This study examined givenness in discourse via passive constructions in research articles. While it is commonly held in grammar books and grammar classes that the passive voice is the counterpart of the active voice, the present study argues that Argument movement in passive constructions can act as a syntactic device contributing to sound…

Purpose: This article examines the prevalence of six economic terms in 17 Swedish upper-secondary school textbooks and how the language shifts between everyday and scientific language. Variations regarding content in the textbooks used in vocational programmes and preparatory programmes for higher education are also investigated. Design: Powerful…

The research aimsto explore the cognitive-semantic structure of the above child rights phenomenon through the language analysis, and compare the perceptions of different stakeholders as target audiences with regard to diverse formats of the Convention contents and its essence representation. The research data combines academic literature on the…

This essay provides language-centered principles, guidelines and tools for writing student learning outcome statements. It is focused on syntax and semantics, and takes considerable issue with both the lack of such guidance in earlier literature and specific words, phrases, tenses, voices, and abstraction in diction levels, along with ellipses and…

Depending on how one does the math, there are between a quarter-million and a million words in the English language. Of all these words, the author holds in contempt only one. That word is "like"--not the tepid expression of mild appreciation but the parasitic form that now bleeds the mother tongue, marks the user as a dunce, and, were it truly…

Argues that philology, the study of language, can be taught to students only after they have examined the languages of other nations and cues. (RB)

Recounts the efforts of a long-time advocate of E-Prime (English without the verb "to be") to use fewer forms of "to be" when writing, and especially, when speaking, where it is more difficult to monitor oral utterances. Uses a "crispness index" (a semantic equation) to measure language processes. Discusses empirical…

Describes an empirical study based on a phenomenographic perspective that examined college students' understanding in relation to their thinking about concepts. Examines the relation between words used and their meaning in the process of understanding and learning. Results of qualitative interviews and contextual analysis are discussed.…

Describes the use in a semantics/linguistics class of rural Midwestern idioms of the past to demonstrate the relationship of the language and the experience it represents. States that, although students do not always appreciate the figures of speech, when they relate the symbols to the referents, they get involved in the message. (PA)

Describes the role of the semantic therapist in correcting language distortions due to lack of specificity, inaccurate assumptions, and failure to ascribe accurately the characteristics of a person. (RB)

Contends that though words evolve in their usage and meaning over time, few words in the business language have changed as much as the term "win-win." Explains that once confined to literature on conflict management, the term has been co-opted in the trade press and used incorrectly in place of the term "compromise." Describes…

Defines and explains Alfred Korzybski's theories about general semantics and suggests educational applications. (RB)

Both the speaker and hearer of a conversation can make use of ambiguity to achieve their special purpose in a given situation. The strategies stemming from pragmatic ambiguity offer distinct advantages to speakers and hearers. When dealing with ambiguity, linguists have concentrated on the source of ambiguity and how to analyze it. References to…