This article attempts to clarify issues that were discussed in a previous article, which was written in response to an article that focused on connectionism and language transfer. (33 references) (CK)

Focuses on language shift in a signed language in contact with the spoken language. Suggests that British Sign Language, under the influence of spoken English, has witnessed effects such as increased use of finger spelling as well as changes in lexical and function words that reflect spoken/written language structures. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the claim that male/female speech style differences in Japanese have the function of indexing the social role of the speaker and that identifying oneself as belonging to the male or female gender has no implication of a higher or lower status in society. The interview's findings imply that students need to be informed of the…

Cloze tests were administered to native- and second-language speakers in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom to analyze problems that demonstratives pose for second- language students of Japanese and English and to suggest future improvements for existing explanations and grammatical accounts for each language. (25 references)…

Investigated whether or not Japanese people are more indirect than Americans in conversations between same status interlocutors and whether the use of indirectness is influenced by in-group and out-group distinctions for speech acts of requests and complaints. Results reveal that Japanese people may be more direct than assumed, at least when no…