Revised version of an M.A. thesis submitted at the University of California, Santa Barbara, 1970, by Linda J. Rodd. (VM)

Examines the effects of short term memory (STM) capacity, meaningfulness of stimuli, and age upon listeners' structuring of sentences. Results show that the interaction between STM capacity and meaningfulness (1) approached significance when data were collapsed over both age levels, and (2) was significant for one age level. Tables and references.…

Research conducted at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. (VM)

Recent analyses of Russian (Halle 1963, Lightner 1972) have been forced by the criteria of rule "naturalness" and rule "generality" to posit highly abstract underlying forms. These underlying forms and rules are claimed to represent the speaker's competence. Such analyses are now being criticized (Derwing 1973, Hooper 1974) on the following…

The author outlines the construction of a somewhat different machine than that envisioned by Turing (with which it would be possible to converse, presumably by telephone or telegraph, and which would be capable of masquerading as a human being). The machine envisaged by the author would be capable of doing comprehension exercises. Such a machine…

Special issue devoted to research and the teaching of French in the elementary school. (VM)

The discussion throughout this paper is devoted to answering the question: What is the nature of our knowledge of language and what theoretical assumptions does the answer entail for linguistic description? Discussed are--(1) what it means to know a language, (2) the distinction between linguistic competence and performance, (3) justification of…

This paper reports on a study conducted to determine the abilities of children to make optional transformations in sentences conjoined with "and." The subjects were 35 middle-class children between the ages of five and eight, who demonstrated average school achievement, spoke standard American English, and had normal speech and hearing. A…

This book is a transformational generative discussion of American English designed for use at the undergraduate as well as the graduate level. Chapter 1 deals with the definition of language and questions of dialect and standard language. Chapter 2, "The Nature of Linguistic Data," considers the speaker's knowledge of his language and the…

The justification for the Chomsky-Halle Auxiliary Reduction Rule III, called Pretonic Stress Placement (PSP), is questioned from the point of view of the native speaker. The similarity of the PSP and the Main Stress Rule (MSR) is examined through the application of these rules to polysyllabic monomorphemic and polymorphemic words. This analysis is…

Focus of the study was to assess linguistic competence as manifested by an ability to recognize ambiguity of three types: lexical, surface structural, and underlying structural. (Author)

Argues that transformational grammar supplies an adequate theoretical model with explanatory power; all that is needed is that the language teacher take a long, hard look at transformational theory. (VM)

The distinction between deep and surface levels of language; the intersection of learning theory and cognitive development; and the linguistic competence of the pre-literate child and the illiterate adult are highlighted. Author argues that T-G Grammar will be a powerful aid to recognizing and dealing with problems of mass literacy education.…