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A bibliography of European sociolinguistics books from 2006 is presented, including "Gelebte Mehrsprachigkeit. Akten des Wiener Koloquiums zur individuellen und sozialen Mehrsprachigkeit," edited by Peter Cichon, "Valéncia im Sprachenstreit. Sprachlicher Sezessionismus als sozialpsychologisches Phänomen," by Max Doppelbauer, and "Linguistic awareness in multilinugals: English as a third language," by Ulrike Jessner.

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.

The article discusses the relations between ethnicity, friendship groups, and the English spoken by young working class people in London, England. It is noted that London has historically attracted many immigrants, and that the London working-class accent is a significant influence on the pronunciation of English in other parts of the world. Topics of discussion include linguistic innovation, generational differences among English speakers in London, and diphthong changes in late 20th century London English. Various phrases that adolescents use to introduce direct quotes are compared, and the social aspects of shifting linguistic patterns are assessed.

The article presents an obituary for German socio-linguistics scholar Peter Hans Nelde, who died on August 31, 2007.

A bibliography is presented. Titles include "Rechtsangleichung der EU-Beitrittskandidaten. Probleme der juristischen Übersetzung - Empirie und mögliche Lösungen am Beispiel Bulgarians," by Violina Andreeva; "Aproposito di una nuova testualità - osservazioni semiotiche e linguistiche sulla base dei tei multimodali nella stampa odierna," by Gudrun Held; and "Réflexions sur le contexte social de la création littéraire récente en langue dominée, surtout en occitan," by Georg Kremnitz.

This article discusses the role of English in the European Parliament. The author describes how the more democratic role that Europe has embraced has advanced the role of languages at the national level, but has some trouble balancing all twenty-three official languages at the "supranational" level. The members of parliament must face this difficulty, and the author presents their experiences. The experiences that native English and French speakers have formed into two categories of those that are pedantically monolingual, and those who try to engage with members of other languages. Members from other European Union countries and their competencies in English and other foreign languages are presented.

This article discusses the language requirements for European Union (EU) accession and their impact on the Czech Republic. The author discusses the fulfillment of the "Copenhagen" requirements, which ask that prospective entrants to the EU to maintain a stable democracy, the rule of law and to implement a human rights policy and protect minorities. The author writes that these requirements definitely had an impact on the language planning and policy of the Czech Republic, which it previously had little interest in maintaining, due to the social history of the country. The author presents a demographic breakdown of language in the country, the structure of the Czech language and the minority languages in the country. The influence of these policies have extended to the foreign language learning options offered within the country.

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 presents a bibliography related to sociolinguistics.

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 Norwegian language planning. Factors on which the sociolinguistic planning of Norway rests upon are discussed. Characterization of Norway by a norm pluralism as far as language usage is concerned is highlighted. Issues related to language planning ideologies, arguments and principles are also discussed.

The article discusses issues related to linguistic minority research, has been conceived of as an integral part of the sociolinguistic study of languages particularly in Europe. The traditional relationship between linguistic majorities and minorities within the nation-state is discussed. Reasons behind the enshrinement of linguistic diversity as a principle in the European Union treaties are highlighted.

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.

The article discusses linguistic challenges involved in bilingual education. Theoretical consequences of the difference between monolingual and bilingual languages are discussed. Problems related to bilingual speech acquisition are highlighted. Grammar sets and the morphosyntactic frames of the Matrix language are discussed.

The article discusses issues related to scientific communication in society. Continental and European definition of science is presented. Sociological aspects of science are discussed. Cultural and ethical aspects of scientific activities are highlighted. Dichotomy between the continental-European and the anglo-saxon scientific communication is 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 comments on the management of knowledge and innovation by two theoretical approaches used in the new economy. The new economy includes new activities that can lead to optimal gain. The two approaches used in the new economy are the notion of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) and Communities of Practice. Both approaches have derived from different meta discourses. RIS is loosely linked to the notion of culture while the Communities of Practice is based on the creation of meaning that can give a better understanding of knowledge and learning. Both approaches are helpful in understanding the relationship between society and language.

The article presents a sociostylistic analysis of the emergence of the advertising sector from culture and society. In advertising, social style can be applied on different textual levels and with various codes. Sociostylistic options are limited by technical restrictions of the media and by functionally based characteristics of the communicative genre. The genre includes the convention for print advertisements and TV commercials. Thus, different consumption behavior patterns are observed by socio-economic advertising and marketing sectors.

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 presents a list of books related to sociolinguistics. Some of them are "Language Culture in Europe: An International Handbook," by Bauer Rolland, "The Chronological Development of Ukranish Linguistics in Galicia," by Bieder Hermann, and "Names, Languages and Cultures," by Bauer Rolland.

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.

The article introduces this issue of the journal, which revolves around the theme of religious aspects of language.

An obituary is provided for sociolinguistics scholar Michael Clyne.