolinguistics. The Language Survey of Ethiopia carried out in 1968-9 (hereafter LSE)* is a case in point. The information which was gathered provides useful material for the policy maker who wants to make informed decisions leading to valued outcomes, but in the course of the year's work the surveyors and their associates also contributed substantially to basic issues in the general study of language in society.

One fundamental problem of all sociolinguistic research and theorizing is the measurement of linguistic difference. In order to discuss how similar or how different two varieti:: ‘“speech or writing are, there must be some kind of metric and some kind of operational strategy for applying the metric. At the Sociolinguistics Seminar held at Indiana University in I964¹ one of the first questions the sociologists asked the linguists was: ‘How do you measure the degree of difference between two languages (or two varieties of the same language)?' They asked this question expecting to receive a straightforward technical answer which they could then put to work for their purposes, but to their surprise they discovered that the lin guists had no ready measure of linguistic distance or diversity and indeed had ret, lively little interest in the notion.⁴

The LSE gave considerable attention to this problem, following three different approaches: (a) the selection of diagnostic traits in terms of a ‘linguistic area' comprising a large number of related and unrelated languages, in terms of subgrouping within sets of related langt igcs (e.g. the Ethio-Scmitic languages), and in terms of dialect variation within a relatively homogeneous speech community (mother-tongue speakers of Amharic). (b) computer processing of basic cognate frequencies among a large number of related languages and comparison of these results with other measures of linguistic difference; and (c) testing of mutual intelligibility among a smalt number of related languages and comparison of results with other measures. While none of the three approaches yields anything close to the desired general metric, all contributed significantly toward this goal and they will be discussed in turn in (I) below.

•Reprinted by permission from Language in Society. 1:2.215 233 (October 1972).

A second basic issue in scciolinguistic research is the phenomenon of language spread, i.e. the extension, over а period of time, of the use of one language or variety at the expense of others. In spite of the rather sizeable literature on language maintenance and shift among immigrant groups/ the development of national languages,* and the use of lingua francas,⁷ sociolinguistic theory tacks even an adequate formulation of the major types or processes of language spread. The LSE focused a considerable amount of its research effort on understanding the way in which Am baric, the officially designated national language of Ethiopia, has spread in past centuries and is now spreading throughout the country; some attention was also given to the spread of other languages. The results of the several different research strategies employed led to a typology of language spread. One of the research techniques, ‘transaction count,' offers sociolinguists a promising new tool, and the typology itself is a contribution to the theory of language use. This issue is presented in (2) below.

Verbal deference behavior, especially the use of forms of address, has constituted one of the principal research tcpics in sociolinguistics (e.g. Brown & Gilman I960). It is assumed that all speech communities have grammatical and lexical differentiation in forms of address (e.g. pronouns, names, titles) the use of which directly symbolizes differences in status, role, setting, and affective factors, in particular, many languages have more than one second person pronoun (e g. Spanish tu. us ted), and the study of their use, variation in their use, and changes in their use through time oilers a valuable means of access to the wider norms and values and the processes of social change in the speech community. In the case of the Ethiopian Survey it was possible to include Susan Hoben's anthropological study of the pronouns of address in Amhartc, which gave additional exemplification of some of the theoretical generalizations currently held by linguists and also some unique material on the use of the gender distinction, which extends the known range of variation in this aspect of languages. The findings of the study are summarized in (3).

At the very core of sociolinguistic research is study of the interplay between linguistic change in its narrow sense and the matrix of social change in which it moves, and one of the most telling specimens of this interplay is the process of pidginiza-tion—the linguistic reduction which arises in certain social settings of language contact, and may have results which persist in one form or another for long periods (Hymes 1971). The LSE looked for significant instances of this process, and in the work of an Ethiopian investigator (Habte-Mariam Marcos) documented a variety of modified Italian with startling similarities in form and function to the original Mediterranean Lingua Franca of centuries ago (Schuchardt 1909). The findings of this study and their implications are outlined below in (4).

The technique most commonly used in linguistic classification has been the selection of diagnostic traits appropriate for particular sets of languages and language varie-

tics. If a group of languages or varieties shares certain selected diagnostic traits (or in some cases even a single trait) they are classified together in the same unit (e.g. family, subgroup, language); if two varieties fail to share one or more selected traits, they are classified as belonging to different units. The basic analytic problem is, of course, how to select useful or valid criterial features. There is also the additional problem of how to assign degrees of difference to particular traits or to relative numbers of traits. In spite of the problems in this approach to classification it is used at various levels, from large groups of languages to dialect variation within a language. Three examples of the use of diagnostic traits as the basis of a measure of linguistic difference will be given from the Ethiopian Survey.

(a l The Ethiopian language area. Fergusor. has suggested the existence of an ‘Ethiopian language area* (Language in Ethiopia, ch. 5 and Ferguson 1970). To say that the Ethiopian languages constitute a language area means that they tend to share a number of features which, taken together, distinguish them from any other geographically defined group of languages in the world. Some of these shared features are due to genetic relationship, i.e. they continue features present in a remote ancestral language. Others result from the processes of reciprocal diffusion among languages which have been in contact for many centuries. Not every language in Ethiopia has all these features, and a few languages do not fit into the pattern at all, but in general most of the languages in an area roughly coincident with Ethiopia’s borders have features of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and patterns of expression which arc, taken together, distinctive and characteristic of the area.

Eight phonological and 18 grammatical features were found to be useful traits in demonstrating the existence of the a»ea. It is the clustering of these traits which demarcates the area from non-area languages such as English and Anyuak, a Nilotic language chosen as representative of the non-area languages which are found in the westernmost part of Ethiopia. For example, Amharic (an area language) has 6 of the 8 phonological features and 16 of the 18 grammatical features, whereas Anyuak has 0 of 8 and 2 of 18 respectively and English 2 of 8 and 0 of 18. Examples of the features are: presence of glottalic consonants, a helping vowel occurring to break consonant clusters, basic sentence order of SOV (subject-object-verb), use of the singular noun with numerals, and an irregular imperative of the verb ‘come.

fb) Classification of the Ethio-Semitic languages. The Semitic languages of Ethiopia are generally accepted as a genetic subgroup of the Semitic languages, i.e. as a group having a common ancestor which at one time existed as a single language within Semitic. This is not only because of the known geographic isolation of Ethio-Semitic speakers over a long period of time but also because of the set of traits found common to all these languages but not found in other Semitic languages. In the same way, the Ethio-Semitic languages may be classified into subgroups on the basis of t raits shared by some but not all the languages in question

The Ethio-Semitic classification adopted by the Survey is that of Robert Hetzron, who suggests a more complex picture of Ethio-Semitic history than has been generally accepted (Language in Ethiopia and for a fuller account, Hetzron forthcoming). For one thing, Hetzron argues in favor of laying to rest the term 'Gurage* as an overall linguistic term. According to Hetzron, there is no Gurage linguistic unit, and ‘Gurage’ should be used to refer only to ‘a conglomeration of Semitic-speaking peoples surrounded by Cushitic (Sidamo).' Some so-called Gurage languages arc more closely related to Ambaric and Harari than to other 'Gurage' languages and some belong with Gafat in a different branch of South Ethio-Semitic.

Mis classification is based on a careful study of traits known as 'shaded innovations’, i.e. changes which have taken place in subgroups of the overall language group (in this case Ethio-Semitic) which set them apart from other subgroups. For example, the first division in Ethio-Semitic is between the Northern and the Southern languages. The Northern languages share a common characteristic in the forms of the verb in ;!ie Imperfect (roughly: the present) and the Perfect (roughly: the past) as against the Southern languages. In the Northern forms, the next*to*last consonant ь doubled only in the Imperfect, in the Southern forms only in the Perfect. In thi:> vise it is the Southern forms which have innovated: the Northern forms are heliev.*d to he the older pattern. Another innovation setting off Southern languages is that they make a sharp distinction in the selection of forms of main verbs and subordinate verbs, as against the Northern languages which have very much the same forms in both main and subordinate verbs.

U’> Amharic dialects. There has as yet been no large-scale or thorough study of the nature and range of dialect differentiation in Amharic, although it is a language of considerable socio-political importance, being a national language and one which is expanding from its present base of about 8,000,000 native-speakers plus many non-native speakers. The literature contains minor references to Amharic variation, md indeed most observers report a surprisingly small range of variation for a language spoken by mostly illiterate persons in a country of difficult communications and transportation. This lack of extensive variation may be partly explained by the existence of a well-developed common culture including the monarchy and the Orthodox church.

The Ethiopian survey sponsored a small-scale dialect investigation of Amharic, carried out by eight members of the Department of Ethiopian Languages and Literature at the Mailc Selassie I University under the direction of Dr. Getatchew Haile. This investigation was supplemented by a report on the Gondcr area and some information on lexical variation by Roger Cowley (cf. Language in Ethiopia. ch.6).

The main findings of this investigation were that \ .. phonologically, Мепг and Wello form a subclustcr within a cluster consisting of Gojjam, Menz, and Wello, and Addis Ababa-Gonder form a separate cluster, though Gonder shows some traits intermediate between the two larger dusters. On the syntactic level, however, the dialects of Addis Ababa, Menz. and Wello seem to belong to one dialect cluster, while Gojjam and Gondcr arc each separate dialects on their own.*

In general the diagnostic traits identified in this dialect study result from differential incidence of diachronic changes. For example, there are different degrees of palatalizing in the various dialects reported, i.e. some dialects palatalize more consonants than others, or palatalize in more environments, or both. (Palatalization is a phonological process which may be thought of generally as inserting a -y- glide after a consonant, resulting in shifting t to C, s to S, 1 to y, etc.) The situation is fairly

complex, but can be explained by assuming that the order of palatalizing rules differs in the grammars of the various dialects, or that rules differ in degree of generality among the dialects. It is this variation in order or generality of application of rules which accounts for the particular classification of the Amharic dialectal varieties.

Given the linguistic complexity of Ethiopia and the problems of data collection imposed by the country's size and difficult terrain, it was quickly decided that a collection of uniform samples of basic vocabulary and minimal grammatical data on the tesser-known languages would be likely to lead to a useful classification most immediately. This collecting was restricted mainly to the complex and little-investigated areas of the south, south-west, and west (Sudan border). The resultant new data together with some previously-collected material was then processed by visual inspection and computer program. The results are found in Bender (1971) and will be discussed briefly below.

