Humans are sensitive to the properties of individual items, and exemplar models are useful for capturing this sensitivity. I am a proponent of an extension of exemplar-based architectures that I briefly describe. However, exemplar models are very shallow architectures in which it is necessary to stipulate a set of primitive elements that make up…

Ambridge's proposal cannot account for the most basic observations about phonological patterns in human languages. Outside of the earliest stages of phonological production by toddlers, the phonological systems of speakers/learners exhibit internal behaviours that point to the representation and processing of inter-related units ranging in size…

The experience of teaching informal logic (sometimes called practical logic) at the introductory level over the last fifteen years has allowed the author the opportunity to identify some interesting problems. These problems have been encountered by students attempting to understand some of the ideas presented in the informal logic course and by…

The arbitrariness of linguistic categories is discussed. Consideration of some other fields of human activity suggests that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is true, and it is suggested that the process of grammaticalization might be understood as a kind of ritualization. (57 references) (Author/LB)

Analyzes four topics: (1) everyday discourse and judgments about language usage; (2) "social linguistics" and explanations for language differences in terms of categories such as class and gender; (3) the proposition that identity is constructed by language; and (4) the extent to which social categories are discursively constructed. (SK)

"Contrary-to-face-value" (CFV) messages, which can only be understood from a contextual instead of a text-based approach to communication, have caused many problems in communication between East Asians and North Americans. A typology of CFV communication, as identified in the Chinese culture, is proposed in this paper. Four forms of CFV…

Examines the rhetorical situation of the modern freshman composition student in America, in light of nineteenth-century developments in rhetoric pedagogy and discourse classification conventions. (MS)

Reviews the present status of the categories developed by the Writing Research Unit at the University of London for classifying discourse function. (HOD)

Onomatopoeia is overlooked in many French grammar courses but plays a key role in everyday speech. Classification according to the feelings communicated stresses their importance. Students enjoy learning the sounds produced by animals in a second language and discovering the abundance of onomatopoeia in songs, commercials, comic books, and slang.…

In their introduction of "Music and the Racial Imagination," co-editors Ronald Radano and Philip Bohlman assert that although music is "saturated with racial stuff", "musicology--in its historical, structural-analytical, and ethnographic expressions--has sought to deny the racial dimension." Much as the author agrees…

Romanian is characterized by a richness of surface forms that are difficult to classify and even more difficult for the learner to assimilate. There is much instructional material available in Romanian, and in a survey of fifty works published outside the country, four categories emerged: teaching materials, pedagogical grammars, grammars, and…

Addresses the question of how constraints are established by which Hispanicity is determined vis-a-vis language. It argues that, if Spanish-English bilingualism comes to prevail among American Hispanics, they will lose the Spanish language as a mother tongue and their distinct culture, becoming an Anglophone subculture similar to Irish or Italian…

Examination of newer technology education materials reveals two recurring themes: one relates to curriculum content, familiarizing students with technology, and another to a technique of classroom instruction, i.e., problem solving. A problem-solving framework for technical education has the following components: (1) define the problem; (2)…

This article examines instances of "para-poetic" writing produced by beginning and intermediate learners of English as a Second Language. It is suggested that the instructor or reader look beyond the conventional grammar and usage rules to appreciate the imagery of unusual juxtaposition of words and phrases in student work. Provides examples of…