Across the centuries, the question of the origin of language has captivated the human imagination. Many theories have been proposed to address fundamental questions such as: Where do languages come from? How do they evolve? What are the societal drivers of this change? Historically, one of the biggest challenges in addressing these questions has…

This book focuses on theory, research, and practice related to "lexical input processing" (lex-IP), an exciting field exploring how learners allocate their limited processing resources when exposed to words and lexical phrases in the input. Unit 1 specifies parameters of lex-IP research among other levels of input processing as well as…

The idea that iconic visible gesture had something to do with the origin of language, particularly speech, is a frequent element in speculation about this phenomenon and appears early in its history. Socrates hypothesizes about the origins of Greek words in Plato's satirical dialogue, "Cratylus", and his speculation includes a possible…

This work examines the relationship between implicit procedural and implicit verbal processes as they occur in natural adult conversation. Theoretical insights and empirical findings are rooted in a move towards integration of Bucci's "Referential Activity" (RA) and "Multiple Code" perspectives and Beebe and Jaffe's…

Examines the effects of power relations and audience on language usage, presenting data from a language attitude study that involved interviews between Dutch teachers and adolescents. It is argued that if speakers are expected to tailor their language to their audience, more flexibility must be allowed in role relations than what is suggested by…

Discusses stylistic variation in communication, the elements involved (participants, contact, message, context, and code), and ways in which to incorporate the knowledge of this process in second language instruction. (AM)

The source of syntactic ambiguity and facts concerning the resolution of such ambiguity are discussed in this paper. The attitude of qenerative linguists towards ambiguity is examined, and a working distinction is drawn between vaqueness and ambiguity. The consequences of this distinction are then examined for syntactic ambiguity and an ordering…

Any theory of stylistics sets itself the task of accounting for choices made by a speaker/writer among theoretically available and more-or-less equivalent linguistic structures. This task is a stumbling-block in the way of most attempts to construct a theory of style because there is no consistent method of defining 'available structures' and…

The properties of one of the structures of politeness in the romance languages, the deference system connected with the use of conditional tenses, are analyzed in this paper. Although only Spanish examples are given, the conclusions also apply to French, Italian and Roumanian. The first part of the paper analyzes politeness in relation to its…

This book is intended for use in conjunction with an introductory text on linguistics and language study, for beginning students of linguistics, or as a source of information for more advanced students who wish to become familiar with many of the issues that have concerned linguists in recent years. The variety of issues covered in this volume are…

In a written discourse consisting of a string of "psychological paragraphs," there is in each such psychological paraqraph a "head" structure containing the topic which derives from the deep structure of the discourse. That "head" assertion differs from all other assertions in the psychological paragraph in that it carries new information. The…

Twenty-four children aged five and twenty-four children aged six were interviewed individually three times during a calendar year. It was found that not only did the children's language develop over the period, as judged syntactically and lexically, but they also showed an increasingly fluent control over their own style. All the children…

The working papers contained in this volume include the following: "Intercultural Communication and the Analysis of Conversation" (Nessa Wolfson); "Methods of Inquiry into Cultural Expression in Speech Behavior" (Ruth Benander); "'I Really Like Your Lifestyle': ESL Learners Learning How to Compliment" (Kristine…

English in Third World countries characteristically possesses an ambivalent, even ambiguous character, relating uneasily with feelings of nationalism and of tolerance towards grassroots multilingualism on the one hand, and with the not-so-blind desire of common people to acquire the White people's language on the other. Many different kinds of…