Standard Languages

In this volume, Dr. Haas brings together studies on the powerful trend toward linguistic standardization, viewing it as an essential feature of the life of a language and of the work of grammarians. J. Vachek examines the distinctive function of written norms and D.J. Allerton considers how the same norm may serve different dialects. The book also includes four studiesoby R.E. Keller, M.W.S. De Silva, T.S. Mitchell and M. Alexiouowhich review present conditions in Switzerland, Ceylon, the Arabic- speaking Middle East and Greece and deal with the problems, linguistic and social, that arise from an imposition of written and spoken standards on divergent vernaculars.