Linguists are increasingly using experiments to provide insight into linguistic representations and linguistic processing. But linguists are rarely trained to think experimentally, and designing a carefully controlled study is not trivial. This paper provides a practical introduction to experiments. We examine issues in experimental design and survey several methodologies. The goal is to provide readers with some tools for understanding and evaluating the rapidly growing literature using experimental methods, as well as for beginning to design experiments in their own research. © 2013 The Author. Language and Linguistics Compass © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Because there has been a recent surge of interest in the linguistic cycle, this article presents a survey of cyclical change and shows how that change provides a unique perspective on the language faculty. The article provides a general background to the linguistic cycle and cyclical change. It reviews some of the cycles that we know and provides a possible account for them. © 2013 The Author. Language and Linguistics Compass © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

This paper provides an abbreviated review of the theories and practices that are related to transcribing spoken discourse. The review identifies four keys areas of transcription, discusses why they are important to all investigations of spoken discourse analysis, and considers the practical implications of carrying out transcript-based research. The four areas of transcription discussed in this review are organized into the following sections: theoretical issues, representation, transcription software, and transcription ethics. The aim in providing this review is to argue that while there is no monolithic way of transcribing spoken discourse, the theories and practices that underpin and shape transcription work are highly complex, inherently problematic, and therefore should not be taken for granted.

After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the fourteen successor states began to distance themselves from Russia and its language. This situation was strikingly different from most post-colonial states of Asia, Africa, and Latin America that maintained the languages of the former colonizers. For researchers, the post-Soviet context became a natural sociolinguistic ‘experiment’, in which the previously shared political and linguistic system offered a common starting point for language reforms and the different outcomes illuminated the effects of demographic, political, economic, and social factors. The purpose of the present article is to outline the key findings of the research to date, to discuss their implications for sociolinguistic theory, and to identify gaps and productive directions for future inquiry. © 2013 The Author. Language and Linguistics Compass © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd