The language of Chinese secret societies (“triads”) in Hong Kong can be studied by relating triad language to anti-languages, to taboo language, and to the status of the vernacular in sociolinguistic theory. Also examined here are the laws in Hong Kong concerning triad language, and the attitudes of government agencies charged with policing the media. One striking feature of the Hong Kong situation is that the use of triad jargon can in some circumstances constitute a serious criminal offense. However, triad language also appears to be a source of innovation, through the popular media, into mainstream Hong Kong Cantonese. Research on triad language is relevant to the relationship between colonialism and language control. (Cantonese, Hong Kong, colonialism, triad secret societies, censorship, vernacular, taboo language, criminal slang)

This article explores the persistence of Tamil-English bilingualism in the Marxist/Nationalist de-facto separate state of Jaffna (Sri Lanka) through an integrated macro- and micro-sociolinguistic analysis of code choice in the community. While Tamil is dominant at present, the international hegemony of English is nevertheless subtly felt. There are now few L2 dominant or balanced bilinguals; grammatical competence in “standard English” is declining; Tamil has taken over many conventionally English domains; extensive use of unmixed English is reduced to a few formal contexts; and political pressure proscribes English. However, through code-switching activity, English continues to be used in a more pervasive form than ever before, in conventional and unconventional contexts, with complex communicative competence. Code-switching helps reconcile the socio-psychological conflicts of the community and assures the continuity of bilingualism (defying prophecies of English death), with the possibility of an Englishized Tamil becoming an independent code. (Bilingualism, code-switching, English, language choice)

Most explanations for the scarcity of Spanish-based creoles have appealed to sociological factors. This article shows that, on the contrary, three historical factors determined the current distribution. First, the Spanish only began cultivating sugar after a century of concentrating on crops requiring smaller plantations; this allowed fuller acquisition of Spanish by the slaves, who then served as models for later arrivals. Second, the Spanish often took over areas formerly occupied by the Portuguese, thus encountering a previously existent pidgin. Third, the Spanish did not establish trade settlements in West Africa, where a Spanish pidgin could have emerged and been transported to the New World. These factors together manifested Spain's low commitment to establishing vigorously capitalistic enterprises in its possessions until the 19th century, which can be seen as the ultimate impediment to the pidginization of Spanish. (Pidgins and creoles, Spanish, Spain, diachronic linguistics, lexical diffusion, language transmission)