A careful examination of the location of variation in the grammar is advocated as opposed to attempts to cover linguistic generalizations with a single rule. Such an examination may lead to non-deterministic solutions, since there may be two distinct possible derivations for a single surface structure. For instance, in Portuguese, the variation…

The Chinese language has long been regarded, mostly by historians and philosophers, as an inadequate vehicle for developing science. This is because the Chinese have developed only correlational logic, analogical thought and relational thinking, which are inappropriate to science. The cause is said to be the structure of Chinese, specifically: (1)…

Two main viewpoints have been consistently implied in linguistic research on creativity. The externalist sees creativity as outside the normal language, and the internalist views creativity as a basic process of language use. In this paper, creativity is regarded as the adaptation of the potential of systems to the demands of a particular act of…

This paper examines the semantic structure of antonyms on the basis of some examples taken from Romanian. Both grammatical and lexical antonyms are considered with a view toward grasping the correspondence and differences between the two classes. Representative examples illustrate the following conclusions: (1) the distinction between lexical and…

This article argues for a set of ordered rules for morphophonemic alternations in the N-class in Swahili, positing /n/ as the class prefix and an abstract segment as stem initial in certain words. The rules are: (1) liquids and the labial glide become corresponding voiced stops; (2) the nasal prefix assimilates in coronality and backness, and…

This collection of abstracts taken from issues of Resources in Education and Current Index to Journals in Education was compiled in response to the sudden and intense demand for information and materials resulting from the arrival in the United States of thousands of Vietnamese refugees. There is more material here on the teaching of Vietnamese to…

The feature system of Nitinaht is characterized by extensive exploitation of the possible glottal and pharyngeal articulatory notions. The proposed orthography for Nitinaht partially reflects the distinctive feature composition of segments, in particular for affricate (delayed release) and glottalized (constricted glottis) consonants. (Author)

The first part of the sixth volume in this series consists of a 116-item annotated bibliography of American doctoral dissertations in contrastive linguistics. The second part consists of six articles dealing with various aspects of Serbo-Croatian-English contrastive analysis. They are: "A Contrastive Analysis Evaluation of Conversion in…

American Sign Language (ASL) is historically related to French Sign Language (FSL) of the early 19th century. A study underway at Gallaudet College is researching the historical development of both languages treating syntax, lexicon and formation. This paper deals with data in the form of still photos collected in France and published in a…

Social scientists have tended to neglect the relationship of language and "reality" in their formulations of mind, self, and society. Recently, however, a flurry of studies dealing with the congruence of language, cognition, and society has emerged. The initial sources of this concern may be traced to the rich tradition of the French…

Drawing on phonological, grammatical, and usage data collected during personal interviews and taped sessions, this paper seeks to determine whether and how persons of Finnish descent, collectively or individually by generation, constitute dialect islands within the local dialect area (Marquette, Michigan), and their effect upon one another. The…

This paper presents a comparative study of English and Vietnamese syntax. Four basic patterns are said to make up the majority of English sentences: statements (both affirmative and negative), questions (both affirmative and negative), requests, and commands. The composition of each English pattern is discussed with examples, and compared directly…

The aim of this study is to identify and describe the tones of North Vietnamese in the context of single words and one frame sentence. One North Vietnamese male served for seven hours as the informant, the stimulus material being verbal items, illustrations and word lists in both English and Vietnamese. The description of each of the six tones…

Papers dealing with syntactic evidence in various languages for a higher performative sentence containing information about speaker, addressee and the speech act involved are reviewed and discussed. Arguments for this analysis have the form of showing that overt sentences behave in some way as if they were subordinate to a higher sentence…

This bibliography consists of a select list of books and articles pertaining to a comparison of American and British English. Entries include studies of linguistic contrasts, sociolinguistic comparisons, differences in language usage, some diachronic topics, and reference materials such as dictionaries. Entries include both American and European…