Essentially, the main result of the computer analysis is a tabulation of percentages of assumed lexical cognates among 101 languages of Ethiopia and nearby countries. The languages arc then arranged into major families by previous knowledge of the main outlines of classification and by clusterings of high cognate percentages. Detailed study of the clustering of percentages then leads to a final suggested subgrouping, to be modified as further data on the languages in question and data on languages as yet uncollected become available.

The closeness of fit of this new classification and that proposed by Greenberg for the relevant languages as part of his general classification of African languages (Greenberg 1966) is significant because Greenberg's classification is not based on statistical methods. Thus we have a verification in this case that careful comparison of all available data by the mass comparison methods advocated by Greenberg (Greenberg I9S7: chs. 3,4; Greenberg 1966:1-5) and statistical analyses of uniform samples of basic lexicon lead to the same results within close margins. The slight differences in the two results raise interesting problems and point toward likely directions for further investigation.

In the process of subgrouping languages according to basic vocabulary shared, several indices were developed and used. These indices are similar to those used by Dyen (1965) (e.g. Dycn’s critical difference, p. 19). but go beyond Dyen in one important respect, namely that they are generally ratios of one percentage to another (weighted ratios). Since the denominators of the ratios are the averages of all cognate-percentages within given groupings, they take into account the relative ‘tightness* or ‘looseness* of the groupings. Several weighted ratios were calculated for each of three units of Afro-Asiatic; The Ethio-Semitic super-group (4th level in the hierarchy with super-family as first level), the Lowland East Cushitic group (level 5). and the Ometo subgroup (level 6). In general weighted ratios lead to significantly better subgroupings than unweighted ones, in terms of incisiveness of subgroupings and avoidance of overlappings, thus verifying the hypothesis that the more elaborate methods lead to sharper results.

One very interesting and unexpected result emerged. This is that the sharpest subgroupings of all are esf iblisbed by the use of the numbers of items which share phonological innovations. Thus, suppose languages A and В share 62 cognate items out of 98 and that 32 of the 62 share phonological innovations not found among all the languages of the grouping in question. It is the use of this 32 and ail other such numbers found in comparing sets of languages which produces the best subgrouping. This result provides corroboration of the widely accepted idea that shared in nova* tions in general provide the best basis for linguistic subgrouping.

The significance of this is that a fairly large-scale application of quantitative methods has led to the same answer as the usual method based on theoretical and common-sense considerations, very much in the spirit of Chrdtien and Kroeber’s quantitative study in Indo-European classification (Chrdtien & Kroebcr 1937). Furthermore, the finding in this case is probably the first attempt to overcome Greenberg's criticism of glottochronological methods in his essay on linguistic subgroupings (Greenberg 1957: 54). The idea behind the use of items with shared phonological innovations was Bender's, but the motivation for seeking an improved lexicostatistic method stemmed from Greenberg's criticism.

Probably the question most frequently asked of the Ethiopian survey team by laymen was: ‘How many Ethiopian languages are there?’ The answer depends on the criteria used for separating languages. Certainly mutual intelligibility is a fundamental criterion in this connection. Paul Bohannon is certainly correct when he suggest¹:. that the study of inier-intelligibility of African languages is important but still in its infancy (Bohannon 1964:129).

Three of the five survey teams of the overall Survey undertook mutual intelligibility studies. The pioneering effort was by the Uganda team, and it established the precedent of testing intelligibility by testing listening comprehension using uniform texts among speakers of related languages. The result of the experiment on a number of related Bantu languages of Uganda was that mutual intelligibility :s substantially correlated with shared basic vocabulary as well as with the more readily determinable relative geographical proximities of the languages (Ladefoged, Glick & Criper 1971:65-77).*

The Ethiopia team, having the advantage of the Uganda team's efforts and benefitting from their insights, was able to carry out a more elaborate study on the Sidamo (or Highland) group of East Cusbitic. The resulting correlations of intelligibility with stared basic vocabulary and geographical proximity replicated the Uganda results and suggested that they may be of universal validity.* In addition, significant correlations with in-text lexical and in-text combined lexica! and grammatical morphemes were found, though the correlation with in-text grammatical morphemes alone was small. In addition, the study shows the Sidamo group to consist of five languages: Hadiyya, Kembata, Sidamo, Deresa, Burji. Alaba, at first considered a separate language, is now seen to be best considered a dialect of

Kembata. Fuller results are to be found in Bender & Cooper (1971) and Language in Ethiopia (ch. 4).

Л third intelligibility study is that of the Zambia turn on several Bantu Ian* guages. (See Ohannessian & Kashoki, forthcoming.) One possible interpretation of their results is that strong correlation of intelligibility and geographical proximity depends on a relatively undisturbed situation after an initial set of dispersion migra-turns from the homeland of the proto-language speakers. A method of verification or disconfirmation would be to look at the historical backgrounds of migrations in the three areas in question (in so far as they can be determined) to see if the idea is supported by the evidence in all three cases.

The Ethiopia survey thus supplies a reasonable answer to the question: ‘How many languages are there?' The answer is 70 to 80, discounting European imports, extinct languages (such as Gilt, the classical liturgical and literary language), and jargons and special ‘secret languages,* and allowing for the discovery of a few as yet unknown languages believed to exist in the south-west and west. The number of languages is in itself of both practical and theoretical value in the context of the usual naive estimates ranging from 3 (Amharic, Tigrinya, and Giiz, the three literary languages of Ethiopia) to 200 (including many mutually intelligible varieties).

By the seventeenth century, Amharic had spread from its home base, east and north of Lake Tana, through much of central Ethiopia, and the extension of Ethiopia's boundaries in the nineteenth century has helped promote the language's continued expansion. Just as Giiz, the classical language of Ethiopia, spread as a national language in the ancient Aksumite empire, so is Amharic steadily expanding today as a principal factor in national integration.

An attempt by the LSE to characterize the way in which Amharic is expanding led to the formulation of a general typology of language spread. The typology posits three ways in which the substantial use of a language can spread. One way is as a lingua franca, when the language becomes commonly used for purposes of between-group communication.¹⁰ A second way is as a mother tongue (language first spoken), which occurs when people adopt the language as the language of their home. A third way is as a superposed variety, i.e. the language spreads for purposes of within-group communication, but not as a mother tongue.

. When a language spreads as a lingua franca, it spreads as a second language. The people who learn it continue to speak their mother tongue for purposes of within-group communication. There have been many examples of the spread of lingua francas in Africa (Greenberg 1965). Some of these have been indigenous languages like Hausa and Malinke in western Africa and Swahili in eastern Africa. Others have arisen as pidginized forms of African languages in the European contact situation, such as Sango and Lingala in central Africa. Still others have been European languages, particularly English and French, in the former colonial areas. African lingua

francas have arisen not only in the context of trade (e g. Hausa. Dyuia), but also in such contexts as administration and education (e.g. English), work (e.g. Fanagato in the Zambian copper belt), and religion (e.g. Arabic). For un extensive discussion of African lingua francas, see Heine (1970).

When a language spreads not as а lingua franca but as a mother tongue, people gradually abandon their mother tongue and adopt the new language for purposes of within-group communication. This type of language spread, language shift (Fishman 1964), may occur when migrant peoples adopt the dominant language of the area to which they have come, as in the case of most American immigrant groups. Language shift may also occur when the political and economic pressures exerted by a dominant minority induce a subordinate majority to abandon their mother tongue. There have been many times in which the territorial expansion of an empire has created wholesale language shift among its subject populations, as in the cases of Latin and Arabic.

The spread of a language as a superposed variety resembles both the spread of a lingua franca and language shift. It resembles the spread of a lingua franca because the new language is used for purposes of within-group communication. When a language spreads as a superposed variety, it displaces the original language in certain functions only, while the original language holds fast to other functions.¹¹ In such circumstances, the displacing language and the language it partially displaces come to coexist with different functional allocations in the same speech community. An example of such partial displacement can be found in Paraguay, where Spanish has replaced the indigenous Guarani for some purposes or in some contexts (e.g. in non* rural, formal, non-intimate contexts), but where Guarani is maintained for others (Rubin 1968). With respect to Amharic, ^;t is likely that it is spreading in all thrwe of the ways that have been outlined: as lingua franca, as mother tongue, and as superposed variety (Cooper, in press).

The LSE employed several methods in its study of the spread of Amharic. One method was the language census, a technique whereby the household head or other household representative answers questions about the language proficiency (and sometimes the language usage and language attitudes) of each member of his household (see Fishman 1969; and Lieberson 1966, 1969). The LSE procedure departed from that of the usual census in that the LSE adopted a sample survey approach, rather than attempting to interview a representative from all households in the population under study (Cooper. Singh. & Abraha, in press).

The LSE carried out sample surveys in two largely Galla-speaking areas.'* In each area, surveys were taken in the towns as well as in the country adjacent to the towns. In all, over 2,400 respondents, drawn from a population of about 485,000, were interviewed. Each respondent was asked to identify those languages he could presently speak and the language he spoke first as a child, and be was also asked to identify the first and second languages of each of the other members of his household who was at least seven years old. The data obtained were analyzed for

each of the $7 enumeration districts, into which the survey areas had been divided.

The results of greatest interest from the point of view of sociolinguistic theory were the relationship between the bilingualism of mother-tongue groups and the relative si/e of each group. The relationship was a negative or inverse one. That is, the higher the proportion claiming a given language as mother-tongue, the smaller the percentage of bilinguals (here defined as people w ho knew at least two languages) among that mother-tongue group. Conversely, the smaller the mother-tongue group as a proportion of a district, the greater the proportion of bilinguals in that group. 1 he same inverse relationship between relative size of a mother-tongue group and the incidence of bilingualism within it was found by Wcinrcich (1957) in his analysis of the 1951 census of India, and ma> represent a sociolinguistic universal.

