Pause detection thresholds and the duration of fluent and hesitation pauses as a function of syntactic complexity were studied in 12 normal young adult male speakers. (KW)

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)

Outside the core grammar, the set of "peripheral" or marked properties of a language include exceptions or relaxations of the settings of core grammar and the idiosyncratic features of the language governed by particular lexical items. The core/peripheral distinction has direct implications for grammatical development in children. The…

A study explored similarities and differences in relative pronoun use by native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of English. The study was conducted with 40 university students, 20 NSs and 20 NNSs. Specifically, the study examined the frequency of relative pronoun use and the spontaneity of subjects' responses in completing a sentence…

A discussion of language acquisition assumes that lexicon plays a central role, and that the principles of conventionality and contrast are also essential. It examines the hypotheses children draw on about possible word meanings and how they map their meanings into forms. This process begins with children's emerging knowledge of conventional words…

A study investigated to what extent adult native speakers of Mandarin Chinese learning English as a second language could pronounce the five front vowels of American English, how difficult this was, and which vowels were most difficult. Subjects were 16 Chinese university students and spouses and 16 American students. All subjects were recorded…