Syntactic synonymy enables the speaker to use syntactic devices to say the same thing in a number of different ways. It is based on three criteria: (1) similarity of semantic content, (2) certain syntactic similarity between the components of the synonymous structures, and (3) differences in surface structures. The third criterion separates…

One hundred short test items representing the style and grammatical usage of ten preschool age children were selected from large samples of their narrative and directive speech. Three groups of adults predicted successive words in an effort to reconstruct the actual vocabularies and grammatical forms of the utterances. The predictors' correct…

The central concern of this book is the pursuit of experimental methods whereby grammatical and semantic inquiry can be put on a satisfying objective basis. (To state that the aim is to find out whether a given linguistic form is "acceptable" is true, but an oversimplification which is misleading because it implies a "yes or no" decision and…

Deals with selected aspects of traditional Amhara verbal behavior from an ethnographic point of view. (CLK)

Demonstrates through an examination of naturally occurring discourse that Wh-Clefts and It-Clefts are not interchangeable; they have highly specialized distributions and functions. (EJS)

Proposes description of Latin syntactic structures through an analysis of their communicative functions. (AM)

Two explanations for the role of "se" in such constructions as "Se construyen casas" are given by grammarians; one states that it is a passive interpretation ("Houses are built"), the other advocates an impersonal interpretation ("One builds houses"). Different views are presented and analyzed. (Author/NCR)

Supports the assertion that pedagogical grammar must be a marriage of syntax and pragmatics through consideration of the different characteristics of "yes/no" questions and of how input from both syntax and pragmatics is needed to explain these characteristics. (Author/CB)

Part of Lexicography and Dialect Geography, Festgabe for Hans Kurath''. Comments are based on the compiling of A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue''. Paper presented at the Table Ronde de Lexicographie Historique, Florence, Italy, May 4, 1971. (DD)

The Black English semi-auxiliary "come" is used to express speaker indignation, as opposed to the motion verb "come." Examines the history of the semi-auxiliary and why it has remained undetected for so long. (EKN)

Illustrates with numerous examples and analyses the various uses of "quien." Discusses alternation between "quien" and the groups "el cual"/"el que," variation in the verb agreement, the function of "quien" as an indefinite pronoun, as well as questions of stylistic preference and correctness. (MES)