Michael Clyne & Sandra Kipp, Pluricentric languages in an immigrant context: Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. (Contributions to the Sociology of Language, no. 82). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1999. Pp. xxi, 360. Hb DM 248.00, $160.00.

Abstract

This volume is a highly detailed and thoughtful analysis of the language use of Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese speakers in one of the major cities of Australia, Melbourne. Bringing together census findings and other empirical data, this study addresses the issues of pluricentricity and language maintenance and language shift in an immigrant context. Australia, as one of the world's more successful countries in its national bilingual policy, has been a catalyst for local research in community languages. The present volume complements the earlier works of both authors, for instance, Clyne 1991 and Kipp 1981.