Currently, the language sciences place together four different forms of mental activity on one plane of language, which results in confusion. This paper presents arguments from metaphysics, hermeneutics, and semiotics to demonstrate that there are actually three planes of language (a biologically-based information processing plane, a literal…

Discusses the language and behavior patterns of teenagers attending "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." (FL)

Discusses the generative phonology model for the Lithuanian definite adjective, showing its inadequacy as a model of speaker competence. Suggests that if P Rules must be proposed to derive surface alternations of autonomous phonemes, then syntax is at least "being" replaced by morphology. (Executive Office of the AABS, 231 Miller Rd., Mahwah, NJ…

Several hypotheses are developed concerning the semantic-pragmatic shifts that take place in the development of grammatical markers such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs and sentence connectives. Over time, grammatical markers shift from being primarily referential to more pragmatic meanings, from propositional to textual to attitudinal. (PMJ)

The language of special education professionals is discussed as both a language game and a professional discourse and is analyzed at the level of semiotics. The semiotics of special education is broken down into the use of generative metaphors, keywords, and signs of difference. (Author/JDD)

The first part of this essay argues specifically that legal speech acts are not statements but question/answer constructions. The focus in this section is on the underlying interrogative structure of the legal decision. The second part of the paper touches on significant topics related to the concept of legal speech acts, including the philosophic…

Presents basic working principles and a vocabulary of semiotics for classroom teachers; interprets semiotically a story from the teaching of "Romeo and Juliet" that reveals the literary and nonliterary texts of students' lives; and demonstrates semiotic approaches to two texts that illustrate how to locate literature in the context of…

The term "communicative competence" has been in currency for approximately 10 years and is generally used to refer to teaching strategies which substitute real-life situations and contexts for meaningless mechanical and structural exercises. In essence, it attempts to put content and contact into the speech act. However, early proponents…

Graffiti analysis is an important means of understanding social and cultural realities at a given moment of a community's existence, realities that the media often treat only in generalizations. Comparisons of graffiti between places, periods, languages, and subjects may be revealing. (MSE)

Examines the challenge posed by the naturalist philosophy of language--the view that the meanings of symbols are fixed by the environment. Compares the naturalist philosophy with that presented in an activist Native American essay that argues for the preservation of traditional native languages. (SRT)

The use of a semiotic approach to foreign language literature appreciation and criticism at the college level is advocated as a means of analyzing texts. What is sought first of all is the meaning of the text with the semiotic-linguistic levels of organization that produce the meaning. (MSE)