The order of constituents in Finnish clauses having free word order is analyzed. It is proposed that these clauses are defined only in terms of their immediate constituency, and that the logically possible permutations of these constituents form another set of sequence constructions, which transcend individual clause types. Each sequence…

Two types of operating principles thought to play an important role in early lexical development are discussed. The principles are those concerned with: (1) assignment of reference or meaning to words; and (2) formation and evolution of categories. Discussion also addresses related issues, such as the developmentally important relationship between…

Because Mandarin Chinese is a language without much morphology in case, number, and gender; i.e., an uninflectional analytical language in which word order plays a decisive role in determining the semantics of a sentence; it seems inconvenient to investigate the language in the framework of relational grammar (RG); which depends heavily on case…

An analysis of two different WH-clause types (relative clauses and free relatives/indirect questions) in Yiddish investigates the acceptability of a gap in the first position. A model is presented that accounts for the differences between the two by positing three constraints on their formation. It is then argued that either these constraints…

Children's ability to learn aspects of their language in the absence of supportive evidence is discussed. Specifically, the learnability of null subjects in languages in which they appear is examined when indirect negative evidence is present. It is concluded that parameters such as the null subject parameter may not generate languages, strictly…

The contributions of Peter Stephen DuPonceau and John Pickering to American linguistics in the early nineteenth century are reviewed and discussed. Despite their probable status as amateurs in the study of American Indian languages and their very limited fieldwork, they made some significant contributions to the general field of language studies…

A study of the Samoan "-cia" suffix is presented. It argues that, contrary to prevailing theory, Samoan does have an active/passive contrast but that it is indicated by a difference in word order rather than by verbal morphology. It is shown, however, that "-cia" is similar to a passive suffix in that passive involves the…

The utility of negative evidence as input for grammar construction in second language learning is examined. Three issues are dealt with in this paper: (1) the arguments for and against negative evidence in first and second language acquisition are paralleled; (2) the question is situated within the larger issues of learner end-products and the…

The status and future of bureaucratic language is explored and four specific issues are addressed: (1) the characteristics of bureaucratic writing; (2) how it developed and what keeps it from changing; (3) where pressures for change come from; and (4) what can be done to foster greater literacy in bureaucratic writing among both writers and users…

This research deals with a series of preliminary studies of the management of questions by second language learners of Swedish. Question management here refers to the ability to produce an utterance which successfully elicits a response from an interlocutor, and the ability to determine correctly when a response is required. The three exploratory…

Documentation of immersion and post-immersion (secondary level) programs in the Montreal area shows that students are switching from post-immersion to regular programs, which include French as a second language. A survey was undertaken in the spring of 1979 to assess the number of students switching out of post-immersion classes, the grade level…

Recent research in adult pronunciation of foreign languages has assigned a significant role to affective variables. It has been shown that certain language functions, including many aspects of pronunciation, are handled by the right brain hemisphere. An experiment was conducted to study the extent to which the right hemisphere might be activated…

This paper examines the referential strategies used by Japanese children and adults in two story telling tasks focusing upon the following discourse contexts: (1) first mentions of story characters, (2) references in subject position to the same character, and (3) references to another character. The subjects, 60 children and 10 adults, were…

A group of syntactic studies, primarily concerning English and German, within the framework of generalized phrase structure grammar include: "English Adverb Placement in Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar" (Belinda L. Brodie), concerning the placement of modal, evaluative, temporal, and verb phrase adverbs; "Syntactic Conditions on Two Types of…

Spanish-English bilingual and monolingual English children aged 3-5 years were recorded in interaction with their mothers. Bilingual children were recorded twice each month, once in Spanish and once in English, and were also observed in a home situation. An analysis of the recorded language was done using selected morphological and syntactic…