This study is designed to help provide an understanding of the role semiosis plays in information processes. The object of study is the structure of various types of signs, and a determination of the relationship between sign structure and information properties. A review of the theory of sign structure is followed by an examination of syntactic…

The current study is concerned with identifying racial-ethnic differences in cognitive strategies or structures that are related to performance on verbal ability tests. The study had two goals: (1) to compare the semantic equivalency of intelligence test items between racial-ethnic groups, and (2) to examine the relationships of individual…

This is a study of the kinds of processes involved in learning the meaning of individual lexical items, and in particular how the acquisition of lexical meaning is related to the cognitive structuring of events on the one hand and the ability to produce syntactic paraphrases of a word's meaning and other related constructions on the other. It is…

Two accomplishments have increased the feasibility of taking preparatory steps for the construction of machine intelligence systems which can acquire knowledge about facts or descriptions of facts through man-machine dialogue in the user's natural language. One is a better understanding of the relationship between perception, language, and…

This book presents a collection of essays intended for an integrated study of language by anthropologists, literary critics, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and linguists. There is first a discussion of theories concerning the interrelationship of language, thought, and culture. This is followed by a discussion of the development of…

This book, uniting the material from numerous lectures on communication theory, is designed to serve as the introduction to a series entitled "Studies in Communication," which will appear during the next few years. It is not intended for the expert in each of the many fields related to human communication, but, rather, it is designed for the…

Within the realm of psycholinguistics there is a need to investigate linguistic performance based on the generative transformational concept of linguistic competence, i.e., based on the speaker-listener's knowledge of his language. Psycholinguistics must determine how underlying knowledge is related to overt performance. The nominalization and…

The processes by which the young child recognizes and regenerates some invariant and organizational properties of language are discussed. In these processes the child conjoins and contrasts recurrent segments--perhaps a recurrent word--of the messages presented to him. After repeated exposure to messages containing a common segment, the child…

Hierarchies have been identified as determinants of constituent order. The set of such hierarchies is reviewed and ranked as determinants of NP sequencing in English. The effect of a hierarchy in other languages is compared to and contrasted with what is found in English. (Author/LMO)

Uses three approaches revolving around language issues as a basis for exploring emotions: universal semantics, emotionology, and the theory of "goal-action-outcome knowledge." Uses an approach that attempts to turn around the traditional, realistic picture of the relationship between emotions, cognition, and language. (73 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses ways that language shapes moral experience. Suggests that words provide the tools necessary for thinking, feeling, and acting and so are essential to psychological functioning. States that understanding how language mediates the functioning of the psyche is prerequisite to understanding how narrative expresses moral experience and…

The diagnostic discourse of medical students and physicians in thinking-aloud protocols on paper cases was analyzed for evidence of semantic structure. Results show that structural semantics can be used to distinguish various levels of mental processing among novices as well as between novices and professionals. (MSE)

A study tested hypotheses concerning thinking in a foreign language. Specifically, it looked at whether (1) inferencing in a foreign language relies on mental models and propositional thinking; (2) the three stages of the theory of comprehension apply to understanding foreign-language discourse; and (3) propositional thinking manifests native…

A study investigated how text features influence the amount of vocabulary knowledge students acquired incidentally while reading expositions. Three sets of text features were identified from studies on comprehension: (1) features associated with the macrostructure, (2) features associated with logical and temporal relations in the microstructure,…

Semantic mapping, which involves the application of vocabulary meanings, increases cognitive processing, and develops the cognitive structure, is recommended for use with literacy students in adult learning centers. Semantic mapping can be used as a prereading or prewriting stimulus, or as a postreading check of comprehension. Also, developing…