Examines the relationship between form and use of the reformulation sequence signalled by "c'est-a-dire" in written French and describes this sequence's various functions. The article attempts to show how a modular approach consisting of structural, semantic, pragmatic, and textual components contributes to a new and accurate description of…

Object deletion in Classical Arabic is semantically marked on two levels: ( 1) dropping the object deliberately but functionally; and (2) emptying the object slot and focusing on the verbal action. The second level of object deletion stresses the verbal action. (20 references) (GLR)

Paratactic constructions sometimes compete with coordination, sometimes with subordination, for the same semantic niche in language. The case of complex sentences in English containing the degree adverbs "so" or "such" is analyzed. (Contains 37 references.) (LB)

In a study of binding relations of reflexive anaphors, it is suggested that a nonsyntactic aspect of language plays a role; i.e., viewpoint in sentence processing. This notion may help specify the type of evidence that can trigger learners' progress in the acquisition of the English reflexive. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/LB)

Presents a functional grammatical analysis of the writing that 128 seventh- and eighth-grade students produced in response to their science teacher's directive to describe a picture. Identifies the register elements of the task and the grammatical difficulties it posed for students. Shows that teachers can help students use grammatical resources…

Four experiments are presented in which adults learned to comprehend a new syntactic construction in their native language. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that adults quickly learn to comprehend the new construction and generalize it to new verbs. Experiment 3 shows that experience with the novel construction affects the processing of a…

Two experiments examined the learning of form-meaning connections under conditions where the relevant forms were noticed but the critical aspects of meaning were not. Miniature noun class systems were employed, and the participants were told that the choice of determiner in noun phrases depended on whether the object was "near" or "far" from the…

This study examined how school-aged children process different grammatical categories. Event-related brain potentials elicited by words in visually presented sentences were analyzed according to seven grammatical categories with naturally varying characteristics of linguistic functions, semantic features, and quantitative attributes of length and…

This paper examines the precise correlation between A-bar dependency and the notion of referentiality in Korean. Referentiality is initially defined by the lexical content that only noun phases inherently carry. It is demonstrated that the specification of phi-features renders arguments referential and adjuncts non-referential. This definition is…

A group of syntactic studies, primarily concerning English and German, within the framework of generalized phrase structure grammar include: "English Adverb Placement in Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar" (Belinda L. Brodie), concerning the placement of modal, evaluative, temporal, and verb phrase adverbs; "Syntactic Conditions on Two Types of…

This article attempts to show that a more rigorous approach to surface structure analysis can reveal distinctions just as subtle as those discovered through analyzing deep structures or transformations. Relative clauses are examined in relation to nominal constructions, and alternatives to restrictive and non-restrictive classifications are…

Jane Rosenthal's paper on relative clauses in Classical Nahuatl is discussed, and it is argued that she misses an important generalization. An alternative analysis to a class of relative pronouns and new rules for the distribution of relative pronouns are proposed. (SC)

This review of research involving children's moral judgment of literature indicates that such research has been plagued by serious methodological problems stemming largely from the fact that the stimulus materials used to assess children's comprehension and evaluations have tended to be poorly constructed. It contends that this forces children to…

A COURSE, COMPLETE WITH DETAILED LESSON PLANS AND PRACTICE DRILLS, HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AT SAN DIEGO STATE COLLEGE, TO PROVIDE THE ADULT SPANISH-SPEAKING STUDENT WITH A BASIC FOUNDATION IN AMERICAN-ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, AS WELL AS AN AMPLE DAILY AND PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARY. THE IDEA OF TRANSLATING CONCEPTS AND VOCABULARY IS USED TO TEACH…

The grammar which is concerned with meaning (the province of New Semantics), with its foundations in our perceptions of the surrounding world, can be learned in the elementary classroom through storytelling. Understanding of the sentence concept develops by allowing the child to use his language responsively and deliberately to organize the world…