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This paper addresses some of the challenges to mainstream research in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) thrown up by "critical perspectives", which encompass contributions from postmodern theory as well as recent developments in the range of specialties known as "critical studies". Since these challenges influence substantial tracts of scholarly discourse about linguistic diversity as well as about social and political responses to this diversity, it is useful to take stock of the corresponding claims and assess their import for language policy and planning (LPP) as a field of inquiry. Based on this examination, I argue that unless one is willing to buy uncritically into the problematic epistemological tenets of critical perspectives, their usefulness remains limited and is confined to heuristic side effects. The latter concern, in the main, a deeper treatment of the tension between language politics and language policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, language policy (LP) at the University of Salzburg (Austria), a mid-size seemingly monolingual university, serves as an example to analyse (potential) language conflicts at the institutional level considering the roles played by German, English and 'immigrant' languages at the university. Language management, beliefs, and (reported) language use by different stakeholders in higher education (administrators, academic and administrative staff and students) are contrasted, also taking into consideration different linguistic backgrounds (German as L1, German as L2 and German as a foreign language). This offers an overall perspective on institutional LP that is still group sensitive, one that reveals two different hidden language conflicts: the non-addressed conflict between the two most important and visible languages at the university by far, German and English, as well as the neglected and negated conflict between German and the hidden "immigrant" languages. A consistent 'internationalisation at home' strategy would address these hidden conflicts and show backwash effects on ideas of language use in education as well as in society in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luxembourgish is a Germanic language in Western Europe situated on the Germanic-Romance language border. The centuries-long multilingualism, that has included German and French as main contact languages, has led to much variation on all linguistic levels, yielding lexical doublets – contact-induced synonym pairs. The study presents the results from the online Lëtzebuerger Futtballsprooch 'Luxembourgish football language' survey (n = 1189 participants), set up to analyze the distribution of the variants of lexical doublets in the special language of football in order to exemplify the mechanisms of contact-induced lexical variation in Luxembourgish as a whole. The variation is correlated with sociodemographic and language biographical factors (quantitative analysis, beta regression). The study also introduces linguistic orientation as an overarching factor for the individual language biography that is useful to model the positioning of individuals in relation to the contact languages involved in a complex multilingual society. The results reveal a societal trend towards Germanic variants linked to the linguistic orientation of the participants towards German, mirroring sociolinguistic dynamics and changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to several ways in which the language of instruction in Czech universities is managed. One of the key issues in this context is the fact that programs accredited in the Czech language are tuition-free, while those in foreign languages are paid. On the one hand, it is deemed desirable by certain actors to integrate greater numbers of students from abroad, conform to the discourse of internationalization, and even earn money through courses in English. On the other hand, it is also viewed as necessary by other actors to cultivate the Czech language and provide a solid education for local students. These multiple and often opposing interests, as well as a number of language ideologies, guide individual management acts. Utilizing the language management framework (Jernudd/Neustupný 1987; Fairbrother/Nekvapil/Sloboda 2018), I explore three selected examples of the management of the language of instruction. In the first, I show how many Czech university programs are accredited in the Czech language, but offer many classes in English. In the second, I examine one case of financial motivation for foreign-language courses through university teaching development projects. In the third, I point to the differences between the language of accreditation of some Ph.D. programs and the languages actually used in their realization. Finally, I consider the fact that all of these cases of management involve some sort of compromise between the interests of certain groups, which means that the only way forward is an increased awareness of all aspects of the management processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various collections of language biographies starting in the 1990s have given rise to a new field of investigation in sociolinguistics. The interest in the very individual, autobiographical viewpoint on languages in speakers' own repertoires offers new insights for macrosociolinguistic research. These detailed corpora also provide data for microanalytical investigations into the specificity of autobiographical narrations, i.e. how speakers construe their language repertoires in the narrative interview setting. This contribution seeks to depict how the interest in LB emerged and subsequently describes the most important developments in LB research, which to date is still limited to the European arena. Since the field is still growing and is in need of formalization, this overview must remain incomplete. Finally, the contribution warns of pitfalls and highlights some fields where LB has provided important input, from language didactics to neurolinguistic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains a descriptive analysis of the development of translocated Danish in historical Norway and the Faroes within a framework of postcolonial linguistic development, namely the 'Dynamic Model of Postcolonial Englishes' (Schneider 2009), originally proposed to cover the evolution of postcolonial varieties of English. The paper compares the socio-political development of the two territories and their relationship with Denmark, the identity constructions of the speakers, the sociolinguistic setting with regard to attitudes and language contact and, finally, the linguistic characteristics of the local varieties of Danish. Despite the fact that neither the Faroes nor Norway had actual colonial status, the development from historical Dano-Norwegian to today's Bokmål follows a postcolonial path closely in that it shows a completed advancement from a translocated Danish to an indigenous variety, Bokmål. In