Discusses problems encountered with the syntactic analysis of free text documents in indexing. Postcoordination and precoordination of terms is discussed, an automatic indexing system call COPSY (context operator syntax) that uses natural language processing techniques is described, and future developments are explained. (60 references) (LRW)

Describes a project to code complementation patterns of all verbs in the Collins COBUILD English language corpus, using simple notation based on words and word classes rather than traditional functional categories. This is the first pedagogic grammar to integrate syntax and lexis using corpus data. Explores the possibility of using a pattern…

Describes EquiX, a search language for XML that combines querying with searching to query the data and the meta-data content of Web pages. Topics include search engines; a data model for XML documents; search query syntax; search query semantics; an algorithm for evaluating a query on a document; and indexing EquiX queries. (LRW)

We respond to critical comments and consider alternative statistical and syntactic analyses of our target paper which analyzed comprehension scores of Broca's aphasic patients from multiple sentence types in many languages, and showed that Movement but not Complexity or Mood are factors in the receptive deficit of these patients. Specifically, we…

This article is concerned with the correspondence conditions that hold between certain semantic relations--including part-whole relations, possession, location, and the semantic features [+- animate] or [+- count]--and certain syntactic structures including genitives and relative clauses. The objective is to determine the extent to which these…

Outlines an approach to develop a computer program that can parse beginner-level English in BASIC through input processing, word matching, and phrase structure parsing. (CB)

Offers a practical model for teaching the extended modifier that is economical and linguistically sound, based on the insights and methodology of transformational generative grammar. Five transformational rules are given for generating extended modifiers from relative clauses. Examples of transformations and two class exercises in German are also…

This book examines children's acquisition of a first language, the stages they go through, and how they use language as they learn. There are 16 chapters in 4 parts. After chapter 1, "Acquiring Languages: Issues and Questions," Part 1, "Getting Started," offers (2) "In Conversation with Children," (3) "Starting…

We explore how fourth grade (9 to 10 year olds) students can come to understand and use the syntactic rules of algebra on the basis of their understanding about how quantities are interrelated. Our classroom data comes from a longitudinal study with students who participated in weekly Early Algebra activities from grades 2 through 4. We describe…

In this paper we analyze the meanings of the "equal" sign as generated by sense production of the methods of substitution and comparison for solving problems and systems of equations of two unknowns. These methods are usually introduced through an extension process of the syntax and meanings recently learned by students in order to solve…

This paper explores the syntactic and semantic character of previously undescribed sentence complements (SCs) in Emai, a Benue-Congo language of Nigeria's Edoid group. Data come from ongoing documentation incorporating oral narrative texts as well as dictionary and grammar descriptions. To delineate the grammatical properties of SCs, the paper…

The language of sportscasting is analyzed in terms of register variation, first by locating the register by successive approximations to a characterization of occasions of use, then by identifying syntactic characteristics: simplification, inversions, heavy modifiers, result expressions, and routines. Sports announcer talk is described as a…

Presents one viewpoint regarding the teaching of irregularities of language structure in courses on English as a Second Language, particularly irregularities of morphology and syntax. It is argued that the vocabulary and morphology of English could be simplified if certain constraints were removed and proposes that certain common language patterns…

Reports on two studies examining the effects of object size, container size, sex, and language group on the use of counts in prescriptive and descriptive grammar. Results indicate that people's selection of noun forms in a measure partitive noun phrase is influenced by nonlinguistic factors, such as their gender and the food size relative to…

Demonstrates the use of concordances to prepare classroom vocabulary materials that are both authentic and relevant, assuming the databases used are pertinent to students, and shows how concordance-based exercises can enhance student competence in both semantic and syntactic elements of language. (nine references) (Author/CB)