The pressure to learn a second language is, of course, not exerted by the mere presence of the first-language group hut rather by the interactions which its presence implies. For example, the correlation between size of mother-tongue group and proportion of others who speak it was higher for Amharic than for Calla. Tnis can be attributed in part to the relative sociocultural or sociopolitical statuses of the mother-tongue groups in question. Thus, for example, an analysis by Licberson (1970: 46 50) of hilingualsim in the residential districts of six Canadian cities indicated that while the proportion of mother-tongue speakeis was related to the proportions of others who knew that language, the pressure to learn English as a second language was greater than the pressure to learn French. For the same percentage of native speakers, a greater proportion knew English than F'rench as a second language. Thus, a greater percentage of people knew English than French as a second language, not only because of the greater size of the English Canadian group but also because of its dominant socioeconomic position.

The findings of the Ethiopian «•-ample surveys, then, are consistent with thoic obtained in two other sociolinguistic contexts: India and Canada. The results of these studies suggest that a sociolingusitic model can be built to predict the extent to which the members of one group will learn the language of another when the two groups are in contact. Such a model could take the form of a multiple-regression equation, with the relation proportions of each mother-tongue group in the population serving as two of the predictor variables. Additional variables might include for each group its degree of residential segregation, its degree of occupational segregation, the proportion of literates, its relative importance in the economic affairs of the community (estimated, for example, by indices such as per capita income, proportion of cultivated acres controlled, proportion of trading establishments operated, or proportion of corporate directorships held), and its relative political influence (judged, for example, by the proportion of civil servants, or the proportion of political appointees, or the proportion of heads of various administrative units). If estimates could be obtained for such variables for a number of districts. the relative importance of each variable in predicting the depute to which each language has been learned as a second language by the other r *oup could be empirically determined, and the degree of explained variance would s^rve as a criterion for the success of the model. While estimates for some of the» variables may necessarily be crude, an attempt to combine them via multiplc-regrt vion analysts

should nonetheless yield information of considerable interest. Such analyses should help to understand better those processes that impel one group to learn the language ofanother.

Л common ftinciion of lingua francos is that of trade language. When buyers and sellers have different mother tongues, as is often the case in linguistically heterogeneous settings, one language sometimes becomes established as the language used for between-group communication in market contexts. The language spreads along the trade routes and outward from market centers, and those who wish to enter trade must learn to speak that language.

In the linguistically diverse Ethiopian setting, one might predict that either Amharic or Arabic serves as a lingua franca for trade. Amharic would be predicted because it has been introduced throughout the country via schools and other government agencies Amharic, furthermore, appears to be spreading in other contexts through the processes of industrialisation and urbanization. Arabic would be predicted because in Ethiopia Muslim merchants have traditionally dominated small retail trade and because one might expect Ethiopian Muslims to have some acquaintance with Arabic through attendance at Quranic schools. Furthermore, there is a widespread belief in Ethiopia that Arabic is used as a market lingua franca by Islamic co-rcligionists. In the markets studied by the LSE, however, neither Amharic, nor Arabic, nor indeed any other language served to any significant extent -s a lingua franca for trade (Cooper ft Carpenter 1969).

The market surveys were carried out in twenty-three markets in eight towns. None of these towns was located in the Amharic heartland of the country, which is relatively homogeneous linguistically. Although most of the towns had a substantial proportion of Amharic mother-tongu? speakers, other languages dominated the countryside surrounding the towns. The survey procedure followed in each market was the same. Enumerators, drawn from among the students at the local high school, tallied the number of market transactions observed in various languages on a single market day. A number of commodities and services was chosen (e.g. cloth, onions, salt, tailoring), ami each enumerator observed language usage in each of these items. Thus, for each item, each enumerator noted the number of transactions between buyer and seller carried out in Amharic, the number carried out in Gall*, etc. This technique permitted highly reliable estimates to be made of the relative importance of various languages in the market because representative items were chosen for observation and because large numbers of observations were made. Hundreds of transactions were observed in the smaller markets and thousands in the larger ones. Approximately 1,700 transactions were observed in the average market studied.

The principal finding of the market surveys was that the proportion of transactions observed in a given language could be predicted on the basis of the proportion of residents in the town who claimed that language as mother tongue or home language (as determined by Central Statistical Office sample surveys). The discrep-

ancies between the proportion of transactions observed in a given language and th* proportion of urban residents claiming that language could be explained in large part by the presence of people from the countryside who came to the town on the market day. Thus, the proportion of transactions observed in Amharic was generally smaller than the proportion of urban residents claiming it, and the proportion of transactions observed in the dominant language of the countryside was generally larger than the proportion of urban residents claiming it.

If a language were serving the {Unction of trade language, presumably the proportion of transactions observed in that language would have been substantially greater than the proportion of respondents in the town who claimed it. Where such differences were in fact observed, they could be attributed to the influx from the countryside of people who spoke it natively. In no case was the proportion of transactions in Amharic or in Arabic substantially greater than the proportion of townspeople claiming it as first language. Thus, these languages did not appear to be serving as trade languages in any substantial way.

One cannot infer from these results that the proportion of buyers who spoke each language natively was the same as the proportion of sellers who did so, or that the transactions were typically between people who spoke the same first language. On the contrary, the division of labor in Ethiopia, particularly as realized in handicrafts and in trade, has long been along ethnic lines. Amharas, for example, have traditionally eschewed trade as a livelihood. Thus instead of the buyer and seller typically interacting in a common first language or in a common second language, it is likely that the teller typically accommodated himself to the buyer by speaking the buyer's first language. In the linguistically diverse contexts of these Ethiopian markets, therefore, it appears that transactions were facilitated by the multilingualism of the traders rather than by the emergence of a trade lingua franca.

The results of this study are relevant to sodolinguistic theory in several ways. First, they demonstrate that heterogeneous market settings do not necessarily give rise to trade lingua francas. Second, they demonstrate that a language need not spread uniformly through all domains or contexts of language use. Whereas Amharic is spreading for some purposes and in some contexts, it is not expanding as a trade language, at least not in the markets observed. The findings, therefore, raise interesting questions. Why do trade Ungua francas arise in some linguistically heterogeneous settings but not others? Why do languages spread in some contexts but not others? Why. for example, did Hausa spread with Muslim traders in West Africa, whereas Arabic did not spread with the Lebanese in West Africa? The construction of a unified theory that can answer such questions and accommodate these findings would be a fruitful enterprise.

Finally, these results are relevant to sodolinguistic theory because they demonstrate the usefulness of a new technique of sodolinguistic inquiry, that of the transaction count, which permits the systematic and unobtrusive observation of language usage as it occurs. This technique appears to be a promising one. It can be used as a survey method in settings where household canvassing is not possible. Where such canvassing can be performed, the technique makes it possible to cope with a problem found in all social science, the validity of sdf-reported behavior.

Thus, a group's edf-rcported language usage (what languages people say they use in particular contexts) could be compared with their actual usage. Although there is evidence that in bilingual communities self-reported frequency of usage of а given language in specified contexts can be a valid indicator of global proficiency in that language (Fishman & Cooper 1969), there have bxn few if any attempts to assess the validity of such reports as estimates of relative usage. To account for the agreement or discrepancy between self-reported and actual usage, we would need to know (I) the degree to which language usage ie prescribed for a given situation or, conversely, the degree of variability in language usage in that situation; (2) the degree to which the norms of language usage are explicitly recognized or known by members of the community; and (3) the willingness of respondents to tell what they know. The relationships and interactions among such variables are of considerable sociolinguistic interest. In addition to permitting a comparison between reported and actual usage, the transaction count technique, by being used in an array of societal contexts, can help build sodolinguistically valid descriptions of the functional specialization of languages in multilingual settings, as well as explanatory models of language spread.

A study of the meanings of Amharic second-person pronouns, as they are understood by Amharas, yielded findings which are of general interest. First, the use of second-person pronouns in Amharic was found to conform in general outline to the western European usage described by Brown &. Gilman (I960), wherein the dimensions of relative status (power) and intimacy (solidarity) account for the pronouns chosen. Second, Amharic pronominal usage demonstrates a rare phenomenon, that of gender fluctuation in direct address. The observations which are summarized bore were made by Hoben (in press) via the anthropological techniques of participant observation.¹*

There are ten independent or self-standing pronouns in Amharic. These can be characterized by the intersection of five features—number (singular, plural), person (first, second, third), gender (masculine, feminine), and deference (familiar, polite). Four of these are second-person pronouns: ante (singular, masculine, familiar), anli (singular, feminine, familiar), tone (singular, unspecified gender, polite), and in-non re (plural, unspecified gender, unspecified deference.)'⁴

In Amharic, the person of the subject is shown by pronominal affixes on the vern, and in the second person either the familiar or the polite form must be used. If an independent pronoun is also used to mark the subject of the sentence in direct address, the pronoun and pronominal affix must agree with respect to the form which is chosen. The choice between the familiar and polite forms in Amharic is determined in general by the speakers' social position relative to one another and by the solidarity of their relationship.

Relative social status among the Amhara is determined by the interaction of many personal attributes, including religious purity, title, education, and age. Each of these attributes, in turn, is complex. Purity, for example, may be gained in several

ways, among which are monastic vows or ordination. There are also many kinds of titles, which may be conferred in terms of the traditional systems of ecclesiastical, military, or court ranks, or in terms of the modern administrative, military, and police bureaucracies. One person jnay have many claims to high position and deference. He may, for example, be old. religiously pure, educated, and titled. Another may be high on some scales but low on others. Furthermore, not all of a person's attributes may count in every situation. His claims to deference will depend upon those factors which are considered important in the particular situation. For example, the presence of a third person may cause some speakers who would normally use the familiar with one another to use the polite form.

Amharas normally use the familiar form with family members, neighbors, and friends. However, the attributes which are associated with polite address may sometimes cause speakers to use the polite form in circumstances in which the familiar form would otherwise be expected. Thus, even among blood relatives, the age, religious purity, rank or education of one may cause another to address him with the polite form.

There are other uses of the second-person pronoun besides deference marking. These pronouns may also be used to indicate the emotional reaction of the speaker to the person addressed. For example, the familiar form may be substituted for the polite form as an insult or to express anger. In addition, the feminine form may be applied to a man if the speaker wishes to insult him. In Addis Ababa, but not in the countryside, a man may also use the feminine form when addressing another man if he wishes to indicate affection. Thus, men who are close friends may use the feminine form with each other. Hoben found, for example, that a group of school teachers was divided into two subgroups which were clearly marked by the mutual use of the feminine form. Within each subgroup, the members used the feminine form with one another, but across subgroups they used the masculine form. She also reported that the smallest man in a group of friends may sometimes receive the feminine form but use the masculine form when addressing the others.

