Defines the concept of cynicism and explores issues concerning the role of the cynic in rhetoric, the rhetorical payoff of a cynical ethos, and the function of cynical remarks in rhetorical strategies. (EL)

Reviews Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper." Discusses Twain's use of realism and language in writing about life in London in 1547. (EL)

Compares social and private uses of language in 12 children 23 to 25 months of age. Based on videotapes of children's free play with an adult, results showed that regulatory, attentional, and informative uses of language appeared in speech addressed to another, while self-regulation, description of one's own activity, and expressive functions…

Explains that guiding students to identify connotations of names chosen for fragrances can have a two-fold purpose: first, students may become more discriminating consumers; second, they may experience the sheer joy of language play, which produces a genuine and continuing interest in the operation of language. (EL)

Study uses Spence and Helmreich's (1972) Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) and pronoun use questionnaire. Results show those with high scores on AWS chose nonsexist pronouns more frequently than those with low AWS scores. Less feminist trends in the pronoun choices are discussed. (Author/SA)

Reports on an experiment conducted to determine that recognizability of loanwords in Russian by English-speaking college students and whether there is any correlation between recognition skill and the students' level of language study. Concludes that loanwards are not readily recognizable at any level and that the overall skill in recognition does…

Analyzes several texts of Italian poetry to show that signs in poetic language are visual and that they may function independently of their relationship with spoken language. Maintains that poetic language is motivated in its visuality and that it is iconic in a fundamental way. (FL)

Explores the use of metaphor and personification in the "classics" of scientific and technical writing, and the current resistance to creativity in scientific writing. Suggests familiarizing students with the role of metaphor in scientific creativity. (HTH)

Offers a montage of the most important revisions of the four master tropes--metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony--for the composing process itself. Discusses the capacity of tropes to prefigure ideological stances toward language and writing. (EL)

Offers a stimulating discussion of fancy and reality in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." (HOD)

Concludes that linguistic complexity affects viewer comprehension and recall of newscasts, but type of story structure does not. (FL)

Examined 55 speech communication textbooks published since 1980 and found few that consider the issue of sexism in language. Explores reasons for this neglect, focusing on one area of change: masculine generics. (PD)

Discusses the problems presented by the plain language bill proposed for use in Pennsylvania. (FL)

Argues that the formalistic study of poetry is the best preparation for the study of law because no other discipline (1) communicates so well that words are not often interchangeable, (2) concentrates as much on the effects of ambiguity in words and phrases, and (3) focuses as much on the concept of contextuality. (MM)

Discusses a program in which high school students with inferior spelling skills received help through a system that taught them to spell by syllables. (FL)