Throughout its long history, the project of a science of grammar has always been an inherently philosophical one, in which the study of grammar was taken to have special epistemological significance. I ask why 20th and 21st century inquiry into Universal Grammar (UG) has largely lost this dimension, a fact that I argue is partially responsible for…

The characteristics which were held to define the Chinese language within the Western intellectual tradition placed it for a time at the centre in discussions of the genealogy of mankind. The dominant premodern paradigm for the explanation of human linguistic diversity was Biblical exegesis, as discussed and elaborated within the framework of…

Questions empirical and heuristic value of parameters in most uses to elucidate relationship between markedness theory and parameters. Shows approaches labeled Principles and Parameters are reformulation of markedness theory; PP reformulation may be less adequate than former models of MT; function of parameters in current phonological literature…

Discusses the numerical distribution of the six logically possible orders of the Subject (S), Object (O), and Verb (V) across world languages. It is argued that the semantic relations of S, O, and V are best characterized as three concentric regions; S contained in O and O contained in V. (29 references) (Author/VWL)

Examines the theory of "natural semantic metalanguage," which argues that all languages share an irreducible core of universal semantic primitives with certain universal syntactic properties. Hypotheses on the universal syntax of semantic primitives are outlined. Topics include valency options and complementation possibilities of…

Examines the concept of indigenized Englishes and compares them with pidgins and creoles, focusing on attitudes about indigenized English, creative aspects of indigenized English, substratum influences, and universals. (Author/CB)

Discusses whether the hypothesis, within Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory, that the conditional and counterfactual constructions are semantic universals is justifiable in the case of Japanese. It is concluded that there is an unambiguous equivalent of the "if"-construction in Japanese, and that while there is an unambiguous…

Reviewing the language instinct debate, this article identifies generativist views with the baby's proverbial bathwater. Suggests that instead of analyzing language into form-based units, it should be treated as an aspect of social life deriving from a capacity to contextualize experience. (Author/VWL)

Final chapter of "The Grammatical Foundations of Rhetoric", to be published by Mouton, The Hague, Netherlands. (DD)

Suggests that there are universal constraints that explain the so-called "Definiteness Effect," i.e., the fact that certain constructions do not allow for definite arguments in certain positions. The article founds its proposal on the analysis of data from Hungarian and English. (15 references) (Author/CK)

Outlines a way of conceiving the area of language identified by case or grammatical relation that does not rely on the specification of universal inventory. The alternative proposes the existence of principles of intelligence, which in their operation in language, yield the language performance that is interpreted as ROLES. (Contains 80…

Discusses the strategies that a child might employ during the one-word stage in constructing an early lexicon. An attempt is made to shed light on some strategies by analyzing the lexical and phonological development of two children who seem to take opposite approaches. (Author/JL)

The comparative method is not a single method of reconstruction but a complex set of procedures based on different assumptions and hypotheses about language change. The paper examines sound-meaning relationships, traditions, phonetic distinctions and the sets of oppositions, & regularity and irreversibility of phonetic change in the discussion.…

Reviews theories of language origin with particular reference to Morris Swadesh's The Origin and Diversification of Language'', Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1971. (RS)

Concerns the small proportion of phonemes in any given language, as compared to the number of morphemes, lexemes, and sememes. (DD)