In Amharic, the gender of the noun fluctuates. A noun may be considered masculine or feminine according to whether its referent is considered to be large and distant (masculine) or small and intimate (feminine). Thus, the optional gender fluctuation found in the second-person pronoun is analogous to the gender fluctuation of the noun.

The study of second-person pronoun usage provided data of general interest to sociolinguistic theory as well as information of particular relevance to Amharic and to Ethiopia. Though there may be nothing new in the use of participant observation for the description of second-person pronoun usage, the usefulness of new data against which previously made generalizations can be checked is clear. While the set of features which command respect is specific to Amhara society, the power and solidarity semantics were found to be operative. That these dimensions should be observed in a context quite different from that of western Europe raises some interesting questions. First, are power and solidarity semantic universal? Second, is deference a syntactic universal? Third, does the spread of a language imply the spread of the deference usage associated with that language? It would be of interest.

for example, to compare the Amharic deference usage of sociolinguistically differing groups. The investigation of second-person pronoun variation among speakers of Amharic, then, helps us learn not only about linguistic and social variation among the Amhara but also about the more general processes underlying the interpenetration and interaction between linguistic and non-linguistic social behavior.

The process of pidginization is widely attested throughout the world in various situations of language contact. Although there are divergent views on the exact nature of the process and the conditions for its appearance and maintenance, it is generally agreed that pidginization involves such features as reduction of vocabulary and elimination of inflectional affixation of a source language, restriction in use to particular communication situations, and contribution from two or more languages in phonology and grammar. Among the best known examples are a number of pidgins and creoles with vocabulary drawn from a European language (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish) as base language. Surprisingly, however, there seems to be no well-attested example of an Italian-based pidgin in current use even though the earliest known and most famous instance of pidginization, the original lingua franca of the Mediterranean area, was based on an Itaiianate variety of Romance (Schuchardt 1909). Accordingly, the LSE attempted to determine whether a pidginized variety of Italian is in use in Ethiopia, since the historical conditions seem likely to have led to such a phenomenon and there arc casual reports of people speaking ‘broken Italian.’

Investigation showed that pidginized varieties of Italian do exist, differing greatly from the mother-tongue Italian and approximations to it also spoken in Ethiopia. These pidginized varieties, called Simplified Italian of Ethiopia (Habte-Mariam Marcos, in press) arc apparently used only in certain limited functions (e.g. between Europeans and Ethiopians in certain occupational settings) and have probably been dying out ever since the Italian presence as a colonial power or occupying force was ended (although some of Habte-Mariam’s informants had apparently acquired their SIE after the Italian occupation). Of special interest was the discovery that SIE is sometimes used as a lingua franca betw een Ethiopians of different mother tongues. A specific example was the report of a Tigrinya-speaking functionary that he regularly used SIE in talking with Kunama speakers with whom he shared no other language. The demonstration of the existence of SIE and Habte-Mariam's description of some of its salient characteristics constituted a contribution to sociolinguistic data, but perhaps of greater importance was the evidence it offered on the nature of the pidginization process.

Among factors given different degrees of emphasis in various sociolinguistic explanations of the pidginization process are the following: a natural (possibly innate. universal) process of simplification, use of ’baby talk* by speakers of the base language, ’interference* from the phonological and grammatical structures of the other language(s), mutual adaptation to a lowest common denominator between languages, ’relexification,* i.e. replacing of one base vocabulary by another one. Fer-

guson (1971 and forthcoming) has recently reemphasized the possible role of a conventionalized ‘foreigner talk' register used by spcalus of the base language, differing in many respects from a ‘baby talk* register.

Evidence is fairly substantial for the existence of an Italian foreigner talk re* garded as appropriate (a) for talking to Africans and other ‘native* people, and (b) as representing the broken Italian of such people. It ranges from the language used in a sixteenth-century play about a Gypsy woman to the language attributed to Africans in modern Italian cartoons and comic strips. A striking feature of this foreigner talk is the use of only two verb forms, the infinitive and past participle, of which the latter refers to past time and the former to all other times. This feature also appears in SIE, and seems to be a very strong piece of evidence, since Ethiopian languages do not have алу parallel to such a use, and normal Italian does not work at all in this way. The reasonable explanation would seem to be that Italians speaking with Ethiopians sometimes used this well-established feature of foreigner talk, which was also found in the original lingua franca. Indeed Schuchardt's argument here deserves verbatim quotation:

No one disagrees that an Arab who knows the verb ntangiar in the meaning ‘to eat* must have learned it directly or indirectly from an Italian, but that he also uses mangiar for ‘(I) eat*, ‘(you) eat*, ‘(he) eats*, etc., is usually set to his own account. But even if there is special effort on both sides to make oneself understood by the simplest means, and especially to give up the inflectional complexity of the base language, how could it happen that the Arab who is as yet ignorant of Italian chooses mangiar as representative for mangio, mangi. mangia. etc.? Only by very great familiarity with Romance could he be able to recognize the statistical predominance and functional generality of the Romance infinitive, and even then, since in his own language there is nothing corresponding to this infinitive, he would probably take the third person singular and say, for example, not mi voter mangiar but mi vuole mi mangia. It is the European who puts the stamp of general usage on the infinitive ... (Schuchardt 1909:443-4, tr.CAF.)

The line of argument seems just as valid today for a speaker of Tigrinya or Amharic, and the Ethiopia data provided valuable confirmatory evidence for the importance of the factor of foreigner talk in the formation of pidginized languages.

1. This article was drafted while Bender and Cooper were at Stanford and Ferguson was at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. The authors are grateful to the Center for the use of its resources in the completion of the Survey reports and to the SSRC for a research fellowship to Cooper.

2. The Language Survey of Ethiopia was part of the бѵе-nation Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa, supported by the Ford Foundation. The findings of the survey are reported in Language in Ethiopia (Bender et at., in press).

4. A few exceptional studies had been concerned with this question: see, for example.

Chr&ien Sc Kroeber 1937; Gudschinsky 1955; liymes 1960. 19 -22, 26-7, and references there.

8. In connection with the Uganda study, Ladefoged also observed that closeness of languages as measured by comparing phonological feature decompositions of the segments of corresponding basic vocabulary items gave no sharper results than simply deciding on possible cognates as units. (Personal communication, Peter Ladefoged.)

9. But cf. the problems posed by Wolff (1959); Wurm & Laycock in New Guinea (1961); Voegelin et at. (1963:24); and cf. Hymes 1968.

10. Other terms for lingua franca include trade language (langue de traite, langue commer-ciale, Handelssprache), vehicular language (langue vehiculaire. Verkehrssprache). and contact language (langue de relations, langue passe partout, Kontaktsprache). See Heine (1970:15). In our usage, a lingua franca is any language which is used for purposes of be-twcen-group communication, between speakers for whom it is a second language and who do not share a common first language. Sec Greenberg (1965).

11. We are indebted to Joshua A. Fishman for pointing out that a language can spread by a process of partial displacement.

12. These surveys were a joint undertaking of the Work-Oriented Adult Literacy Project (sponsored by Unesco and the Ethiopian Ministry of Education) and the LSE.

13. The research on which this study is based was supported by an American Association of University Women Graduate Fellowship.

14. Note that not all of the theoretically possible distinctions occur. For example, there is no second-person, plural, polite form in Amharic. In addition to the ten forms described, there is an eleventh independent pronoun, antu. which is said to show a degree of formality midway between ante and its wo. io be used, for instance, for untitled, non-office-holding elders (male or female). Hoben believed that her data were insufficient to show any reliable semantic differences between antu and irswo. and for purposes of this report, the forms are not distinguished. In the province of Weilo, antu replaces irsно for the second-person singular polite form, and irswo is used for the third-person singular polite form (Hailu, Getatchew Sl Cowley, in press).

Bender, M. L. (1971). The languages of Ethiopia: a new lexicostatistic classification and some problems of diffusion.13.165 288.

Bender, M. L. Sl Cooper, R. L. (1971). Mutual intelligibility within Sidamo. Lingua 27. 32-52. [Also ch. 4, Mutual intelligibility and classification: Sidamo languages. In Bender et at.. Language in Ethiopia.)

Bender, M.. Bowen, J. D., Cooper, R. L. & Ferguson, C. A. et ai. In press. Language in Ethiopia. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.

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Some Implications of "The International Research Project on Language Planning Processes (IRPLPP)" for Sociolinguistic Surveys*

by Joshua A. Fishman

The designation “survey" is a relatively new one in research on the sociology of language. As a result, the designation is used with a variety of explicit and implicit meanings. In this paper the term will be used to refer to mass data studies, i.e. to studies generating such large amounts of data that computer processing is either desirable or mandatory. The term as such does not differentiate between studies generating a great deal of data on a few respondents or topics, on the one hand, and studies generating a small amount of data on a large number of subjects, on the other hand. The term is also not necessarily used to imply superficial studies, preliminary studies, or exploratory studies, since, obviously, such studies can also be conducted with little or no data. Thus, the term is used here to imply the presence of scope or quantity, rather than the absence of depth or definitiveness. Such usage would seem to be in accord with that of various other investigators' and is mentioned here merely to avoid misunderstandings. More specifically, the designation “survey” is not considered to involve any immediate restriction with respect to the nature of the problem being studied, the type of data being collected, the method of data collection or analysis employed, the level of data interpretation, or the theoretical versus practical orientation of the research undertaken. Most specifically, the designation survey is not considered as representing a tendency toward macro-studies rather than toward micro-studies. The latter two designations are themselves relative rather than absolute, pertaining to contrasted levels of analysis with respect to specified topics, and, as will be argued below, these levels might welt be combined in many surveys rather than one or another being either viewed as isomorphic with surveys or as excluded by them.

Macro-studies (or more generally macro-discussions) have often proceeded along the lines of inter-polity or inter-language differentials in connection with selected independent variables. One possible example of macro and micro studies may be taken from second language instruction, i.e. given methods X end Y with respect to second language instruction at the elementary level, macro-analysis is likely to ask:

•This paper was prepared specifically for the Center for Applied Linguistics' “Conference on Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys," held September 6-7,1971.