contrast, the comparison with Norway and the other postcolonial situations which the 'Dynamic Model' is based on, shows that the evolution of Faroe- Danish does not follow a postcolonial path. This local variety of Danish seems to be best characterized as a lingua franca learned as an (early) L2 that is entrenched within the Faroese society which shows but few signs of nativization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decades around 1800 saw the rise of standard language ideology in the Northern Netherlands, and its almost immediate implementation in concrete policy measures. For the first time, the national government initiated official spelling and grammar regulations (1804, 1805). Policy measures were also taken to reorganize and nationalize the field of education. The language and education policies were part of a wider range of measures aimed at the formation of a Dutch nation-state. One of the control mechanisms introduced in this period was a national school inspection system. In this paper, we discuss school inspection reports of the first half of the nineteenth century, focusing on the way language planning and multilingualism interacted. In particular, we want to find out whether school inspectors and teachers actively promoted the officially codified variety, and to what extent this implied discouragement of the use of other varieties of Dutch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of language contact in the ancient world has been an area of huge growth over the past ten years. However, in areas of the ancient world where sources are more limited, scholars have been more hesitant to make sweeping claims about the nature of language contact, even in communities where societal bilingualism is likely to have existed for many centuries. Languages only attested in fragmentary epigraphic corpora are considered the ultimate "bad data" and have not always received a great deal of attention in historical sociolinguistics, despite these texts representing our best evidence of many of the communities across the ancient Mediterranean. In response to this problem, this article asks how we should go about interpreting the evidence of ancient language contact in small or fragmentary corpora of texts. This article uses the Oscan corpus from Southern Italy (Lucania, Bruttium and Messina) c. 400--50 BCE as a case study for examining bilingualism in a fragmentary corpus. It outlines the data gathered from a range of different text-types from Southern Italy, the different kinds of contact phenomena which have been found in these texts, and whether there are any discernible patterns in the data. It argues, because of the fragmentary state of the Oscan corpus, that there is little clear evidence of chronological or geographic differentiation in levels of bilingualism. Rather, the evidence shows that in this corpus some text-types are more likely than others to contain contact phenomena. With this in mind, this paper proposes a new model which includes consideration of text-type for the interpretation of language contact and bilingualism in fragmentary corpora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research on pluricentricity has traditionally focused on phonological, lexical and grammatical variation across national varieties, pluricentric languages also provide a rich laboratory for the exploration of pragmatic variation, and potentially new insights into the complexities of both pragmatics and pluricentricity. Pluricentric pragmatics remains a developing field and determining appropriate methodologies and strategies for data collection remains open to evaluation and assessment. Methodological considerations pertaining to address research in pluricentric languages are made from a range of perspectives, which are typically interconnected and will depend on the intended research focus. In this contribution we present a critical reflection on methodological aspects of pragmatic research, based on our own experiences investigating address in several pluricentric languages (in particular German and English). After a brief overview of the pluricentric languages considered and their address systems we provide an outline of the research projects reviewed. We then discuss in detail issues regarding data types and data collection (in particular questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and various online data) and consider further methodological aspects such as the choice of research framework, context and type of address investigated, quantitative and/or qualitative approaches taken and whether the research focus is on actual use, reported use and/or perceptions. We conclude with some suggestions for further research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS), established in 1997, is the largest research centre in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Limerick and brings together members of faculty, postgraduate students and researchers from the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics as well as from other disciplines across the University. At CALS, we understand Applied Language Studies as being about applying language to real world contexts and issues. CALS provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of research projects in applied language studies across a range of languages within the University as well as serving as a focal point for national and international links in this area. The title 'Applied Language Studies' is deliberate in that the focus and spread is multilingual and this is a very important dimension to the CALS identity. Researchers work in and on French, German, Spanish, Irish, Japanese, Catalan as well as World Englishes, with a strong focus on Irish English. Professor Angela Chambers was the founding Director of CALS (1997-2014). Professor Helen Kelly-Holmes is the current Director, and Dr. Liam Murray is the current Associate Director. CALS has 32 internal members and 26 external associates. There is a very lively postgraduate community made up of 27 PhD students from 10 different countries. Researchers in CALS are organized around three clusters: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firstly, the Luxembourgish school system offers its students mostly French, German and English as the languages to be acquired in education. Introduction This paper looks at foreign language provision at secondary level in the educational system of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, one of the smallest European Union (EU) member-states. In Luxembourg, the 1984 language law officially recognizes three languages: Luxembourgish as the national language, and French and German as legislative and/or administrative languages. Otherwise Portuguese and Italian do not play a role in the Luxembourgish school system, except for upper secondary school students specializing in languages and literatures, who can choose Spanish, Italian or Portuguese as their quatrième language vivante (fourth modern language). [Extracted from the article]

