Attempts to formulate an appropriate linguistic generalization for the occurrence of inhibited periodic eyeblinking by fluent American Sign Language (ASL) signers. It is shown that signers' eyeblinks are sensitive to syntactic structure, from which intonational phrases may be derived. (19 references) (MDM)

Considers the socio-stylistic distinction of the French variable morpho-syntactic particle "ne." The interspeaker axes of variation in "ne" are summarized, and intraspeaker data deriving from a corpus of spoken French are considered. Examines intraspeaker variation in "ne" by focusing on the use of the variable by a single speaker in both speech…

Throughout "Coriolanus", the third person "shall" appears primarily as a modal auxiliary: combined with another verb, it indicates the speaker's mood or attitude toward the person or thing that (s)he speaks about. This essay looks at one of the tribunes' use of "shall" in the third person and how it reveals the…

Although most researchers recognise that the language repertoire of bilinguals can vary, few studies have tried to address variation in bilingual competence in any detail. This study aims to take a first step towards further understanding the way in which bilingual competencies can vary at the level of syntax by comparing the use of syntactic…

The evidence of a general achievement gap, and more specifically, a reading gap between African American students and White students is a well documented and alarming phenomenon (Chatterji, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2004, 2007; Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin & Heilig, 2005; Fishback & Baskin, 1991; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Haycock, 2001;…

This study investigates if negotiation can affect syntacticization in the learning of second language (L2) syntax. Evidence from a number of studies has suggested that linguistic modification occurs during negotiation, but no research has examined if such modifications assist the learning of syntax in a second language. This study examined to what…

Formal means for describing the syntax of code switching are proposed and illustrated with examples from Puerto Rican Spanish and English. The role of code switching constraints in determining the way two monolingual grammars may be combined in generating discourse containing code switches is analyzed. Intrasentential code switching is…

In this column, the term "pragmatics", a part of linguistic analysis, is explained. The study of pragmatics concerns language usage in natural context. The item of analysis is not the sentence, but the utterance of the sentence in a particular well-defined set of contexts. (SW)

Instead of teaching three divisions (when-type clauses, conditional clauses, and wish-clauses), two units may be used (possible situations and contrary-to-fact situations). Suggestions are made for interesting class practice. (MSE)

This paper proposes to give an evolutionary background to a method developed for the analysis of language seen as expression of intention and morality--the method is named "Perspective Text Analysis." The paper argues that this name indicates that beyond the physical dimension of a text there is a metaphysical one, which can be…

Points out that the Spanish "entonces," grammatically an adverb, is being used more and more as a conversational filler without real function or meaning. (Text is in Spanish.) (CK)

In Black English (BE), in addition to the motion verb "come," there exists a modal-like "come" which expresses speaker indignation. This "come" is comparable to other modal-like forms, identical to motion verbs, which occur in Black and non-Black varieties of English, and which signal various degrees of disapproval.…

The principal claim of this paper is that the Japanese passive consists of two different constructions, each derived from a distinct deep structure and each having associated with it a distinct set of syntactic and semantic properties. One of these constructions, the "adversative passive," implies that the grammatical subject of the…

This is a grammatical and semantic analysis of verb usage in French. The occurrence of verb stems and endings with associated adverbs is described, defined and diagrammed. (MLA)