In this article, we examine various strategies used to express cardinal numbers in Yucatec Maya Sign Languages (YMSLs) from three historically unrelated communities in Yucatán, Mexico: Chicán, Nohkop, and Cepeda Peraza. Our findings describe some numeral strategies, which remained unattested in previous accounts, and demonstrate that YMSL numerals…

This dissertation investigates the lexical f[subscript 0] control in Mandarin within the framework of Articulatory Phonology (AP) in two experiments: an imitation study (Experiment 1) and an Electromagnetic Articulography production study (Experiment 2). Empirical results are accounted for by making reference to a gestural model of f[subscript o]…

A study was made investigating whether or not the two-person conversational speech behavior (mean duration of utterance, mean reaction time, latency and frequency of interruption) of an individual who is fluent in two languages is the same or different when he is conversing in each of these two languages. (Author/RM)

The case study of an older woman with Alzheimer's disease shows that while her command of words and syntax had deteriorated, her ability to use other forms of communication had not. Her alternative forms of communication included use of gesture, facial expression, posture, and tone of voice. (MSE)

A framework which considers speech and language as separate entities in a symbiotic relationship is presented, and basic questions are raised concerning how speech and language function together and what their reciprocal effects are. Based on the notion that speech and language are independent, various examples of speech without language and of…

Research was conducted to examine selected formal features of conversational segments enacted by family members in three modes of television programming: documentary, prime time, and soap opera. A sample of videotape recordings for each program format was content-analyzed for: (1) segment length, (2) length of conversational turn, and (3) duration…

The research investigated the nature and frequency of hesitation phenomena in speech as presented within content segments featuring interaction among family members on three modes of television programming: documentary, prime time, and soap opera. A sample of videotape recordings for each program format was content-analyzed by noting repetitions,…

A study analyzed four dyadic conversations for evidence of the signals operating in the turn-taking process and facilitating the smooth exchange of turns. It found over 20 syntactic, prosodic, and semantic features occurring frequently with turn-taking. The five most significant factors correlating with turn-taking were a prosodically completed…

This book reports the proceedings of the conference on the role of speech in language, the fifth conference in the "Communicating by Language" Series, sponsored by the Growth and Development Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The focus of the first group of papers is on the development of speech in man and…

Reports a study of the relationship between nonverbal forms of communication, principally gestures, and second language (L2) private speech through recall and picture narration task. Results show nonverbal elements illuminate the private speech they accompany, and gestures alone act in a self-regulatory capacity after pauses, implying a connection…

An analysis of the use of language in a social service context using microethnographic research techniques is described. The study examined a single interaction between a welfare caseworker and a client as they address the client's employment and educational options. The interaction was videotaped and a segment of just over a minute was analyzed…

Examines the changes that occur from ages 5 to 11 in question/answer sequences of Dutch children. Function, content, form of questions, and listener response are analyzed. (EKN)

A study investigated requests as speech acts in "Zulu English," the English of Zulu first-language speakers, seeking to explain miscommunication in interactions between Zulu- and English-speakers by pointing to pragmatic transfer as one possible cause. Data were collected by means of a series of discourse completion tests in Zulu, Zulu…

A case is made for a broader approach to the study of politeness strategies, as has been demanded increasingly by linguists working on non-Western languages. Using data from a role-played dialogue involving a request in the Southern Bantu language Zulu, speakers are first located culturally, then the sequence of vrebal utterances as a whole is…

The question is addressed whether a child would develop a communication system if a conventional linguistic model is absent. Six congenitally deaf children, who were not exposed to Sign Language, were observed and videotaped at play in their homes at intervals of one to three months. The children ranged in age from 1 year, 5 months to 4 years, 1…