Reports a study of the correlation of linguistic variation with the variables of gender and context specificity in Brazilian Portuguese. The study focused on differences found in the expression of a particular directive by adult middle-class male and female speakers of the Carioca dialect of Rio de Janeiro. (SED)

A study examined the effects of three presentational modes--transcription, audiotape, and videotape--on raters' evaluations of male and female speakers using a powerless, powerful, or mixed speech style. A powerless speech style was characterized by the use of message elements such as qualifiers, tag questions, polite forms, and disclaimers. A…

Compares readers' and listeners' perceptions of powerless language features. Examines whether oral versions of powerless messages generate higher credibility ratings than written versions. Finds that subjects note more hesitations in writing but more hedges on tape, and that placing powerless speech in the written transcript reduces…

Sixty half-hour family discussions generated by the "revealed differences technique" were analyzed to determine the emotional intensity and quality (friendliness/attacking) of messages between individuals in families with schizophrenic and "normal" sons. Thirty families in each situation (schizophrenic/normal) were matched for comparison. Both…

Seeking to understand American and Nicaraguan perspectives of the Nicaraguan revolution, a study examined the rhetorical strategies used by Presidents Reagan and Ortega in their speeches. Ten public addresses made by each president in 1985-1986, pertaining to funding for Nicaraguan counterrevolutionary forces, were charted and examined for…