Abstract
The following paper will look at the growing list of endangered languages within Africa and what this means for the continent and for linguistic diversity the world over. Specifically, the paper will provide a brief summary of nearly extinct languages as they exist within the continent and acknowledge that there seems to be some general confusion over whether or not calling a language "endangered" is really the same thing as calling it "nearly extinct". In any event, this section of the paper will certainly underscore that dozens of African languages - at least 46, as a matter of fact - are in imminent peril and possibly at least as many more are headed in that direction. Having briefly defined what it is that makes a language "endangered" and how things appear to stand in Africa, the paper will then turn to look at what languages have been on the endangered list at one time or another and have not survived; time will also be devoted to looking at what the impact of language endangerment (and extinction) is for Africa (and for all geographic regions of the world faced with this problem) and what can be done to stem the tide. In the final analysis, more effort needs to be undertaken to teach young people about their cosmopolitan linguistic heritage in the classrooms of Africa and affirmative action programs that will prop up the most vulnerable of these languages in African communities should be explored - though it is doubtful that some of them (maybe even many of them) can now be saved. Still, that is no excuse for not trying to salvage what can be salvaged.

From the Paper
The Endangered Languages of Africa The following paper will look at the growing list of endangered languages within Africa and what this means for the continent and for linguistic diversity the world over. Specifically, the paper will provide a brief summary of nearly extinct languages as they exist within the continent and acknowledge that there seems to be some general confusion over whether or not calling a language "endangered" is really the same thing as calling it "nearly extinct". In any event, this section of the paper will certainly underscore that dozens of African languages - at least 46, as a matter of fact - are in imminent peril and possibly at least as many more are headed

Tags:endangered, languages, africa

Abstract
This paper explains that speakers of a language such as English in which the grammatical diminutive plays an insignificant part, the fact that other languages use the diminutive so frequently can seem rather quaint. The paper goes on to say that the diminutive is a highly useful grammatical structure, one that speakers of languages without a diminutive have to compensate for in various often less than elegant ways. This paper examines the grammatical diminutive in the Romance languages.

From the Paper
"For speakers of a language such as English in which the grammatical diminutive plays an insignificant part, the fact that other languages use the diminutive so frequently can seem rather quaint. But the diminutive is, in fact, a highly useful grammatical structure, one that speakers of languages without a diminutive or with an anemic diminutive, as is the case in English, have to compensate for in various (often less than elegant) ways. This paper examines the grammatical diminutive in the Romance languages. We should begin by defining the grammatical..."

Tags:Diminutives, Romance Languages, Latin, morphology

Abstract
This paper discusses two moribund languages in Africa and what can be done or should be done to save them. The paper compares and contrasts the relative difficulties of the two and also looks at where language policies have perhaps contributed to their plight. Additionally, the paper considers the encroachment of other languages and what role they have played in diminishing these two struggling languages.

From the Paper
"Two endangered languages which have been slowly but steadily disappearing in recent decades have been Tchumbuli as long spoken in Benin, and the Yangkam language found in Plateau State, Central Nigeria (Blench, 4 and 6). With regards to the former, an online compendium of the world's languages provided by Ethnologue reports that there are only about 2500 speakers of the Tchumbuli language left in Benin - and these speakers are concentrated in three small villages: Okounfo, Edaningbe, and Gbede (Ethnologue, "Languages of Benin," index). The troubling thing about all of this is that, if one accepts research done more or less..."

Tags:endangered, languages, africa

Abstract
Languages around the world are disappearing as the number of people who speak them diminishes, usually by the death of the eldest speakers. Africa is a country with a large number of languages, given the many tribes that develop their own languages or variations on a wider language, and as the tribes die off or the young people in the tribe adhere to a different culture, some of the minor languages fade away over time. Some regions of Africa have many more tongues than other areas, depending on the nature of the population, the history of the area, and other factors.

From the Paper
Languages around the world are disappearing as the number of people who speak them diminishes, usually by the death of the eldest speakers. Africa is a country with a large number of languages, given the many tribes that develop their own languages or variations on a wider language, and as the tribes die off or the young people in the tribe adhere to a different culture, some of the minor languages fade away over time. Some regions of Africa have many more tongues than other areas, depending on the nature of the population, the history of the area, and other factors. Many of these languages are related, but even then they can diverge greatly from one another so that they share few speakers in common. At the same time, the

Tags:language, africa, endangered

Abstract
The foreign language requirement has long been a component of formal education. The paper shows that several different methods exist for teaching foreign languages, including submersion and various levels of immersion teaching. In addition, foreign language teaching can be either language-driven or content-driven. This paper compares and contrasts the different methods of teaching foreign languages through immersion and submersion.

From the Paper
"The language programs of the United States are based on Canadian French-language programs developed in the 1960's (Fortune and Tedick par. 3). Immersion, when used in teaching foreign languages, is the process of teaching the student using the language being taught for all or most of the school day."

Tags:foreign, language, teaching

Abstract
This book review discusses how Gary Chapman attempts to categorize and analyze what makes up a love language, and tries to identify the characteristics and tactics needed to communicate emotionally within any given language. The author argues that Chapmans' five love languages are meant to help roughly outline what types of behaviors are most likely to please a certain type of personality.

