From the sixth to the eighth century A.D., Japan was the recipient of massive cultural infusions from China. This acceptance of the Chinese pattern included, and to a great extent was based on, the acceptance of the Chinese language. The Chinese writing system was applied to Japanese because there was no other model to follow and in spite of the…

The relative merits of Chinese characters as a writing system are discussed as an introduction to the proceedings of the CLTA panel on Chinese characters. (KM)

All visual signals need to be interpreted. The educational system needs to teach students to interpret various media in addition to the printed word. (Author/STS)

Summarizes some of the major pieces of evidence concerning the archeological clay tokens, specifically the technique for their manufacture, their geographic distribution, chronology, and the context in which they are found. Discusses the interpretation of tokens as the first example of visible language, particularly as an antecedent of Sumerian…

Five propositions and observations and six guidelines on the subject of non-sexist language and editorial policies. (LS)

Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of language and literature can illuminate the workings of multigenre compositions. Bakhtin's theories of heteroglossia and novelization are applicable because they are not genre dependent. As he says, they reach "beyond the bounds of the novel as genre" to reflect the ways all kinds of written language may…

A count of the characters in two combined groups of local and United Press International news stories suggests that the frequency ranking of the letters used most in typesetting is ETAOIN RSHLDCU, rather than the traditional ETAOIN SRHLDCU or the order reported by I. E. Fang in 1966. (GT)

Presents a functional description of punctuation as a delimiter of words, sentences, and paragraphs, and as a semantic and extralinguistic indicator. (AM)

Examines the notion that shorthand systems derive their efficiency from the operation of a nonlexical sound-to-writing route. In an experiment, word frequency and accurate phoneme transcription accuracy were correlated whereas nonsense words resulted in decreased transcription accuracy, indicating that lexical effects for shorthand are just as…

Traces the development of punctuation and the understanding of its role over the centuries. Throughout its existence, punctuation has played the dual role of recording prosodic contours and syntactic structure. Past research and discussion has not provided a coherent picture. A model of punctuation based on systematic observation is needed. (175…

Examined whether phonological decoding could be observed among severely and profoundly deaf children during reading. The ability of 20 deaf children to detect phonological similarities between three written pseudo words was investigated. Results suggest a link between sensitivity to phonology in written language and speech skills. Implications of…

This study compared Greeks with Chinese, from 8 to 14 years of age, on measures of processing efficiency, working memory, and reasoning. All processes were addressed through three domains of relations: verbal/propositional, quantitative, and visuo/spatial. Structural equations modelling and rating scale analysis showed that the architecture and…

This paper critically examines one particular issue against the background of changes in South Africa's higher education system consequent upon the advent of a non-racial democracy--the possibility of implementing multilingual instructional polices that include indigenous African languages in its universities. Currently, a great deal of applied…