Selected results from an ethnographic study of communication in an American Pacific Northwest church community are presented. The case illustrates patterns in the selection of linguistic options of personal address and that personal address choice is influenced by such factors as context, public/private meanings, and interlocutor beliefs.…

Reviews electronic language data oriented specifically toward linguistic and language research, including machine-readable versions of established dictionaries; text databases, including newspapers and books; speech databases with phonetic/orthographic transcriptions; and bulletin boards and news groups available over computer networks. (17…

Three experiments tested 3-year-olds' subordinate classification. The first experiment found that novel noun presentation hindered classification. The second and third experiments found that provision of information for the purpose of distinguishing relevant subclasses, and introduction of novel nouns in conjunction with familiar basic level…

This study analyzed data from a diary study of a child's lexical development. Correct forms and errors in the use of the plural morpheme were recorded from 18 to 30 months. Morphology was acquired before syntax, and there was evidence for a syntactic definition of noun by the age of 20 months. (BC)

Part one of this study discussed the characteristics of errors involving single fricative consonants made by English children learning their first language. Here, the second part discusses the distinctive features of the single fricatives most commonly mispronounced, as well as the characteristics of errors with clustered fricatives. (34…

Combines methods to probe the learning strategies of two unsuccessful learners as they completed four activities (an interview, a verb exercise, a cloze passage, and a composition). These unsuccessful learners, when viewed through a task demand model, emerged as active strategy users, though they sometimes applied strategies inappropriately. (38…

Explores several models of cognitive and structural perspectives involving minority-language situations, and attempts to integrate them into a framework of predictive propositions that elaborate psychosocial climates of maintenance, majority-minority encounter, and interactive strategies. (65 references) (Author/CB)

A brief survey of existing contributions about language by economists is presented. An explanation is given of the fundamental economic reasoning on which minority language use can be modeled, and the presentation of a model of minority language use incorporating such aspects as goods, wage rates, prices, and the labor market is described.…

Describes and categorizes patterns we construct between texts of different kinds (patterns of intertextuality). Whether the principles of intertextuality can be applied to other sorts of semiotic "texts" such as computer graphics and hypermedia is raised as a crucial question for the future of educational research. (Contains 48…

Two experiments explored the effects of one aspect of English phonology, syllabic consonants, on young children's spelling. For first graders, vowel omissions and misorderings occurred primarily for syllabic /r/ and /l/, whereas by second grade only orthographically influenced errors on syllabic /l/ remained. Results show that the sound form of…

Investigates the proposed left hemisphere dysfunction in dyslexia by reviewing four studies using regional cerebral blood flow (RCBF) and combined auditory evoked responses with positron emission tomography. Emphasizes methodological issues. Finds that dyslexics showed a positive correlation between Heschl's gyrus activation and phonemic…

Discusses unique characteristics of Hebrew language and writing system in relation to a long historical tradition of bilingual texts. Explores present-day strategies of typesetting and translation and analyzes the "invisible" effects of Hebrew lexical and syntactic patterns on English speakers. Posits a blocking mechanism allowing the monolingual…

Finds in the "Lettres" (1895-98) of Marichette (a Franco-Acadian woman) graphic evidence of the effects of language contact with the socially and economically dominant English on her Franco-Acadian dialect. Explores her penchant for code-switching and relates this aspect of the writer's style to her political commentary. (SR)

Reviews theoretical and research literature on learner strategies and self-directed language learning, particularly concerning the role of metacognitive knowledge in learning. Argues that too little attention is given to the function of metacognition in language learning. Practical implications for second-language instruction are discussed.…

A study investigated patterns of neurological event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by morphosyntactic violations in 16 right-handed, English-speaking subjects. Manipulation of stimulus grammaticality and block probability led to ERP effects consistent with those in previous research on syntactic and semantic processing. Results also provide…