The point of departure for this article is the contrast between the theoretical landscape within view of language teaching professionals in 1991 and that of today. I argue that the pragmatic goal of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) developers and researchers to create and evaluate learning opportunities pushes them to consider a variety…

This dissertation compares the phonetic and phonological features of adult non-speakers' productions of words in an endangered Native American language, Oregon Northern Paiute (also known, and hereafter referred to, as Numu), to productions by fluent speakers. The purpose of this comparison is two-fold. The first purpose is to examine the…

This dissertation investigates the acquisition of oblique relative clauses in L2 Spanish by English and Moroccan Arabic speakers in order to understand the role of previous linguistic knowledge and its interaction with Universal Grammar on the one hand, and the relationship between grammatical knowledge and its use in real-time, on the other hand.…

Questions empirical and heuristic value of parameters in most uses to elucidate relationship between markedness theory and parameters. Shows approaches labeled Principles and Parameters are reformulation of markedness theory; PP reformulation may be less adequate than former models of MT; function of parameters in current phonological literature…

In English and Chinese, questions with a "wh"-object and a universally quantified subject (e.g. "What did everyone buy?") allow an individual answer ("Everyone bought apples.") and a pair-list answer ("Sam bought apples, Jo bought bananas, Sally bought..."). By contrast, the pair-list answer is reportedly unavailable in Japanese and Korean. This…

Are speakers equipped with preferences concerning grammatical structures that are absent in their language? We examine this question by investigating the sensitivity of English speakers to the sonority of onset clusters. Linguistic research suggests that certain onset clusters are universally preferred (e.g., "bd" is greater than "lb"). We…

Examines some of the rules of atomic phonology so as to elucidate just what the theory is and is not capable of. The theory of atomic phonology maintains that all linguistic variation requiring distinctly varied formulations of phonological rules is predictable from a set of "atomic rules" and universal principles of grammar. (SED)

The author reviews tri-ad language models and suggests that they are not sufficient in describing language use. He introduces a six component language model adopted from the model originally intended for persuasive oratory. (MS)

The characteristics which were held to define the Chinese language within the Western intellectual tradition placed it for a time at the centre in discussions of the genealogy of mankind. The dominant premodern paradigm for the explanation of human linguistic diversity was Biblical exegesis, as discussed and elaborated within the framework of…

THIS DOCUMENT QUESTIONS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VALIDITY OF DISJUNCTIVE CONCEPTS. A DISJUNCTIVE CONCEPT IS DEFINED AS AN AGGREGATE CHARACTERIZED BY THE PRESENCE OF EITHER ONE OF SEVERAL ATTRIBUTES OR ALL OF THEM, WHERE THE DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES DO NOT SHARE ANY ELEMENTS IN COMMON. THE AUTHOR FEELS THAT NATURAL HUMAN CATEGORIES ARE TYPICALLY NOT…

Discusses the numerical distribution of the six logically possible orders of the Subject (S), Object (O), and Verb (V) across world languages. It is argued that the semantic relations of S, O, and V are best characterized as three concentric regions; S contained in O and O contained in V. (29 references) (Author/VWL)

Purpose: To extend formal models of language learnability to applications in clinical treatment of children with functional phonological delays. Method: The focus of the narrative review is on phonological complexity. This follows from learnability theory, whereby complexity in the linguistic input to children has been shown to trigger language…

Similarities among different languages that are met with by means of empirical, confrontative analysis should not be mistaken for universals in the logical or philosophical sense. What Verma has described as the "propositional constituents" of a sentence (participants, process, and a temporal relation) may be considered logically…

Discusses the origins and development of language, both oral and written. (GB)

Analyzes the vowel position in the words for here" and there" across six language families in order to present evidence for a universal sound symbolism. (MB)