(b) given that no clear “yes" or “no" reply is forthcoming with respect to (a) above, whether one method is superior to the other in particular types of polities or in connection with particular types of first language-second language co-occurrences.

In contrast with macro-studies (of which there have really been far fewer than would appear to be the case from the frequency with which questions of discussions at this level are encountered, e.g. “Is Romanization of the writing system generally more likely to increase literacy rates than the maintenance of indigenous non-Roman writing systems?"), micro-studies more often attempt to pursue small-network inquiries in connection with differentials pertaining to selected independent variables. Thus, given methods X and V with respect to second language instruction at the elementary level, micro-analysis is likely to ask:

(a) whethe** one method is generally superior to the other, each class, school or school district being considered an “instance" or “case" in point, or

(b) given that no clear “yes" or “no" reply is forthcoming with re ect to (a) above, whether one method is superior to the other in particular types of classes, schools, or school districts in the context of particular types of first language-second language co-occurrences.

Few micro-studies have been undertaken within the bounds of the applied sociology of language, perhaps, in part, because the entire discipline is so young, but, perhaps, also in part because the answers forthcoming from such studies often cannot provide sufficient guidance for large scale policy decisions which are typically made in connection with macro-contexts (countries, languages, etc.). Superficially viewed, there would seem to be a contradiction between the fact that initial policy decisions with respect to curricula, methodologies, and materials of instruction are generally made and implemented on the macro-level and that the careful evaluation of outcomes requires analysis, feedback, and subsequent policy revision (or adjustment) at the most micro-level consonant with available resources. However, this seeming contradiction may, in part, be overcome by combining both macro- and microanalysis within one and the same study design. The following discussion of such a design deals with the field of language planning but might be of interest to those concerned with planning research and evaluation in various other educationally relevant fields of applied sociology of language.

The term language planning refers to the organized pursuit of solutions to language problems, typically at the national level (Jernudd and Das Gupta 1971; Fishman 1973). Several investigators have enumerated rather similar types or kinds of Ian-

guage planning. Thus Neustupny (1970) has suggested (see Table I in the Appendix) that when the problem to he faced is that of code selection. planning is concerned with official policy formation by authorities in control of power. When the problem is that of stabilising the selected code (in view of its variability over space, time, and experiential networks), planning is concerned with codification via dictionaries, grammars, spellers, punctuation and pronunciation guides, etc. When the problem is that of rapidly expanding the number of available options (as a result of the ad* dition of new functions for the selected code), planning is concerned with elaboration via nomenclatures, thesauruses, etc. When the problem is that of differentiation of one variety from another within any particular code, planning is concerned with cul-ti vat ion via the preparation of style manuals, the subsidization of literary creativity in a variety of genres for various purposes and audiences. Neustupny clearly sees the above four problem-planning correspondences as normally standing at least in a rough sequential relationship to each other such that the least developed or least advanced spcech-und-writing communities may need to be disproportionately concerned with policy formation planning, whereas the most developed or most advanced communities are able to devote proportionately more attention to cultivationplanning.

For the sociology of language, the processes and consequences of language planning (vis-a-vis change in language usage) should ultimately be as central as are the processes and consequences of social planning more common (vis-a-vis change in social usage) to general sociology. In both realms we are concerned with the circumstances which account for the differential outcomes of organized deployment of time, resources, and effort toward goals desired by the authorities in power. In both realms—the narrower as well as the wider—we are eager to compare planned change with unplanned, rapid, fad-and-fashion behavior.

Although journal references to language planning are not inconsiderable (see, for example, the hundreds of references in Fishman, Ferguson, and Das Gupta 1968, and in Rubin and Jemudd 1971), the number of full fledged studies of monographic length or longer are few indeed. Of the smalt number in the latter category, a large proportion deal primarily with language policy decisions and their implementation (e.g. Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturism I96S, 1967, 1968; Commission on the Restoration of the Irish Language 1965.1966,1968) or with the historical and/or linguistic facts of the cases described (Gastil 1959, Lc Page 1964, Minn Latt 1966, Whitclcy 1969). Very few studies indeed give any attention to the actual processes of language planning per se. that is. on who does it, how it is done, who implements it, how that is done, who accepts it, and to what degree.

The few major studies available to us that deal (at least to some extent) with language planning per se (Alisjahbana I960, De Francis 1950, Haugen 1966, Heyd 1954, Kurman 1968) are all qualitatively sound and well written. Unfortunately, these studies were conducted at widely different times, by scholars trained in very different data collection biases and with far different theoretical interests. As a result, it is very difficult to extract from them any general principles accounting for

the differential successes which each of these studies cites. Finally, each of these studies—although dealing with a particular country and language at a particular time-is actually a macro-study in that it purports to account for a single countrywide outcome in each instance.

For all of the above reasons, a group of social scientists interested in language behavior have recently launched a cross national study of language planning processes. Because of their own limitations (in funds, in time, and in understanding), they have restricted themselves to three countries (Indonesia: Indonesian; India: Kindi; Israel: Hebrew) and to language planning at the lexical level.* Admittedly, both of these restrictions pertain to variables which must themselves be studied and evaluated in future research. In the study in question, two of the countries involved (Indonesia and Israel) currently style themselves as being mono-modal and one as being multimodal in terms of national modernization and integration goals in the cultural sphere (Fishman 1969).

Although each of the count ries selected has an officially recognized language planning agency, these agencies differ in the extent to which they are govemmentally controlled or supported,inthe extent to which they are open to influence by various clientele groups, in the extent to which they attempt to involve ultimate or intermediate consumers in the planning process, and in the extent to which they are exposed to competition from unofficial language planning organizations (of political parties, religious groupings, occupational groups, etc.) as well as to competition from unplanned language innovation in the same country.

Additional language treatment variables to be examined deal with the resources, qualifications, and methods of the planners; their familiarity with language planning efforts in other countries; the internal organization of the language planning agencies; and their links (formal and informal) to the mass-media, on the one hand, and to the educational world (hierarchy and rank-and-file), on the other hand.

The countries selected vary in the degree to which governmental controls and sanctions are exercised on behalf of language planning products. These controls and sanctions not only vary in intensity but in the extent to which they blanket the entire sphere of the mass media and the educational institutions. A considerable amount of publication activity in the languages of interest to us also occurs outside of several of the countries or jurisdictions under consideration. As a result, both treatment and implementation variation may exist in this connection as well, since some may attempt joint planning while others may attempt restrictive implementation with respect to publications or broadcasts from outside.

Three different user-populations have been selected for attention via sampling methods in connection with three different semantic fields. The populations are students at the secondary, university, and teacher training levels; teachers at the secondary, university, and teacher training levels; and parents of students at the above mentioned levels. The semantic fields selected for study are chemistry (a natural science field in which one rarely acquires any substantial vocabulary without specialized study), local language and literature (a humanistic field in which all educated persons receive at least a modicum of specialized training), and local and national government (a social science field in which all literate citizens acquire some specialized vocabulary as a result of mass-media exposure and personal experience). The study will seek to determine to what extent differentials exist between the above mentioned populations in the above three semantic fields, particularly insofaras terminologies approved by the official language planning agencies are concerned.

In addition, the above populations (as well as a general adult population and the textbook writer population) will also be studied with respect to their personal language histories and current usage practices, their language attitudes, their language planning attitudes and information, their modernization and nationalism attitudes, and a variety of personal background variables (education, reading habits, medialistening or media-watching habits, visits abroad, etc.).

In general terms, the study is concerned with three classes of variables (although it focuses only on some):

(b) Implementation variables, particularly in reference to the semantic fields under study.

(b) Inter-polity variables: difference between the countries involved, the languages involved, and the resources and models available for planning and implementation.

The above variables (which can and will, of course, be regrouped in various ways) tend themselves to study via higher order analyses of variance in which previously specified between-group and bciwecn-scmaniic-fidd differences are systematically examined (see Table 2 in the Appendix). In addition, factor analyses may be attempted of the hundreds of items included within the independent and the intervening measures. Finally, multiple regression analyses, using factor scores based upon all of the independent and intervening variables as predictors and the dependent variables as criteria, will almost certainly be attempted (see Table 3 in the Appendix).

In any survey the numbers of respondents of particular kinds are limited due to various practical considerations (funds, time, qualified staff, degree of cooperation from authorities, national and international problems, etc.), not the least of which is the fact that several of the populations in which investigators may be interested may themselves be of very limited size in the countries being studied. Optionally, in the IRPLPP. we would like to obtain large samples, not only because of reliability considerations but because we believe that the criterion behaviors in which we are interested are complexly determined. Unless many respondents can be examined, there will be insufficient data to determine the independent significance of the several variables that are of interest to us. A traditional (although not very meaningful) rule of thumb that we have employed in setting sample-size targets is to seek at least thirty respondents for each category dong each dimension of concern. Thus, if we hypothesize that high school students' knowledge of the Language Academy's work is related to (a) their social class, (b) their sex, and (c) their mother tongue (ethnic group) and. if we recognize three social classes (lower, middle, and upper), two sexes, and two mother tongue groups ("same as the language being planned" and "other"), we have а total of 3 x 2 x 2 - 12 categories and a sample size of 360.

Comprofni .es are often required between the samples necessary to satisfy the investigator's intellectual curiosity and the practia) limitations with' which every study must reckon. In our case the following sample goals were set in advance:

The above goals were “oversubscribed" in some cases (particularly in Indonesia) and “undersubscribed" in others (particularly in India), due to practical problems encountered. Our ultimate analyses will, therefore, need to be somewhat fewer in number and somewhat less frequently cross-national than originally contemplated.

Another powerful focusing factor in our study design is the selection of a small set of dependent variables or criterion scores that we are attempting to explain or predict. Without such a set of variables, survey s stilt run the risk of “rushing o(T in all dircc* lions." even when a small set cf explanatory dimensions of whatever kind has been selected. In the IRPLPP study, the criteria most frequently employed will be word naming scores (i.e. can our subjects, themselves representatives of various populations. “produce" the words that the language planning agencies have coined or approved in the three semantic fields under study?), word evaluation scores (what do our subjects think of a sample of academy-produced words in each semantic field?) and, finally, attitudes toward the language planning academy per sc.

