It is argued that dictionary definitions of objects are enhanced by addition of usage information, sometimes idiomatic and sometimes indicating specific functions of the object. This lexical semantic approach is illustrated primarily with the example of the French word "boite." (MSE)

A nation's language is on the order of a natural resource--subject, like the other, to depletion, the ravages of pollution, thoughtless neglect. Suggests the development of an American Academy like unto the French Academy which would diligently establish "sure rules to our language, rendering it pure, eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and…

Analyzes the near-complementary distribution of the German palatal fricative [c] and velar fricative [x] as a counterexample to Structural Preservation because the rule of Fricative Assimilation (FA) introduces the nondistinctive feature [back] lexically. The analysis presented derives both [x] and [c] from the archiphoneme /X/ via FA and a…

Discusses Polish influences in East Slavonic and presents results of personal research into the vocabulary of pre-Petrine Russian sources with comments on Ukrainian and Byelorussian as intermediaries in the transmission of Latin words via Polish to Russian; paper presented at the 7th International Congress of Slavists, Warsaw, Poland, August 1973.…

Describes a linguistic analysis computational system that responds to highly complex queries about morphosyntactic and semantic structures contained in large sets of language acquisition data by identifying, displaying, and analyzing sentences that meet the defined linguistic criteria. (30 references) (Author/CB)

This article discusses the equivalency in meaning of synonyms in one language, and the problems encountered in attempting to translate synonyms. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

A lexical representational analysis of Classical Arabic is proposed that captures a generalization that McCarthy's (1979, 1981) autosegmental analysis misses, namely that idiosyncratic characteristics of the derivational binyanim in Arabic are lexical, not morphological. This analysis captures that generalization by treating all the idiosyncracies…

Discusses the estrangement between etymology and modern linguistics, and concludes that a reconciliation between spatio-temporal linguistics and etymology must occur, because without it, both disciplines are doomed to inanition. (Author/AM)

Argues that the distribution of lexical stresses in Macedonian and Polish follows from the architecture of metrical theory and can be accounted for by adopting revised obligatory branching (ROB) feet. These are feet where the head dominates an accented syllable and the nonhead may dominate any kind of syllable. (17 references) (JL)

Examines how one approach to the study of language, ethno-methodological conversation analysis, accomplishes the integration of linguistic phenomena into the practical continuum of human activity. It is concluded that an integrational rhetoric should and can produce close, detailed, empirical analyses of situated discursive action. (51 references)…

Focuses on a single rule of grammar to produce evidence of a memory system for language acquisition and processing that is modular; independent of real-world meaning; unaffected by frequency and similarity; sensitive to formal distinctions; more sophisticated than the explicitly-taught rules it subsumes; developed independently of ambient input;…

Analyzing word frequency in six complete texts, a study investigated how vocabulary can be used to define texts. The texts included three stories from 5th and 6th grade readers, selections from literature anthologies for 8th grade and 12th grade students, and a magazine essay for adults. Results indicated that if particular words occur frequently…

Report of research findings on productive language differences in beginning fifth grade Black children living in Philadelphia, as evidenced by their use of nonstandard syntactic forms in both speech and writing. (RB)

Examines the syntactic aspects of affixation and compounding, processes accounting for the great majority of new word formations documented in "6,000 Words" (1976). (AM)