Flexibility and productivity are hallmarks of human language use. Competent speakers have the capacity to use the words they know to serve a variety of communicative functions, to refer to new and varied exemplars of the categories to which words refer, and in new and varied combinations with other words. When and how children achieve this…

Verbal elements in Cairene Arabic are investigated in the light of two opposing hypotheses, one stating that the elements constitute a unit, the other stating that each element is an independent predicate. (AM)

In the current debate about the abstractness of children's early grammatical knowledge, Tomasello & Abbott-Smith (2002) have suggested that children might first develop "weak" or "partial" representations of abstract syntactic structures. This paper attempts to characterize these structures by comparing the development of constructions around…

Explains how grammars and textbooks can present the formal tense relations of English in a concise, uncomplicated way. (PM)

This is a grammatical and semantic analysis of verb usage in French. The occurrence of verb stems and endings with associated adverbs is described, defined and diagrammed. (MLA)

Author presents a system of grammar similar to generative-transformational grammar, but including structural variations characteristic of other levels of usage (including dialects). Flow charts are used, and implications for computer programs are briefly mentioned. (Author/SP)

Based on a paper presented at a Conference of the Institute for the German Language (Institut fur deutsche Sprache) December 3, 1971, in Freiburg/Breisgau, West Germany. (RS)

Four experiments are presented in which adults learned to comprehend a new syntactic construction in their native language. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that adults quickly learn to comprehend the new construction and generalize it to new verbs. Experiment 3 shows that experience with the novel construction affects the processing of a…

A deep structure underlying sentences with modal adverbs and verbs in English is discussed. Semantic and syntactic similarities are pointed out in support of a suggestion that both surface structures have a common deep structure source. Possible ways of dealing with modality in a generative grammar are presented. (Available from: See FL 508 214.)…

The first half of a survey of inflectional elements required for modally unmarked verb forms (non-TA verbs) of Parry Island Ojibwa. Besides markers (the participants) and theme signs (rolls), meanings of the inflected forms are described and represented as a specific semological structure made up of grammatical and semological units. (SC)

Underlying structures in English sentences containing the verbs "order" and "tell" are compared. (Available from Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland) (RM)