If the basic set of social parameters hypothesized to have potential explanatory value is severely restricted (because of immediate implications for sample size) and if the basic set of dependent variables to be explained is also severely restricted (because ol the dangers of lack of directionality or merely fortuitous directionality), then in what ..ense is a survey relatively free to examine a large amount of data in the search for multiple and complexly interrelated, independent, and intervening variables? The limiting factors in this respect interact with those already mentioned but arise anew from the investigator's disciplined curiosity, on the one hand, and from his subjects* (respondents*) cooperativeness and understanding, on the other. The resultant of these two more or less opposing forces is frequently a larger number of questions, queries, or probes than subjects would like, but a smaller number than investigators (or their critics and/or sponsors) had hoped for.

The mass of data resulting from most surveys definitely requires condensing or compositing of some kind if it is to be rendered manageable both physically and intellectually. The basic problem is normally that the investigator has no precise way of knowing in advance whether his hunches, hypotheses, interests, and curiosities pertain to dearly separate. to somewhat related, or to substantially redundant (overlapping, similar) considerations. Were he initially convinced that his various explanatory hunches were basically redundant, he would clearly forgo testing each of them at length and would be quite satisfied with a small number of probes with respect to one or two promising and quite different hunches. However, surveys are rarely this lucky. Investigators are rarely aware of the underlying similarity or dissimilarity between the hypotheses, hunches, or considerations that occur to them. That being the case, they understandably treat them all as conceptually independent of one another, and, therefore, as requiring separate investigation in some depth. The upshot of all this is that surveys gather a great deal of data and, as a result, are

increasingly coming to be aware of their dependence upon computer processing if this data is to be property processed, analyzed, combined, and evaluated.

The basic compositing method available to survey research today is that of factor analysis. This method in its R factor approach extracts from a mountain of response data the smallest number of available, maximally different response dimensions. Hundreds or thousands of different responses may “boil down to" six or eight factors that underlie all of them Oust as three factors -length, breadth, and width - underlie all of the infinite number of measurements that are possible in connection with the dimensionality of objects). Each respondent can then be assigned six or eight factor scores, and these scores alone can then be used to predict the criteria or dependent variables initially designated as the target problems of the entire enterprise. When these factor scores are then employed in an analysis-of-variancc-via-regression-analysis design (see Table 3 in the Appendix), it becomes possible to tell which are more important (and which less) and which are independently so (and which not) in the prediction or explanation of the selected criteria. Thus, in our study we hope to be able to use R factors to determine whether or not similar factors are similarly important in exf ’oiling the obtained variation in word naming scores in the three countries studied.

In its Q approach, factor analysis can assist sociolinguistic surveys in parsimoniously describing the population characteristics that are related to variation in R factor scores. Just as R factors arc dimensions of responses, so Q factors are dimensions of respondents. Just as R factors are the minimal number of maximally different response clusters within a mountain of data, so Q factors are the minimal number of maximally different respondent clusters within that same mountain of data. Once obtained, Q factors can be cross-tabulated with R factors, on the one hand (in order to see, for example, which Q groups are high and which are low on which R factors), and with basic demographic dimensions (age, sex, education, social class mother-tongue/eihnicity, etc ), on the other hand. As a result of such analyses we hope in our survey to determine whether or not the same "kinds of people" have responded in similar ways in the three countries we are studying, with respect to any one or another criterion under consideration.

The beauty of data compositing is exactly as indicated above: real complexity in response differentials or in population differentials is revealed and identified, whereas mistaken complexity (differences expected but not encountered) is set aside so that it need be given no further consideration. As a result of such methods (relatively well known in psychological, educational, and sociological research), sociolinguistic surveys can both indulge themselves in asking many questions (thus gathering a great deal of data) and yet come up with that manageably small number of integrated answers which is one of the hallmarks of well conceived scientific research.

A study of the type my colleagues and I are engaged in cannot hope to answer all possible questions concerning "the differential success of various language planning processes and implementation procedures with respect to various target popula-lions,” if only because of the restricted number of countries, of user populations, and of planning products included. However, for the middle гаіѵч of developing countries (countries with quasi-planned economics and quasi-democratic institutions and traditions, at least in the cultural sphere), the findings may prove to be of substantial interest, particularly because of the attention given to distinguishing be-twven-country variation from within-country variation. Thus, given differential kr owledge of planned terminologies in the three semantic fields examined, it may be possible to determine whether such differentials are more parsiomoniously attributable to betwccn-country or to within-country factors. If within-country factors are salient, it will be possible to determine whether the differentials encountered < are more parsimoniously attributable to population variables that are subject to influence (e.g., information) or to variables relati-ely difficult or impossible to handle (ethnicity, social class).

If significant interactions are encountered, as expected, then it will become clear, at least for the countries and products studied, that planning is differentially effective for particular populations, perhaps depending on the type of implementation employed within the given cultural-economic context. Finally, the research problems encountered and the solutions attempted to them may be of general interest to applied sociology of language research on a cross-national basis. Hopefully, future applied research in such areas as methods and material of second language instruction or the acceptability of new writing systems and literacy or literary materials will benefit from the combined macro-plus-micro approach set forth here.

1. Webster's Third International Dictionary defines the primary mewing of survey (n.) is follows: "I* (I): a critical examination or inspection, often of an official character for an implied or specified purpose: the action of ascertaining facts regarding conditions or the con^. dition of something to provide esact information especially) to persons responsible or interested ... (2): an examination of a ship or a part o; its cargo or equipment to determine its condition, responsibility for damage, and disposition to be made; (J): a study of a specified area or aggregate of units (as human beings) usu(elly) with respect to a special condition or its prevalence, or with the objective of drawing conclusions about a larger area or aggregate: a systematic collection and analysis of data and esp.(ecially) statistical data on some aspect of an area or group... (b): a report, study or document presenting the results of such an examination.” Only secondarily is survey defined as "2a: the action of looking at something from a high or co»imanding position; a general or comprehensive view; (b): a broad undetailed consideration or treatment of something; a history, exposition or description presenting outlines only.. .—see survey course.”

2. In addition to the three countries and languages specified above, a smaller subset of topics will also be studied in Sweden and (political conditions permitting) in Pakistw. The principal investigators jointly involved in the IRPLPP are: Charles A. Ferguson and Joshua A. Fishman, co-directors, and Jyotirindra Das Gupta, BjOrn Jernudd, and Joan Rubin, research associates.

Alisjahbana, Takdir S. Indonesian Language and Literature: Two Essays. New Haven: Yale University, Southeast Asia Studies, 1900.

Canada. Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturism. A Preliminary Report. Ottawa: The Queen's Printer. 1965.

--General Introduction. Btmk l: The Official Languages. Ottawa: The Queen's Printer,

De Francis, John F. Nationalism and Language Reform in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950.

Fishman. Joshua A.. Charles A. Ferguson and Jyotirindra Das Gupta, eds. Language Problems of Developing Nations. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1968.

--"National languages and languages of wider communication in the developing nations." Anthropological Linguistics. 11 {'969К III 135.

--“The uses of sociolinguistics." In Proceedings of Second International Congress of

--"Language modernization and planning in comparison with other types of national

Gastil, Raymond D. Language and Modernisation: A Comparative Analysis of Persian and English Texts. (Mimeo ) Cambridge. Mass.: Center for International Affairs. Harvard University, 1959.

Haugen, Einar. Language Conflict and Language Planning: The Case of Modern Norwegian.

Heyd. Uriel. Language Reform in Modern Turkey. (Oriental Notes and Studies. 5.) Jerusalem: Israel Oriental Society. 1954.

Ireland (Eire). Commission on the Restoration of the Irish Language. The Restoration of the Irish Language. Dublin: Stationary Office. 1965.

--White Paper on the Restoration of the Irish Language. Dublin: Stationary Office.

__Progress Report for the Period ended 31 March 1966. Dublin: Stationary Office, 1966.

--White Paper on the Restoration of the Irish Language. Dublin: Stationary Office.

--Progress Report for the Period ended 31 March 196H. Dublin: Stationary Office, 1968.

Jernudd. Bjorn and Jyotirindra Das Gupta. “Towards a Theory of Language Planning." In Rubin. Joan and Bjdrn Jernudd. eds., 1971, 195 215.

Kurman. George. The Development of Written Estonian. (Indiana University Publication: Ur-laic and Altaic Series, 99.) The Hague: Mouton. 1968.

Le Page. Robert B. The National Language Question: Linguistic Problems of Newly Independent Stales. London: Oxford University Press. 1964.

Minn Latt. Ye Khaun. Modernization of Burmese. Prague: Prague Academy of Sciences Publishing House. 1966.

Neustupny, J. V. “Basic types of treatment of language problems.*’ Linguistic Communications (Monash University). I (1970). 77 100.

Rubin, Joan and Bjarn Jernudd. Can Language Be Planned* Sociolinguistic Theory and Practice for Developing Nations. Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1971.

Whiteley. Wilfred. Swahili: The Rise of a National Language. London: Methuen, 1969.

Examining Variation in "Word Evaluation Scores" with Respect to Particular Between Croup Differences

• all numerical entries m this table are arbitrary and imaginary ••significant increments

Examining Variation in Chemistry Word Evaluation Srores with Respect to Factors Derived for ЛИ of the Collected Data *

Selected Reading List

GENERAL TEXTS

Abdulaziz Mkilifi, M.H. “Triglossia and Swahili-English Bilingualism in Tanzania.” Language in Society. 1:2(1972), pp. 197-213.

Alisjahbana, S. Takdir, cd. The Modernization of the Languages of Asia. Kuala Lampur: University of Malaysia Press, 1971.

Ardener, Edwin, ed. Social Anthropology and Language. London: Tavistock Publications, 1971. xii, 318 pp.

Bright, William, ed. Sociolinguistics: Proceedings of the UCLA Sociolinguistics Conference. l%4. (Janua Linguarum Series Maior, 20.) The Hague: Mouton, 1966.324 pp.

Brumfit, Anne. “The Development of a Language Policy in German East Africa.” Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa. 2:1 (1971), pp. 1-9.

Das Gupta, J. Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970. viii, 293 pp.

Davis, Frederick B. Philippine Language-Teaching Experiments. (Philippine Center for Language Study Monograph Series, 5.) Quezon City: Alcmar-Phocnix, 1967. 180 pp.

