Applicative Universal Grammar (AUG) is a linguistic theory based on combinatorial logic. This paper expands on the notion of "linguistic unit." Linguistic unit, as a notion, is generalized and the linguistic hierarchy supporting all natural languages is shown to be a hierarchy of linguistic units. It is argued that, on the genotype…

Responds to a commentary on a 1996 paper that surveyed pronominal systems with first person n and second person m and showed that the n:m system is insufficient to prove genetic relatedness among languages exhibiting it, suggesting that the commentary was based on misunderstandings. The response addresses the commentary's discussion of study…

Presents reasons why the development of a methodology for the description, analysis, and evaluation of second-language classroom interaction would be desirable. L2 classroom interaction is unique in that linguistic forms are the goal as well as the vehicle of instruction, and the linguistic patterns of interaction produced by learners are linked…

Rhetorical force can be used to analyze interaction in organizational communication. In such an analysis, force is conceived of as being perceptual, arising out of interaction, aiding in understanding communication patterns, and increasing one's abilities both to anticipate actions and to plan or constrain one's actions. Rhetoric is a product of…

Discusses the sources of information in oral language. Uses converging evidence from prosody, pausing, structural and semantic parallelism, and stylistic analysis to argue for a series of hypotheses about the units that organize the construction of narrative discourse. Provides examples and appendixes. (JD)

Develops an extended and precise rendering of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in order to clarify difficulties in analyzing Italian. The method used is the paradigm method of analysis since there are no universal phonemic rules of pronunciation that will allow one to correctly pronounce Italian. Tables of transcriptions are included. (32…

Recently, a number of quantitative studies have explored systematic relationships between sociocultural organization and patterns of language use, based on the assumption that speech behavior reflects the basic categories of the community's social structure. Such systematic links were arrived at by correlating average group scores for…

Examines flaws in the literature of dialect interference, examines the seven correlates of Patrick Hartwell's print code hypothesis and finds them wanting or uninstructive, and sets forth suggestions for a more sophisticated study of this issue. (HOD)

To assist language researchers in their analysis of interlanguage, some values for the linguistic variables of Source Language (SL), Interlanguage (IL), and Target Language (TL) are set forth. Although the fundamental assumption underlying interlanguage research is that interlanguages are linguistic systems, it is difficult to describe the…

Argues that the adequacy of pidgins and creoles as expressive instruments requires systematic empirical research. This research would be based on two sound approaches: a macro-survey of language resources and a micro-analysis of language samples. (CB)

F. Schrag is preoccupied with enhancing education, but who decides what enhancement is? He has confused positivism with empiricism. Positivism is a specific philosophical movement that is associated with logical positivism. The empiricism that Schrag labels positivism preceded the philosophic traditions. (SLD)

Responds to "Identity, Metamorphosis, and Ethnographic Research: What Kind of Story Is Ways with Words?" by Suzanne deCastell and Tom Walker (1991). Describes the author's reaction to "Ways with Words--Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms" by Shirley Brice Heath (1983). (SLD)