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Variability in Production Is the Rule, Not the Exception, at the Onset of Multi-Word Speech
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Virginia Valian – Language Learning and Development, 2024
The first stage of combinatorial speech is better described as variable than uniform. Talk of variants obscures two different aspects of language (knowledge and use) and two different aspects of language development -- acquisition of the grammar (competence) and deployment of the grammar in speaking and listening (performance). Null subjects and…
Descriptors: Phrase Structure, Language Acquisition, Language Variation, Grammar
Breaking the Molds: Signed Languages and the Nature of Human Language
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Slobin, Dan I. – Sign Language Studies, 2008
Grammars of signed languages tend to be based on grammars established for written languages, particularly the written language in use in the surrounding hearing community of a sign language. Such grammars presuppose categories of discrete elements which are combined into various sorts of structures. Recent analyses of signed languages go beyond…
Descriptors: Written Language, Sign Language, Foreign Countries, Grammar
Life, the Universe, and Human Language (a Brief Synopsis).
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Haiman, John – Language Sciences, 1993
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)
Descriptors: Classification, Foreign Countries, Grammar, Language Usage
Metaphore et Syntaxe (Metaphor and Syntax).
Tamine, J. – Langages, 1979
Presents a syntax of metophor, discussing a typology of metaphor, the relationship between literal sense and figurative sense, and the importance of a precise definition of metaphor. (AM)
Descriptors: Classification, Definitions, Figurative Language, Grammar
On Newmeyer's "Functional Explanation in Linguistics and the Origins of Language."
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Prince, Ellen F. – Language and Communication, 1991
Discusses the basic taxonomy of linguists, that is the differences between formalist and functionalist approaches, as suggested in a previous article, focusing on the implications of such a taxonomy. (JL)
Descriptors: Classification, Communication (Thought Transfer), Diachronic Linguistics, Grammar
Chinese Passives: Transformational or Lexical?
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Zhang, Jiuwu; Wen, Xiaohong – 1989
Analysis of Chinese passive constructions indicates two types. The first is a verbal or syntactic passive because it is derived through a transformational rule. The second is a lexical passive that has certain properties in common with the predicate adjectives in both Chinese and English and is derived through the semantic function and in lexical…
Descriptors: Chinese, Classification, Contrastive Linguistics, English
L'Onomatopee dans la classe de francais (Onomatopoeia in the French Class).
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Brunet, Jean-Paul – Canadian Modern Language Review, 1988
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.…
Descriptors: Advertising, Classification, Classroom Techniques, Comics (Publications)