For many students, grammar represents a baffling set of capricious rules wielded by "sadistic" English teachers for the sole purpose of making their lives miserable. To combat this misconception and to dispel the mystery and empower students with the ability to use the conventions of standard written English, a series of student…

This paper addresses the issue of whether second language (L2) learners can reset parameters, by testing English speakers learning Spanish on their ability to reset the subjacency and bounding node parameters. The bounding nodes are IP and NP in English and CP and NP in Spanish. Eight American graduate students, highly proficient in the Spanish…

This paper discusses discourse markers (e.g., "and, so, anyway") and offers an overview of their characteristics and occurrence, using English for illustration. The role of discourse markers is to signal speaker comment on the current utterance. The discourse marker is not part of the sentence's propositional content. While absence of…

This workbook is designed to assist teenagers and adults in learning the Koyukon language, and is intended as a classroom supplement. Users are encouraged to use the language with native speakers. The text consists of 36 lessons on grammar, conversation, and language patterns: exclamations; a beginning conversation; single words that form a…

A study investigated the use of verb tense by learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) from the perspective of narrative structure. Subjects were 16 adult intermediate-level ESL learners of varied linguistic backgrounds and 24 native speakers of English. All attended an oral telling of a Hawaiian trickster tale, with a brief introduction,…

The concept of Arithmetic Story Grammar is introduced. Arithmetic Story Grammar maintains that any equation containing a single operand tells, in and of itself, a complete story with a setting, plot, theme, and resolution. Multiple-operand equations differ from their single-operand siblings only in the number of actions undertaken and the number…

The study of language reference materials, particularly dictionaries and grammar works, for languages of Guam and Micronesia includes a brief history of their evolution and an annotated bibliography. An introductory section describes the geographic situation of Micronesia and chronicles numerous periods of foreign influence: Spanish Colonization…

A study of middle verb constructions in Canadian French and Madrid Spanish suggests that two alleged defining characteristics of these constructions are not really defining characteristics. These are: (1) that the constructions only appear in generic sentences, and (2) that they disallow "by"-phrases of the type found in passive…

This paper describes the Ball-Stick-Bird reading system, which shows students how all the letters of the alphabet can be built with three basic forms: a circle (ball), a line (stick), and an angle (bird). The method also uses modified phonics and developmental linguistics, aids story reading by using capital letters in the beginning, and enhances…

Social meaning includes evaluation of languages themselves. Linguists often say all languages are equal. This is true in regard to potential, not true of actual state. All varieties of language share with pidgins and creoles the condition of being the result of a particular history of use, specialization, elaboration, and loss. A conversational…

This set of instructional materials for Shona, a Bantu language, consists of lessons designed to be used with audiotape recordings (not included here), lesson notes, written exercises, and vocabulary. The first "book" contains 24 language lessons on a variety of grammatical topics, with line drawing illustrations. The second book contains…

Research indicates immersion learners tend to process the second language predominantly for meaning, rather than both meaning and form. Immersion learners appear to be fluent in the second language, but closer scrutiny reveals serious gaps in grammatical accuracy. A study investigated the effect of focus-on-form instruction on the acquisition of…

This paper outlines the suggested steps to improve the language usage of a teacher about whom a school principal has received complaints from parents concerning her poor grammar. It first suggests that the principal observe the teacher to verify the parents' concerns. The paper then lists 10 ideas for the principal to suggest to help the teacher…

Deviation for native-speaker norms in non-native varieties of English are often regarded as interlanguage features which must either be weeded out through teaching or which the learner will eventually abandon as his competency moves in the direction of the target language. It is argued in this paper that some deviations are motivated by style,…

This collection contains three papers on the Cotabato Manobo language and culture and one on a variety of cultures. "Cotabato Manobo Grammar" by Harland Kerr is an extensive description of the grammar focusing on syntactic relationships within it. "Cotabato Manobo Ethnography" by Harland Kerr is a 1957 ethnographic study based…