A discussion of aspectual morphemes in Mandarin Chinese broadens the perspective on aspect to examine its grammar, or the relationship between aspectual and non-aspectual elements, between different aspectual elements, and between the related categories of tense, aspect, and modality. Previous assumptions about Mandarin aspectual markers are…

The Spanish psychological verb construction seems to be especially difficult for native English-speaking learners to acquire. Since some of the most common Spanish psych verbs, such as "gustar" (to please) and "encantar" (to delight), require a grammatical structure that is different from that of the English verbs frequently…

Examines why the French verb of motion "passer" is used so much more widely in French than its English cognate "pass" is in English and identifies features of "passer" that distinguish it from similar motion verbs in French, concluding that the key is its relatively neutral semantic content. English avoids the…

Slobin (1991, 1996a,b, 1997) has argued that the typological differences between languages with either a satellite-framed or a verb-framed lexicalisation pattern (Talmy, 2000) have important discourse and rhetorical consequences for the expression of "paths of movement" and "manner of movement". These differences are especially…

Argues that where Spanish is in contact with Quechua, the Spanish present perfect, preterite, and pluperfect are in contrast on the basis of a spatio-temporal parameter derived from the notion of present relevance. These innovative uses come from interaction between semantic systems of Quechua and Spanish and are consistent with universals of the…

A study investigated differences in sentence interpretation, with case marking and lexical-semantic cues systematically manipulated, of 20 native English-speaking learners of Japanese (JFLs) (10 beginners, 10 intermediate) and 10 native Japanese-speaking learners of English. Results show: greater animacy effect with the verb "see" than "eat";…

Four ideas for classroom French instruction are described, including a lesson in the use of indicative and subjunctive moods; creative writing exercises; a comparison of the text styles of letters with different purposes; and a beginning French geography lesson. (MSE)

Four French language instructional activities are described, including an exercise in use of the subjunctive mode, based on an advertisement; a simulation for use in business French; an examination of intonation and meaning in conversation; and an exercise in forming questions. (MSE)

Bilingual and monolingual children were presented with experimental conditions where response mode and semantic information was varied. Forty children, 20 in each language-type group, responded in the present progressive and the past tenses to a series of colored drawings of simple activities. Half of the subjects responded to the task under…

The difficulty with which native English-speaking adults learning French control the distinction between verb aspects has prompted study of the neurological processes that may affect this learning process. It is concluded that it may not be possible to change these basic perception patterns of adult learners. (MSE)

The workbook is designed for teaching Melanesian Pidgin English (Tokpisin) sentence structure to Peace Corps volunteers. It addresses sentence structures that are common to most languages, and uses listening, speaking, translation, and other grammar drills and exercises to reinforce learning. The approach used assumes that a native speaker is…

A study of individual variability in second-language learners' performance in specific classroom tasks is presented as evidence that instruction in language for special purposes (LSP) has an important role to play. Subjects were 17 Singapore university students in a remedial English course; all had studied English since elementary school. The…

Papers on language research include: "L'expression de l'opposition en Latin" ("The Expression of Opposition in Latin" (Claude Begin); "Le francais de l'Abitibi: characteristiques phonetiques et origine socio-geographique des locuteurs" ("The French of Abitibi: Phonetic Characteristics and Socio-Geographic Origin…

This collection of diverse research papers in linguistics includes: "La notion de tour de parole dans une perspective syntaxique" ("The Notion of Turn Taking from a Syntactic Perspective") (Jean-Marc Luscher, Sandrine Piaget, Christian Rubattel); "'Si tu me fais honneur d'un p'tit telephone demain matin ben je suis…

The Peace Corps volunteer language training materials for the Moroccan language Tamazight are designed for group, individual, or self-instruction. An introductory section gives the learner an overview of language characteristics, the materials, and their design. The main section of the materials is divided into three parts. The first contains 16…