Two surveys of Parisian French mid-vowel articulation and preference, performed in 1986 and 1988, are reviewed and compared. Informants were 21 male teacher trainees (study 1) and 60 male local transportation workers, aged 20 to 60 (study 2). Conclusions are drawn concerning mid-vowel opposition, anteriorization, and vowel harmony. Emphasis is…

Spontaneous speech samples from 10 Swedish children were analyzed grammatically. The five subjects (age five) with specific language impairment (SLI) differed from controls in their more restricted usage of word order patterns and number of grammatical errors. Their speech also showed frequent omissions of grammatical morphemes. Results suggest…

Five studies examined the contributions of syllable-ordering and rhythmic properties of syllable strings to 6- and 9-month-old infants' speech segmentation. Results indicate that the capacity for integrating multiple sources of information in speech perception emerges between 6 and 9 months, in rough synchrony with the emergence of integration in…

This paper examines the role of hypotheses in several introductory science texts, including the various elements normally associated with hypotheses, such as: assumptions, generalization, and prediction; observation and experiment; and induction and probability. It discusses the major types of hypotheses: theoretical, statistical, and heuristic.…

This analysis focuses on patterns of language choice and language mixing in a Chinese/English-speaking bilingual community in the Northeast of England. (34 references) (VWL)

Compares patterns of cluster realization from 47 children ranging in age from 3;4 to 6;8 with functional (nonorganic) speech disorders with those reported in the literature for normal acquisition and reveals that these patterns are essentially the same for both groups. (33 references) (GLR)

Eight preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 30 nonimpaired children were selected on the basis of specified mean length of utterance (MLU) ranges and compared on word class production. The high-MLU and low-MLU groups of SLI children could not be empirically differentiated based on their word class profiles, whereas the…

It is proposed that the study of the history of the French language would be enhanced by combining the methodology of linguistics with that of history proper, examining institutional, cultural, and social history as part of the evolution of a language. Distinctions between variation, innovation, shift, and change are examined. (Author/MSE)

Examines whether systematic differences exist in babbling and first words of infants from different language backgrounds (English, French, Japanese and Swedish) and asks whether differences result from the phonetic structure of the languages. Statistically significant differences discerned in the babbling phonetic selection indicates that phonetic…

Provides evidence for developmental changes in the composition of the lexicon, reflecting a shift in emphasis from reference, to predication, to grammar. Findings show that the study of qualitative variation in lexical style is confounded by quantitative variation in rate of lexical development. Tables are appended. (Contains 42 references.) (JP)

The diverse population of a community college requires strategies that heighten motivation and reduce frustration of students trying to master complex foreign language grammatical structures. A "package approach" is described for teaching all object pronouns as extra material for students to enjoy. (Contains five references.) (Author/LB)

Language choice (LC) for literacy must consider mother tongue, language of first sight, local lingua francas, and any readily accessible world language. Common but false assumptions regarding LC are noted: multilingualism as a barrier to development, the necessity of a world language, and the permanance of language patterns. (Contains four…

Presents a systematic comparison of the function of voice alterations in three genetically unrelated languages--Biblical Hebrew, Chinese, and English. It is shown that passive or passivelike function can be divided into a number of discrete functional types, each of which is associated with a certain combination of translation equivalents in the…

Considers the metrical foot in Diyari, a South Australian Language, and concludes that, on the basis of stress alone, an argument can be made for the constituency of the metrical stress foot under certain theoretical assumptions. This conclusion is reinforced by the occupance in Diyari of other less theory-dependant phenomena. (46 references) (JL)

Argues that contour tones in East Asian languages behave as melodic units consisting of a root node [upper] dominating a branching specification. It is also argued that, with upper as the tonal root node, no more than two rising or falling tones will contrast underlying. (49 references) (JL)