Describes reactions of native French speakers to usage of French slang by young American students. French-speaking participants rated 30 tape-recorded slang expressions. Their reactions were evaluated in relation to the sex, profession, age, and residence of the respondents. Results show attitudes critical of the use of slang in general. (SED)

Part 13 of a continuing series. (SK)

Provides evidence that in producing voiceless stops in terms of voice-onset-time values, children first overshoot adult values and then only gradually draw back toward adult values. (Author/RL)

A study is reported which investigated the social consequences that follow when a speaker accommodates or fails to accommodate his speech style with reference to his interlocutor. (Author/RM)

Hexagonal'' refers to the new vocabulary and idioms that continue to infiltrate Spanish, French, and other languages. (SK)

The linguistic behavior of a given individual varies; he will on different occasions speak (or write) differently according to what may be roughly described as different social situations: he will use a number of different registers. The application of such registers both in the field of text analysis and in the preparation of teaching materials…

This paper deals with the tempo aspect of fast speech and the theoretical implications of increase in rate of speech. Constraints unique to fast speech and normal speech are discussed. Reductions and assimilations in fast speech are noted, and points are illustrated with examples from Hebrew. (CHK)

A study of the extent to which the sequence-of-tenses rule (STR) is used in television news reporting in the United States is presented. The study examines which tenses are shifted most frequently and explains the uses and functions of tense variation. It is argued that STR is not always a semantically and pragmatically unmarked form as proposed…

Two studies were undertaken to determine first whether language characteristics attributed to females are more socially desirable than those attributed to males and second whether a double standard exists such that language traits seen as socially desirable for adults in general are viewed as negative when assigned to either females or males. For…

Americans tend to derive nicknames and more intimate affectionate nicknames from a person's formal first name; the type of name used depends on the social situation and the relationship between the two people. In many cases, for both masculine and feminine names, the nickname is derived from the first (or sometimes the second) syllable of the…

The distinction between formal and casual English as reflected in the lexicon, in phonology, and in syntax is studied. Formality is treated as separate from other categorizations of language such as geographical origin of the speaker, social class of the participants, or specific context of discourse. The study was restricted mainly to the use of…

Explores the role of sex of speaker and sex of addressee in determining the appropriateness of forms of address. (AM)

A brief study of terms of address and reference in three examples of regional French of the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne. The questions raised in the study deal with ethnology, ethnolinguistics, popular or familiar French and traits of spoken French. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Describes a range of forms and functions expressed by "you know," as well as its use by women and men in a corpus of spontaneous speech. Interesting contrasts were found in the most frequent functions expressed by "you know" in female and male usage. (Author/SED)