Michael Clyne

Cultural differences in the organization of academic texts: English and German

Abstract This paper discusses some cultural differences in the organization of linguistic and sociological texts written by English and German speakers. Linearity, symmetry, hierarchy and continuity are examined in 52 texts as are the position of definitions and advance organizers and the integration of data. It is suggested that the differences between the English and German texts may be promoted by the education systems and by varying intellectual styles and attitudes to knowledge and content.

Dynamics of Language Contact: English and Immigrant Languages

The past decade has seen an unprecedented growth in the study of language contact, associated partly with the linguistic effects of globalization and increased migration all over the world. Written by a leading expert in the field, this new and much-needed account brings together disparate findings to examine the dynamics of contact between languages in an immigrant context. Using data from a wide range of languages, including German, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Croatian and Vietnamese, Michael Clyne discusses the dynamics of their contact with English. Clyne analyzes how and why these languages change in an immigration country likeAustralia, and asks why some languages survive longer thanothers. Thebook contains useful comparisons between immigrant vintages, generations, and between bilinguals and trilinguals. An outstanding contribution to the study of language contact, this book will be welcomed by students and researchers in linguistics, bilingualism, the sociology of language and education.

A 16‐year longitudinal study of language attrition in Dutch immigrants in Australia

In this article a description is given of a longitudinal study of language attrition in Dutch migrants in Australia. In the 1970s, Clyne conducted linguistic research on German‐English and Dutch‐English bilinguals in Australia. In 1987 those informants who were still fluent in Dutch were retested, using the same type of tests and elicitation procedures. All the speech material of the informants from 1971 and 1987 has been transcribed and analysed. It appears that for this selected set of informants there is no evidence of attrition over the 16‐year period. In addition, they show hardly any of the linguistic characteristics of the larger group of informants in the 1971 sample. It is concluded that first‐language attrition does not necessarily take place in an immigrant setting and that those immigrants who manage to maintain their language in the first years of their stay in the new environment are likely to remain fluent speakers of their first language.

Some of the Things Trilinguals Do

This paper reports on a project on trilingualism currently in progress. A brief literature review indicates the diversity of trilingualism and trilingual situations. The paper then focuses on three sets of trilinguals in Melbourne-Dutch-German-English, Hungarian-German-English, and Italian-Spanish-English, and considers interlingual strategies employed by them. The three main types are: conversion rules indicative of a multilateral competence covering closely related languages, interlingual identification based on correspondences between two of the languages, and code-switching in which English transfers or bilingual compromise forms trigger switches between two other languages. Depending on the typology of the languages, trilinguals will differ in their strategies. Implications for processing models are given some preliminary consideration.

Trends and Changes in Home Language Use and Shift in Australia, 1986-1996.

The language demography of Australia has undergone substantial changes over the pastdecade,due mainly to new immigration and differentialpatterns of language shift. The last three Australian censuses, taken in 1986, 1991 and 1996, have all elicited the same information on language use. In this paper we will analyse the responses to the 1996 Census and compare them with those in the two previous censuses. We will discuss the divergent trends in different states and especially between the two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. Cross-tabulation with age will indicate future trends. We will discuss the extent to which language shift has effected the changes in language demography. Comparisons of language shift rates between the three censuses and cross-tabulations with generation, age, gender, family marriage patterns, state and period of residence will help identify factors promoting and impeding language maintenance.

Pluricentric Languages in an Immigrant Context: Spanish, Arabic and Chinese

This monograph attempts to explore the notion of pluricentric languages in relation to language maintenance and shift in an immigrant situation (Australia). The three languages selected (Spanish, Arabic, Chinese) are all pluri-centric in different ways and are all languages of international significance. Analysis of the differences in language maintenance processes and patterns between the three languages, and between the different subgroups within the relevant communities, help pinpoint some of the basic factors in language maintenance as well as some of the more ambivalent or variable factors. It has also been possible to consider to what extent the language gives rise to communities based on language rather than national origins. Among the findings of the study is the significance of the major immigration vintage of the group on language maintenance attitudes and practices. This partly reflects changing policies and attitudes in mainstream Australian society. The book will be an important source for sociolinguists, political scientists and those who are working in the fields of applied linguistics and ethnic relations.

Language Reversion Revisited.

In the 1970s, Clyne conducted linguistic research on German-English and Dutch-English bilinguals in Australia. In the course of the study, he found evidence for second language attrition and first language reversion among his elderly informants (Clyne, 1981). In 1987, some 40 of the 200 Dutch informants tested in 1971 were retested in order to get longitudinal data on language maintenance and loss. The data show surprisingly little loss of proficiency in both Dutch and English over the years. This calls for a revision of the language reversion hypothesis as stated by Clyne in 1981. In the present article the hypothesis is modified to the extent that there seems to be some kind of “critical threshold” (Neisser, 1984) that has to be reached in order to retain the second language. First language reversion seems to be a common phenomenon among those immigrants who did not reach this threshold, but not among immigrants who did.

Australia's community languages

Abstract This article focuses on Australias changing language demography. After providing a short summary of immigration history and language policy in Australia, it considers the national distribution of languages at the time of the 2001 National Census, as well as the differential shift to English in various ethnolinguistic communities. The discussion is based on the analysis of census statistics and provides a context for the languages of the articles in this volume.

