This study empirically evaluated a classification schema based on symbolic communication level use with students with significant cognitive disabilities. Ninety-five teachers of students with significant disabilities rated students' level of performance on 10 academic tasks. Cluster analysis suggested a range of two to four clusters solutions.…

Author notes that semantics, originally designed as non-Aristotelian discipline, has become anti-Aristotelian. He outlines six significant areas in which almost no difference can be found between Greek philosopher's ideas and those of modern semanticists; for example: words are symbols, not things; meanings lie within persons, not words. (PD)

The article reviews augmentative and alternative communication symbol classifications reported in the literature over the past decade. The "aided/unaided" dichotomy (based on user production of the symbol) is proposed as the superordinate level of classification, rather than the "static/dynamic" (based on transmission of…

Results show that basic objects are shown to be the most inclusive categories for which a concrete image of the category as a whole can be formed, to be the first categorizations made during perception of the environment and to be the categories most codable, most coded, and most necessary in language. (Author/DEP)

Describes a methodology that may offer an operationalized model that allows empirical analysis of paired associate versus symbolic learning. Presents an operational definition of the phenomenon in question and why it might be useful to model the phenomenon. Illustrates distinct advantages offered within this approach to scholars interested in…

Eighty unimpaired adults took the iconic-symbolic (I-S) subtest of the Muma Assessment Program under traditional protocols and revised instructions like those used in classic studies of classification ability. Only 18 functioned at the symbolic level as defined by the protocols; revised instructions more frequently evoked the expected symbolic…

Questions as to the nature of sign and symbol processes and the functions and behavioral consequences of human significant phenomena are of central concern in semiotics and communication. These matters continue to be of critical importance and are still largely unresolved. Scholars in both areas of inquiry have sought unification of scientific…

The accelerating rate of data generation and resulting publications are taxing the ability of scientific investigators to stay current with the emerging literature. This problem, acute in science, is not uncommon in other areas. New approaches to managing this explosion of information are needed. While it is only possible to read one paper or…

A SEMANTIC DISCUSSION OF LANGUAGE IN GENERAL AND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PARTICULAR, THIS VOLUME IS DIVIDED INTO TWO BOOKS--"THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE" AND "LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT." BOOK 1 DISCUSSES LANGUAGE AND SURVIVAL, SYMBOLS, REPORTS, INFERENCES, JUDGMENTS, CONTEXTS, INFORMATIVE AND AFFECTIVE CONNOTATION, ART AND TENSION, AND THE "LANGUAGES"…

THIS BOOK ABOUT THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE IN HUMAN LIFE EMPHASIZES LEARNING HOW TO CLASSIFY, DEFINE, AND ANALYZE. FOLLOWING AN EXPLANATION OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ROOTS OF LANGUAGE, CHAPTERS ON ANALYSIS, MEANING, SIGNS, AMBIGUITY, SEMANTIC GROWTH, AND METAPHOR LEAD TO A DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE,…

This document presents some of the major challenges facing Developmental Psychologists. Research revealed that middle class children tended to respond in classification tasks to objects and pictures as equivalents, whereas low class black children tended not to do so. The reason for this was investigated. This investigation of the course of…