This paper shows that the proposition, our universal thought process, underlies its linguistic realization, the sentence of a specific language, and provides the theoretical basis for interlingual translation as well as intralingual paraphrase. (An example of componential analysis is shown for some Korean sibling terms.) (Author/AMM)

Most linguistic theory is analytic in that it begins with a complex unit and breaks it down into components. Criticisms of analytic linguistics are made, and a synthetic approach is proposed which begins with atomic components of language and rules for grouping them into more complex units. (RM)

A generative semantic model for a componential analysis of prepositions in Italian sentences is described and critiqued. According to the model, a sentence is analyzed in terms of a "predicate" plus one or more "arguments." The model emphasizes the semantic role of prepositions and regards this role as the basis for a syntactic…

This study of the acquisition of kinship terms in English is a test of the hypothesis that lexical items are learned in their order of complexity and of the validity of relational analysis in predicting the order of the acquisition of kinship terms. Earlier studies of kinship terms, Piaget's in particular, are first discussed, as well as the…

This is a study of the kinds of processes involved in learning the meaning of individual lexical items, and in particular how the acquisition of lexical meaning is related to the cognitive structuring of events on the one hand and the ability to produce syntactic paraphrases of a word's meaning and other related constructions on the other. It is…

In line with current thinking in transformational grammar, syntax as a system can and should be studied before a study is made of the use of that system. Chomsky's lexical redundancy rule is an area for further study, possibly to come closer to defining and achieving explanatory adequacy. If it is observed that English nouns come in two types,…