Part of a continued series. (SK)

Measurement (using Carol Chomsky's methodology) of the acquisition of five complex English structures by adult Israeli and Egyptian learners reveals that first and second language learners of English encounter similar difficulties. The creative construction hypothesis can be applied to second as well as first language acquisition. (PMJ)

Discusses the need for both a "rule of thumb" grammar and more thorough grammatical rules in second language teaching. (AM)

Discusses appositions in Spanish and states that there is no general rule to follow to determine the plurals. (NCR)

Discusses the problems involved in teaching Italian students the English equivalents of the verb "dovere." (CFM)

Discusses, with many examples, a new Russian dictionary by D. Rosental and M. Telenkowa which is considered excellent for advanced students of Russian because it not only provides information on spelling, punctuation, stress and grammar but also on the levels of usage of both words and constructions. (Text is in German.) (FB)

Considers two aspects of contemporary Russian language usage: (1) synonymity of prepositions, and (2) semantic and stylistic differences arising when certain verbs govern nouns in different cases. Material is excerpted from "Stilistik der russischen Sprache" (Russian Language Style) by Rosental and M. Telenkowa. (Text is in German.) (FB)

This paper proposes that theoretical studies of the Chinese resultative construction can make it easier to teach and learn. Several varied linguistic approaches are necessary to the language teacher. Pedagogical analyses of data are valued when based on different relevant theoretical points, elucidating meaning, function, purpose and form of data.…

Investigates the acquisition of the unaccusative-unergative distinction in second language Japanese by English learners. Aims to establish whether learners of Japanese are sensitive to the lexical-semantic characteristics of verbs in similar ways as learners of Romance languages who were found to follow the split intransitivity hierarchy.…

Discusses the unaccusative trap hypothesis, which provides a developmental account for a variety of seemingly unrelated syntactic phenomena in second language English, Japanese, and Chinese. (Author/VWL)

Reports on bilingual acquisition of syntax. Draws on data from a bilingual English-Dutch child whose word order patterns testify to the fact that movement never occurs beyond the target and when deviant word orders are attested they result from lack of raising. (Author/VWL)

Analyzes the "easy to be V" structure in terms of the semantic features of sentences with this structure. These sentences can be classified into types, ranging from the "prototype" with the most features contributing to its transparency, to the "peripheral" with the fewest of such features. (Author/CB)