Indicates that the main determinant of implicitness, when defined in terms of "inferrable" vs. "evoked" information, was the variable of content, not that of modality: Abstract texts contained more inferrable information than did narrative texts, regardless of modality. (NKA)

Identifies and describes the features of spoken discourse that native speakers of English consider to be indicative of level of intellectual functioning. Discourse criteria include detail, coherence, story construction, storytelling performance, and metacomments. (SR)

Describes a study of the use of the terms "will" and "gonna" in the speech of two three-year-old girls. The results suggest that one of the functions of "will" and "gonna" is to impart different causal relations to the two practices of "undertaking" and "planning." (HTH)

Demonstrates that in spoken discourse many clauses introduced by "subordinating conjunctions" are actually neither structurally nor informationally subordinate. Suggests that the study of linguistic complexity must include spoken as well as written discourse and take account of cultural and situational language contexts. (SR)

Describes discourse development in the sign language of 24 profoundly deaf children. Findings indicate children were acquiring appropriate discourse strategies comparable to those used by hearing children in spoken conversations and adult deaf signers. (DF)

Concludes that the dramatic play context requires children to convey meaning through explicit oral language in order to introduce and sustain play episodes. (FL)

Identifies various speech styles of English as marked by stance adverbials. Indicates that the discourse functions of stance adverbials differ considerably from the functions suggested by their literal meanings. (JK)

Examines analysis of cohesion as an index of both social and cognitive factors. Oral language of reading disabled was studied and found to indicate some difficulties of the subjects when dealing with information under special social and cognitive conditions. (DF)

Presents an experimental approach to the linguistic analysis of discourse organization. (FL)

Describes a psycholinguistic investigation of children's competence in the production of extended discourse, concentrating on discourse form (narrative versus expository) and production modality (written versus spoken). (SKC)

Concludes that children's discourse production is organized according to a schema that is discourse specific but modality general. (FL)