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The article focuses on Anker Jensen's pioneering sociolinguistic study of the linguistic situation in Aaby, Denmark, in 1898, exploring a quantitative approach and the outcomes of his research. Topics include the life and work of Anker Jensen, his analytical methodology, and a translated presentation of his original study, including minor stylistic adjustments to aid modern readers without altering the essence of the Danish text.

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Islands as specific research sites in their own right have been given little direct attention by linguists. The physical segregation, distinctness, and isolation of islands from mainland and continental environments may provide scholars of language with distinct and robust sets of singular and combined case studies for examining the role of islandness in any appreciation of language. Whether distinct and particular sociolinguistic and typological phenomena can be attributable to islands and their islandness and vice versa remains unexplored. This position article considers the possibility of there being anything particular and peculiar about languages spoken on islands as compared to languages spoken on mainlands and continents. It arose out of a workshop titled 'Exploring island languages' held at Aarhus University, Denmark on 30 April 2018. The main question posed was: Is there anything special socially, linguistically, grammatically, and typologically about the languages of islands? If so, is it possible to talk about such a thing as an island language? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study breaks new ground into the emerging discipline of sonic semantics and the study of language ideologies in postcolonial contexts. The case in point is the reggae sociality in Port Vila, Vanuatu, where young Pacific Islanders are forming new ways of socializing on the fragments of kastom ‘traditional culture’ and with an ambivalent stance towards the value system represented by jioj ‘church’. As a cultural keyword, reke ‘reggae’ offers a rich point for understanding local language-embedded ideologies, and also for understanding the status of Bislama, the national creole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]