The second-year grammar of Inupiaq, an Eskimo language spoken in northwestern Alaska, contains six chapters on these grammatical constructions: contemporative I mood; operative-imperative and negative contemporative moods; demonstrative adverbs in locative, vialis, ablative, and terminalis; transitive "present" and "past" tense…

This paper discusses how to treat code-switching in translations. Examples include use of a word or phrase that is a common expression in the ordinary source language but comes from a related classical language (e.g., "terra nullius," a Latin phrase used in English, a word or expression borrowed from a dialect related to the source language (e.g.,…

This study explores sound-symbolic, or mimetic, words in the Japanese language, the majority of which are never entered in Japanese dictionaries, and which may not be fully understood in all their nuances by native speakers. The extensiveness of the sound-symbolic system is related to the semantic under-differentiation of Japanese verbs. An…

This brochure discusses, in lay terms, how languages change and how English in particular has gone through much alteration over the ages. It explains that languages change because: the needs of its speakers change; individual experience differs, and, therefore, the uses of language differ; new words are brought in from other languages or created…

A theory of semantics focusing on relationships between meaning and sound patterns in language evolution is proposed. Using cognate sets from traditional comparative studies of closely-related languages in well-defined language families, the theory addresses the use and shifting of language components. The theory begins with the ego attempting to…

An analysis of the phonological phenomenon of "isinkalakahliso" or palatalization in Xhosa, a Bantu language, is presented, focusing on its occurrence in the passive form of verbs. First, earlier theories about the phenomenon are discussed and compared, and a new analysis is offered. It is concluded that this conceptualization of…

In a study of English auxiliary verb usage, it is proposed that this category of verbs share a characteristic that explains some idiosyncracies: they do not show morphosyntactic inflectional irregularities. According to this account, the relationship between auxiliaries and full verbs is distant, and the morphosyntactic categories that auxiliaries…

This paper is concerned with a discourse-based approach to lexis and, in particular, the discourse role of lexical patterns or lexicalized sequences which are completely or partially preassembled and more or less fixed in form. Lexical patterns, their function in a community's codes, and the cultural differences that may arise in their use, are…

The purpose of this essay is to consider some of the practical implications of Martin Heideger's view that "Language is the house of Being," for the academic study of cultural transformation and intercultural communication. The paper describes the ontological basis of Heidegger's work, and the inquiry into Being, and contains sections on…

A study examined the presence or absence of the article with proper names for people in the Bible's book of Acts, using four categories of description, including: (1) the unmarked patterns involving the first mention of a participant and further references to the participant in the same incident; (2) the reintroduction of participants after an…

An analysis of pronouns in Proto-Algic, the ancestor of Proto-Algonquian and other languages, revealed that the Proto-Algic demonstrative roots and locatives had three inflectional endings, referring to spatial or temporal distributions of entities, which evolve into the gender systems of Yurok and Algonquian. Proto-Algic had two discourse…

A simplified pattern of noun formation is outlined that can assist the German teacher in helping students understand constituent relationships in long or obscure German nouns, providing an overview of significant patterns that covers a relatively complete noun system. First, significant patterns in nouns outside the process of formation, and…

The author outlines recent work in sociolinguistics dealing with problems of language and national development, arguing that in the Nigerian debate over retaining English or substituting a Nigerian language, sociological and linguistic factors must be considered along with the present political and administrative arguments for one language or the…

In an experiment in which preschool children were asked questions such as "Which box is taller than it is fat?" the results were interpreted to mean that the linguistic strategy of attending to the first clause is more resistant to change than the preference for simply choosing the largest object. (Author/RM)

This article discusses the equivalency in meaning of synonyms in one language, and the problems encountered in attempting to translate synonyms. (Text is in French.) (CLK)