This paper gives the results of a controlled experiment on word association. The purpose was to establish norms of commonality of primary descriptive adjective responses to common nouns. The stimuli consisted of 203 common nouns selected from 10 everyday topics of conversation, approximately 20 from each topic. There were 350 subjects, 50% male,…

There is wide variability in the type and degree of bilingualism exhibited by persons from the various Spanish-speaking groups in the USA. Within particular subcultural groups, there is significant variability among individuals in the use of language patterns. An empirical study investigated the use of language pattern in specified social contexts…

Formality as a style may be defined as language which reflects or "keynotes" the degree of familiarity between participants in a discourse. Working from this assumption, this paper attempts to answer the question, "How is formality best described?" Results of a series of tests indicate that informants' labels (with the…

To determine whether language behavior represents an early conditioned verbal response or whether it changes with age and experience was the purpose of this study which attempted to define unique isolates of language on the basis of actual language produced by young children. Tape recorded data were collected for 12 years from 211 children in…

This study investigated the relationship between the syntactical language development of first grade children and their socio-ethnic status. From a random selection of 160 first grade children, 19 Caucasians with highly developed language abilities were selected from a high socioeconomic stratum to be compared with 19 Negroes with low language…

In this study, the use of the preposition "pour" (for) in Ontario French is analyzed: (1) in its use with the verb "payer" (to pay for), and (2) in its durative meaning. Data come from the written and spoken French of three groups of bilingual Franco-Ontarian students from the ninth and twelfth grade. In the written and spoken…

Examination of the first 50 words of three blind children revealed that the early vocabulary paralleled that of seeing children in terms of age and speed of acquisition. Differences between the two groups were related to factors which were highly influenced by experience (including visual experience). (Author/CB)

A sociolinguistic analysis of language use among eight preschool children in a bilingual English/Hebrew classroom was conducted to examine the effects of teacher background (U.S. or Israeli born/educated) while interacting with children from bilingual or monolingual backgrounds and teacher's participation (presence or absence) in classroom…

Patterns of speech from lower socioeconomic status mothers to their infants were analyzed to determine correlations with infant risk of mental retardation. Measures of maternal language included sentence form, amount of speech, and syntactic complexity. The proportion of imperatives was positively correlated with risk status and negatively…

Reports four experiments examining subject-verb agreement errors in Spanish and English. Discusses cross-linguistic differences within the framework of the computational model of grammatical encoding proposed by Kempen and Hoenkamp. Suggests that languages differ in the extent to which the selection of the verb is controlled by features on the…

Children with specific language impairments (eight learning Italian, eight learning English as a first language) were studied for grammatical deficits. Italian-speakers used noun inflections, verb inflections, copula forms more than English-speaking counterparts, matched by utterance length. Articles were used similarly. Results were consistent…

Analyzes the use of imperatives in five scholarly journal articles (main text and notes) in each of ten disciplines, and follow-up interviews with authors using imperatives within main text indicate specific patterns and purposes of usage and field-specific expectations and conventions. Discusses implications for instruction of non-native-speaking…

The educational system in a multilingual society needs to reflect the authentic patterns of language use by the individuals in that society. A person who knows three or more languages presumably uses each of these languages in different contexts, for different purposes and at varying levels of proficiency. The school curriculum should aim at…

Data from a larger ethnolinguistic study are presented to demonstrate patterns of pupil-teachers exchanges between bilingual children and monolingual teachers in an urban nursery school in England. Children were aged 3-4 years. Naturally-occurring discourse data were audiotaped and substantial contextual data was gathered. Analysis of patterns in…

A study investigated language choice within families in a small (population 1,100) Inuit community in rural northern Quebec province (Canada). Since the settlement's formation 40 years ago, the population has become increasingly interethnic, with people speaking a mixture of Inuktitut, English, and French. Subjects were 23 couples with children…