This paper discusses discourse markers (e.g., "and, so, anyway") and offers an overview of their characteristics and occurrence, using English for illustration. The role of discourse markers is to signal speaker comment on the current utterance. The discourse marker is not part of the sentence's propositional content. While absence of…

A study analyzed patterns in one speech act, that of refusal, in 60 native English speakers (responding in English only) and 120 native Spanish speakers (60 responding in English and 60 in Spanish). Native English speakers were college students in the United States and Spanish speakers were students in Spain. A questionnaire was used to elicit…

A study of middle verb constructions in Canadian French and Madrid Spanish suggests that two alleged defining characteristics of these constructions are not really defining characteristics. These are: (1) that the constructions only appear in generic sentences, and (2) that they disallow "by"-phrases of the type found in passive…

This paper addresses an analysis of cross-cultural discourse within the realm of business and economic informational texts. The study is based on the findings of Michael Clyne, who analyzed the organization of linguistic and sociological texts written by English and German speakers, for academic purposes. The paper outlines the premise and the…

A discussion of young children's production of English utterances with missing constituents focuses on the omission of subjects. The theory that young children have different grammars from those of adults is disputed, and it is suggested that, instead, subjects are omitted due to performance factors. Processing limitations in child language are…

It is suggested that contrastive linguistics, the systematic comparison of two languages, be considered in the preparation of instructional materials and as a choice of teaching methods and techniques for training tranlators and interpreters. The contrastive analysis hypothesis suggests that the major source of errors committed by learners of a…

A study examined English grammatical characteristics used in the signing of teachers of hearing-impaired students, using a diglossic continuum between American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Scalogram analysis or implicational scaling, a traditional tool in variation theory useful for analyzing samples where there are a small number of tokens…

This issue of the journal includes these papers on contrastive linguistics: "Some Problems of YES-NO Answers" (Aleksander Szwedek); "Danish versus Russian. A Short Analysis of the Verb" (Christian Hougaard); "Polish SIE Constructions and Their English Counterparts" (Wojciech Kubinski); "More on the Time Reference and the Analysis of Tense"…

This volume is one in a series of studies in linguistics that is intended to supplement the "International Review of Applied Linguistics." Discourse analysis, or looking at language as text in context, is presented in the first chapter. This is correlated with what is known about the differences between languages in a second chapter on contrastive…

This paper describes a teaching method based on generative transformational grammar that has been successfully used in the ESL (English as a second language) classroom. The method and techniques are based on the Elgin-Rush study in which the problem of teaching basic writing skills to native English speakers was addressed. The present study…

The pedagogical usefulness of contrastive analysis (CA) is examined and suggestions are offered on ways to use it in foreign language instruction, with particular reference to instruction in English as a Second Language in India. Some of the literature that maintains that CA is almost useless to language teachers is reviewed and answered. The…

THIS GUIDE AND COMMENTARY DESCRIBES "STARTING ENGLISH EARLY," A 30-MINUTE COLOR FILM BASED ON THE DAILY ACTIVITIES OF SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN WHO MADE UP A DEMONSTRATION CLASS IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE OFFERED BY THE NDEA INSTITUTE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES DURING THE SUMMER OF 1966. THE PURPOSE OF THE FILM…

THIS BEGINNING TEXT PRESENTS THE ESSENTIALS OF THAI PRONUNCIATION AND GRAMMAR IN A FORMAT GEARED TO REGULAR COLLEGE LANGUAGE COURSE SCHEDULING. THE COURSE CONSISTS OF TWO VOLUMES, BOOK I, PART 1 (LESSONS 1-14) AND BOOK I, PART 2 (LESSONS 15-25), PROVIDING MATERIAL FOR TWO UNIVERSITY SEMESTERS OF CLASSROOM AND LABORATORY WORK. BASED ON A…

This compilation provides abstracts of 150-200 words each for M.A. theses in Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of California, Los Angeles from the inception of that program in 1969 to the end of 1978. Each entry provides the author's name, thesis title, and name of committee chairperson. A subject index, a culture and…

Four papers report on phonetic differences between Finnish and English, with pedagogical implications for teaching English as a second language. "The English /ptk/-/bdg/ Distinction: Data and Discussion" by Kari Suomi is a survey of recent work on the phonetic parameters of the fortis/lenis distinction. The distinction…