This article presents a comprehensive view of German syllable structure based on phonetic and psycholinguistic experimental results supplemented by phonological arguments. It supports a theory of syllable structure based on the arrangement of segments according to the Sonority Sequencing Principle augmented by language-specific constraints.…

Examines Pierre Bourdieu's basic theory on language and criticisms of structuralism, transformational grammar, and the speech act theory as they appear in Language and Symbolic Power. Bourdieu's theories are applied to the colonial and postcolonial language situation in Nigeria. (JP)

The proceedings of a 1992 French conference on the structuralist approach of linguist Lucien Tesniere are reviewed, focusing on the recent evolution of this approach in French linguistics. Topics discussed include the origins of Tesniere's theory, his model of dependency, flat phrastic structure, fusion of the lexico-semantic and lexico-syntactic…

The family size of the constituents of compound words, or the number of compounds sharing the constituents, has been shown to affect adults' access to compound words in the mental lexicon. The present study was designed to see if family size would affect children's segmentation of compounds. Twenty-five English-speaking children between 3;7 and…

Studies the linguistic conception of the laboratory exercises on intonal expressivity included in the audio-visual method for advanced students: "Express Yourself as a Specialist In..." (Text is in French.) (PMP)

Noting that current theories of comprehension are based on the assumption that cognitive patterns (schemata) are structural constructs and that credit for the structural assumption is generally given to F. C. Bartlett, this paper suggests that problems concerning the phenomenal nature of the patterning aspect of cognition may be more readily…

This paper is a syntactic analysis of standard French negation. The following expressions are described in detail: (1)ne...pas(point), (2)nullement (aucunement), (3)plus, (4)jamais, (5)pas encore, (6)guere, (7)rien, (8)personne, (9)aucun(e), (10)nul(le), (11)ni...ni..., (12)nulle part, (13)que, (14)pas un(e), (15)nul. The negative expressions are…

This book, a revised and expanded English version of the author's Italian work "La Linguistica strutturale" (1961), is a survey of the main trends in structural linguistics intended not only for the linguist but for specialists in other fields and the general reader as well. The initial chapter, "Introductory Notions," discusses general linguistic…

This volume explores objectively the essential characteristic of nine twentieth-century linguistic theories with the theoretical variant for discussion based on one closely representative of work within a given approach or usually associated with the name of the theory. First, the theory of Ferdinand de Saussure is discussed based on his book,…

This paper presents a method of encoding geometric line-drawings in a way which allows sets of such drawings to be interpreted as formal languages. A characterization of certain geometric predicates in terms of their properties as languages is obtained, and techniques usually associated with generative grammars and formal automata are then applied…

Four categories of statements are isolated in an attempt to analyze relationships between voice, tense and use of auxiliaries in French. The deep structure theory of generative grammar is questioned and a theory of semantic distinctions operating within the forms of a language is proposed. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

A summary of problems in the study of structural complexity. Within the framework of a "morphology of utterances," the following topics are addressed: the criteria of intuition and common sense; the relationship of complexity of language and thought; and the possibility of a purely linguistic measure of complexity. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

A study of linguistic theories as they apply to translation, which is understood as a translation of ideas, not of words. Topics covered are: lexical structure and polysemy; meaning; structure and polysemy; meaning and "related ideas"; structural linguistics; semantic fields and context. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

The results of this study show that children's recall of simple prose passages can be significantly affected by the structure of those passages and that the awareness of these effects increases with age. (Author/DEP)

Describes two experiments which demonstrated that readers use specific lexical information in comprehending sentences to anticipate and prepare for the appearance of lexical noun phrases and to postulate "gaps" that are associated with "fillers." Results also indicated that lexically based expectations involve the use of information about…