This paper, inspired by Spolsky (2004), pursues three goals: 1. to demonstrate the terminological shift from "language planning" towards "language management", 2. to point out that this shift is facilitated by the growing influence of a particular theory of language management, which I refer to as Language Management Theory, 3. to present the central features of the theory, arguing that it is well suited not only to the analysis of language macro-planning but also to language micro-planning, the analysis of which is frequently called for during the process of formulating the language policy in various areas of the world including Europe and the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article presents results of a project studying the codes witching (CS) phenomenon in the Sardic-Italian language. The status of the linguistic minority results from their socio-cultural subordination by a majority. The subordinated status results from the often-limited material and immaterial resources as well as from the conditions of the emergence of the minority, whereby a society based on the concept of nation-state gives rise to the classical context for the differentiation of linguistic minority and the majority. The stratification of the status of language and the languages as well as the asymmetry of the contact situations as a rule leads to the fact that the minority language, which is appropriate at the most as a language spoken only within the confines of a household, is often attached with the social stigma and therefore they are abandoned by its speakers.

The article explores the language standardisation process in Castilian or Spanish language in Spain. Discussed is the acceptance of the standard Spanish language in various cultures. Noted is the significance of the bottom-up decision-making on language planning by large numbers of the community as well as the impact of economic and political factors on language policy. Also mentioned is the enactment of the Royal Charter by Charles III in 1768, noting that it initiates the consolidation of the Spanish language.

The article discusses topics related to language management and standardization processes. Explored is the impact of democratic legitimacy on language management, revision of an oral or written standard for a language and the significance of a democratic political system on language planning and management. Tackled is the idea of legitimacy on political discourse as well as its dependency on particular set of facts. Investigated are challenges of democratic legitimacy for language standardization processes.

The article focuses on topics surrounding the revision of the standard for Nynorsk, a Norwegian language. Explored are developments of language policy and planning in Norway, approaches to language standardisation, the use of deliberative decision-making for user-acceptance and legitimacy and a historical account of the written language situation. Suggested is the significance of the actual representation of different dialect forms in Norwegian dialect diversity. Also discussed is the policy of unification for language reform.

The article discusses the norms and authority associated with the use of English by native speakers in Great Britain. Topics covered include the launch of the English language academy in the region to standardize and spread the way English would be used as a formal language as well as the lack of written constitution or laws that focus on the custom and practice of English. Also mentioned is the start of the centralization of political power when the Tudor dynasty decided to end feudalism in the country.

The article provides a bibliography of sociolinguistics essays and monographs on language published in Europe in 2011 including "Tra napoletano e siciliano? Randbemerkungen zur Metaphonie im Dialekt der äolischen Inseln," by Roland Bauer, "Sprachen für Europa," by Peter Cichon, and "Ausgrenzung durch Sprache," by Rudolf de Cillia.

The article discusses research on multilingual workplaces in Luxembourg, including a review of the history and theory of sociolinguistic workplace research and a description of a study of audio recordings of supermarket employees. The relationship between interpersonal relations and language, ethnographic observations, and communication between a native French speaker and a Luxembourgish speaker are discussed. German language speakers, work environments, and language comprehension are discussed, as well as possible solutions for communication problems.

