Addresses some of the problems concerning the hierarchical relationship between language typology and genetic linguistics and between typology and universal grammar. (RM)

This article examines the concept of "antonym" and the various types of antonyms in order to determine a coherent structure. Far from being simple, the structure of antomym is seen as containing a gradation of meaning going from relativity to the absolute, and thus it is seen as a reflection of conceptual dialectic. (Text is in French.)…

The nature of grammatical relations such as subject and object are examined. The ways in which subjects differ from language to language are described and the way in which a language can do without a subject relation is revealed. Three primitive functional properties of sentences which underlie the syntactic relations of subject and topic are…

The constraints in English on the definiteness, specificity, humaness and animacy of noun phrases (NP's) undergoing passive and dative movement are examined. Evidence presented shows that these constraints occur in other languages in marked and unmarked constructions as absolute constraints on acceptability or as tendencies. This suggests a…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO DISCUSS THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOME LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS ARE, IN FACT, THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF UNIVERSAL MENTAL CAPACITIES. ONE SUCH UNIVERSAL IS SUGGESTED, AND THE ENTIRE QUESTION IS CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF CERTAIN THEORIES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT--MAINLY PIAGET'S, AND SECONDARILY BRUNER'S AND VYGOTSKY'S.…

THIS PAPER IS AN EXPLORATION OF THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE COGNITIVE CAPACITIES OF HUMAN BEINGS, AS DELINEATED BY PSYCHOLOGY, ARE SEEN TO BE CONGRUENT WITH THE FINDINGS OF LINGUISTIC RESEARCH, AND SOME SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR LINGUISTIC RULES THAT MAY BE DISCOVERED THROUGH AN EXAMINATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE. IT IS…

The author considers controversial psycholinguistic problems in the study of first and second language acquisition, raising such questions as whether all children learn language in the same way, and whether all languages are learned in the same way. Her observations, based partially on observing her own bilingual child, suggest that the cenematic…

Use of "the language of observation" as a level of scientific discourse is exemplified. The formal properties of this language are characterized, and the derivability and feasibility of the axiomatic method as applied to it are considered. Also discussed are the theoretical and practical significance of this level with respect to various…

This paper is an investigation of nasal vowels from both a synchronic and a diachronic point of view. Data from over 50 languages have been examined (some languages in much more detail than others) in an attempt to distinguish the aspects of vowel nasalization that are "universal" from those phenomena that are language-specific. This study is…

This paper attempts to demonstrate the concept and method of deriving various English "true possessives" by nominalizing sentences of the form "X has Y." First considered is the motivation for deriving genetives from underlying sentences rather than for treating only the surface form of such genitives: the use of auxiliary…

The author, professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, investigates problems in the philosophy of language from the standpoint that language is a rule-governed form of behavior. He takes as his fundamental concept the "speech act," and gives an analysis of what it is to make statements, ask questions, make promises, and…

The paper presents a set of linguistic phenomena illustrative of the notion "universal tendency". Linguistic generalizations are regarded here not as isolated, "true-or-false" propositions but as embedded in a hierarchy of competing forces. An "exception" to a universal is thus seen as the result of the prevalence of another conflicting universal…

A particular aspect of syllable structure, length of syllable margins, was investigated with the aid of a Markov chain model. The model represented explicitly the dynamic relationship between types of syllable structure and the historical processes that affect them. It is proposed that the regularities concerning syllable types (universality of CV…

This paper investigates the address avoidance of second person personal pronouns in Swedish in terms of language universals and the relationship between deviation from a universal linguistic feature and social structural change. Available from Liber Laeromedel, Box 1205, S-22105 Lund, Sweden. (Author)

Examines Marr's and Stalin's opposing views on language, and shows how these ideas may be re-examined in the light of generative grammar and sociolinguistics. (AM)