Presents the linguistic characteristics of a boy (AZ) with specific language impairment. AZ illustrates the linguistic characteristics of grammatical SLI. Morphosyntactic investigations reveal that all inflectional forms are present but are not used consistently. (Author/VWL)

This study of second- and third-grade students in the Netherlands tests the hypothesis that simplification of the semantic structure will facilitate semantic understanding and acquisition of syntax knowledge within the LOGO Turtle World. Two microworlds were designed applying the theory of automata and abstract languages. (Author/LRW)

Documents the development of a regional dialect in Jakarta, Indonesia, resulting in part from interaction between standard Indonesian and native Jakartan (Betawi). Analysis of verb morphology and the effect of register shift on its use show that a process of koineization has occurred, and Jakarta Indonesian is crystallizing into a nativized koine…

The dequeismo phenomenon is occurring more frequently in spoken Spanish in both Spain and in Latin America. Introduction of the preposition "de" before "que" in nominal complements exploits one recourse in Spanish, namely the deictic capacity of prepositional "de" as a marker or introducer of the speaker's…

Synthesizes work on research concerned with the influence of a second language on speaker's first language competence in late bilingualism. Research in the areas of phonology, morphosyntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, rhetoric, and conceptual representations suggests that borrowing, convergence, shift, restructuring, and loss result from the…

Analyzed the argument linking of the commercial transaction frame in English, Russian, and Japanese. The commercial transaction frame is semantically complex, because there are two transfers in opposite directions (money goes from buyer to seller and goods from seller to buyer). English and Russian construe the commercial frame in essentially the…

Reexamines the morphology/functional category debate in light of empirical data drawn from a longitudinal study of two intermediate learners of French as a second language (L2). Argues that inflectional deficits--which appear as both nonfinite verbs and as other morphological errors in the interlanguage data--support neither a codependence of…

Provides a general overview of two books--"The Second Time Around: Minimalism and Second Language Acquisition" and "Second Language Syntax: A Generative Introduction--and shows how the respond to key issues in second language acquisition, including the process of second language acquisition, access to universal grammar, the role of…

Analyzes the anterior tense and its interaction with object clitics in Palenquero (a creole spoken in a northern Colombia village), arguing that in Palenquero, the morpho-syntax of the anterior tense and its interaction with clitics results from a convergence of Iberian, especially Portuguese, and relevant African languages. Examples are provided…

Presents model describing adult learning of morphosyntax in a novel language where frequency and regularity are factorially combined. Accuracy and latency data show frequency effects for both regular/irregular forms early in acquisition process; as learning progresses, frequency effect on regular items diminishes but remains for irregular items.…

Three studies examined adults' generic noun phrases in English and Mandarin Chinese from child-directed speech of caregivers interacting with their toddlers. Found that generic noun phrases were reliably identified in both languages. Generic noun phrases most frequently referred to animals. Non-generic noun phrases were used most frequently for…

Describes EquiX, a search language for XML that combines querying with searching to query the data and the meta-data content of Web pages. Topics include search engines; a data model for XML documents; search query syntax; search query semantics; an algorithm for evaluating a query on a document; and indexing EquiX queries. (LRW)

This study of the use of "then"/"after that" by Vietnamese English-as-a-Second-Language learners suggests that the temporal adverbial poses a significant learning challenge similar to morphological means of temporal reference. Learner usage is monitored by a looser notion of salience, which emerges from the transference of a salience-marking…

Reports the findings of a case study of bilingual first language acquisition in Catalan and English. Presents a general overview of a child's syntactic development from the age of 1 year 3 months to 4 years and 2 months. Focuses on the question of subject realization in the two contrasting languages the child is acquiring simultaneously. Data…

Addresses the question of whether young children's code-mixing obeys the same structural constraints as bilingual adults code mixing. Examines data from bilingual French-English bilingual children filmed in conversation with both parents at 6-month intervals from age 2 to age 3 years, 6 months. Children's code-mixed utterances were examined for…