A discussion of the connectionist approach to language looks at the nature of language, language processing, and language acquisition. Language processing is seen as a means of satisfying the linguistic constraints of comprehension and production, and is also viewed as a process that operates with other aspects of cognition and involves mutually…

Viewing language acquisition as the product of a biased learner who takes advantage of the information available from a variety of sources in his or her environment, this book provides a new way of thinking about the process of language comprehension. The analysis in the book borrows insights from theories about the development of mental models,…

Discusses basic language functions emphasizing the importance of spoken language and decrying the fact that linguistics, on the conceptual level, is still chiefly concerned with written language. Stresses the complexity of language and the importance of the situational context, particularly with regard to the semiotics of the media. (MES)

Defines the approach of textlinguistics to the study of TV messages' comprehension, starting from the basic criterion that comprehension depends on the global semantic structure of the message and on the situational context of the communicants. On this basis the potential of television as a tool for language instruction is discussed. (MES)

Presents a rebuttal to Hidi and Hildyard's (1976) criticism of Macnamara et al.'s (1976) assertion regarding the ability of four-year-old children to grasp implicatives and presuppositions. (AM)

This paper empirically examines one aspect of Basil Bernstein's sociolinguistic account of educational failure, a code thesis wherein a restricted code is defined as giving access only to "particularistic" meanings and an elaborated code is defined as giving access also to "universalistic" meanings. According to Bernstein,…