The results of three experiments investigating where native speakers have a morpheme boundary between stems and word-final English derivational suffixes are reported. The way speakers organize phonological data is demonstrated. The results challenge the generative phonological hypothesis of maximal generalization and assumptions concerning…

Major controversies which have arisen from linguists' research into Black English and implications of this research for education of dialect-speaking students are discussed. (JD)

Indicates that native and nonnative speakers alike can make use of intonation if they explicitly listen for it, although prosodic features are generally ignored when other cues (semantic and pragmatic) are available. (Author/RL)

Compares two language intervention methods on effectiveness at improving syntactic structures of language-delayed preschool children. The interactive approach optimized syntax improvement for children with high pretraining scores, whereas the programed approach resulted in superior syntax performance for low-scoring children. (Author/BK)

Describes two experiments to evaluate acquisition of /r/ and /l/ involving native Japanese children and adults residing in the United States. The first required subjects to produce and discriminate English /r/ and /l/ in listening and speaking. Children's performance was better than adults'. In the second, the subject received programed training.…

The developmental nature of the reflective concept of "word" in young children was investigated and the degree to which these developmental aspects of metalinguistic awareness correspond to levels of cognitive development as described by Piaget was studied. (HOD)

Two investigations, one longitudinal/cross-sectional and naturalistic, and the other quasi-experimental, demonstrated that preschool-age children have the capacity for hypothetical reference but that this capacity operates within certain constraints. (Author/AM)

Reports on four experiments exploring the relationship between decision difficulty and subsequent retention. (Author/AM)

Investigates the functional nature of the communication process observed in interactions of English-speaking and Japanese-speaking children from the two-word stage onward, with special attention to the given/new contract and pragmatic factors. (Author/AM)

An investigation using the matched-guise technique sought to replicate findings that standard accented female speakers were evaluated on tapes as more masculine in attributed sex traits, but more feminine than nonstandard counterparts. (Author/AM)

Discusses language use by males and females and about males and females across cultures, and describes a study which sought to test the claim that English terms such as "man" and "he" are sex-neutral. (AM)

Notes developments in sociolinguistic theory with implications for the teaching of writing. (RL)

Investigates the effects of achievement incentive (extra credit) on the comprehension of time-compressed speech. Shows strong empirical support for using achievement incentive to enhance the effectiveness of compressed speech instruction. (JMF)

An investigation was made of the episodic structure of maternal speech to young children during a free-play session. Findings indicate that maternal speech was organized so as to provide a high degree of redundancy, suggesting that the organization of maternal speech increases predictability in the child's language environment. (Author/AM)

The existence of a "literary dialect" was postulated on several grounds, and specific syntactic structures were hypothesized to be literary or nonliterary. This was tested by obtaining judgments from adults on hypothesized literary and nonliterary structures, each presented at two levels of vocabulary difficulty. (HOD)