The study explored early syntactic development, and tested the hypothesis that children use similarity of meaning in order to move beyond the learning of individual item-based multiword constructions. The first 6 types of verb-object (VO) constructions in Hebrew-speaking children were analysed for the occurrence of transfer of learning and…

Children are able to take multiple perspectives in talking about entities and events. But the nature of children's sensitivities to the complex patterns of perspective-taking in adult language is unknown. We examine perspective-taking in four- and six-year-old Tamil-speaking children describing placement events, as reflected in the use of a…

The author argues that the new journal "Young Scholars in Writing: Undergraduate Research in Writing and Rhetoric" offers access to student writing outside of the pedagogical apparatus that has historically accompanied the publication of such writing, and in the process challenges composition's standard practice of citing students by first name…

The mere mention of a grammar lesson can set students' eyes rolling. The fun activities described in this article can turn those blank looks into smiles. Here, the author presents grammar games namely: (1) noun tennis; (2) the minister's cat; (3) kids take action; (4) what's my adverb?; (5) and then I saw...; and (6) grammar sing-along.

This article focuses on the meaning of nonfinite clauses ("root infinitives") in Dutch and English child language. I present experimental and naturalistic data confirming the claim that Dutch root infinitives are more often modal than English root infinitives. This cross-linguistic difference is significantly smaller than previously assumed,…

The English second language development of 19 children (mean age at outset = 5 years, 4 months) from various first language backgrounds was examined every 6 months for 2 years, using spontaneous language sampling, parental questionnaires, and a standardized receptive vocabulary test. Results showed that the children's mean mental age equivalency…

A HyperCard stack using digitized video to provide students of Russian with meaningful exercise in the use of verbal aspect and verbs of motion and position is described. Several problems presented by the Russian verb are defined. Examples of traditional textbook exercises are presented--translations, fill-ins, and picture-based approaches, and…

K'iche' Maya divides the breaking and cutting domains into much more specific actions than either English or Spanish. K'iche' does not have a general word for breaking that can be substituted for the specialized breaking verbs in the way that English "break" can be used to describe more specific senses of picking, popping, smashing, or…

Analysis of Chinese passive constructions indicates two types. The first is a verbal or syntactic passive because it is derived through a transformational rule. The second is a lexical passive that has certain properties in common with the predicate adjectives in both Chinese and English and is derived through the semantic function and in lexical…

The question of how 'communication' is metaphorized in Japanese is examined and this metaphorization is contrasted with Reddy's (1979) conduit metaphor. A claim is made that there is a strong tendency for Japanese to conceptualize 'word' as 'fluid' and to fuse 'word' and 'meaning.' English, which unlike Japanese, has overt count/mass and…

The internal structure of verb phrases (VPs) are investigated. Using the Path Containment Condition, as developed by May (1985), to establish relations between quantified arguments, this study draws two conclusions about the structure of argument-relations within VPs. First, arguments have binary relations with projections of the verb, and second,…

Proto-Algonquian had six or seven orders (morphological types) of verbs. The potential order had three modes, the subordinative two, and by one interpretation, the conjunct had four. By another, all conjuncts are participles in the protolanguage. Evidentials include an attestive suppositive dubitative, and perhaps a recollective. Only a few…

Taking the form of a fable, this paper presents a discussion of the English language from the point of view of someone totally unknowing of its requirements. In the paper, an increasingly large cast of personified parts of speech make repeated visits to the "G. and P. (Good and Proper) Grammar Store." Sections of the paper discuss: nouns…

A study of reciprocals in Japanese compares two kinds: (1) a verbal suffix "aw"; and (2) an NP argument "otagai." Although "otagai" appears to be taken care of by syntactic binding theory, it is proposed that there is no evidence for the existence of a syntactic position of the object NP in the case of "aw." The suffix can be characterized as…

A unified, coherent pedagogical treatment of stress in all inflected words in Russian is elaborated here, using three notational symbols: the acute, the crossed acute and the wedge. (CHK)