Body parts have played an important role in the development of theories describing grammaticalization processes (Heine and Kuteva, 2002, pp. 62-63 and 165-171). Within Uralic linguistics, this particular area of study has not yet received a great deal of attention, although the agglutinative character of most of these languages is known to have…

Argues against the idea that phonetic representation and phonological representation are related to each other by computational transformation, based on analysis of the philosophical presuppositions of the concept "representation" and made from the perspective of phenomenology, not cognitive science. An alternative approach to phonology is…

Proposes that one theorist's challenge to the discipline of linguistics, which claims that linguistic structure is temporal and the study of language is a political activity, reflects the influence of philosophical deconstructivism that has heavily influenced other disciplines. The deconstructivist view of language is contrasted with competence…

Investigates the psychological representation of visual-gestural languages from a cross-linguistic perspective. The perception of signers of American and Chinese Sign Languages is analyzed. (27 references) (Author/VWL)

Author funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Consilium for African Studies of Yale University. Research undertaken with the cooperation of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies of Haile Selassie I University. (VM)

Reviews work on the acquisition of complex verbs in American Sign Language (ASL), delineating three lines of research showing how children acquire ASL and discussing possible reasons for the particular fashion in which different children (native learners, non-native learners, and native learners with parents who are non-native learners) acquire…

A study examined the process of grammaticalization in American Sign Language, examining basic principles and patterns and drawing parallels with oral language. More advanced stages of grammaticalization (involving fusion and affecting syntax) are examined in depth, leading to proposal of a temporal-ordering analysis to explain sequencing of verbal…

Proposes that formal properties of speech reflect individuals' mental processes during problem solving, focusing on ways native and non-native speakers of English construct narrative. In difficult tasks, speakers cope by externalizing their inner order as private speech, whose content and formal properties reflect cognitive processes. It is argued…