Some links between linguistic meanings and markers change systematically and cyclically in what are known as "grammaticalization paths." Although the empirical observations that give rise to these characterizations are cross-linguistically robust, the representations and cognitive processes that support these shifts are still not well…

Some aspects of Chinese literacy development do not conform to patterns of literacy development in alphabetic orthographies. Four are highlighted here. First, semantic radicals are one aspect of Chinese characters that have no analogy to alphabetic orthographies. Second, the unreliability of phonological cues in Chinese along with the fact that…

The right roof constraint'' is the assumption that rightward-movement rules are always upward-bounded; see J.R. Ross' dissertation, Constraints on Variables in Syntax'' (MIT, 1967). (RS)

Tests earlier claims about the universality of patterns of polysemy and semantic extension in the domain of perception verbs. Utilizing data from a broad range of Australian languages, two hypothesized universals are addressed: Viberg's (1994) proposed unidirectional pattern of extension from higher to lower sensory modalities and Sweeter's (1990)…

THIS PAPER IS AN EXPLORATION OF THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE COGNITIVE CAPACITIES OF HUMAN BEINGS, AS DELINEATED BY PSYCHOLOGY, ARE SEEN TO BE CONGRUENT WITH THE FINDINGS OF LINGUISTIC RESEARCH, AND SOME SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR LINGUISTIC RULES THAT MAY BE DISCOVERED THROUGH AN EXAMINATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE. IT IS…

Concerns the small proportion of phonemes in any given language, as compared to the number of morphemes, lexemes, and sememes. (DD)

This study documents the sensitivity of English-French interlanguage to the process-result distinction with respect to the licensing of multiple postnominal genitives, despite a lack of direct positive or negative evidence for this distinction in the input. Documentation argues that the Universal Grammar-governed map between syntactic structures…

Presents a rationale for undertaking the study of language. Views this study as a psychological investigation into how the self forms an identity of itself through its language, rather than how it is formed by its language. Thus, the structure of language is seen as a representational system, allowing a multiplicity of meanings. (SL)

Three- and four-year-old children were asked to perform a judgement task in which they chose between incorrect English transitives and intransitives and their correct adult equivalents. Purely semantic or syntactic models fail to explain the findings as well as does a model based on semantic/syntactic transitivity. (SED)

Some of the assertions made by Chomsky in "Aspects of the Theory of Syntax" are considered. In particular, the notion of a "competence" model in linguistics is criticized. Formal postulates for a conceptually-based linguistic theory are presented. (Author/JD)

Every sentence conveys a temporal point of view through its aspectual meaning. This viewpoint arises through presenting a situation from a certain temporal perspective and indirectly classifying the situation as an exemplar of an idealized situation type. The information is conveyed by the aspectual categories of a language. This paper presents a…

Suggests that cognitive semantics is governed by principles similar to prosodies in phonology. Illustrates this claim by words referring to negative states, events, and properties in English and in Polish, arguing that they carry 'negative prosodies' that spread over other lexical items. It is suggested that the semantic prosodies of some triggers…

This study of the acquisition of kinship terms in English is a test of the hypothesis that lexical items are learned in their order of complexity and of the validity of relational analysis in predicting the order of the acquisition of kinship terms. Earlier studies of kinship terms, Piaget's in particular, are first discussed, as well as the…

The author finds Katz and Postal's 1964 generative semantic theories concerning the organization of grammar incorrect and proposes an interpretive approach to semantics in which syntactic structures are given interpretations by an autonomous semantic component. The research reported leads the author to describe a generative grammar consisting of…