Examines a representative text corpus to gain insights into language structure and use and to open new areas of linguistic inquiry. Various illustrations are presented that provide a glimpse into the value of corpus-based investigations for increasing one's understanding of language use and imparting insights important for designing effective…

Analysis of the major changes and shifts of American English personal pronouns, possessive adjectives, and archaic forms concludes that: (1) an anaphoric pronoun unmarked as to gender is being created by usage; and (2) clear, grammatical, pronominal plurality is sought, but not at the expense of unmarked gender. (CB)

Discusses Russian translatology after 1950. Introduces in chronological order some of the most important Russian works and discusses their main points. Deals with Russian approaches to key problems in translation such as equivalence, pragmatic relations, audience orientation, and problems of cultural transfer. (SR)

Examines how conceptions of the text, reader, author, and context are altered by postmodern theories of intertextuality (ITX), and what ITX itself has come to mean as articulated by this theorizing and research. The idea of deconstructing reading is described. (Contains 48 references.) (JP)

Two studies investigated gender influences on the communication patterns of individuals with mental retardation. Gender-linked patterns appeared to exist among speakers with the highest Mean Length Utterances (MLU), despite the overarching relationship of MLU and person reference. (CR)

In this study, the phrase "shrug" is investigated using the Bank of English Corpus. The report is the first of three; the other two will focus on the phrases "hold one's gaze" and "touch wood." Each of these phrases relates to an aspect of communications that may hold particular difficulties for someone from another culture: gesture, eye contact,…

In this report, the phrase "hold one's gaze" is investigated using the Bank of English Corpus. The report is the second of three; the first is the phrase "shrug" and the third is "touch wood." Each of these phrases relates to an aspect of communications that may hold particular difficulties for someone from another culture: gesture, eye contact,…

Analysis of English articles use patterns found the definite article (DA) used far less than in other European languages. Generic DA use is rare in English, generally only used where the head noun has already been referred to or is contextually unique. Otherwise, the indefinite article, a possessive, or plural of the noun without an article must…

Presents data on patterns of language use by Italians living in Australia, focusing on the maintenance of Italian and Dialect under the impact of widespread shift to English. Data from self-report surveys suggest differences by gender, age, and region of origin and note that the position of Italian, though more limited, is somewhat more solid than…

Investigated toddlers' acquisition and use of nonsense verbs in passive and active voice. Children used various strategies to answer questions designed to elicit voice changes but did not usually change verb construction. When passive and active constructions were primed, older children were able to use an active-introduced verb in passive…

The etymology of the word "OK" has been controversial from the time it was coined. As an acronym, it is ambiguous by its nature. It was originally meant to stand for "oll korrect," a deliberate misspelling of "all correct." These misspellings were a fad among the literati in late 1830s Boston. However, the phrase was…

Concludes that the tendency to produce speech interruptions at the beginning of utterances, or pronouns, and conjunctions appears to be a characteristic of young children's speech. (RB)

Discussed the crucial meanings and usage of American language. (RK)

Suggests activities for teaching elementary students about types of word-meaning changes. (JH)