The vowel system of the educated rural sedentary dialect of the West Bank (Palestine) is analyzed from a generative phonological point of view and in relation to three phonological processes: monophthongization, centralization, and pharyngealization. The results of the analysis are compared with Mark Cowell's broader 1964 analysis of Syrian…

Examines how the term "Middle Arabic" has been used insufficiently, inappropriately, and in inconsistent manners, and also defines Middle Arabic by historical period and linguistic level. An analysis is made of Middle Arabic's multiglossic complexity and the unique structure of Middle Arabic compared to Old and Modern Arabic. (23 references) (GLR)

Examines results of a study of samples of babbling production of 6, 8, and 10-month-old infants from French, Arabic, and Cantonese backgrounds. Various judges were asked to identify those infants from their own linguistics community, with the intention of supporting hypothesis of an early influence on babbling of metaphonological characteristics…

Examines the historical changes in agreement patterns between Old Arabic and the New Arabic dialects to see whether they support Versteegh's radical hypothesis of pidginization, creolization, and decreolization. The conclusion is reached that the changes are chiefly because of processes of normal transmissions, "drift," and diffusion. (24…

Points of similarity and contrast between English and Modern Standard Arabic in relativization are examined. It is concluded that while the relativization process is essentially the same in both languages, they differ with respect to the relative pronoun, the agreement of the relative pronoun with its antecedent, and the appearance of the…

This final volume of a three-part report on various language research projects contains ten studies on a wide variety of language issues. The topics include "Some Aspects of Language Interference,""Contrastive Analysis of Case Marking in Polynesian Languages,""Notes on the Formation of Complex Sentences in Tunisian Arabic with Emphasis on the…

This study investigated similarities and differences in Egyptian Arabic and American English refusals, using a modified discourse completion test (DCT) consisting of three requests, three invitations, three offers, and three suggestions. Each situation included one refusal to a person of higher status, one to a person of equal status, and one to a…

Native speakers of Egyptian Arabic make errors in their pronunciation of English that cannot always be accounted for by a contrastive analysis of Egyptian analysis of Egyptain Arabic and English. This study focuses on three types of errors in the pronunciation of voiced and voiceless "th" made by fluent speakers of English. These errors were noted…

A group of university students consisting of native speakers of Chinese (n=63), Japanese (n=33), Korean (n=21), Indonesian (n=20), and Arabic (n=13) with relatively extensive exposure to the American university environment and a control group of 20 native English-speakers were asked to rank the social appropriateness of 104 conversation topics.…

A study investigated beliefs about language learning held by two groups of students studying Arabic: 41 students in conventional classroom language instruction at the University of Wisconsin in 1992 and 1993, and 27 in an immersion program at the Yemen Language Center (Yemen). The survey instrument consisted of 47 statements in a Likert-type scale…

Examines the usefulness of the interdisciplinary research approach in the study of Arabic linguistics, using native Arabic speakers' written translations of English text into Arabic. The analysis method adapted models of discourse analysis to reflect micro-level and macro-level mistranslations in students' papers. (25 references) (Author/OD)

A study investigated the effect of test item type (multiple-choice or open-ended) on performance reading comprehension tests given in both the student's native language and a second language. Subjects were 24 native Arabic-speaking and 38 native Hebrew-speaking students at Haifa University (Israel), all enrolled in a course in English as a second…

Papers on contrastive linguistics in this volume include: "Contrastive Discourse Analysis in Language Usage" (Juliane House); "Typology and Contrastive Analysis" (Vlasta Strakova); "On the Tenability of the Notion 'Pragmatic Equivalence' in Contrastive Analysis" (Karol Janicki); "On the Relevance of Phonetic,…

A study examined the relationship between syntactic complexity and overall accuracy in the written English of 30 advanced learners of English from five different native language groups. Results show similar patterns of error distribution, a similar level of relative strength in syntax, and relative weakness in morphology. (Author/MSE)

Papers presented at a 1977 symposium on language acquisition held at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee are included. Contents are as follows: "Assumptions, Methods and Goals in Language Acquisition Research" (Sheldon); "The Mother as LAD: Interaction between Order and Frequency of Parental Input and Child Production"…