It is suggested that the literature on communicative competence, replete with various formulations, mirrors the diversity of language outlined by Martin Joos in his essay "The Five Clocks." Three concepts of communicative competence are reviewed, in historical perspective. The first, promoted by Norm Chomsky, distinguished linguistic…

A study was conducted to replicate and extend an earlier investigation of the persuasive effects of extended, intense concluding sex and death metaphors by using a more controlled design and by mixing metaphors. Fifty-eight high school students completed pretests assessing their attitudes toward a speech topic (legalization of marijuana). Two…

Two studies were undertaken to determine first whether language characteristics attributed to females are more socially desirable than those attributed to males and second whether a double standard exists such that language traits seen as socially desirable for adults in general are viewed as negative when assigned to either females or males. For…

Reviews current research on three important language variables in search of a pattern. Discusses the nature of these variables, offers 26 generalizations supported by the studies, and derives implications from these generalizations. Areas for future research are suggested. (JMF)

Investigates the hypothesis that letters to lower-status recipients would consist of a greater number of more familiar modes than letters to higher-status recipients and that letters to recipients of high solidarity with the writer would consist of a greater number of more familiar modes than letters to recipients of low solidarity with the…

Three stereotypes of male-female behavior as manifested in language were investigated. The stereotypes are: women are more verbose than men, women use more modifiers than men, and women are submissive to men. Eighty students were randomly assigned to one of two conflict resolution conditions--a business situation and an interpersonal…

Applied Syntactic Language Computer Analysis and counts of legal jargon and power speech to analyze the language styles of plaintiffs, defendants, and attorneys in 20 civil trials. Concluded that successful trial participants speak differently than those who fail and that the differences in language style are significant and consistent. (PD)

Investigates conversational characteristics (discourse features, illocutionary force and style parameters) of mothers of two-year-old twins and mothers of two-year-old singletons with older siblings. Finds significant differences in conversational characteristics, and between twins' and singletons' language scores on measures of language…

Examines the personality attributions made of a second speaker when (1) he reciprocated or failed to reciprocate the intimacy level of a disclosure made by an initial speaker and when (2) he matched or failed to match the initial speaker's level of language intensity. (Authors)

Describes an experiment designed to investigate the characteristics of speech addressed to children and to determine if they are distinctive enough to be perceived as a special register. Explains how evidence for specialness was found in the judgments of observers exposed to messages addressed to different categories of listeners, including…

Reports on two studies exploring the contrast effects in judgments of messages exhibiting high or low lexical and syntactic diversity. Suggests that listeners are sensitive to variations in lexical diversity but not syntactic diversity. (RL)

Suggests that speech act theory can help researchers and teachers in professional communication to define indirectness more precisely and to determine when it is appropriate and can provide them with a means of analyzing texts and refining rhetorical principles. (ARH)

An ethnographic study examined slang as spoken on campuses of two universities in the United States, one on the West Coast and one in the Midwest. Subjects were students from Intercultural Communication classes, who served as participant/observers and data gatherers. Subjects were instructed to collect slang terms that they heard on campus and,…

Examines the consequences of powerful and powerless speech styles in a hypothetical job interview by investigating the effects of seven linguistic features. Found, for example, that hesitations and tags were judged relatively powerless, ineffective, and unlikely to fulfill the communicator's intentions while polite linguistic forms and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 31 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the rhetoric of confrontation in Northern Ireland; (2) rhetorical arguments in public health regulations; (3) epideictic discourse in the founding of the…