From the Paper
"Early in the book, Chapman observes that an obvious desire exists among couples from all walks of life to better understand their partner and achieve a greater level of intimacy. Countless books have been devoted to the subject, as well as popular magazine columns, television and radio programs. Chapman asks the question: why are there so many couples who feel they cannot meet their partner's emotional needs? He writes that during his many experiences with struggling couples as a marriage counselor, he noticed a trend. Chapman noticed that many of the couples claimed their love seemed to just evaporate after marriage. For some reason or another, the excitement and romance that exists for most couples before marriage seems to dwindle after the wedding.
"Chapman likens the many experiences he encountered to the idea of linguistics among humans. Of the many languages spoken around the world (English, Chinese, Spanish, French, etc.), most people are only raised speaking one primary language. One may learn a second language at some later stage in life, but he or she is most comfortable speaking his or her primary language. If an American, for example, tried to communicate with someone from France, the two would be unable to speak to one another effectively. They would have to resort to hand gestures or use body language to communicate. This is possible but it severely slows the communication process and leaves much room for misinterpretation. In much the same way, men and women speak love languages that, if communicating with a partner who speaks a different emotional language, must be recognized in order to better understand one another's emotional wants and needs."

Tags:love, language, marrriage, communication

Abstract
This paper relates that one often hears people say, "I am good with languages but useless at math" and vice versa as if the two were entirely opposite ways of thinking. The author points out that closer examination of human language and mathematics reveals a surprising number of similarities. The paper states that the most obvious similarity between the two is that both natural human languages and mathematics have a formal syntax i.e. a set of rules that governs them.

From the Paper
"Human languages and mathematics seem on the face of it to be very different things. One often hears people say "I am good with languages, but useless at math", and vice versa, as if the two were entirely opposite ways of thinking. However, closer examination reveals a surprising number of similarities. The most obvious similarity between the two is that both natural human languages and mathematics have a formal syntax, i.e. a set of rules that governs them. In the case of language, this is a set of rules that governs how the words may be put together. "

Tags:human, machine, language

Abstract
This paper discusses the process of the extinction of language and how some languages become threatened. The paper discusses how more than half the languages now in use could disappear by the end of this century. It discusses why this is the case, which languages are most threatened and what can be done (if anything) to try to prevent this phenomenon.

From the Paper
"Linguists note the reasons why languages die out, and one such reason has been globalization, which makes certain major languages the language of commerce. Also, national education programs tend to promote the majority language and to stamp out minor languages (Marlett, 2000, p. 611). Various scholarly projects are under way to try to preserve languages by recording the remaining speakers and by writing grammars for those languages. Some see the Internet as a force helping preserve languages as minority speakers are using the Internet to chronicle their language. Peter Austin, director of the Endangered Languages Academic Programme at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, note this trend."

Tags:speech, minority, preservation

Abstract
The paper explores the research on the insular Celtic and proto-Celtic linguistics and finds that there are two subgroups of the insular Celtic language, Goidelic and Brittonic. The paper discusses how the Brittonic insular Celtic includes Welsh, Breton and Cornish and it is believed that it may even contain the language of the Picts, and Goidelic and Brittonic are referred to a 'Q-Celtic' and 'P-Celtic' upon the basis of the respective treatment of the PIE labiovelars. This study also examines the proto-Goidelic language which is the Irish language's ancestor from prehistoric times and which was spoken in Ireland prior to the advent of the Christian era.

Outline:
Introduction
Two Branches of Celtic Language
From PIE to Celtic
Two Branches of Insular Celtic
Requirements for Proper Subclassification of Languages
Common Special Imperfect Tense Shared by British and Goidelic
Developments in Insular Celtic Languages
Proto-Gaelic
Summary and Conclusion

From the Paper
"The Celts were ancient people in Europe who spoke the Celtic languages forming a branch of the European languages including other languages which are unknown but which have been associated with Celtic cultural traits in archaeological evidence. Celtic is used in contemporary times to describe the languages and cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and the French region of Brittany however the Celtic language family includes the Gaelic languages of Scottish, Irish and Manx and the Brythonic languages of Welsh, Breton and Cornish.
"The Celtic language family is said to be a branch of the larger Indo-European language and it has been hypothesized that the Celtic prototype language may have derived from the Pontic-Caspian steppes. By 600 BC the Celts had split into several groups of languages and had spread across Central Europe as well as Ireland and Britain and the Iberian Peninsula. The Celtic language is believed to have spread to Britain and Iberia during the first half of the first millennium and that this language developed over the centuries into the Celtiberian, Goidelic and Brythonic languages. There is a debate as to whether the Goidelic and Brythonic descend from a common Insular-Celtic language or if instead these languages are reflective of two waves of separate migration."

Tags:Goidelic, Brittonic, Ireland, PIE, labiovelars

Abstract
This paper focuses on the flaws in the present educational system of teaching foreign languages. The paper highlights the inadequacies and presents a plan to change the way we regard foreign language classrooms. The paper proposes concentrating on students who have the motivation to learn, teaching the teachers an effective methodology that addresses learning strategies to use in the classroom and many other strategies. The paper concludes that implementing a comprehensive plan could be difficult, but once accomplished, it could lead to more effective teaching, learning and retention from the high school foreign language classrooms. This would benefit the students, teachers and ultimately the community.

From the Paper
"Many experts believe that anything less than a four year requirement is superficial while a large number of students that have to meet the standards are ambivalent to say the least. Studies have shown that a majority of the students who are required to study a foreign language while in high school retain very little of what they have learned and that within a five year time frame after leaving high school they have forgotten 95% of what they learned. If these studies are true then many individuals with even a little modicum of commonsense would scrap the efforts to teach the students a foreign language."

Tags:motivation, techniques, methodology, teachers