The article is devoted to studying the principles of the language economy of modern English word-forming. The most productive ways of word-formation are highlighted, illustrating the tendency of the language to compress nominative units. In the system of English word-formation, the most effective ways to save speech are affixal word formation,…

Eighteen issues are outlined concerning theory and measurement of attitude, and language attitude in particular, and research motivated by these issues described. (RM)

An experiment was conducted to investigate the hypothesis that English cliches reflect sex-specific styles of speech and that sex-specificity of expressions is related to differential usage by male and female speakers. Hypotheses were derived from Tyler's claims that the "neutral sphere" is infused by the male style, rendering it an inhibiting…

Four children, aged 3.9 to 5.5, were recorded talking to different listeners (adult, peer, baby and baby doll) and role-playing a "baby just learning how to talk." As a measure of the children's responsiveness to situational cues, each sample was analyzed for formal and functional characteristics. (Author/RM)

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)

Results of research to identify words which are perceived to characterize male and female traits are reported. Ninety-six undergraduate students, 48 male and 48 female, rated 210 adjectives on a five-point scale ranging from "very good example" to "very poor example." Researchers then categorized results according to core (best category…

A study was conducted to examine children's use of social factors as bases for evaluating different patterns of code switching in dyadic social interaction. The factors were role-related and social norms, interpersonal accommodation, intergroup biases, and socio-cultural status. An initial study was conducted of monolingual and bilingual English…

This paper seeks to formulate a principle that explains the working of the Japanese number system with respect to Japanese nouns and that defines the kinds of nouns and contexts that condition the forms of number expressions. It is the author's theory that in applying numbers to nouns, the Japanese make a formal distinction between things they…

This study investigated the linguistic characteristics of speech addressed to the child and the features of the verbal environment critical for learning language. The study focused on the prosodic and paralinguistic features of adult speech to the young child. Adult speech directed to children was compared to other kinds of systematic speech…

The effect of children on adult language has only recently received serious consideration in the fields of linguistics, psychology, education, pediatrics and anthropology, although the importance of parental behavior for the language development of the child is universally recognized. This paper presents a review of the literature on children's…

Describes a study that tests whether the sociolinguistic differences observed in essays in German are a carry-over from the native Scottish English. A previous study is described which tested the hypothesis that social class influences linguistic behavior and could be a cause for errors in a foreign language. (AMH)

Examines the role of "routines" and grammatical patterns in first and second language acquisition by children and adults, specifically with regard to syntactic structures. (Author/AM)

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…

In India, the use of language dialect and style, like many aspects of Indian thought and life, follows a continuum from the ritually pure and worthy of respect to the ritually defiled and unworthy. In North India, according to adult informants, Hindi is spoken at school, in formal business contacts or government offices, in formal ceremonies; it…

The factors that are involved in the choice of address to women as compared to men by speakers of American English were investigated in public interactions regarding provision of a service. In addition to proper names, there are two major types of address forms in general usage: the traditional respect forms, such as "ma'am" and "sir," and the…