Noting that no clear and adequate basis for a theory of translation exists at this time, this article examines problems common to three fundamental elements of translation. Illustrative examples, taken from Slavic languages, relate to discussion of grammatical, semantic-lexical, and stylistic aspects of translation. Various contributions of…

The identification and study of 20 syntactical patterns responsible for much of the structural ambiguity found in literary composition can develop in students an audience awareness. When they realize that such constructions as "a dull boy's knife" and "the club will be open to members from Monday to Thursday" can be misinterpreted, they take more…

This paper concerns the development of Papiamento, a creole language spoken in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, islands off the coast of Venezuela. The contributions of each of the languages which influenced its development--Portuguese, African languages, Spanish, and Dutch--are examined in successive sections of the paper, with a concluding portion…

Reports on two studies exploring the contrast effects in judgments of messages exhibiting high or low lexical and syntactic diversity. Suggests that listeners are sensitive to variations in lexical diversity but not syntactic diversity. (RL)

Refutes the theory that indirect requests are ambiguous. Arguments for it are examined and an attempt is made to expose the weaknesses in the kinds of tests generally used to detect "illocutionary" ambiguity. An alternative analysis in the framework of semantics and the pragmatics of directive speech acts is suggested. (AMH)

This study investigated complimenting behavior in three language varieties, British English, Finnish, and the interlanguage of Finish Learners of English. It found that compliments in Finnish tended to be longer and more syntactic than in English and that Finnish learners of English demonstrated appropriate complimenting behavior in English,…

According to "noun-cue" models, arbitrary linguistic categories, like those associated with case and gender systems, are difficult to learn unless members of the target category (i.e., nouns) are marked with phonological or semantic cues that reliably co-occur with grammatical morphemes (e.g., determiners) that exemplify the categories. "Syntactic…

Literacy instruction materials developed by literacy workers are presented. Most of the materials are intended for a variety of student proficiency levels; one is intended for teachers. The first four sets, all illustrated with photographs, include a story about playing the lottery, the description of a shopping trip for jeans and shoes, a…

A study of codeswitching patterns in American speakers of Finnish, primarily at the syntactic level, is presented. Subjects are 21 Finnish-English bilinguals aged 8 to 91 years, whose speech in naturally occurring speech situations was recorded and analyzed for intrasentential codeswitching. The analysis looked at (1) how much codeswitching could…

A discussion of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching focuses on the relationship of lexical items to the syntactic situations in which they may occur, and the importance of teaching this relationship to language learners. First, common errors made by ESL students that are attributable to lack of syntactic context knowledge are identified.…

To determine the syntactic maturity of eighth grade Canadian students' writing, all the students in four eighth grade classes were asked to write two compositions--one narrative and one argumentative--two weeks apart. The syntactic maturity level of the resulting 81 narrative compositions and 82 written arguments was compared with the syntactic…

An English instructor at the University of Central Arkansas observed three problems students encounter with the often formidable writings of John Milton and developed strategies for alleviating those problems. The first problem was the difficulty posed by the vocabulary and syntax of "Paradise Lost." The instructor discussed with the…

A stylistics-based approach to teaching poetry in the English as a foreign language classroom is examined. Since students may not have the linguistic skills to appreciate a poem, an analytical framework is proposed that includes the elements of repetition, confusion, and surprise. Reference is made to two poems, "In a Season of Unemployment"…

The ability to produce and recognize paraphrases is necessary for a child's linguistic development. The purpose of this paper is to explain how three basic sentence types interact with age in determining the strategy a child uses in producing paraphrases. Three paraphrase strategies considered are lexical substitution, syntactic rearrangement, and…

Seven hundred and fifty compositions, randomly selected from National Assessment of Educational Progress essays written by 9-, 13- and 17-year-olds, were analyzed in a study of the skills that go into the writing of a good composition. The essays were first rated as high, medium, or low in quality. A total of 43 different indices reported or…