Developing Grammars: The Acquisition of German Syntax by Foreign Workers

I Variation in Language and Its Description.- 1 Fluctuating Linguistic Structures.- 2 Dimensions of Language Variability.- 2.1 Problems of Description vs Problems of Evaluation.- 2.2 Setting Up a Variety Space.- 2.2.1 The Dimension of Time.- 2.2.2 The Dimension of Place.- 2.2.3 The Dimension of the Speech Situation.- 2.2.4 The Dimension of Social Stratification.- 2.3 Developing an Overall Grammar.- 2.4 Restricting the Overall Grammar to Single Varieties.- 2.5 Summary.- 3 Probabilistic Grammars.- 3.1 Probabilistic Weightings.- 3.2 Context-Free Grammars.- 3.2.1 Preparatory Remarks.- 3.2.2 Probabilistic Context-Free Grammars, Suppes Type.- 3.2.3 Probabilistic Context-Free Grammars, Salomaa Type.- 3.2.4 Probabilistic Context-Free Grammars with Derivation Weighting (dw Grammars).- 3.3 Context-Sensitive Grammars.- 3.4 Transformational Grammars.- 4 The Empirical Study of Language Variation.- 4.1 Selection of Variety Space.- 4.2 Selection of Utterance Type.- 4.3 Data Collection.- 4.4 Corpus Analysis.- 4.5 Elaboration of an Overall Grammar.- 4.6 Rule Weighting.- II Developing Grammars in the Acquisition of German in Social Context.- 5 Foreign Language Acquisition in Social Context and Its Role for Foreign Language Teaching.- 5.1 LAS in FLAT Research: The State of the Art.- 5.2 The Process of LA and Its Description: Some Remarks on the State of the Art.- 5.2.1 The Exclusion of LAS.- 5.2.2 Efficiency and Inefficiency of Teaching Methods.- 5.2.3 Measuring Language Abilities.- 5.3 The Process of LA and Its Description II: The Heidelberg Approach.- 5.4 Intervening in the Process of LA.- 5.5 Description of Target Variety.- 6 Outline of the Project.- 6.1 Extralinguistic Factors on LAS by Foreign Workers.- 6.1.1 Bias Factors.- 6.1.2 Environmental Factors.- 6.2 Data Collection.- 6.2.1 The Role of Participant Observation and Interview.- 6.2.2 The Sample.- 6.3 The Interview.- 6.4 Transcription.- 6.5 The Dialect Speakers.- 6.6 Some Text Samples.- 7 The Acquisition of German Syntax.- 7.1 The Development of Syntactic Constituents.- 7.1.1 Materials and Methods.- The Overall Grammar.- The Corpus Analysis.- Ordering the Speakers.- 7.1.2 Results.- Preliminary Remarks.- Proposition.- Verbal Group.- Nominal Complex.- Adverbial Complex.- Subordinate Clauses.- 7.1.3 Text Samples for Groups I-IV.- 7.1.4 Summary.- 7.2 The Order of Syntactic Constituents in the Sentences.- 7.2.2 The Importance of Word Order in the Learning of German Syntax.- 7.2.2 Fields Studied and Processes of Description.- 7.2.3 Linguistic Conditions of the Interpretation of Quantitative Results.- 7.2.4 Results.- Position of the Finite Verb in the Main Clause.- The Place of the Grammatical Part of the Predicate (Impersonal Forms of the Verb) and/or the Separable Particle in the Main Clause.- The Position of the Verb in Subordinate Clauses.- 7.3 Complete Results for 48 Learners and a Group of Heidelberg Dialect Speakers.- 8 Determining Factors in the Foreign Language Acquisition of Foreign Workers.- 8.1 Selection of Factors.- 8.2 Implementation.- 8.3 Results.- 8.3.1 Contact with Germans in Leisure Time.- 8.3.2 Age.- 8.3.3 Contact with Germans at Working Place.- 8.3.4 Formal Professional Qualification.- 8.3.5 Attendance at School.- 8.3.6 Duration of Stay.- 8.3.7 Sex.- 8.3.8 Origin.- 8.3.9 Abode.- 8.4 Summary.- 8.5 Tables.- References.

Are we making a difference

Language is crucial in our lives and to all disciplines. It affects our well-being individually and collectively and touches important sociopolitical issues. Linguists/applied linguists have exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary research and to work in contexts personally meaningful to them. While language is the concern of all people, professionals have special responsibilities to provide leadership in understanding how it works and responsible insights into the uses and abuses of language in society. Australian language specialists can offer the rest of the world experience with language policy, typological and language contact studies, and bilingual language acquisition. Some Australians have advanced linguistic knowledge through studies of indigenous languages. Many have worked with indigenous, ethnic and other communities and professional groups, providing evidence in court or advice to teachers and families. Some broadcast regularly or occasionally. But have we succeeded in contesting the monolingual mindset of the mainstream? The Australian authors represented in language sections of most general bookshops are not linguists. Far more collaboration and coordination of initiatives through the professional societies is needed to put languages back on the national agenda and make Australia more language-aware. This should lead to recognizing, valuing, fostering and transmitting, supporting and sharing our linguistic diversity. Australia’s rich language potential has only been partly realized.