In this study, the effects of the number naming system and age factor on the counting skills of children speaking Turkish and Dutch at the ages of 4 (n = 50) and 5 (n = 50) were examined. Children were given four counting skill tasks which were designed with different scenarios for children's counting skills under the sub-headings of rote…

The study investigates the acquisition of Hebrew zero and pronominal subjects in the context of first and second person. We provide distributional evidence relative to verb tense, number, person, and conversational utterance type, in a peer-talk corpus (2;0-8;0 years). Findings show that acquisition starts early on, that verb inflectional…

In this article, we examine various strategies used to express cardinal numbers in Yucatec Maya Sign Languages (YMSLs) from three historically unrelated communities in Yucatán, Mexico: Chicán, Nohkop, and Cepeda Peraza. Our findings describe some numeral strategies, which remained unattested in previous accounts, and demonstrate that YMSL numerals…

This dissertation explores the robust confluence of syntactic and cultural factors involved in the structure and content of chengyu. It unpacks a number of structural tendencies in the data sample, and illuminates selected underlying cultural themes. The presence of syntactic and semantic parallelism within chengyu, as an expression of the…

This study is based on a sample of about 100 languages with numeral classifiers. An attempt is made at reconstructing the dynamics of the process by which such systems arise, develop, and decay. Among the hypotheses advanced are the following: (1) numeral classifiers involve the overt expression of one kind of quantification, namely, counting by…

Discusses both the interference from language categories in language learning and the methodology of linguistic anthropologists in discovering and describing language categories which lack the formal characteristics of grammatical categories; this amounts to analysis of semantic components. (Author/JM)

The major targets of number agreement in English are pronouns and verbs. To examine the factors that control pronoun number and to test pronouns against a psycholinguistic account of how verb number arises during language production, we varied the meaningful and grammatical number properties of agreement controllers and examined the impact of…

Investigates how numbers function rhetorically by influencing persuasive appeals, the structure of messages, and the use of language. Argues that "three" is the dominant numerical motif in the English language. Asserts that, as long as numbers influence the speech, behaviors, and perceptions of people, their rhetorical significance must…

Analyzed pieces of verbal protocol in a group (N=13), demonstrating structures of cognition and language as they pertain to numbers occurring in verbal productions. Analysis suggested that these linguistic anomolies, though atypical, are not anomalous but are clear cases representing processes of cognition and language. (LLL)

Two studies of the innovative semantic distinctions and innovative uses before the acquisition of conventional number classifiers by young Japanese children (aged 5-7 years) are discussed. The findings suggest that lexical acquisition is an intricate process which often requires more than simple mappings of forms onto categories, and that…

A cloze-type procedure can be used effectively to teach interpreters how to anticipate what the speaker will say, inferring communicative intention. The exercise uses a text from which words are deleted, not randomly as in the true cloze procedure, but in significant locations or contexts. The words or groups of words suppressed are progressively…

This textbook of Modern English combines a diachronic and synchronic approach to present a study of English syntax. The book attaches great importance to precise definitions of the various parts of speech and of their grammatical function, and provides a large number of idiomatic examples to illustrate rules and uses. Historical background is…

The grammar is designed to be used as a reference for addressing structural problems in Czech. The guide is organized into 11 chapters. The first describes the pronunciation of written Czech and explains spelling conventions. Aspects of the language covered here include the alphabet, arrangement of words in the dictionary, vowels, diphthongs,…