ABSTRACT
A primary objective of research in sociolinguistics is to explore how changes in social and political pressures relate to shifts in the pattern of language activity in a speech community. 1 Djite (1992), for example, has analysed the socio-political background to Arabicisation in Algeria; Amara (1986, 1991) concludes that shifts in the linguistic repertoire of Israeli Palestinians reflect social, political, economic and cultural change; Spolsky and Cooper (1991) discuss the emergence of Arabic-Hebrew bilingualism within the Arabic-speaking community in the Old City of Jerusalem as a result of political changes taking place since 1967; Myers-Scotton (1993) analyses the use of language as a tool of elite closure in Africa; Modarresi (1993) shows how socio-political change in post-Revolution Iran has resulted in linguistic change; Clyne (1993) discusses the political division of Germany and the consequent debate as to whether two national varieties of the German language can be distinguished.
