Analogical leveling in progress of a potential suffix in Tokyo Japanese is analyzed within a quantitative model. The phenomenon is shown to be controlled by five factors: sociological variable complex, verb stem length, verb conjugation pattern, the following inflectional form, and embeddedness of the clause containing the suffix. (Contains 70…

Discusses the need to incorporate the use of language in language-related activities rather than just skills such as reading, writing, and the mechanics of language. An annotated bibliography of 12 titles that incorporate language play is included. (LRW)

Reviews and compares views of grammarians, usage experts, and authors of technical writing books concerning "dangling participles." Finds many unattached clauses are unacceptable, some are less objectionable, and still others are acceptable. Notes that cultural (and perhaps gender) differences between humanistic teachers and…

Notes that J.R.R. Tolkien's work is commonly supposed to be greatly influenced by Norse mythology and legend. Compares Tolkien's account of the creation of Middle Earth to the Norse myth of Yggdrasil. Concludes that Tolkien took qualities of language, a code of bravery and honor, and many incidental Norse details and absorbed them into a very…

Argues that, as decision makers, students must sort out their rhetorical contexts to determine whether a sentence needs the active voice or the passive voice. Notes that one source for finding realistic sample sentences for learning about the passive voice is the daily newspaper, and offers examples from the business section, sports page,…

Presents the third and final report of an analysis of nonverbal communication. In this report, the phrase "touch wood" is investigated using the Bank of English Corpus. The first two phrases examined were "shrug" and "hold one's gaze." Each of these phrases relates to an aspect of communication that may hold…

Presents the findings of a survey of high school students on their attitudes toward English, Filipino, and their home language. Notes that two-thirds of the population do not have English or Filipino as their first language. Concludes that Filipinos can be literate in their first language and still be fluent in Filipino. Contains 27 references.…

Finds that when paired with older adults simulating dementia, the young adults' instructions were longer, more informative, and more repetitious; however, the young adults did not alter their prosody or grammatical complexity. Suggests that young adults adjust their speech to the perceived communicative needs of older listeners by varying…

Examines and describes the pragmatic uses of the "nuclear winter" metaphor in the original "Science" article and its subsequent use in "Foreign Affairs." Analyzes conditions of the metaphor's birth in the former and its development and use as a conventional metaphor in the latter. Shows that the metaphor became a…

Responds to an article in this issue. Reconceptualizes translation as a bidirectional, dynamically negotiated process that occurs within and between communities of scholars and that transforms the language, the person of the translator, the communities involved, and the cultural expectations. Argues that conception of translation predicts a…

Investigates linguistic and sociolinguistic issues concerning the Greek Cypriot community living in the United Kingdom. Questionnaires were completed by Cypriot students attending Greek classes in London, eliciting information about their family and ethnic background, language abilities, domains of use for each language, reasons for studying…

Presents sign language as a central fact in the life of deaf individuals and groups and therefore as a focus for educational efforts. Looks at the different ways languages are presented to the eye instead of the ear, examines bilingualism and its special life in the life and education of deaf persons, and shows teachers ways to ask and answer…

Examines the effects of language standardization and orthography design on the Chukchi linguistic ecology. Suggests the process of standardization has not taken into consideration the gender-based sociolects of colloquial Chukchi and is based on a grammatical description that does not reflect actual Chukchi use. (Author/VWL)

Suggests ethnic identity has yet to receive the attention it merits in such fields as linguistics and discourse analysis. Advocates using large corpus data to explore the evolving contexts of usage for ethnically relevant terms. The advocacy is illustrated with the results of a survey of all the uses of the term "Indian" in the corpus of…

Discusses language shift reversal (LSR), defined as a change in the progress affecting Spanish language use along the US-Mexico border and some other extended areas of the country during the past few decades. LSR is contrasted with reversing language shift, the result of official language policy and planning. Samples of LSR in San Diego County are…