Examines different hypotheses on the origin of the Creoles of the Indian Ocean, and common lexical and phonological bonds among them. (AM)

Presents an heuristic procedure, based on cooccurrence of forms, for identifying the closed systems of a language and to show how the systems interlock, differ in meaning, and manifest themselves. (AM)

"African French" exists because linguists are beginning to describe it. This discussion, intended for teachers of French, focuses on its linguistic and sociological bases. Pedagogical implications for the French class in Africa and for foreign language classes elsewhere are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Various theories are presented in support of a rationist approach to linguistics. (Author/HP)

An analysis of the causative verb construction in French as studied by Harris. Some questions raised are: Can a causative verb be considered an auxiliary? Which verbs can be causative? Might the notion of auxiliary include "auxiliary nouns"? Syntactic and lexical-semantic distinctions are made. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

A definition of the positive contributions of functionalism in the polemic against phonetics and traditional, generative and transformational grammars. Three themes are discussed: synchronic analysis, the dynamics of the development of linguistics, and the role of syntax in language facts. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

An analysis of the theory of distinctive features advanced by Roman Jakobson, Gunnar Fant and Morris Halle in "Preliminaries to Speech Analysis." The notion of binarism, the criterion of distinctiveness and the definition of features are discussed. Questions leading to further research are raised. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Compares semantic uses of mental state words by children four and a half to five years old. Suggests that children's linguistic and cognitive capacities can be influenced a great deal by subtle situational factors and that the effects vary according to the child's cultural background. (AEW)

Explores the status of the Zamboangueno dialect, discusses the various stages of decreolization in the direction of Spanish, and suggests possible avenues for the continued introduction of elements from an acrolect which, for all intents and purposes, is no longer generally available to residents of Zamboanga, Philippines. (Author/CB)

Reviews the limited amount of research regarding ways in which primary stress is assigned to second conjugation infinitives in Italian and then proposes a new perspective taking into consideration root vowels, root-final consonants, syllable onset, monosyllabic vs. polysyllabic roots, and canonical form. (CB)

Reviews research studies that raise serious questions about phonological neutralization, that is, the merger of a contrast in certain contexts. Some findings cast doubt on the very existence of neutralization and the correctness of the theoretical principles that make assumptions based on neutralization. Reanalyzes neutralization in light of these…

This article discusses the construction substantive + the preposition DE+ substantive in Spanish. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article discusses the influence of the Taino language on the Spanish of Puerto Rico. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article discusses punctuation in Spanish, specifically rules for the use of the comma, the colon, and the semi-colon. The rules for the placement of prosodic and orthographic stress are also discussed. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article discusses the use of the expression "a nivel de" (level with) in Colombian Spanish. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)