Shows how particular features of language are exploited for purpose of humor and reveals the general persuasiveness of incongruity as an element of humor. Features include polysemy, syntactic structures and meaning, deep and surface structure, hyperbole and metaphor, speech patterns, problems of communication, and connectors or linking words. (BK)

The article discusses acquisition of five aspects of English beyond the basic simple sentence (inflections and modulations of meaning, negation, passive sentences, coordination, and relative clauses) and considers implications for hearing impaired students. Ways in which syntax interacts with pragmatic and semantic factors are analyzed. (CL)

Discusses the use of the preposition "a" by examining why a few verbs in Spanish seem to occur with an obligatory marker and what relationship exists between this use of the preposition "a" and the more common occurrence of "a" with animate, definite direct objects. (SED)

The discussion of older language disordered children's syntactic development focuses on an increase in T-units (minimal terminal units) and an expansion of types of cohesion (ways in which children tie their utterance structures together). Implications for assessment and treatment are drawn. (CL)

Developed by the Multi-level Captioning Project, the manual provides guidelines for linguistically controlling reading materials for the deaf. An introduction describes the three proposed reading levels based on difficulty of vocabulary, syntax, and inference. Chapter 1, on vocabulary, considers word list sources, guidelines for controlling…

The authors review research on attempts to promote speech acquisition in severely handicapped students. Studies on verbal imitation, syntactic forms, and semantics are summarized. Implications for instruction are noted, including careful selection of responses likely to occur in the child's normal environment and which have intrinsic reinforcing…

The article looks at syntactic deficiencies involving simple clause structures and grammatical morphology in young children. A framework for understanding the development of simple clause structures is presented followed by a discussion of the correlates of early syntactic development. Procedures to assess and remediate syntactic deficiencies are…

The article suggests that comparability, representativeness, and typicality must be considered along with length when collecting language samples. A framework is offered for selecting or devising tasks, and one successful battery is described which has been field tested on language-disordered children with syntax problems. (CL)

Discusses a general strategy for helping students acquire vocabulary, specifically how to master the vocabulary problem of "ser" and "estar." This is done by showing students, in interesting and recognizable ways, that English is sensitive to many of the same semantic differences of "ser" and "estar." (SED)

Dramatic advances in personal computer technology have given language teachers access to vast quantities of machine-readable text, which can be analyzed with a view toward improving the basis of language instruction. Corpus linguistics provides analytic techniques and practical tools for studying language in use. This volume includes both an…

Obstacles confronting deaf students in language development are considered. American Sign Language is distinguished from English in terms of grammar, inflection and syntax, and context. The impact of deafness on language acquisition and cognitive development is examined. The importance of auditory feedback and verbal reinforcement is emphasized.…

Describes HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and its use on the Internet's World Wide Web, including main HTML tags and their syntaxes. Alternatives to HTML, such as Adobe's Acrobat software and Sun's new Java application language, are briefly described. (Author/LRW)

This paper discusses how an understanding of speech acts contributes to the communicative competence in foreign language learning. Reviewing John Searle's five categories of speech acts (1976), the directive is discussed in terms of its manifestations in various foreign languages. Examples of directives in English, German, French, and Spanish are…

This contrastive analysis comprises the four linguistic levels of phonology, lexicon, syntax, and "culture." The analysis is selective in that only certain major contrasts between the two languages are chosen for discussion. The aspects of the languages that constitute some major problem areas for an average Korean learner of English as…

The article reviews linguistic features of a trilingual approach to total communication for deaf children from non-English-speaking families. Covered are issues of syntax, semantics, and use of fingerspelling. (CL)