This article reports the findings of a study in which we investigated the possible effects of word order on the acquisition of case marking. In linguistic typology (e.g. Greenberg, 1963) a very strong correlation has been shown between dominant SOV (subject object verb) word order and case marking. No such correlation exists for SVO (subject verb…

In this "First Person Singular" essay, the author describes her education, teaching experience, and interest in understanding the learning of language. Anyone reading this essay will not be surprised to learn that the author's questions about language learning and optimal teaching methods were only met with further questions, and no…

Since its inception seven years ago, Michigan State University's vibrant Second Language Studies (SLS) Program has grown quickly under the direction of Dr. Susan Gass. Thus far, twelve students have graduated from the program and now hold academic positions in various universities in the United States and elsewhere. In 2011, the department…

The Second Language Studies (SLS) Program was established in 2005 with the express purpose of providing "a firm foundation in the field of Second Language Acquisition and its application to current second language research and teaching" (http://sls.msu.edu). Under the leadership of Professor Susan Gass, the program has grown to include…

We show that 4-year-olds assign the correct interpretation to antecedent-contained deletion (ACD) sentences because they have the correct representation of these structures. This representation involves Quantifier Raising (QR) of a Quantificational Noun Phrase (QNP) that must move out of the site of the verb phrase in which it is contained to…

THE FOUR STUDIES INCORPORATED IN THIS PROGRESS REPORT ATTEMPTED TO ANALYZE STABILIZED LANGUAGE PROCESSES AND TO EXAMINE THE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE, RANGING FROM SYSTEMATIC PHONETICS TO LOGICAL DISCOURSE. THE FIRST STUDY REPORTED WORK ON HUMAN AUDITORY SENSITIVITY AS A FUNCTION OF FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY. THE NEXT TWO STUDIES WERE…

THE APPLICATION OF TAGMEMIC AND MATRIX TECHNIQUES TO SOME PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS, AND THE ILLUSTRATION OF THIS APPLICATION WITH DATA SOURCES (RESTATED IN TAGMEMIC TERMS) WERE PRESENTED. (TAGMEMIC AND MATRIX TECHNIQUES REFER, RESPECTIVELY, TO THE STUDY OF (1) ONE-WORD OR MULTIWORD GRAMMAR UNITS AND THE FUNCTIONS OF THESE UNITS…

DURING THE FALL QUARTER OF 1965 AT KALAMAZOO COLLEGE, IN MICHIGAN, A FACULTY MEMBER AND A SENIOR STUDENT JOINTLY SHARED THE TEACHING OF TWO BEGINNING GERMAN COURSES WITH, IN EACH COURSE, SOPHOMORES AND SOME FRESHMEN FROM ALL ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS. THE STUDENT TEACHER, IN ADDITION TO HIGH SCHOOL AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDY, HAD SPENT A YEAR-AND-A-HALF…

This questionnaire presents about 450 phonological, lexical, and grammatical items that are used in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In composing the dialect survey, terms pertaining to climate, topography, and ethnic groups were taken into account, as were other words and phrases which might be used by Upper Peninsula native speakers. The survey…

This research project explores the language practices that emerged as a teacher taught a lesson designed to promote science literacy development for traditionally underrepresented students. This ethnographic study of a Detroit, Michigan, school examined the teacher's use of science language and its influence on students' use of science language.…

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROGRESS OF AN EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM IN SPEECH CONTROL WERE REPORTED. THE TOPICS COVERED IN THE DISCUSSIONS WERE (1) ACOUSTIC AND DISCRIMINATIVE PROPERTIES OF SPEECH SOUNDS, (2) MATCHING FUNCTIONS AND EQUAL-SENSATION CONTOURS FOR LOUDNESS, (3) RELATIONS BETWEEN IDENTIFICATION AND DISCRIMINATION FUNCTIONS FOR SPEECH AND…

THIS INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL WAS PREPARED FOR A COMPUTER-BASED SPEECH TRAINING SYSTEM, DESIGNED TO CONDITION FLUENCY IN THE PROSODIC FEATURES OF SPEECH. THE SCOPE OF THE MANUAL COVERED (1) SYSTEM AND SUBSYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS, (2) SYSTEM AND PROGRAM OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND (3) BASIC INFORMATION ON THE CONTROL OF SPEECH PRODUCTION AND…

THE PROGRESS OF AN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH PROGRAM IN SPEECH CONTROL WAS REPORTED. DISCUSSION TOPICS WERE (1) PROGRAMED LEARNING OF A SECOND LANGUAGE, (2) A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE MOTOR THEORY OF SPEECH PERCEPTION, (3) VISUAL CONTROL OF PHONEMIC CONTRASTS (A TEST OF THE MOTOR THEORY OF SPEECH PERCEPTION), (4) SINGLE STIMULUS PROPERTIES IN THE…

THIS STUDY FOCUSED ON THE GENERAL PROBLEM OF HOW THE TOTAL EFFECT OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL STIMULUS IS COMPOUNDED FROM THE SIMPLE EFFECT OF ITS SEPARATE COMPONENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF STIMULUS GENERALIZATION. FROM A THEORETICAL LEVEL, THE PROBLEM WAS STUDIED IN TERMS OF THE GEOMETRY OF MINKOWSKI. AN EXPERIMENT WAS CARRIED OUT WITH 20 SUBJECTS WHO WERE…

Techniques of reversing English-Russian scientific and technical dictionaries into Russian-English versions through semi-automated compilation are described. Sections on manual and automatic processing discuss pre- and post-editing, the task program, updater (correction of errors and revision by specialist in a given field), the system employed…