Based on the results of three variationist studies on personal pronouns used in Montreal French, shows how real-time data can shed light on apparent time interpretation and increase understanding of morphosyntactic changes. Longitudinal data for a 24-year period from three corpora of spoken French are used to discuss cases of variation.…

Focuses on the turn-taking patterns of Deaf signers and compares them with turn-taking patterns found in spoken interaction. Reports on research involving conversational data obtained from two Deaf friendship groups that aimed to establish whether Deaf interactants orient to a one-at-a-time model of turn-taking or whether there was any evidence to…

This study examined the relationship between emotion regulation, language ability, and reticent behavior in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typical peers. Participants included 43 children with SLI and 43 typically developing children, for a total sample of 86 participants. Children were selected from 2 age ranges: 5-8…

The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of creativity on performance in oral narrative tasks. Participants in the study were Hungarian learners whose creativity was measured with a standardized creativity test. We examined the relationships among 3 aspects of creativity--originality, flexibility, and creative fluency--and different…

In order to investigate whether addressees can make immediate use of speaker-based constraints during reference resolution, participant addressees' eye movements were monitored as they helped a confederate cook follow a recipe. Objects were located in the helper's area, which the cook could not reach, and the cook's area, which both could reach.…

Vocal folds undergo osmotic challenge by mouth breathing during singing, exercising, and loud speaking. Just 15 min of obligatory oral breathing, to dry the vocal folds, increases phonation threshold pressure (P[subscript th]) and expiratory vocal effort in healthy speakers (M. Sivasankar & K. Fisher, 2002). We questioned whether oral breathing is…

Children are coming to classrooms across the United States with a need to develop their oral language. With the increased promotion of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, commercialized programs are being provided for teachers to use to build oral language in their students. The authors believe that schools and teachers can best enhance…

Children's listening habits and skills are a good predictor of oral language proficiency, reading and writing skills, and later school success. Good listening skills do not simply develop naturally--they must be taught and practiced--yet many teachers do not get training on how to teach children to listen. Using clear language and real-life…

The Pre-Kindergarten Inventory of Demonstrated Skills (Pre-KIDS) is designed to be used before the school year begins so that teachers and staff can obtain information about incoming kindergarten students. This information is intended to give teachers insight about what skills a student may or may not have before entering their classrooms. This…

The development of the use of the third-person singular -s in open syllable verbs in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing peers was examined. Verbs that included overt productions of the third-person singular -s morpheme (e.g. "Bobby plays ball everyday;" "Bear laughs when mommy buys…

Gestures are often used while speaking to aid in the speaker's packaging of the verbal message and/or to aid the listener in decoding the message. The ways in which bilinguals use gestures are reviewed in this article. Researchers have predicted that bilinguals' gesture use is related to bilinguals' language proficiency. However, no clear pattern…

The nature and origin of the human capacity for acquiring language is not yet fully understood. Here we uncover early roots of this capacity by demonstrating that humans are born with a preference for listening to speech. Human neonates adjusted their high amplitude sucking to preferentially listen to speech, compared with complex non-speech…

The classic picture of an autistic individual includes an impoverished ability to interpret or express emotion. The prosody of spoken language in autistic children is thought to lack emotional content. In this study, the verbal intonation of children with autism was examined and compared to that of children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and normal…

Young learners of Japanese heritage language (JHL) need a solid foundation of oral language to develop strong literacy skills. Considering the limited hours of instruction at JHL schools, oral language and literacy skills rely on a joint effort between the JHL school and parents. JHL schools that help parents understand the nuances of JHL…

This paper reports on the effects of classroom exercises that encourage noticing and conscious attention to form, which were part of a university EFL oral presentation course in Japan. The students on the course were given a set of exercises that encouraged them to notice and to reflect on L2 forms of their own choosing throughout one academic…