The syntax of lexical units, or signs, of American Sign Language (ASL) is analyzed. Previous areas of study concerning pauses, functional sentence perspective, theme and rheme, and topic and comment are discussed. A model is offered to depict topic-comment relationships in ASL using space, vectors, and relationship rules. (SW)

Paper prepared for a conference on Creole Languages and Education, University of the West Indies, July 24-28, 1972. (DD)

Analyzes the structure of French distributive complements, including the formal and semantic similarities and differences among them. (AM)

Roots of Spanish verbs exhibit systematic vowel alternations. In traditional accounts of these alternations, the mid simplex nuclei are assumed to be basic, with complex nuclei being derived from them by rule. This paper suggests an alternative analysis assuming that the complex nuclei are more basic than the simplex ones. (CHK)

The author begins this paper with, "Let us recognize as axiomatic the statement that sentences in natural languages have the properties of structured, organic wholes." She feels that this statement has several important theoretical consequences, the most interesting (in so far as the current controversy over "surfacism" is…

THIS PAPER PROPOSES SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE PROBLEMS FACED BY SOMEONE ABOUT TO EMBARK ON A GENERATIVE GRAMMAR OF AZERBAIJANI. IT IS NOT A SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS, BUT A SAMPLING OF IDEAS PERTINENT TO SUCH AN ANALYSIS. THE PROBLEMS DEALT WITH ARE (1) GRAMMATICAL DEPTH IN AZERBAIJANI BASED ON VICTOR YNGVE'S DEFINITION OF "DEPTH"--A NUMBER OF SENTENCES OF…

Lexical differences between English and German in "there" constructions are examined. Contrastive evidence is also examined to propose analyses for certain troublesome types of "there" constructions in English. The descriptive approach attempts to show that the structuring of information in "there" sentences is dependent on lexical features of the…

The article looks at idiomaticity from the semantic and syntactic angles. After a summary of the problems arising from a semantic definition, some recent proposals regarding the syntactic behavior of idioms are reviewed briefly and evaluated. There is a sizable bibliography. (AMH)

Examines German idiomatic predicate constructions in various aspects; finds that these constructions do not form a homogeneous class, either as to form or as to syntax. Numerous examples, taken from dictionaries and other sources, are used. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This article questions the validity of a mathematical theory of communication as applied to the study of language. The main argument is that the linguist must consider the vertical ordering of elements as well as the linear quality of language. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Discusses failings of the more common rules on German word order placement, then considers in detail a recent study on the subject by Ulrich Engel. (Text is in German.) (DH)

The difficulty of understanding embedded sentences is discussed in relation to Bever's hypothesis: if a sentence segment has a double function by means of the same processing strategy it is difficult to interpret the sentence. An alternative to this theory is proposed due to the author's experiments. (SCC)