Ferguson. Charles A. Language Structure and Language Use: Essays by Charles A. Ferguson. Edited by Anwar Dil. (Language Science and National Development Series, l.)Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971. xiv, 327 pp.

_and John J. Gumperz. “Linguistic Diversity in South Asia: Studies in Regional, Social and Functional Variation." international Journal of American Linguistics. 26:3 (July I960), 118 pp.

Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Advances in the Sociology of Language: Volume 1: Basic Concepts. Theories, and Problems: Alternative Approaches. The Hague: Mouton. 1971.418 pp.

by Anwar Dil. (Language Science and National Development Series. 6.) Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971. xiv, 376 pp.

• Vladimir C. Nahirny, John E. Hofman and Robert G. Hayden. Language Loyalty in the United Slates. (Janua Linguarum Series Maior, 21.) The Hague: Mouton, 1966.478 pp.

-- Robert L. Cooper and Roxana Ma, et al. Bilingualism in the Barrio. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1971.696 pp.

--“The Uses of Sociolinguistics.” In G. E. Perren and J. L. M. Trim, Application of Linguistics: Selected Papers of the Second International Congress of Applied Linguistics. Cambridge. 1969. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971.

Greenberg, Joseph K. Language, Culture and Communication: Essays by Joseph H, Greenberg. Edited by Anwar DO. (Language Science and National Development Series, 2.)Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971. xvi, 368 pp.

Gumperz. John J. Language in Social Groups: Essays by John J. Gumperz. Edited by Anwar Dal. (Language Science and National Development Series, 3.) Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971. xvi, 350 pp.

Halliday, M. A. K., Angus McIntosh and Peter Strevens. The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. London: Longmans, 1964.344 pp.

Harrison, W. W., Clifford H. Prator and G. Richard Tucker. English Language Policy Survey of Jordan. Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics, forthcoming.

Haugen, Einar. The Ecology of Language: Essays by Einar Haugen. Edited by Anwar Dil. (Language Science and National Development Series, 4.) Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972. xiv, 366 pp.

--Language Conflicts and Language Planning: The Case of Modern Norwegian. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966. xvi, 393 pp.

Heath, Shirley Brice. Telling Tongues: Language Policy in Mexico, Colony to Nation. New York: Teachers College Press, 1972. xx, 300 pp.

Heyd, Uriel. Language Reform in Modern Turkey. (Oriental Notes and Studies, 5.) Jerusalem: Israel Oriental Society, 1954.116 pp.

Hymes, Dell, ed. Language in Culture and Society: A Reader in Linguistics and Anthropology. New York: Harper and Row, 1964. xxxv, 764 pp.

Kloss, Heinz. “ ‘Abstand* Languages and ‘Ausbau’ Languages.” Anthropological Linguistics. 9:7 (1967). pp. 29-41.

Labov, William. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington. D. C: Center for Applied Linguistics. 1966. xii, 655 pp.

Ladefogcd, Peter, Ruth Glick and Clive Criper. Language in Uganda. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Lambert, Wallace E. Language. Psychology, and Culture: Essays by Wallace E. Lambert. Edited by Anwar Dil. (Language Science and National Development Series, 5.)Stanford. Stanford University Press, 1972. xiv, 362 pp.

Lencek, Rado L. “Problems of Sociolinguistics in the Soviet Union.” In Richard J. O'Brien, ed„ Report on the Twenty-Second Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Studies. (Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics, 24.) Washington, D. C.: Georgetown University Press, 1971, pp. 269301.

Le Page, Robert. The National Language Question: Linguistic Problems of Newly Independent States. London: Oxford University Press, 1964.81 pp.

Lieberson, Stanley. Language and Ethnic Relations in Canada. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1970. 264 pp.

__‘'Language Questions in Censuses.” Sociolinguistic Inquiry. 36, pp. 262276. Also in International Journal of American Linguistics. 33:4 (1967), pp. 134151. .

Mazrui. Ali A. '‘The National Language Question in East Africa.” East Africa

Pride, J. B. The Social Meaning of Language. (Language and Language Learning, 29.) London: Oxford University Press. 1971. 124 pp.

Ramos, Maximo, Jose' V. Aguilar and Bonifacio P. Sibayan. The Determination and Implementation of Language Policy. (Philippine Center for Language Study Monograph Series, 2.) Quezon City: Alemar-Phoenix, 1967.193 pp.

Ray, Punya Sloka. Language Standardization. Studies in Prescriptive Linguistics. (Janua Linguarum Series Minor, 29.)The Hague: Mouton, 1963.159 pp.

Rice, Frank A., ed. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia. Africa and Latin America. Washington, D. C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1962.125 pp.

Rubin, Joan. National Bilingualism in Paraguay. (Janua Linguarum Scries Practica, 60.) The^-Hague: Mouton, 1968.136 pp.

and Practice for Developing Nations. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. 1971. vii, 343 pp.

Sociological Inquirv: Journal of the National Sociology Honor Society: Explorations in Sociolinguistics. 36:2 (Spring 1966). Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska.

Symposium on Multilingualism: Second Meeting of the Inter-African Committee on Linguistics. Brazzaville, July 16-21. 1962. (CCTA/CSA Publication. 87.) Louvain, Belgium: ImprimcrieCcuterick, 1964.229 pp.

UNESCO. The Use of Vernacular Languages in Education. (Monographs on Fundamental Education,8.) Paris: UNESCO, 1953. 156 pp.

Whitdcy, Wilfred, ed. Language Use and Social Change. London: Oxford University Press. 1971.406 pp.

PERIODICALS

Sociolinguistics Newsletter. Research Committee on Sociolinguistics of the International Sociological Association.

SUGGESTED TITUS FOR RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

Oppenheim, A. N. Questionnaire Design and Attitude Measurement. New York: Basic Books, 1966.

Rosenthal, R. Experimenter Effects in Behavioral Research. New York: Appleton-Ceniury-Croiis, 1966

Sax, C. Empirical Foundations of Educational Research. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Secord, P. F. and C. W. Backman. Social Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. '

Underwood, B. J. Psychological Research. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1957.

About the Authors

Мепѵя C. Alley»*. Dr. Alleyne is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Director of the language laboratory at the University of the West Indies.

Gilbert A»sre. Dr. Ansre is Professor of Linguistics and Director, The Language Centre, University of Ghana.

\1. Lionel Bender. Dr. Bender is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern Illinois and was a team member of the Language Survey of

J. Donald Bowen. Dr. Bowen is Professor of English at the University of California at Los Angeles and is currently a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo. He was also Field Director of the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa.

Robert L, Cooper. Dr. Cooper is currently Associate Professor of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a team member of the Language Sur\-ey of

Charles A. Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson is Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University and was Director of the Language Survey of Ethiopia.

Joshua A. Fishman. Dr. Fishman is University Research Professor, Social Sciences, Ferkauf Graduate School of Education, Yeshiva University.

Asbok R. Ketkar. Dr. Kelkar is Professor of Linguistics at Deccan College, Poona, India.

Sirarpi Ohannessian. Ms. Ohannessian is on the senior staff of the Center for Ap* plied Linguistics and directed thc Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Zambia..

Prabodh B. Pandit. Dr. Pandit is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Delhi. •

Edgar C. Polomd. Dr. Polomd is the Chairman of the Department of Oriental and African Languages and Literatures of uie University of Texas at Austin and was Di* rector of the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Tanzania.

Clifford H. Prator. Dr. Prator is Professor of English at the University of California at Los Angeles and was 4 Director of the Survey of Language Use and Language

WiUlui D. Reybara. Dr. Reyburn is Translations Consultant, Middle East, for the United Bible Societies.

Boaifado P. Sibsyaa. Dr. Sibayan is President of Philippine Normal College and a Consultant to its Language Study Center. He also served as Director of the Survey of Language Use and Attitudes Towards Language in the Philippines.

The use of upper and lower case letters for distinguishing types of bilinguals is an elaboration of the one presented by Einar Haugen in The Norwegian Language in America. A Study in Bilingual Behavior. Vol. II (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1953).

The non-standard speaker has the illusion that he already knows the standard forms because of his high degree of recognition and understanding of these forms.

• He fails to perceive clearly the new target element in the teaching situation and will eve; transfer utterances into a non-standard level if he is asked to repeat a standard utterance.

	• <\* t N* *	ri 1 *. -M
:> .* i ? t		. *1 { . 1 w, ♦ b.’.V
’ni a и	. ’N <* -W	* •• . V , w
a • \ . •	»■' ч • ■ . »	, « . * \ \
.^T A ' \| Г »	“ V ’ \i

1.	74 M	V. 4 M*;C}	16. 1	Sn>j
2.	Я Ms,	10. 4 Mejsj	17. 1	Sm,e}
3.	ISM*}	II. 2Me,	18. 1	E
4.	14 S	12. 2 Me,s;	18. 1	S
5.	V Mc\|i\|		19. 1	Es,n),
6.	tt Mk\|Cj		21. 1	Е*,т_г
?	Ms,ei	S 14. 2Sc,m, 15. 1 Sm,	20. 1	fc*,m}
К.	4 Me,*j	S 14. 2Sc,m, 15. 1 Sm,	22. 1	ESjiti}
The proportional representation of CB types among the 208				adults in Brus
Lagoon is.
M	35 5%		Me,»}		1.9%
Msi	26%				1.9%
	?.2“.		McjS}		1.9%
s	6.7%		Me,		.95%
Mc\|*\|	4.3%		ME,*}		.95%
Ms,ej	3.8%		Seim,		.95%
Ms,C\|	3.3%

	M	Mil	M«₂	S	Me,»,	Mi,e₂	M*,e,	Me, >i	M*2«2	Mc₂$2	Me,
M 60 +	5		2					1
F 60 +	12
M 25-59	1	15	8	5	6	7	4	3	4	3
F 2S-59	41	15	5	5	2	1	1			1	1
M 16 24	2	II		2	1		2
F 16 24	13	13		2							1
Total	74	54	15	14	9	8	7	4	4	4	2

	M	Msi	Msj	S		Ms\|t]	MjjCj
Total	74	54	IS	14	9	8	7
U		10	7		Is	6c	2c
u-s	12	12	5		2	4	2
U-S-R	4m	14m llm-s	2m lm-s		Im	Im 2m-s	5m-s
U-S-R-W		lOm-s		14s	5m-s	Im-s
R
R-2
M	70

