In Spanish non-sentence constructions, beginning elements establish a datum of reference, while following elements narrow the possibilities of syntagmatic combination. Word order is examined in relation to paradigm contrast and syntagmatic complexity. (CK)

An analysis of vowel distribution patterns in Rawas, an Austronesian language spoken in Sumatra, is presented. The language has six vowels, each with long and short variants in complementary distribution, and five diphthongs that occur generally in open syllables. It is proposed, based on this analysis, that each Rawas syllable is precisely two…

An introduction to Pennsylvania German reviews the history of the Pennsylvania Germans' migration to the United States, examines the Pennsylvania German dialect both historically and descriptively, discusses the literature written in the dialect, and looks at its present status and possible future. Because the dialect is an extreme example of…

A description of the creole language spoken in the Roper River area of Australia's Northern Territory, this paper is intended for the practical use of Europeans working in the area. An introductory section discusses the role and status of pidgins and creoles in modern Australia, the development of creole in the Roper River area, and the…

The problem of teaching the use of the verbs "ser" and "estar" in Spanish can be only partially addressed by current linguistic explanations. In the absence of rules that will enable the student to predict correct sentences using the verbs, the most effective teaching technique is to use a situational-functional approach providing students with…

This paper examines aspects of variation in child language, and specifically how children express causal relations in complex sentences. Four particular types of variation were observed: (1) the order of clauses and the connectives used to link clauses; (2) mothers' causal statements; (3) interaction of language form and content, in the form of…

A frequency count was conducted of linguistic features in the English of the Philippine mass media. Philippine English was found to have a smaller inventory of phonological units than Received Standard English. Vowel reduction does not seem to be prevalent. The collapsing of phonological distinctions is most evident in vowels and fricatives.…

THIS TEXT COMPRISES A SURVEY OF THE ESTONIAN LANGUAGE, WHICH IS GROUPED HERE WITH LIVONIAN, VOTIC, AND A PART OF WESTERN FINNISH, TO FORM THE SOUTHWESTERN BRANCH OF THE FINNIC (OR BALTO-FINNIC) LANGUAGES. THE AUTHORS' CLASSIFICATIONS AND A HISTORY OF THE STUDIES WHICH HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT IN ESTONIAN ARE PRESENTED, FOLLOWED BY A PRESENTATION OF…

MUTUAL INTELLIGIBILITY, WHICH SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN THE INITIAL BASIS FOR CHINESE DIALECT CLASSIFICATION, ALONG WITH GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY HAS PROVIDED A FAIRLY REALISTIC GROUPING OF THE MANDARIN DIALECTS. IT NOW SEEMS DESIRABLE TO WORK OUT A FORMAL DEFINITION IN PRECISE LINGUISTIC TERMS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES A MANDARIN DIALECT AND TO DISCOVER WHETHER…

THE ENGLISH CURRICULUM CAN BE MADE MORE EFFECTIVE BY CONSIDERING THE SIGNIFICANT PART PLAYED BY THE COMPONENT OF GRAMMAR. THE NATIVE SPEAKER OF ENGLISH POSSESSES AN INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE RULES OF GRAMMAR AND YET CANNOT EXPLAIN WHAT HIS INTUITION KNOWS. THEREFORE, A PRECISE, ECONOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LANGUAGE MECHANISM AND HOW IT FUNCTIONS…

Two dimensions of the definition of idiom (the semantic and the structural) that may be relevant to the foreign language learner language learner are abstracted from non-specialist dictionary definitions of the term "idiom." The structural dimension is further subdivided into two aspects: place in a structural hierarchy, and degree of…

A COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF SPOKEN WORDS AND PHRASES WAS OBTAINED IN 1959 FROM THE RESPONSES OF 33 NATIVE INFORMANTS FROM 23 COUNTIES IN TENNESSEE, GEORGIA, MISSISSIPPI, AND ALABAMA. INFORMANTS WERE ASKED TO IDENTIFY PICTURES, AND THEIR RESPONSES WERE RECORDED ON TAPE AND TRANSCRIBED. A COMPUTER WAS UTILIZED TO PRODUCE LISTINGS OF PARTICULAR SPEECH…

The effect of a mute "e" on preceding consonant pairs was studied in the oscillographic tapings of the pronunciation of three well-educated Frenchmen. The 68 taped phrase pairs, showing the consonant in a primary and secondary (followed by mute "e") position, are listed. The differences betwee n the length of the first consonant, second consonant,…

This issue is devoted to language universals and consists of 4 papers. "Zulu Nominal Modification - An Outline," by A. Johnston, discusses modifiers in Zulu and their relation to nominals. "Shape Classifiers and Natural Categories," by S.G. Pulman, discusses the role of the dimension of "shape" in language…

Patterns which partly resemble the proposed "fronting,""voicing," and "stopping" tendencies exist to a statistically significant degree in David Olmsted's large sample of child speech. Instead of the "voicing" pattern that has been suggested, however, voiced stops seem to be favored word-initially, but voiced fricatives are favored word-finally.…