First language (L1) has been an affecting factor in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) that causes negative transfer including in thesis writing. The effect can be observed by looking at English productive skills, more specifically written form, as well as thesis writing. This research investigated how L1 interfered student's English…

A remarkable aspect of the present-day American linguistic and intellectual scene is the fact that public attitudes about language reflect neither scholarly efforts in the field of linguistics nor the intellectual spirit of the twentieth century in general. Prescriptive, absolutist linguistic attitudes on the part of intelligent, educated people…

A study examined the effect of language style and variation in speech rate on the vocalization of /l/ in local Cambridge English. This sociolinguistic feature has been described as marking southeastern varieties of British English and as a connected speech process (CSP) in its sensitivity to variation in speaking rate. Language style variables…

The theory of diglossia developed by Charles Ferguson in 1959, and a later, expanded version by Joshua Fishman are outlined and contrasted, and some of the major objections to them are discussed. Diglossia delineates communities using two or more linguistic varieties for differing functions within a single speech community. Ferguson's theory…

The nature of the Creole-to-English continuum for Guyana is examined with two aims. The first of these is to critically assess the validity of orthodox variationist approaches as applied to similar language situations and the second is to produce the outline of an alternative approach that would work in this and other language situations as well.…

The functional hypothesis of language, based on the assumption that the referential function of language is paramount, is discussed as it applies to interlanguage, the second language spoken by less than proficient native speakers of another language. The presentation includes: (1) a review of the evidence of previous empirical investigations of…

An analysis of high vowel variation in Quebec French shows that the phenomenon can generally be accounted for in terms of stress and syllabic closure. However, it is also proposed that by positing underlying lax high vowels in the language, a more insightful analysis is achieved, suggesting that a process of high vowel tensing is occurring…

At certain points in their historical development, languages are not adequately equipped to serve their societies and do not offer certain communicative functions. Political and cultural domination can influence the language community to adopt a foreign language for higher communication, leaving the vernacular underdeveloped for those…

A study investigated the phonemic and morphophonemic patterning of the glottal stop in Agutaynen, a Meso-Philippine language, and some comparison with two northern Philippine languages. Agutaynen glottal stop has as its sole origin a neutralization of contrast rule, the operation of which can be noted in three different linguistic environments.…

It is suggested that the notion of prestige has been too readily appealed to in explanations of language variation and change, and that such appeals result in apparent contradictions and conceptual confusions. The term "prestige" has been used by sociolinguists in widely differing ways, and, as a result, the nature of the term has become…

An analysis of Old English phonology examines two traditional sound changes, the First and Second Frontings, that have been analyzed by different linguists with rather abstract theories. These analyses are refuted, and a more concrete and realistic treatment is proposed for each. Examination of Anglo-Frisian Brightening, or First Fronting, raises…

Recent analyses of Russian (Halle 1963, Lightner 1972) have been forced by the criteria of rule "naturalness" and rule "generality" to posit highly abstract underlying forms. These underlying forms and rules are claimed to represent the speaker's competence. Such analyses are now being criticized (Derwing 1973, Hooper 1974) on the following…

An experiment was conducted to investigate the nature of synonyms by using multidimensional scaling. The selected concept was "pig" and three of its synonyms--"hog,""boar," and "swine." These terms vary in their frequency of use in English, which makes it possible to explore a behaviorally based theory of…

This paper examines how tagmemics can be equipped with a notational mechanism to account for significant variability phenomena in language. A brief history of variation theory is followed by a proposal for a tentative notational system for marking variants. An illustration of this system is provided through application to various levels of…

One concern in current sociolinguistic theories of language variation is to find dynamic models that integrate rules governing the 'lects' of a language into a unified description of that language. The dynamics of language change in the variations inherent to the Fijian dialect chain have profound implications for language literacy and educational…