This dissertation examines the palatalization of consonants in historic and living dialects of three West-Germanic languages: Dutch, German, and Frisian. Palatalization was a common feature of the West-Germanic phonological system and can be found in some form in all West-Germanic languages of the present. It is argued that the extent of its…

Reviews some problems which have risen from the neglect of actual language behavior data in favor of data comprised solely of intuitions as to sentences' grammaticality. Discusses a study of syntactic variation across sex in Japanese as an example of research using socially situated real speech. (EKN)

Schachter's "An Error in Error Analysis," is reviewed in light of subsequent research on avoidance. Hypotheses based on her figures suffer from the lack of methodological detail in her original study. To establish whether avoidance is a feasible explanation for learner underproduction, first language form, distribution, and function of…

Reaction to another article in this issue, "How Not To Analyze the Syntax of Children" by Roger McCaig, pp. 612-18. (SW)

Discusses the current meager state of knowledge of sex differentiation in language variation and concludes that poor theorizing and inadequate methodology are to blame. Describes a study of pronoun usage by male and female Japanese speakers to show that research on sex differentiation in language is possible. (EKN)

Type/Token Ratios (TTRs) frequently fail to discriminate between children at widely different stages of language development, and may fall as children get older. Such effects are caused by a negative, though non-linear, relationship between sample size and TTR. Standardization of the number of tokens before computing TTRs is recommended.…

Relies on a study of articles on agronomy and engineering to argue that teachers of technical style need to examine more closely the structures used by technical writers, particularly subordinate clauses that may be a means of distinguishing the "languages" of various technical disciplines. (EL)

Issues unique to survey research among limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations are discussed, with illustrations drawn from one recent doctoral study. The research in question was on language, culture, and ethnicity in five Chinese-language schools in northern California. Its aim was to investigate the role of the schools in maintaining…

Papers on lexicographic research in Quebec (Canada) include: "Indications semantiques dans les dictionnaires bilingues" ("Semantic Indications in Bilingual Dictionaries) (Johanne Blais, Roda P. Roberts); "Definitions predictionnairiques de 'maison, batiment, et pavillon'" ("Pre-dictionary definitions of 'house,…