Speech play reflects a degree of selectivity and creativity beyond ordinary language use. Consistent with the approach of ethnography, each culture may have its own definition of speech play. Articles collected in this volume investigate speech play as language structure--"Play Languages: Implications for (Socio) Linguistics,""Secret Play…

In this paper, non-standard types of agreement are examined. Such agreement types are those in which two or more supposedly agreeing categories show discord rather than concord. For example, if a language has noun-adjective agreement, there may, under limited circumstances, be non-standard agreement where the subject is plural and the agreeing…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of coordination reduction in various languages and to propose a universal set of rules that will account for all types of coordination reduction. In a brief discussion of some of the more recent proposals on coordination reduction it will be shown that these proposals fail to account for the…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how languages express contrastive emphasis. It is argued that all contrastively emphasized constructions have underlying cleft sentences, independent of whether the surface structure is an equational or a nonequational one. It is furthermore argued that emphatic word orders are systematic and predictable…

This book focuses on the nature and development of knowledge concerning grammar and the meanings coded by grammar. This knowledge is inferred from performance, from sentences and the settings in which they are spoken, and from signs of comprehension or incomprehension of sentences by preschool children. The first two stages of linguistic…

The author proposes that dissimilation, like assimilation, be considered a natural linguistic process, motivated by perceptual (psychological factors, which operates to preserve the distinctiveness of the stem-affix relationship. Defining dissimilation as the process which occurs when twosegments in the same word share the same phonetic features…

By examining the relations among sections of the fundamental frequency contour used in judging an utterance as a question or statement, the experiment described in this report seeks a more detailed understanding of auditory-linguistic interaction in the perception of intonation contours. The perceptual process may be divided into stages (auditory,…

Traditionally linguists have considered pidgin languages as corrupted constructions of European vocabulary based on African or Asian syntax. Recent systematic studies of these languages show complex patterns of mutual influence on many levels. To explain the structural similarities of pidgin languages, some linguists, such as Keith Whinnom, have…

Based on the premise that perception is a continual series of simple hypotheses about the external world which are built up and selected by sensory experiences, this book explores in detail some of the major findings in perception and speculates about interconnections between sensory experiences, brain function, perception, and language and…

Grice's analysis of conversational maxims and implications is examined in the light of Malagasy language and ways of speaking. A cultural contrast in primary assumptions is described. (Author/RM)

A study of the functional aspects of Wernicke's and Broca's areas of the cerebral cortex and their relationship to second language learning and ability. Some implications are drawn regarding second language teaching and methodology. There seems to be a relationship between methodology and the neurological mechanism used by students. (AMH)

A paradigm gap has prevented research on second language acquisition theory and indigenized varieties of English from making substantive contributions to each other. The varieties of English represent several significant sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic variables, the investigation of which will put second language acquisition theory on firmer…

Describes the "Competition Model" (Bates and MacWhinney, 1982) dealing with second-language sentence processing by bilinguals and research that has further developed theories dealing with the model. (CB)

Describes a study in which English relative clauses were elicited from two groups of Italian learners: formal learners and informal learners. The results agreed with the order of acquisition predicted by the Accessibility Hierarchy (Keenan and Comrie, 1977, 1979). (Author/SED)

Examines assumptions about second language acquisition by means of the anatomical model described in Part 1 of the study (see vol. 6, no. 2 of this journal). The analysis shows that the assumptions are rooted in the Direct Method and that they retard learning. Implications for second language instruction are noted. (SED)