The article examines the history of the extinct western Yiddish language in the Alsace region, southwest Germany, and Switzerland. Information is provided on the interaction between Yiddish and German languages, the existence of High Alemannic structures in Swiss Yiddish and vice versa is described, and analysis of audio recordings of Yiddish is examined. Examples of code switching by speakers of both High Alemannic and western Yiddish are also provided and the role of linguistic minorities in southwest Germany and Switzerland is described.

The article discusses the history of the standardization of the German language in Luxembourg using the record of public administrative notices published in that country in the 19th century and examining the choice of language used in the nation's administrative procedures. The frequency of the use of French, German, and Luxembourgish in the official statements from various agencies including education, the press, and the legal system is examined and the standardization of Luxembourgish languages is described.

The law corresponds to a decision on a coherent Swedish language policy in the Swedish parliament in December of 2005, which, however, in addition to what became the Foreign language provision at secondary level in Sweden 95 SOCIOLINGUISTICA 24/2010 formulation of the law, also assures the opportunity to learn FLs. Members of the association have continuously criticized the "language choice model" on two counts, firstly the fact that a second FL is not a compulsory subject at lower secondary level, and secondly the reality that remedial English/Swedish exists as an alternative to studying a FL. It is not only those involved in teaching foreign languages other than English, but also politicians and school authorities, who are deeply concerned about the future pool of foreign language (FL) resources in Sweden. The learning of a second FL is strongly encouraged and seen as important by Swedish authorities, but the instruments for promoting FLs, i.e. the "language choice" at grades six or seven and a more favourable system of merit assessment, seem not to be sufficiently powerful to balance out the limited interest in second FLs among students or the population at large. [Extracted from the article]

A recent survey (conducted in 2008 by Wade et al.) has shown that take up of modern languages at primary level is well advanced; 92% of schools are offering foreign language study to their pupils. With it was the much heralded "Languages for All" policy, i.e. all students from the age of 11 and Key Stage 3 (KS3) (the start of the secondary school) were to learn a foreign language and by 1995 all students beginning KS4 (age 14) would be included, thus resulting in five years of language study. 219 SOCIOLINGUISTICA 24/2010 Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2007): Modern Foreign languages: Programme of study for key stage 3 and attainment targets. www.qca.org.uk/curriculum Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (2009): Proposals to change the subject level descriptions. The hurdles Foreign language provision and policy in England will show itself, in many ways, to be in conflict with the foreign language learning policy encouraged by the European Union (EU) (European Commission 2003). [Extracted from the article]

The weighing of the sub-parts of the school examination is fully the schools' responsibility; schools do not all attribute equal proportional weights to Foreign languages in Dutch secondary education 117 SOCIOLINGUISTICA 24/2010 the skills which form part of the school examination. 108 Theo van Els/ Dirk Tuin SOCIOLINGUISTICA 24/2010 Final levels and target levels Lower School English English BB KB GT havo vwo Listening A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2/B1 Reading A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2/B1 Conversation A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2 Speaking A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2 Writing A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2 Final levels and target levels Lower School German German BB KB GT havo vwo Listening A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2 Reading A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 A2 A2 Conversation A1 A1 A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 Speaking A1 A1 A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 Writing A1 A1 A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 Final levels and target levels Lower School French French BB KB GT havo vwo Listening A1/A2 A2 A2 Reading A1/A2 A2 A1/A2 Conversation A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 Speaking A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 Writing A1 A1/A2 A1/A2 Table 1: Levels of competence in foreign languages in various school types in The Netherlands 4.3 Vmbo In general the requirements and objectives that hold for the Lower School (see above) are also exactly what the vmbo pupils have to achieve at the end of their school career. Foreign languages taught and learnt We will discuss the foreign languages curriculum of Dutch secondary education in separate paragraphs for each of the types of school mentioned above. CLIL implies that from the first form of the lower secondary school onwards about five of the school subjects are taught in a foreign language; in almost all cases in Dutch schools the foreign language in question is English. [Extracted from the article]

The article attempts to analyze how well schools in the sixteen different states in Germany are fulfilling the goals of the language policy of the European Union that each student should be proficient in three languages. The author points out that the German law called the Hamburger Abkommen of 1964 required that all secondary pupils must learn English, and that later standards in some German states also explicitly require the learning of French. Also discussed is the great variety of foreign languages offered in German schools, although the largest percentage of pupils graduating from schools of all levels have proficiency in the English language, which is seen as a gateway to learning other languages.