Me,*2		M*rt	Me,	ME»*
4	4	4	2	2
Is	le	Ic-s	Ic
2	4	3	l	2
2m		Im	Im

Family	Speakers	Languages	Dialect»
Auitric	3.052.046	7	14
Tibeto-Chinese	1,984,512	116	86
Dravidian	53.073.261	16	23
Indo-European	231,874,403	38	402
Unclassed	101.671	2	19
Total	290,085,893	179	544

Brut Lagoon	14	Paptalaya	7
Caurquira	13	Wawina	7
Patuca Bar	II	Guampu&irpi	7
Kokobila	10	Лиса	5
Ahuas	8	Eban	4

M	77
ADULTS		182
F	105
M	92
1 5 >rs		163
F	71
M	75
6 I4yrs		146
F	71
M	21
15-MARRIAGE		48
F	27
TOTAL		539

			Spanish				English				Mishit»
	V	VS	VSR	VSR W	V	VS	VSR	VSRIV	V	IS	VSR	VSR IP
Spanish Males	0	9	0	133	20	41	9	37	0	1	0	0
Spanish Females	0	19	4	215	40	65	12	41	0	3	1	0
Lnglish Males	3	32	7	82	0	5	2	143	0	5	> *»	5
English Females	53	97	17	114	0	10	5	320	5	3	0	0
Miskito Males	0	1	0	Q	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	3
Miskito Females	1	0	1	2	0	1	0	4	0	2	2	2

9. Language. E:	U	u-s	U-S-R	U-S-R-W	R	R-W
M:	U	u-s	U-S-R	U-S-R-W	R	R-W
S:	u	u-s	U-S-R	U-S-R-W	R	R-W

Other residence, lime in each h	2.
	o
d.	e.
Veaf*. of school altemljnce . .. .
Place
Language of instruction: 1:	S M

9.	Language	U	US	U-S-R	U-S-R-W	R	R-W
	M:	U	u-s	U-S-R	U.-S-R-W	R	R-W
	S:	u	U-S	U-S-R	U-S-R-W	R	R-W
10.	Racial background:		mo.mo			fa-mo .
10.	Racial background:		mo-fa			f.i la .

Language		Householders		Teachers
		N	«*/ /0	N	%
Tagalog		506	23	429	20
Cebuano		413	19	370	17
Ilocano		345	IS	402	18
Bicol		158	7	162	7
Hiligaynon		139	6	156	7
Waray		93	4	95	4
Pampango		90	4	81	4
Masbateiio*		51	2	48	2
Pangasinan		37	2	56	3
Totals		1837	82	1799	82
♦Masbaierto it not one of the eight major languages. (From Otanet and Sibayan. 1969, andS.pp. 21 -22.)					, Tablet 4
			Table 2
	Language used in speaking to certain persons
Rank	Vernacular		PiUpIno	English
1	neighbor		tindera*	priest
2	children		neighbor	stranger
3	tindera		policeman	doctor
4	policeman		stranger	teacher
5	spouse		doctor	childrcn/policcman

Rank	English	PUipioo	Vernacular
1	Current Events	Religion	Religion
2	Science	Biography	Fiction (HH) Technology (T)
3	History	Current Events	Current Events (HH) Poetry (T)

Buk	English	РШрім	Vernaculars
I	Newspapers	Comics	Weekly Mag. (HH): Religious M. (T)
2	Books	Wkly Mag.	Religious M. (HH); Wkly Mag. (T)
Э	Wkly Magazine	Newsp. (HH) Rel. M. (T)	Newsp. (HH): Comics (T)

Fewtles	Tatal
(2	22
75	138
	JJL
ІІ6	208

Rank	/ В	2 C	J N	4 WM	J Cl	6 RM	7 О
1 HH:	DR	PIL	Eng	DR	DR	DR	NR
T:	Eng	DR	Eng	Eng	Eng	Eng	NR
2 HH:	Eng	DR	DR	Eng	NR	NR	DR
T:	LCI	PIL	LCI	LCI	DR	NR	Eng
3 HH:	NR	NR	NR	PLI	Eng	Eng	Eng
T:	DR	NR	DR	LC2	NR	DR	DR
DR - Don't read. NR -		No response. PIL «•	Pilipino. Eng - English. LCI			- Language Combination 1

Media*		Primary		Intermediate		HlghSdMOl
		No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
No response	HH	68	3.02	70	3.11	74	3.30
No response	T	6IS	27.42	617	27.52	616	27.48
Filipino	KH	160	7.12	65	2.89	38	1.69
Filipino	T	109	4.86	44	1.96	39	1.74
English	HH	1203	S3.SI	1530	68.06	1616	72.01
English	T	1162	SI.8I	1361	60.70	1384	61.73
Chinese	HH	6	0.27	7	0.31	8	0.36
	T	3	0.13	4	0.18	4	0.18
Phil. tang.	HH	811	36.08	576	25.62	508	22.64
Phil. tang.	T	354	15.78	216	9.63	199	8.88
Totals	HH	2248	too	2248	too	2244	100
	T	2243	100	2242	100	2242	too

Ewe	662	Frafra	15	Busanga 4
Akan	661	Dagaari-Wali	13	Gao 4
Dangme-Krobo	198	Kasem	13	Akpafu-Lolobi 2
Kotokoli	81	•Kon’	13	’Balaki* 2
Awutu	47	Kusuntu	13	Buem 2
Hausa	47	Builsa	11	‘Dendi* 2
Cbamba	46	Sisala	II	I bo 2
Ga	26	‘Zugu*	11	Isoko 2
Kyerepong (Guan) 24		Wangara	to	Kabre 2
Fulani	22	Nzema	8
Dagbani	21	Avatime	8	And 24 other lan
Efutu	20	Urobo	7	guages with 1 speaker
Zabrama	19	Grushie	6	each, including: Ku-
'PCado*	17	Konkomba	6	sats Talni, Nkonya,
Moshie	16	Sefwi	6	English, French, and
Yoruba	16	Mamprusi	5	Arabic.

Bilk	Newt	Popular Music	Talent	Drama	ReUfiM
1 HH	P	E	P	P	PLI
T	E	E	E	P	E
2 HH	PLI	P+E	PLI	PLI	P
T	P + E	P+E	P + E	PLI	P + E
3 HH	P + E	P	E	P + PLI	E
T	E + PLI	P	P	P + E	PLI

Akan	1,275	Dagbani	67
English	832	French	52
Ga	810	N2ema	28
Ewe	778	Yoruba	13
Hausa	506	Fulani	II
Dungme-Krobo	325 .

English	832 : 1
French	52 : 1
Ga	31 : 1
Hausa	20 : 1
Nzcma	3.5: 1
Dagbani	3.2: 1

Akan	914	Kyerepong 2
English	387	Yoruba 2
Ga	296
Dangme-Krobo	272	And 1 each of Efutu.
Ewe	242	Russian, Yoruba. Ibo,
Hausa	229	Mamprusi, Kotokoli, Isoko,
French	130	Dutch. Spanish, Moshie,
Dagbani	51	Swahili, and Norwegian.

	Yes	No	Total
Question: Can you read? (Л6І)	1,143	1,007	2. ISO
Question: Can you write? (A7i)	1,066	1,084	2,150

Hausa	624	Dangme-Krobo	42
Ga	412	German	33
French	380	Arabic (Syrian)	23
English	373 (including	Kotokoli	14
	S Pidgin)	Spanish	II
Ewe	24S	Latin	10
Akan	243	Swahili	9
Dagbani	75	Ibo	8
Yoruba	55	Larteh (Guan)	7
Nzema	46	Moshie	7

Pagaiailoaa		«fmylf yjyff
	HS	Univ	TC	Total
Students	600	600	600	1800
Teachers	90	90	90	270
General Adult Public				240
Parents				240

R Factor	r	Cam R	CarnR*	F_aR*
1	81	.81	.66
11	58	84	.71	••
III	42	.87	.76	*0
IV	50	.90	.81	••
V	38	.92	.85
VI	50	.94	88
VII	.45	95	.90
VIII	46	.95	.90

VLDObVH-z

Edited by Sirarpi Ohannessian, Charles A. Ferguson * ’ and Edgar С. Роіотё

Foreword

Table of Contents

On Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys*

by Charles A, Ferguson

The Scope of a Linguistic Survey*

by Ashok R. Kelkar

1. PREANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE ISOLATES

3. CENSUS DETERMINATION OF THE STRENGTH OF THE

CORRELATION

4. PRESENTATION

5. ARCHIVES

Organizing International Research in Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys

by J. Donald Bowen

ERIC

ERiCi 1

Problems and Techniques of a Sociolinguistically-Oriented Survey: The Case of the Tanzania Survey

by Edgar C. Polome

Some Reflections on the Uses of Sociolinguistic Surveys1

by Sirarpi Ohannessian and Gilbert Ansre

ERIC

ERIC

NOTES

The Linguistic Survey of India-Perspectives on Language Use

by Prabodh B. Pandit

Assessing Multilingualism: An Abridgement of "Problems and Procedures in Ethno-linguistic Surveys"

by Willem D. Reyburn

ERIC

ЕЩС 0й •

TaMeS

ERIC18

Survey of Language Use and Attitudes Towards Language in the Philippines

by Bonifacio P. Sibayan1

ERIC

ERIC

ERJC

The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa in Retrospect

by Clifford H. Prator

Madina: Three Polyglots and Some Implications for Ghana

by Gilbert Ansre

ERIC

3. _ _

ERJC 1 '•*

Sociolin^ .stic Research in Latin America

by Mervyn C. Alleyne t. INTRODUCTION

ERJC

Language in Ethiopia: Implications of a Survey for Sociolinguistic Theory and Method*

by M. L. Bender, R. L. Cooper and C. A. Ferguson1

by Joshua A. Fishman

Selected Reading List

GENERAL TEXTS

PERIODICALS

SUGGESTED TITUS FOR RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

About the Authors

Some Reflections on the Uses of Sociolinguistic Surveys¹

by Bonifacio P. Sibayan¹

ERJC ¹ '•*

by M. L. Bender, R. L. Cooper and C. A. Ferguson¹