Explains I.A. Richards tenor-vehicle model of metaphor, which has seen extended use in communication scholarship. Reviews Richards' conception of the model and subsequent treatment of its components. Evaluates various patterns of appropriation and makes recommendations regarding future usage. (PM)

A study investigated the reciprocal relationship between colors and semantic terms--just as certain semantic terms elicit thoughts of particular colors, so those colors may also elicit their reciprocal semantic terms. Twenty-six students were each shown 18 words: 3 each of bipolar pairs that expressed evaluation, activity, or potency. The students…

Indicates that, of the 11 types of regrettable messages that people reported, most (1) were said to those with whom they had a close relationship, (2) resulted from unchecked drives or feelings, and (3) were recognized and regretted immediately. (JD)

The first study indicates that (1) both messages and message sources differed significantly as a function of the sophistication of the strategies employed by the message source and (2) female sources were more positively evaluated than male sources. The second study reveals that evaluations of comforting messages varied as a direct, linear…

Finds that temporal markers modify the availability of preceding words: segmentation markers like "around two o'clock" and "then" reduce this availability, whereas continuity markers like "and" improve this availability. Supports the hypothesis that segmentation markers lead readers not to integrate new information…

Summarizes research on structure of gesture produced in absence of speech. Finds that gestures of both hearing individuals who have been asked not to speak and deaf individuals who depend solely on gesture to communicate (including homesigners) exhibit characteristics typically associated with speech; gestures are segmented and linear rather than…

Reports on linguistic features and patterns of coherence in mild and advanced levels of discourse of Alzheimer's patients. Argues and demonstrates that, as the disease progresses, patients' discourse becomes "pregrammatical"--vocabulary-driven and reliant on meaning-based discourse features rather than grammatically based features.…

Studies on classroom interaction have typically focused on relationships between turn-taking patterns and some larger unit of analysis of varying length and nature. However, two questions still left unanswered are how teachers talk differently from students in general and how linguistic variation between two participants might relate to…

Provides a taxonomy of dyadic speech events in everyday relating through a series of four studies. Identifies 29 speech events through a variety of multimethod procedures, including unstructured and structured diary records, judgment sorting tasks, and semantic-differential rating scales. Suggests that everyday relating is dominated by six kinds…

Fourier analysis, a common technique in engineering, breaks down a complex wave form into its simple sine wave components. Communication researchers have recently suggested that this technique may provide an index of the rhythm of conversation, since vocalizing and pausing produce a complex wave form pattern of alternation between two speakers. To…

Indicates that (1) males with low interpersonal orientation (IO) were least vocally active and expressive and least consistent in their speech performances, and (2) high IO males and low IO females tended to demonstrate greater speech convergence than either low IO males or high IO females. (JD)

Analyzes patterns of laughter in bookshop service encounters in England and Italy. Finds that in the English corpus, laughter is recurrently turn-initial, anticipating an account by the assistant in the same turn, whereas in the Italian corpus it is recurrently turn-final, leaving to the customer the possibility of eliciting an account and/or an…

Discusses bilingualism in written cuneiform texts from ancient Babylonia and Sumeria. Describes the development of formats and techniques that enabled two or more languages on a single document to coexist harmoniously and productively. (SR)

A study investigated properties of children's naturally occurring arguments. The arguments were sampled from transcripts of 20 discussions held in 4 fourth-grade classrooms. The principal findings were that children's arguments are filled with seemingly vague referring expressions; that the arguments sometimes do not contain explicit conclusions;…

The purpose of this essay is to consider some of the practical implications of Martin Heideger's view that "Language is the house of Being," for the academic study of cultural transformation and intercultural communication. The paper describes the ontological basis of Heidegger's work, and the inquiry into Being, and contains sections on…