The article presents an analysis of foreign language learning in Italian schools within the context of the stated European Union policy that students should be competent in two foreign languages in addition to the mother tongue. The author states that in Italian schools the English language is an integral part of the curriculum but that other languages are overlooked, a situation which must be changed. The author argues that action is needed at the level of the European Union for reform to take place in Italy. Referred to are works by linguistics professors Gerhard Stickel and Ulrich Ammon.

The article discusses foreign language education in Spain. The author examines political aspects of language education policies related to the number of languages, teaching methods, and the age at which language instruction is started, the teaching of languages in territories including Basque, Catalonia, and Galicia, and education in a second foreign language under guidelines from the European Union (EU). The author presents the autonomous regions Andalusia and Catalonia as examples, looking at the development of curricula, bilingual education, and native language education.

The article discusses foreign languages in secondary education in The Netherlands, examining foreign languages which are commonly taught, teaching methodologies, and tests for foreign language competency. The author examines obligatory English instruction as well as courses in French, German, and Arabic, the use of the grammar-translation and direct methods of language instruction, and languages in school leaving examinations. Information is provided on languages spoken in The Netherlands including Dutch, Frisian, and Limburgian, the history of foreign language education in Dutch schools, and the Dutch school system.

The article discusses foreign language education in Hungary, examining policies on language education, Hungarian laws which effect minority education and the effect of the European Union's program which encourages students in all member-states to learn three languages. The author discusses the ethnic composition of Hungary, the Hungarian language, also known as Magyar, and the prevalence of monolingualism and multilingualism in the country. The author examines data from the 1990s which indicates a foreign language deficit in the country and looks at controversies related to the number of teaching hours, the Matura exam, and continuity in language instruction in secondary schools.

The article discusses foreign language education in Finland and examines the implications of the state's two national languages, Finnish and Swedish, on the mother tongue plus two (MT+2) foreign languages policy of the European Union (EU). The author examines concerns that the growth of English language education in Finland, in addition to the study of Swedish or Finnish, has caused fewer students to study European languages such as French, Russian, and German and looks at differences between national language provisions and policies by the EU and the Nordic Council. Other topics include time spent on language learning, the teaching of immigrant students' native languages, and the levels of proficiency gained in secondary education.

The article discusses foreign language provisions in secondary schools in Luxembourg, a member-state of the European Union (EU), and looks at how the Luxembourgish school system reflects EU language policies. The author examines the use of the three languages officially recognized under Luxembourg law, French, German, and Luxembourgish, as well as instruction in the languages most widely spoken by resident foreigners, Portuguese and Italian. Information is provided on competency under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), English language instruction, and the use of French and German as a medium of instruction.

The article presents information about language attitudes and behavior regarding regional languages in France. Languages under discussion include Occitan and Catalan. Topics addressed include the relations between language use and self-perception, as well as group identity within speech communities. A history of Occitan revivalist movements is given, and research results are presented from a study of language attitudes in Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Survey questions and responses are provided, which discuss the voluntary learning of regional languages, immersion language teaching, and French government policy for regional language.

The article presents information about sociolinguistic research treating the presence, influence, and revival of regional languages in Italy in the early 21st century. Research results about the use of dialect in various generations are presented, including notes on dialect insertions to introduce direct quotes, the use of dialect to communicate humor or politeness, and the presence of dialects or regional languages in comics. Accents, regional languages, and dialects treated include Südtirolerisch, Piedmontese, and Walser German. The relations between German and Italian in northeastern parts of Italy are also discussed.

The article presents information about relations between multilingualism and speakers of both standard language and dialects. Dialect-standard competency is discussed in terms of its presence in German areas of Switzerland. It is described as a form of bilingualism in two related languages or language varieties, often found in children who absorb both the standard language and its regional dialect during their speech-learning process. Results are included from a study seeking to determine whether inhabitants of provincial areas with dialect-standard competency more easily learn foreign languages than speakers of pure standard language or pure dialect.

