A study using 288 Japanese university level English-as-a-Foreign-Language students examined native language transfer, specifically the lexical transfer occurring in responses to yes-no questions. An analysis of answer patterns and statistical tables is included. (OD)

Based on a review of research, the most common syntactic errors made by native Arabic-speaking learners of English as a second language are discussed. Seven categories of error are distinguished and described: verbal errors (use of tense, phase, aspect, voice, verb formation, concord, finite/non-finite verbs); relative clauses (interlingual and…

Differences in the English and Brazilian Portuguese (BP) phonological systems that may lead to a slight accent in Brazilian learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) are examined. Segmental and suprasegmental features of the two systems are compared and contrasted, noting areas in which ESL learners may tend to substitute a BP segment for a…

Many personal names in Temne (a Mel language spoken in Sierra Leone) are borrowed from other languages, containing foreign sounds and sequences which are unpronounceable for Temne speakers when they appear in other words. These exceptions are treated as instances of phonological stereotyping (cases remaining resistant to assimilation processes).…

The bilingual speech of members of Spanish, Portuguese, and Algerian communities in France was examined, and a model proposed for classification of code-switching according to speakers' intentions and the dynamics of the interaction. (Author/CB)

An analysis of the English word stress placement of six native Arabic speakers and six native English speakers studying Arabic revealed that, while most of the native English subjects produced the expected word stress, the Arab subjects placed stress on English words in conformity with Arabic stress patterns. (CB)

The distinctive features of narratives told by Asians, particularly Japanese, who are non-native speakers of English and residing in the United States are analyzed. Focus is on the narrative structure produced and the communication problems occurring due to cultural traits, particularly as they differ from North American norms. Educational and…

Reports preliminary findings of an ongoing study of prosodic mixes in the speech of three trilingual siblings. The children are primary bilinguals in Portuguese and Swedish, and acquired English as the language of schooling. Prosodic mixes are defined as the intrusion of prosodic patterns of one language into another.(Author/VWL)

Cultural and linguistic information useful to teachers of native Arabic-speakers in English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education is offered. This includes background information on geographic, political, religious, and ethnic divisions, stereotypes commonly held by Arabs about Americans and American society, common stereotypes about…

This is a contrastive analysis of Dari and Pashto, both official languages of Afghanistan, with a view toward outlining the difficulties faced by speakers of Dari learning Pashto as a second language. The main focus is on morphological structures, although phonology is also briefly dealt with. The brief phonological comparison, with emphasis on a…

Reviews common pronunciation problems experienced by learners of English as a second language who are native speakers of Vietnamese, Cantonese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Greek, and Punjabi. (CB)

This contrastive analysis of English and Thai is designed to introduce ESL teachers to many of the differences between Thai and English. The material is intended to assist the teacher in defining the problems that Thai speakers are likely to have in learning English. The introduction includes background information on Thailand and its people. Part…

The parameter-setting model of universal grammar provides a basis for integrating two theories of second language acquisition: contrastive analysis and creative construction. The elicited responses of adult native speakers of Spanish and adult native speakers of Japanese were examined. The head-initial/head-final parameter was the principle…

This collection of papers on linguistic experiments includes: "Initial Tones and Prominence in Seoul Korean" (Ken de Jong); "The Domains of Laryngeal Feature Lenition Effects in Chonnam Korean" (Sun-Ah Jun); "The Timing of Lip Rounding and Tongue Backing for /u/" Gina M. Lee); "Prosody and Intrasyllabic Timing in…

This collection of studies in contrastive linguistics includes the following: "Bilingual Intralinguistic Orthographic Interference" (Philip A. Luelsdorff); "Reassociation of Sentence Melodies" (Wolfgang U. Dressler, Lavinia Merlini Barbaresi); "English Word Stress and Empty Vowel Slots" (Grazyna Rowicka);…