Examines similarities and differences in the degree of commitment and detachment in English, Bulgarian, and Bulgarian English research articles in linguistics. Analysis shows considerable difference in the overall distribution of hedges and boosters throughout the introductions, discussions, and conclusions of the articles, which may lead to…

Argues that functional categories instantiated in the learners' first language (L1) transfer to the initial state of second language syntactic development. On the basis of Zulu interlanguage data on acquisition of the obligatory declarative complementizer "ukuthi" (that) by English native speakers, argues that Comp contains a null…

Addresses the morphosyntactic development of two bilingual children and the issues raised by the controversy between the single system and the separate development hypotheses. Set within a generative grammar framework, evidence on German/English and Latvian/English is presented from the earliest stages of language development. (Author/VWL)

Investigates the cross-linguistic patterns of the overgeneralization of the intransitive/transitive alternations found in children's speech and provides new evidence from findings based on the acquisition of French. The morphosyntatic characterization of such phenomena in English and Hebrew child language is followed by a description of the…

Investigates how and what properties of abstract lexical entries in the mental lexicon interact with the distribution of surface morphemes in language contact or first language attrition. Data from Hungarian/English bilingual children provide evidence that asymmetries in the production of Hungarian preverbs and case suffixes may be explained by…

Examined the role of textual constraints, rather than previous knowledge, in resolving lexical ambiguities in second-language learning. Twenty ambiguous words with differing Portuguese translations were selected, disambiguated based on collocation, and tested with a concordancer, using a 20,000,000-word English language corpus of expository text.…

Examines the behavior of the morpheme, um, in Toba Batak and Tagalog, which alternates as a prefix or an infix, arguing that the variation is conditioned by constraints on consonant clusters. Three patterns of variation that occur with um are described, noting that the stages involved in changing from infixed to prefixed positions over time are…

Explores the criterion-related validity of the Swedish version of the Communicative Development Inventories--Words & Sentences (SECDI-W&S). In two follow-up procedures, SECDI-W&S was used to assess vocabulary and grammar skills in 32 children. Overall results confirm that the criterion-related validity of the SECDI is sound. (Author/VWL)

Reports on an aspect of a larger project broadly examining the role of language in health care practices. Discusses the effects of dementia on the speech of an aging white Xhosa speaker in the context of a health care institution. Dementia has not been conclusively demonstrated in black Africans. Shows the effects of dementia on the responses…

Attempts to use a construct of literary theory to solve a linguistic problem: the notion of narrative perspective to explain tense variation in Bulgarian narrative. The specific phenomenon of variation is between the past indefinite and the indirect tenses in passages where all the verb forms should be indirect. (24 references) (Author/CK)

This article reflects the most significant advances made in the teaching and promotion of Portuguese in Romania in the past 20 years. The Portuguese program at the University of Bucharest is described as are special courses given in commemoration of landmark dates in Portuguese history and special events celebrating Portuguese history and culture.…

Discusses the language situation in the region of Brittany in France, where the Breton language, a Celtic rather than Romance language, is dying out but a Breton ethnic identity is growing. (Author/JL)

Explores divergent Quichua language ideologies among an indigenous group of the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. Analysis of interviews with indigenous highlanders reveals the presence of two conflicting Quichua language ideologies. Provides insight into language attitudes in the face of language shift and how language ideologies are critical to the…

Discusses the politeness strategies for the speech act of directive-giving in Athabaskan culture with particular examples from Navajo. Suggests that as a culture that highly values negative politeness, Navajo employs strategies for indirection that are to some degree reflected in the grammar of Navajo directives, but that also exploit…

Highlights the sixth Command Language Program Manager seminar, hosted by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, which focused on language training opportunities that are available now as well as those that will be in the future. New initiatives discussed include an Arabic in Action course, Web-based language training, training…