This study investigated four- and six-year-olds' support pursuing the role of positive evidence in the acquisition of the knowledge of lexical features such as the control status of individual verbs. Findings seem to be compatible with a claim that grammatical knowledge is instantaneous. (Contains 24 references.) (Author/LB)

Although Spanish mood has been taught through a framework of categorical rules, recently attempts have been made to clarify the exact nature of certain rules and to better understand the patterns of rule variability that exist outside the classroom. This article examines the intersection of mood with notions such as habituality, general truths,…

The objective of this activity is to help beginning students learn numbers and practice vocabulary and verbs in an interesting and meaningful way. In addition, the game is used to improve their listening comprehension and speaking ability. (Author/CK)

Argues that root infinitives produced by Italian toddlers learning a second language are truncated structures, arising from the option of "stripping off" external clausal layers. The basic properties of the construction are shown to be amenable to the Truncation Hypothesis, in that root infinitives are incompatible with /wh/ elements,…

Reports a reanalysis of the data on surface and deep anaphors reported by Tanenhaus and Carlson and two experiments based on the reanalysis. The parallelism effects for deep anaphors were eliminated following short passives but not full passives. The results support the claim that deep and surface anaphors access different types of…

Examines the distribution of clause types in ancient Greek during the Homeric (pre-800 B.C.) and Hellenistic (ca. 100 A.D.) periods, as well as an intermediate period (ca. 450 B.C.), delineating the evolution from a subject-object-verb (SOV) to a subject-verb-object (SVO) structure. (49 references) (MDM)

Drawing on insights developed in information-based syntactic theories, this paper proposes an alternative processual theory, "articulated methodology," which requires that inflectional operations apply to informationally impoverished representations and increase information. An analysis of Potawatomi verb morphology is given. (20…

A study with 56 sixth graders performing verb-recognition tests with pretests and posttests indicated that feedback greatly facilitated improved posttest performance and increased near-transfer performance as well. Both self-generated and traditional feedback resulted in improved performance. (SLD)

When it comes to explaining English verbs' patterns of regular and irregular generalization, single-network theories have difficulty with the former, rule-only theories with the latter process. Linguistic and psycholinguistic evidence, based on observation during experiments and simulations in morphological pattern generation, independently call…

The role that the learner's hypothesis-forming activity may assign to the native language (L1) during the acquisition process is considered in part one of this article. To illustrate that role, part two cites a longitudinal case study of the acquisition of movement verbs. (15 references) (Author/LB)

Studied "pre-ambiguity" plausibility information, information about verb argument structure frequencies, and "post-ambiguity" constraints in undergraduates. All three types of constraints were helpful in the resolution of ambiguities. Ambiguity resolution becomes more difficult as the competitor interpretations becomes stronger. Study items are…

This article offers a practical application of a song for teaching both the subjunctive mood and Austrian cultural history. (JL)

Investigates the determinants of adult usage of various syntactic and semantic cues in sentence interpretation. Native French speakers and advanced English/French bilinguals were tested for the strength of usage of word order, clitic pronoun agreement, verb agreement, and noun animacy cues in the assignment of the role in French sentences. (46…

Two experiments were performed on the ability of children and adults to understand and produce locative verbs. Results confirm that children tend to make syntactic errors with sentences containing "fill" and "empty," encoding the content argument as direct object. (33 references) (JL)

Focuses on a parametric difference between French and English, namely the issue of whether or not the language allows verb movement. It is argued that form-focused classroom instruction is more effective in helping second-language learners to arrive at the properties of English than positive input alone. (23 references) (JL)