This paper examined two poems: 'Winter' by Anne Hunter and 'Against Winter' by Charles Simic from a stylistic perspective. It conducted a stylistic analysis to elucidate how the poets' intended meanings are constructed in an effective manner through the principles of 'foregrounding': linguistic deviation, linguistic parallelism, and informality,…

In this paper, the BBC's stance on English language use is investigated by analysing its language guidelines provided in the 2003 BBC "News Styleguide." Before the analysis is tackled, a brief discussion of the use of language and style guides in the media is given to illustrate its complexities and effects on news providers. In order to…

Formality has long been of interest in the study of discourse, with periodic discussions of the best measure of formality and the relationship between formality and text categories. In this research, we explored what features predict formality as humans perceive the construct. We categorized a corpus consisting of 1,158 discourse samples published…

A comparative analysis of four studies that emphasized linguistic similarities (rather than differences) between nonstandard speakers and other groups focused on developmental characteristics of the semantic categories encoded by nonstandard speakers compared with other speakers. Implications for language assessment are discussed. (JW)

While there has been much interest in the differences between oral and written language styles, studies have focused on the relative use of certain features. Little attention has been paid to the cultural value given to language style in languages with a literary tradition versus value given to style in those with a non-literary traditions. All…

Investigates the tonal changes in Mandarin Chinese from 1932 when "standard Mandarin" was legitimized to the period between 1963-85 during which two studies on tones were carried out. Discussion focuses on differences over time, and on differences between actual pronunciations or words in Taipei and Beijing and their dictionary…

Discusses the development and progress of an international corpus of English (ICE) containing a regional corpora sampling of the standard varieties of English in countries where it is a first language, and the national varieties in countries where it is an official additional language. (GLR)

Repudiates the theory that black dialect has African origins. Supports the British Isles influence theory. (FL)

This paper considers the problem of differentiating thought and language in a way that makes it possible to relate them to each other. The analysis covers approaches of sociolinguistic research, different models of language and cognitive functioning within psychology and linguistics, the cybernetic approach, and psycholinguistic analyses. A common…

A discussion of points raised by Dell Hymes in his article "On Communicative Competence" leads to a proposal for a clearer and more comprehensive theory of communicative competence based on two models, a matrix of discourse analysis and a model of communication interaction. Pedagogical implications of the theory are considered, including the…