This paper shows that the proposition, our universal thought process, underlies its linguistic realization, the sentence of a specific language, and provides the theoretical basis for interlingual translation as well as intralingual paraphrase. (An example of componential analysis is shown for some Korean sibling terms.) (Author/AMM)

Children should be exposed to a rich linguistic environment, but language learning tasks cannot and should not be optimally ordered. (DD)

Describes a technique for getting students acquainted which involves having them coin words based on each other's first names. (DD)

This article maintains that linguistic generalizations are likely to be invalid when they are based on data whose synchronic status is not well-defined. An example is made of the universal principles of grammatical rule ordering proposed in a 1974 study by Koutsoudas, Sanders, and Noll. (CLK)

Research supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. (DD)

Revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Atlanta, Georgia, December 27-29, 1972. (DD)

Discusses new understanding of the nature of language and of the importance of training teachers in the use of materials and equipment which have developed from this understanding. Language is basically patterns of sound, constantly changing in time, place and situation; patterns of sound appropriate to patterned social behaviour. (RB)

Compares models of Optimality Theory (OT) and Variable Rules (VR), arguing that VR is superior on theoretical and empirical grounds: constraint effects are stable, transparent, learnable. Moreover, VR's probabilistic treatment of constraint effects allows successful modeling of cases in which multiple violations of a single constraint lead to…

An examination of linguists' attempts to characterize the variety of English used in various articles and novels found that, although they used different criteria for classification, the linguists almost equally (about 30 percent of the time each) either could not identify, correctly identified, or incorrectly identified the variety. (14…

A critical analysis explores the strictly logical aspects and pragmatic claims of a presupposition and negation theory (Burton-Roberts, 1989). Other clearly relevant facts, not previously considered, are used to show that the theory preempted empirical issues on invalid a priori grounds. (23 references) (Author/CB)

A response to a critical analysis of a theory on presupposition and negation uses that critique's claims and proposed system to corroborate the original arguments and theory. (24 references) (Author/CB)

Esperanto presents a unique model for linguistic research by allowing the study of language development from project to fully functioning language. Esperanto provides insight into the growth of polysemy and redundancy, as well as into language universals and the phenomenon of social control. (Author/CB)

Explores research and theory regarding the relation between second-language acquisition and language universals research with respect to three phenomena: extraction; structure dependence; and the distribution of overt reflexives. (Author/CB)

Explores whether adult language learners have access to the principles of universal grammar in constructing the grammar of a foreign or second language (L2) by examining the interpretation of English and Japanese reflexive pronouns. The data suggest that L2 learners observe constraints defined by universal grammar that could not be derived from…