This paper presents a comparative analysis of the sounds in American English and Brazilian Portuguese in order to focus on the problems that Brazilian students may encounter when learning to speak English. The comparative analysis of the consonants, vowels, and diphthongs describes how a given sound is pronounced in both languages. Particular…

This unannotated bibliography lists over 400 works, published between 1924 and 1971, dealing with the phonology of about 30 languages whose speakers are frequently taught English. For these languages, the bibliography includes as complete as possible a listing of studies within the generative framework. Where the coverage by generative treatments…

The ideal linguistics course for undergraduates planning to teach a foreign language is one taught by a specialist thoroughly familiar with the linguistic problems of the language in question. The specialist should also be aware of the comparative problems of the student's native language. American students expecting to teach a foreign language…

Introductory remarks, critical of teaching methods in language programs, lead the author to explore the concept of "culture" and its place in the curriculum. Several definitions of culture are proposed and followed by contrastive examples in French and Spanish. The teaching of culture through language instruction is suggested to be a means of…

The types of syntactic errors made by children learning a second language provide insight into the way in which children acquire the second language. The contrastive analysis hypothesis states that while the child is learning a second language, he will tend to use his native language structures in his second language speech; where there are…

This paper examines the formal means by which Czech distinguishes transitive and intransitive verbs, and specifically the role of the particle "se" in the process usually called "derived intransitivization.""Se" is shown to perform a number of functions which preclude its being called simply an "intransitivizing…

This is an attempt to compile, from public sources, as complete a bibliography as possible of works related to linguistics and having to do with transformational generative grammar. The arrangement is alphabetical by author and chronological by publication or delivery date of works of a given author. The majority of items are also indexed by…

This volume brings together the majority of lectures and papers presented at the 1998 and 1999 discourse symposia at Vaxjo University. Part one, "Four Perspectives on Discourse," offers a matrix perspective on narrative, a cross cultural perspective on academic rhetoric, a cognitive perspective on informational discourse, and a construction…

Using a questionnaire, this study investigates what representatives of the American English and Mandarin cultures say when they want to refuse a request. Findings stress the differences between the strategies of refusal such as expressing or avoiding an expression of a positive attitude, or giving external or personal reasons for refusing. (18…

Examines the relationship of codes across languages, with particular reference to written language and to English in relation to Japanese and Chinese. Reviews language contact and language learning effects related to reading, writing, cognition and linguistic creativity as various types of cross-language effects in biliteracy. (42 references)…

Discusses the relations in learning between primary (L1) and second languages, including the theme of language learning and face-to-face verbal interaction; the conjunction of research in language learning and in bilingualism; and work on the role of metalinguistc activities in this area. Notes that the ethnographic data collected show that resort…

Investigated whether or not Japanese people are more indirect than Americans in conversations between same status interlocutors and whether the use of indirectness is influenced by in-group and out-group distinctions for speech acts of requests and complaints. Results reveal that Japanese people may be more direct than assumed, at least when no…

The issue of language variation is examined from three perspectives: the political view of nonnative varieties as examples of power; the anthropological view of language as an aspect of culture; and the pedagogical view of English as a static entity across cultures. Studies of teacher-training programs and teacher-trainee attitudes are included.…

Explains the use of a computer-assisted language-learning tool that utilizes acoustic data in real time to help Japanese second-language learners improve their perception and production of English consonants. The basic features of the speech-learning software that runs on a networked workstation and is used for pronunciation training are…

This cross-cultural study examined the generic structure of English and Arabic job application letters written by native Arabic speakers and English native speakers to find out the discourse genre text similarities and differences between them. A corpus of 60 job application letters written by 60 job applicants was subjected to the form of move…