The issue of data and evidence plays a crucial role in science. What counts as evidence within a theoretical framework is one of the central problems in contemporary linguistics. Although recent publications have focused on this methodological question and highlighted the relevance of different types of data, a fundamental aspect has been ignored:…

Does the child's emerging understanding of other minds interact with his/her growing understanding of language? If so, in what ways? This paper focuses on the recent proposals of Daniel Hutto and colleagues regarding the role played by the child's developing skills in narrative discourse in his/her acquisition of folk-psychological understanding.…

Rob MacLaury's Vantage Theory, VT, models the way in which a cognizer constructs, recalls, uses, and modifies a category in terms of point of view or vantage. Alongside of VT, there is place for the kind of semantic specification found in the lexicon. VT2 [Allan, Keith, 2002. "Vantage theory, VT2, and number." "Language Sciences" 24(5-6), 679-703…

Language serves many functions for humans, but three of the most important are coordination, learning, and friendship. All of those functions were well served by the conversations from which this special issue emerged, a conference, "Grounding language in perception and (inter) action", held at Gordon College in June 2009. The conference brought…

This paper discusses the relationship between entrenched beliefs about language ("language ideologies") and the linguistic system, and considers how conflicts between propositional and procedural knowledge about language have an effect upon the way in which language is regulated within society. It examines the epistemological foundations for…

This article discusses some apparently paradoxical behavior of the English demonstratives "this/these" and "that/those" as determiners of proper nouns and as metaphorical signals of epistemic and affective stance within the proximal-distal opposition. It is argued that the apparent paradoxes are actually cases of shifting perspectives or points of…

This study analyzes the variation of syllable- and word-final /s/ among two generations of Cubans in Miami, Florida (USA): older, early exile immigrants who arrived in Miami as adults in the 1960s and 1970s, and young Miami-born Cubans whose maternal and paternal grandparents immigrated to Miami from Cuba prior to 1980. Since sibilant weakening is…

Investigates the role of language in society from the theoretical framework of the sociology of knowledge. (EKN)

Examines the relationship between speaker and hearer in linguistic communication. (LG)

Two factors often neglected in studies of the development of pidgin languages are described in relation to the history of Pidgin Fijian: significant changes in function of the pidgin and in its speakers' characteristics, and contact with other pidgins. These factors are discussed in regard to the development of pidgin languages in general and…

Examines the indirect strategies applied in the relationship between power and language, with particular reference to Eastern (Asian) verbal context. Argues that indirectness is both a form of politeness where a speaker avoids expressing himself explicitly and a style of formulating speech acts, which has an inherent pragmatic role. (32…

Sociolinguistic patterns of India are discussed. (LG)

This experiment using the matched-guise technique in a natural setting shows that listeners' cooperative behavior can be influenced by a speaker's style of speech not only in a face-to-face situation, but also on the basis of voice cues alone. Broadness of pronunciation also influences reactions. (POP)

Presents a systematic comparison of the function of voice alterations in three genetically unrelated languages--Biblical Hebrew, Chinese, and English. It is shown that passive or passivelike function can be divided into a number of discrete functional types, each of which is associated with a certain combination of translation equivalents in the…

Experiment supporting the crux of Mead's discussion describing the development and projection of the social self. Use of pronominal references seems to be an indicator of the dimensions of the interaction process. (POP)