This article discusses the problems facing the multilingual European Union (EU) during parliamentary procedures. The author writes that since there are twenty-seven member countries with twenty-three languages representing them, there have been many debates concerning which language would represent them all. Though there have been efforts to maintain the diversity of languages, English has still dominated the proceedings. The author discusses the impact of EU expansion on language, the current pattern of languages in the EU and the fluctuation of power between the language groups.

The article discusses the impact of Internet on language form and use. History and evolution of the Internet are highlighted. Political, social and economic aspects of Internet are discussed. Linguistic, cultural as well as economic consequences of the technological innovations, particularly Internet are also discussed.

The article discusses the concept of historical sociolinguistics. History and evolution of the term "Historical Sociolinguistics" are highlighted. Restrictions of the internationally visible output on historical to the study of the social language history of German and English about 15 years ago are discussed.

The article discusses issues related to sociolinguistics and social communications. Microanalytic descriptions of social interaction between different ethnic and cultural communities are highlighted. Problems related to intercultural communications are discussed. Issues related to code switching, language crossing and social identity are also discussed.

There appear to be few courses in Sociolinguistics in Britain if one relies purely on the title of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. However, the study of the intersection and interaction of language and society is more widespread than a cursory survey might reveal. In a number of social science, linguistic and anthropology courses the discipline is thriving as a module or option if not as a core subject. There are a substantial number of PhD students in the discipline. The research areas that are most favoured in Britain and which attract national research funding seem to be language variation among urban groups and attendant issues of identity. European funding supports a wide range of projects ranging from the effect on language of new technologies through emerging European public spheres to questions of cultural inclusion in multicultural societies. British publishing houses have growing lists of work in Sociolinguistics in its widest interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses implications of proficiency in interpersonal communication. Linguistic competence is required in the business communication. Efficient communication behavior defines the personality of an individual. Good conversation skills are considered as an important factor in achieving success in life. There is a close relationship between efforts and results. Efforts put in learning professional communication can give impressive results. The discourse analysis on linguistic works indicate that efficiency in spoken language can help in work and personal life.

The article compares economical sciences with linguistic economy. Economists analyze the significance of linguistics on variable economics. Work should be balanced in order to encounter various aspects concerning socio-economic factors. Methodologies can differentiate the economic forms that can be helpful in understanding linguistic paradigms. Economic sciences study the relationship between the economy and the language. It can contribute in examining various linguistic phenomenon like linguistic politics.

The article focuses on the restructuring of schools using multilingual medium. School is not simply place of transmission or building of knowledge, but also site of production of social and cultural reproduction, and notably the place of citizens' production of the State. The school is one of the most important areas of protest, as it was one of the first institutions to attract the architects of the modern State. The school in multilingual medium attracts one's attention because it is a ground of conflict of power as part of the ideology of the State. The linguistic practices in multilingual medium are not only questions of building of multilingual repertoires having various characteristics. Their form is overlapped in the history of the school as social institution, in links between the pedagogic, linguistic, national and colonialist ideologies, and in the possibilities of taking over or protest of the value of means which the school distributes.

This article presents information on the theoretical model of code switching, called the Matrix Language Frame (MLF), proposed by Carol Myers Scotton in collaboration with J. Jake. The model represents the theory which presents a grammatical account of the code switching, in its first formulations. But the model also introduced some problematic assumptions. The MLF has not been up to now applied specifically to situations of asymmetric contact between the Italian language standard and its dialects. In the recent formulations of the model, it has been in fact specified that every phrase in the language matrix represents the field of action of elements from one or more language systems. The code switching represented in the model talks about interests and crucial problems in several directions of search in linguistic sciences. Many people consider that the model of code mixing of Scotton can be understood from the study of various sociolinguistic situations.

The article focuses on the development of codeswitching in young bilingual children. It determines the extent to which codeswitching might be dependent on the child's lexical development asking whether there may be a developmental threshold for switching; to what extent switches might be a response to lexical gaps; and whether a developmental pattern exists in the nature and the type of codeswitching observed. A developmental pattern of codeswitching predicts a "U-shaped" developmental pattern in the frequency of mixes during bilingual language acquisition. The grammatical deficiency hypothesis predicts different stages. The first stage witnesses the child starting off with a very high mixing frequency due to the lack of lexical and grammatical knowledge and competence. The switches becomes less frequent with the gradual acquisition of knowledge by the child.