Some superior technological secrets have come to light from a deep-sea organism. Modern technology cannot yet compete with some of the sophisticated optical systems possessed by biological organisms1,2,3. Here we show that the spicules of the deep-sea 'glass' sponge Euplectella have remarkable fibre-optical properties, which are surprisingly similar to those of commercial telecommunication fibres — except that the spicules themselves are formed under normal ambient conditions and have some technological advantages over man-made versions.

Fibre-optical features of a glass sponge

Important early evidence for reconstructing dialect areas comes from dialect dictionaries. It would seem that from 1776 till the second half of the nineteenth century dialects were stable, and although regional English was seen as an obstacle to social advancement and as something to be avoided, there appears to have been no actual educational policy at work to create a unified 'polite' English, although there had been individual attempts to codify a spoken standard such as Sheridan and Walker. This chapter summarises the main dialect features that appear in the literature from the late eighteenth century up to about 1870. Most of the relevant sources were reprinted by the English Dialect Society in the late nineteenth century and are easily available. The English Dialect Society bibliography, which covers dialect texts and studies of dialect up to 1877, gives an idea of the amount of attention various regional varieties had attracted.

The dialects of england since 1776

The profile of English in the subcontinent is different from that in 1947 when the colonial period came to an end and the country was divided into India and Pakistan. In linguistic terms there are four major language families: Indo-Aryan, used by the majority of the population, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, and Munda. The formal introduction of English in South Asia has passed through several stages. What started as an educational debate in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries culminated in Lord Macaulay's much-maligned Minute of 1835, which initiated planned activity for introducing the English language into South Asian education. The major features which contribute to the distinctiveness of South Asian English are varied and complex. First, English is an additional language in South Asia; this means that in the total linguistic repertoire of the users of English, English may be a second, third, or n-th language. In grammar, British English continues to provide a yardstick for standardisation of South Asian English.

English in south asia

‘Language shift’ is the process whereby members of a community in which more than one language is spoken abandon their original vernacular language in favour of another. The historical shifts to English by Celtic language speakers of Britain and Ireland are particularly well-studied examples for which good census data exist for the most recent 100–120 years in many areas where Celtic languages were once the prevailing vernaculars. We model the dynamics of language shift as a competition process in which the numbers of speakers of each language (both monolingual and bilingual) vary as a function both of internal recruitment (as the net outcome of birth, death, immigration and emigration rates of native speakers), and of gains and losses owing to language shift. We examine two models: a basic model in which bilingualism is simply the transitional state for households moving between alternative monolingual states, and a diglossia model in which there is an additional demand for the endangered language as the preferred medium of communication in some restricted sociolinguistic domain, superimposed on the basic shift dynamics. Fitting our models to census data, we successfully reproduce the demographic trajectories of both languages over the past century. We estimate the rates of recruitment of new Scottish Gaelic speakers that would be required each year (for instance, through school education) to counteract the ‘natural wastage’ as households with one or more Gaelic speakers fail to transmit the language to the next generation informally, for different rates of loss during informal intergenerational transmission.

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Language shift, bilingualism and the future of Britain's Celtic languages

The language spoken in New Zealand at the time of the arrival of the Europeans was a Polynesian language Maori. This chapter presents description of present-day New Zealand English phonetics and phonology, and discusses the history of the pronunciation of English in New Zealand. It has generally been assumed that the morphology and syntax of New Zealand English is indistinguishable from that of British English. Most of the vocabulary that is found in New Zealand English is general to all varieties of English. Despite the fact that many New Zealanders have an ambivalent attitude to America and Americanisms, there are a number of Americanisms in New Zealand English which are normal, and a lot more which are stylistically marked. The chapter discusses the regional variations in New Zealand English, and suggests that the most likely origin of New Zealand English is as an exported variety of Australian English.

English in new zealand

This is an updated and extended version of the book previously published under the title "A Geography of the Welsh Language 1961-1991". The publication expands on the main themes addressed within the original text, makes reference to research, and presents sets of language data both for individuals and for households in wales. An additional chapter examines the impact of migration on the language, the relationship between social class and ability to speak Welsh, and the bases for the reproduction and maintenance of the language within the context of the family. The final chapter is extended and considers the prospects for the language, in the light of political and insitutional developments (including the Assembly), planning issues (most notably housing) and developments in the field of education. The implications of these and other socio-economic forces for the long-term well-being of the language are evaluated.

Language,Economy and Society: The Changing Fortunes of the Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century

A Geography of the Welsh Language 1961-1991

A Geography of the Welsh Language: 1961-1991

The Welsh Language, 1961-1981: An Interpretative Atlas

Since the early 1960s the ‘language question’ in Wales has excited deep and often fractious debate. It is to the pace and pattern of change in the Welsh-speaking population of Wales, and the efforts that have been made to halt the long-standing spiral of linguistic decline that this study addresses itself. Of particular interest is the situation prevailing in rural areas of the north and west of the Principality. These areas have long been regarded as the traditional bastions of the language, and it is here that the forces of anglicisation are currently having such a profound effect on indigenous communities. Together, these communities occupy and define a heartland — a linguistic domain — that is frequently referred to as Y Fro Gymraeg (literally the Welsh-speaking Region). No firm boundaries can be specified, but this core is normally thought to include areas where more than seventy per cent, or even eighty per cent, of the resident population aged three years and over is able to speak Welsh. Beyond this boundary lies Cymru di-Gymraeg (literally non Welsh-speaking Wales); for some, the land from which the language has been disinherited.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0956793300002624

John Aitchison

Papers

Language,Economy and Society: The Changing Fortunes of the Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century

A Geography of the Welsh Language 1961-1991

A Geography of the Welsh Language: 1961-1991

The Welsh Language, 1961-1981: An Interpretative Atlas

Rural Wales and the Welsh Language