Defining peak as the climax of discourse, this paper argues that it is important to identify peak in order to get at the overall grammar of a given discourse. The paper presents case studies in which four instances of peak in narrative discourses occur in languages from four different parts of the world. It also illustrates the occurrence of a…

RESEARCH PROJECTS IN PROGRESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN'S CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR ARE OUTLINED IN THIS REPORT. EACH PROJECT DESCRIPTION INCLUDES A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PURPOSES, SCOPE, AND DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH, AS WELL AS AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORK ACTUALLY UNDERWAY. THE NAMES OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS ARE ALSO…

THREE GROUPS OF SUBJECTS WERE GIVEN A PASSAGE TO LEARN FOLLOWED BY A WRITTEN RECALL TEST. GROUP HA (HIGH ASSOCIATION) WAS GIVEN A PASSAGE WHICH INCLUDED 16 PAIRS OF ASSOCIATIVELY RELATED NOUNS. GROUPS LA (LOW ASSOCIATION) AND C (CONTROL) WERE GIVEN A PASSAGE CONTAINING ASSOCIATIVELY UNRELATED NOUNS. THE HA AND LA PASSAGES CONTAINED THE SAME…

THIS IS THE FIRST MAJOR SECTION OF A CHAPTER PREPARED FOR "THE MANUAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY," P.H. MUSSEN, EDITOR, IN PREPARATION. IT IS AN INTRODUCTION TO TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR WRITTEN FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PRESENTS SOME OF THE MAJOR IDEAS THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED IN MODERN LINGUISTIC THEORY, ALONG WITH CERTAIN OF THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL…

A COMPARISON OF ENGLISH, GERMAN, SPANISH, AND FRENCH SYLLABLE-LENGTH DATA SHOWS THAT THE EFFECT OF STRESS AND OF PLACE IN THE SENSE-GROUP VARIES MARKEDLY AMONG THESE LANGUAGES, WHEREAS THE EFFECT OF SYLLABLE TYPE (CLOSED/OPEN) HAS A NEARLY IDENTICAL RATIO IN ALL FOUR. AMONG THE THREE LANGUAGES WITH VARIABLE INTENSITY AND PLACE OF STRESS, THE…

AN EXPERIMENT INVOLVING 50 YOUNG MALE U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL UNDERGOING INTENSIVE TRAINING IN RUSSIAN WAS CONDUCTED TO MEASURE THEIR ATTITUDES AND MOTIVATIONS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING. THE TESTS GIVEN THEM WERE STRUCTURED IN TERMS OF SUCH ATTITUDES AS THEIR GENERAL INTEREST, PRAGMATISM (CAREER OR MATERIAL ADVANTAGE), XENOPHILIA (IDENTIFICATION WITH…

A GROUP OF 136 STUDENTS IN GERMAN ONE, TWO, AND THREE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY PARTICIPATED IN AN EXPERIMENT IN WHICH TESTS WERE MADE OF THEIR PRONUNCIATION OF INITIAL GERMAN "S" CLUSTERS (THOSE WHICH ARE SPELLED "S--" AND THOSE SPELLED "SCH--"). THIS PARTICULAR PRONUNCIATION PROBLEM WAS SELECTED BECAUSE THE GERMAN AND ENGLISH…

STUDIES WERE MADE OF THE ABILITY OF KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN TO CONTROL CORRECT PLURALIZATION RULES FOR ENGLISH NOUNS. PRODUCTION AND RECOGNITION TASKS WERE USED, WITH CARTOON PICTURES OF ANIMALS WITH NONSENSE NAMES. THE CHILDREN WERE ASKED TO GIVE SINGULAR NAMES FROM CORRECT PLURAL NAMES, AND VICE VERSA, AND TO CHOOSE THE BEST NAMES FOR THE ANIMALS.…

THE PHONETIC FEATURES NECESSARY FOR GOOD PRONUNCIATION AND EFFECTIVE USE OF LANGUAGES WERE STUDIED. A FOUR-WAY RESEARCH TECHNIQUE WAS DEVELOPED FOR COMPARISON AMONG LANGUAGES (1) INVOLVING SPECTROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS, (2) SPECTROGRAPHIC SYNTHESIS, (3) MOTION PICTURE ANALYSIS, AND (4) STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. THE ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION CONSTRUCTED FOR…

VARIOUS WAYS OF EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH AND MATERIALS IN AFRICAN STUDIES WERE REPORTED. THE PARTICIPANTS (31) ENGAGED IN DISCUSSIONS, PRESENTED PAPERS, AND ADOPTED RESOLUTIONS DURING THE 2-DAY CONFERENCE. THE PAPERS WERE PRESENTED ON TOPICS SUCH AS--RESEARCH PROBLEMS, RESOURCES, AFRICAN REACTION, LEVELS OF COMMUNICATIONS, PEDAGOGICAL…

The speech of three Quiche Mayan children aged 2;1, 2;9, and 3;0 was monitored for the acquisition of the distinction between ergative and absolutive person markers. The children were found not to confuse markers, but to use either the appropriate one or none at all. The one exception to this rule, when analyzed, indicates that children grasp the…

The adjacent utterances of three mothers and their children, aged 22.5 to 26.5 months, were recorded and analyzed. Each mother was found most frequently to express the same semantic-syntactic relation as did her child in the preceding utterance. This correspondence appeared to be independent of the parent utterance which preceded the matching…

Children aged three to six were shown drawings of three objects that were identical except for differences in size in one or both dimensions. Each child was asked to determine if one object was the tallest. A missing feature model was not supported, since a child was often correct for some items and incorrect for others. Errors were partially…

The spontaneous speech of seven children was monitored for "wh" questions. The children were observed longitudinally from about age 24 to 36 months. The pattern of development with regard to the deletion of non-obligatory verbs revealed that "what,""where," and "who" questions presented increasing verb…

This study documents the emerging ability of children to use demonstrative expressions and definite and indefinite articles in order to establish a clear reference for the hearer in a natural discourse situation. The analysis is based primarily on transcripts of twins recorded over a period of nine months when they were 33 to 42 months old.…