This column examines the term "variable rules," which accounts for patterning in language. Variable rules can show variation in the structural description and/or in the process involved in the rule. (SW)

This paper accepts Labov's (1973) criticisms of the categorial approach, i.e., the view that linguistic units are categories which are discrete, invariant, qualitatively distinct, conjunctively defined, and composed of atomic primes, and follows Labov in attempting to develop a non-categorial (or fuzzy-categorial) approach to lexical semantics,…

The book is a typological study of grammatical roles, such as agent, patient, beneficiary, and of grammatical relations, such as subject (direct) and indirect object. In addition it is concerned with the devices, such as the passive, that alter the identities in such roles and relations. Its objective is to suggest a consistent and reasonably…

Two different approaches to the definition of literature (criterial and prototypical) are described, and some features of a prototypical literary work are outlined. The criterial approach attempts to provide criteria that must be met by all texts to be called literature. The prototype approach focuses on a particularly good example to which other…

The dictionary, intended primarily for teachers and students of phonetics, contains almost 2,000 terms used in the field of phonetics. Areas covered include articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual phonetics, classical and generative phonology, distinctive features, the phonology of English, and phonological change and variation. Terminology is…

The author responds to a critical analysis by Peter Crompton of definitions in literature on hedge, a linguistic phenomenon understood by linguists in different ways. This analysis of the definition and subsequent test offered by the first author is offered to demonstrate the weaknesses of the proposed thesis. (MSE)

The author replies to criticism of his definition of hedge, a linguistic phenomenon, defending his line of argument and making his assumptions explicit. Concludes that if hedging is to be treated as a linguistic phenomenon, it is the job of linguists to describe it in terms of the choices available within the language system as a whole. (MSE)

Evidence for speaker knowledge of morphological patterns, both derivational and inflectional, is not limited to productive patterns. Nonproductive patterns appear to be accessible in such a way that accessibility (a term preferred to "psychological reality") may be viewed as a function of four somewhat interdependent factors: (1) productivity, (2)…

Analysis of the Korean verb "na-ka-ta" ("to get out, exit") focuses on why an expression such as "kyengkicang-ey na-ka-ta" ("someone goes out/in to the sports arena") is acceptable only in the context that the person's entering the arena is for the purpose of a contest, while it becomes semantically…

It is argued that a more comprehensive, systematic understanding of the nature of the alphabet, its three identities (letters/graphemes, letters/nomenemes, sounds/phonemes), and their specific functions in the teaching of various language skills and subskills should be an integral part of the language arts curriculum and instructional plan,…

Papers from the conference on the occurrence of verbal constituents in series in certain languages, particularly pidgins and creoles, include the following: "What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Serial Verbs?" (Arnold M. Zwicky); "Serial Verb Constructions" (Pieter Seuren); "On the Definition and Distribution of…