English spelling is reputedly full of irregularities and therefore not a safe guide to pronunciation. Most modern teaching of English pronunciation to adult speakers of other languages has relied on some kind of ancillary device, variously called a special alphabet, broad phonetic notation, or phonemic transcription. Such devices have been…

Pronunciation of some sounds in Australian English causes ambiguities in cases where phonemes seem to have merged. This paper discusses some of the ambiguities arising from phonemic changes and provides examples of pronunciation variations in British and Australian English--mainly in vowels, but also in consonants and syllabification. Several…

It is well known to anyone involved in teaching English to Finnish students that it is difficult for Finns to distinguish between English /ptk/ and /bdg/. This second volume in a series on a Finnish-English contrastive project reports on a study which attempted to obtain more concrete knowledge about the ability of speakers of Finnish to use the…

Effective teaching of a foreign language to people who already have a command of their mother tongue requires surveying the main elements of the second language to determine differences from the first language. Phonological, lexical, and grammatical systems and cultural differences are considered. (SW)

Analyzes English spelling errors of 108 Spanish-speaking second-, third- and fourth-graders in a bilingual program. The less successful students produced significantly more Spanish-influenced errors than the more successful ones. "Long E" and initial blend "s" words were most frequently missed. (Author/LMO)

Discusses five practical and necessary features of language learning theory: audio-oral phenomenon, linking creativity and control, temporary separation of language components, contrastive analysis, and language learning via instruction. Major language theories and technologies in light of their theoretical justifications versus their realistic…

The process by which Irish-speaking regions became English-speaking regions over a period of centuries is examined. The first part argues that schooling played far less of a role in the shift than some scholars have suggested, because schools were not structured to be particularly effective in teaching the second language (English) to…

The textbook is designed to introduce beginning students of linguistics to the variety of languages of the world. It assumes the reader has mastered the basic principles of linguistics, but seeks background information in the broad range of language phenomena found in the world's languages. Chapters address these topics: classification of…

This study examined Norwegian seventh graders' English writing, investigating how close their writing in English was to their writing in Norwegian and how levels of performance in second language writing were linked to broader issues (curriculum guidelines, extensive reading, contact time with the target language, and teacher qualifications).…

Discusses the results of an error analysis of 100 English compositions written by university students in Iran. It is suggested that mistakes are not primarily due to interference from the native language, but to developmental errors, similar to errors made in first language acquisition. (Author/AMH)

A study is described which (1) focuses on the syllable structure of the interlanguage in an attempt to determine how it differs from the syllable structure of the target language, and which (2) begins to identify some of the processes which may shape that interlanguage syllable structure. (Author)

Twelve subjects in university-level beginning Japanese were interviewed bi-monthly to determine how propositional negation emerged in their interlanguage. Findings show varied negation patterns were used over time and that an ordering effect was observed in the predicate environment in which negation is acquired first.(19 references) (Author/CK)

Presents results of a study of the use of the dative with the genitive prepositions "(an)statt,""trotz,""wahrend" and "wegen" based on two corpora. Notes that a comparison of these two computerized corpora shows that no clear trend exists regarding the increased use of the dative with these prepositions in…

Reviews improvements to the Dictionary on Computer (DOC) research system redesigned by the University of California Berkeley Project on Linguistic Analysis. Emphasizes the redesigned program's greater accessibility since its introduction into a microcomputer environment. Underscores DOC's research value for studying the history of Chinese…

Linguistic oddities left behind by the historical development of German may be used to assist students in learning German and give them a clearer picture of both the German language and culture. Examples are given and suggestions are made on how best to integrate these oddities into the curriculum at the undergraduate level. (31 references) (LET)