This dissertation examines the palatalization of consonants in historic and living dialects of three West-Germanic languages: Dutch, German, and Frisian. Palatalization was a common feature of the West-Germanic phonological system and can be found in some form in all West-Germanic languages of the present. It is argued that the extent of its…

Asserts that several of the assumptions underlying Noam Chomsky's and W. V. O. Quine's theories of language acquisition and development are misleading or false. It is argued, among other things, that children do not "acquire" language, but rather learn how to participate in the linguistic community surrounding them. (99 references) (MDM)

The article represents the Presidential Address delivered at the Golden Anniversary meeting of the Linguistic Society of America in New York, 29 December 1974. The question of how to do linguistics is raised. Specific tactics are recommended, but it is stated that a procedure for discovering solutions to linguistic problems is lacking. (CLK)

Analyzes 10 theoretical approaches to Black language studies. Divides these into two categories: those that deny the existence of a separate Black language and those that recognize a distinct form of communication. Examines the relationship between language and politics and Black scholars' self-determination as cultural factors influencing…

Explores the validity of Labov's (1969) "Observer Paradox," and the five axioms describing the problems involved in linguistic research, for interlanguage research. Methodological remedies are suggested. (AM)

Questions the value of the theory of interlanguage for language learning research. (AM)

Impromptu speech can be defined in different ways: in terms of situational context, linguistic characteristics, and real-time processing. These approaches are not contradictory. There are certain situations that call for rapid processing of spoken discourse, and the needs of that processing are reflected in the structure of the text. The degree of…

Discusses the shortcomings of the morpheme order approach in first and second language acquisition research, and proposes instead the notion of developmental sequence, drawing on examples from data on four German children learning English naturalistically. (Author/AM)

An experiment compared group oral protocols of 37 native English-speaking subjects enrolled in a fourth-semester college French course making grammaticality judgments in English and French. Results indicate the subjects do not necessarily use the same strategies in rendering grammaticality judgments in first and second languages, casting doubt on…

This paper considers the problem of differentiating thought and language in a way that makes it possible to relate them to each other. The analysis covers approaches of sociolinguistic research, different models of language and cognitive functioning within psychology and linguistics, the cybernetic approach, and psycholinguistic analyses. A common…

These proceedings contain six conference papers with commentary and discussion: (1) Dell Hymes, "On Communicative Competence," (2) David McNeill, "How to Learn a First Language," (3) Wayne O'Neil, "A Theory of Linguistic Performance," (4) William Stewart, "Social Dialect," (5) Paul Cohen, "Some Methods in Sociolinguistic Research," and (6) S. Alan…