Data-driven learning (DDL) is an inductive approach to language learning in which students study examples of authentic language and use them to find patterns of language use. This inductive approach to learning has the advantages of being learner-centered, encouraging hypothesis testing and learner autonomy, and helping develop learning skills.…

The present paper shows the first results of a linguistic project devoted to the construction of web learning tools for reinforcing sensitivity to diaphasic varieties and for learning style variation in L2/LS learning. (Contains 1 figure and 1 footnote.) [Support for this research was provided by the VALERE Project.]

Pragmatics is included in one of four communicative competences (Canale, 1980). It is necessary and important to teach pragmatics at school in our globalized world in order to avoid as much as misunderstanding, which is likely to stem from cultural difference. As a result, greater importance should be attached to diverse customs and pragmatics.…

A series of phonetic production and perception experiments were designed to describe the phonological or phonetic domains of two effects in spoken English: final lengthening, generally interpreted as a mark for the edge of some linguistically-defined unit of speech production, and stress-timed shortening, generally interpreted as evidence for…

In an attempt to determine whether the generic "man" has a strong association with maleness, 307 college students (122 males and 185 females) were polled to assess their attitudes about whether people "outgrow" the limited definition of man or whether the generic still retains an exclusionary, "mostly males" coloring. In order to prevent the…

This paper provides a review of some basic general semantic principles and then applies them to the area of prenatal classes and labor room practices. It first presents an overview of the principle that language is not a neutral factor in human perceptions but an active, reactive force. Next, it looks at the relationship between language and…

The author of this paper argues that, in the study of current usage, we need to supplement data from corpus studies by using methods that elicit use, reports of use, and evaluations of use on items which interest them. Ten methods for experimental elicitation of such data are described, related to one another, and illustrated with examples of data…

The possibility is suggested that the meanings of words are abstracted far beyond the range of cognitive concept, and that the role words play in the meaning of sentences is similar to the role phonemes play in the meanings of words. The meanings of the various forms are classed into a single paradigm known as the verb "mot-u" which is one of the…

Spanish language teachers are encouraged to introduce popular sayings, figures of speech, and proverbs into the language curriculum, both as a means of maintaining the usage of the expressions and to bring variety to the language taught. Definitions, characteristics, origins, and general uses of such expressions are outlined. Some of the most…

This paper is concerned with a discourse-based approach to lexis and, in particular, the discourse role of lexical patterns or lexicalized sequences which are completely or partially preassembled and more or less fixed in form. Lexical patterns, their function in a community's codes, and the cultural differences that may arise in their use, are…

The factors which influence a speaker's decision to use one categorization for an object as opposed to others that are available are analyzed. The categories that are most used in speech are basic level categories established at the most abstract level at which the category members: (1) share a number of physical and functional attributes, (2)…

Noting that the mental health practitioner needs highly developed linguistic and communicative skills in order to precipitate therapeutic changes, this paper discusses the nature of the contexts of therapeutic interaction. It examines verb tense as a linguistic context marker and shows how various schools of therapy can use it. In addition, it…

This paper describes the "euphemistic lexicographical technique," which is recommended for use by lexicographers for the frank recording of vulgar speech. This is a monodirectional technique to be used in bilingual dictionaries prepared for speakers of only one of the two languages. The vulgar words will not appear in the source language…

Conjunctions (e.g., "if, and, so") appear in varied contexts and are associated with a wide range of interpretations. The theoretical options concerning the lexical specifications of these items are: (1) multiplicity of senses; and (2) restricted senses augmented by conversational implicatures. It is proposed here that the latter…

The Dutch deictics are typically given a locative analysis: the adverbial pronoun "hier" ("here") and the demonstrative "deze" ("this") are said to point near the speaker, "daar" ("there") and "die" ("that") to point far, with "er" (weak "there") and the article "de" ("the") left unspecified (Bech 1952:7). The present paper rejects this view,…