This Commentary examines where the creativity research has been and where it is going. They key points include evolving definitions of creativity, interdisciplinarity in the creativity research, divergent thinking as a reliable index of creative potential, improvements in testing, the impact of technology, the inclusion of political, moral, and…

This interview was conducted with Professor Keith Allan with the aim of providing a brief but informative summary of the state of the art of pragmatics. In providing answers to the interview questions, Professor Allan begins with a definition of pragmatics as it is practiced today, i.e., the study of the meanings of utterances with attention to…

One of the author's enduring concerns about the concept of academic freedom is with semantics. It has seemed to him that one of the biggest difficulties with discussions of academic freedom (as with many conversations about "value-laden" terms such as "democracy," "equity," and "justice") is that people begin from different positions and with…

Discusses the definition of collocation, demonstrates that associative word combinations do form a continuum, and proposes some parameters to help delimit the scope of collocations in everyday contemporary French. (Author/VWL)

It is suggested that four developmental terms (period, phase, stage, level) can be distinguished as different combinations of four criterial elements, and they should be differentiated according to whether or not they refer to (1) a part of a progression, (2) a recurrent state or event, (3) quantitative change, and (4) qualitative change.…

Maintains that certain kinds of structured background information should be treated as essential components or accompaniments of word definitions. Discusses frame semantics, and presents a vision of the ideal dictionary, which is now becoming possible because of advances in computerized access to complex sources of information. (VWL)

The term "curriculum" is ambiguous in that it is used to name a field of phenomena, a fund of knowledge about that field, a kind of knowledge within that fund, and the set of rules by which the fund is substantiated. This paper suggests that to relieve this ambiguity it is necessary to develop an appropriate set of terms with strict…

Over the last five years, people have heard a great deal about something called the Knowledge Society. The term "knowledge" is appearing in places they would not have expected to see it a decade or so ago. The media is full of references to the knowledge economy and the knowledge revolution; business discussions now routinely talk about knowledge…

Creativity is seen as important to society by the current Prime Minister and the Department for Education and Skills and is present in curriculum documents applying from birth to 16 years old but with various shades of meaning. Unfortunately, the term creativity is used in English education and the larger society without a clear definition. The…

This paper begins by discussing the term "bibliography" in light of Rudolf Blum's exhaustively learned treatise, and continues with an original exposition on "documentation." Authors who contributed to the development of the meaning of "documentation" are cited. Sixty-nine references are included. (EJS)

Discusses the semantic differences between the near-synonyms "detenteur" and "titulaire" in French, and provides a list of terms correctly used with the two words and the additional near-synonym "porteur." (AM)

Examines the lexicographic definition as an informal analysis of the meanings of words. (AM)

Discusses the process and problems involved in organizing bilingual or multilingual dictionaries. (AM)

The paper examines the way in which semantics relates to policies of deinstitutionalization of persons with mental illness and mental retardation. Different understandings of common terms in the field are illustrated and it is suggested that the government plays many games, both number games and word games, in dealing with homeless people, migrant…

Even a superficial review of the literature on cognition would suggest that philosophers of the past and psychologists of the present frequently were concerned with the same problems. For the past three centuries, psychologists and philosophers have relied upon the concept of cognition to describe complex human functions such as memory, thinking,…