French and Dutch differ regarding the manifestations and lexical functions of the stress pattern of words. The present study examined group differences in stress processing abilities between French-native and Dutch-native listeners, thus extending previous cross-linguistic comparisons involving Spanish-native and French-native adults. The results…

This paper compares the production and perception of the rise-fall contour of contrastive statements and the final rise-fall part of polar questions in Greek. The results show that these superficially similar rise-falls exhibit fine phonetic differences in the alignment of tonal targets with the segmental string, and that these differences can be…

A study compared functional similarities and differences in the passive in English and Korean, examining several pragmatics theories (given/new information, theme-rheme structure, foregrounding/backgrounding, defocusing, role prominence, emotional function) for their explanations of the functions of the passives. It is concluded that there is a…

The aim of this journal is to provide a forum for the presentation in print of the latest original research, chiefly by the faculty and students of the Department of Linguistics and related departments of the University of Kansas, but others not associated with the university may also contribute. Part I of this issues, on General Linguistics,…

Every language has different systems for expressing third party information. While in some languages grammar rules stipulate how to do this, in both Japanese and English the degree of indirection or direction a speaker should use to express information obtained as hearsay is genuinely a pragmatic language issue. English speakers tend to express…

It is proposed that in the teaching and testing of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), emphasis should be placed on features that are universal to all languages rather than particular to Chinese. Shared properties of Chinese and other languages, particularly English, are illustrated through examination of three major language components:…

An investigation of the relative speed with which listeners comprehend and answer subject- and object-questions in English, German, and Dutch is reported. The primary data are the times required to answer pairs of questions such as, "Who is chasing the boy?" and "Who is the boy chasing?" and their counterparts in Dutch and…

English pronunciation lessons and exercises for Spanish speakers are presented. The lessons are designed with the phonological characteristics of both the native and target languages in mind. The lessons cover consonants and consonant clusters, vowels and diphthongs, stress and pitch, and rapid speech phonology. A chart is provided which…

Results of a diagnostic test revealed that Thai students have no more trouble in learning English prepositions than others learning English as a second language; all the groups had difficulty. Error analysis was found to be just as effective in explaining mistakes as contrastive analysis. (AG)

Error analysis has been presented as a means of "finding a shorter way" in the analysis of learners' difficulties in foreign languages. The alternative starts with a comparison of the native and foreign languages in order to predict such difficulties. The two types are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. (Author/MSE)

To achieve effective intercultural communication, participants must understand how behavioral differences may lead to miscommunication. Such behavioral differences can be illustrated by Arab and American nonverbal behavior. Individualism is the ideal for the American middle class, whereas Arabs are motivated by public opinion. Yet in the Arab…

A study compared and contrasted the use of openings, summational closings, and closures in Italian and U.S. business letters to examine the role of culture in international business communication. It is argued that the Italian business letter should be studied in a functional intra-cultural perspective where its meaning creates and maintains…

An experimental study of the interpretation of lexical anaphors and pronouns by Icelandic-speaking children is reported. The standard binding theory of English is reviewed, and problems in the application of the theory to Icelandic, which has long-distance antecedents, are discussed. A parameterized binding theory constructed to account for the…

Approaches to the testing of foreign language proficiency have tended to mirror prevailing philosophies in foreign language teaching, and for many years, no serious effort was made to devise oral proficiency measures. However, after World War II, structural linguistics applied to the classroom produced audiolingualism, which was a method heavily…

Slobin (1991, 1996a,b, 1997) has argued that the typological differences between languages with either a satellite-framed or a verb-framed lexicalisation pattern (Talmy, 2000) have important discourse and rhetorical consequences for the expression of "paths of movement" and "manner of movement". These differences are especially…