Proposes that unbounded dependency constructions in English instantiate a surface subject-predicate structure in which the predicate is typically discontinuous. Evidence supports this discontinuous analysis over the operator-variable structure conventionally assigned to unbounded dependencies. A model of phrase structure is outlined. (85…

Investigated the actionality effect in 48 French-speaking children (ages 5;0 to 7;11) by systematically varying the voice of the test sentences and the voice of the interpretive requests. The interaction between actionality, voice of sentence, and interpretive request revealed that the actionality effect depended on the type of task used to assess…

Demonstrates the dimensions of the processes of simplification, transfer, and convergence in the contact situation of Chicano Spanish and English. It is argued that changes in a language may be accelerated by a contact situation, reviewing data on bilingual Spanish-speakers in the United States and monolingual Spanish-speakers in Mexico. (11…

Reviews research that supports the view that readers strip prefixed words of their prefix and lexically assess the words on the basis of their stem. An experiment using real and nonword stems found that nonwords that are considered to be stem morphemes are treated as being more wordlike than those that are not. (36 references) (MDM)

Two experiments assessed the performance of subjects on prefixed nonwords resulting from the incorrect combination of a prefix and a real word in Italian. The results support the view that prefixes may be represented as units of access or representation in the mental lexicon. (41 references) (MDM)

Presents a critical review of the published accounts of the "Genie Case," involving psycholinguistic research conducted by Susan Curtiss and others in the 1970s with an adolescent with extremely limited language ability. The review maintains that serious discrepancies still remain in the accounts of the subject's language abilities. (21…

Argues that second language teaching that aims to foster speaking skills and natural spoken interaction should be based upon the grammar of spoken language, not on grammars that mainly reflect written norms. Using evidence from a mini-corpus of conversational English, it is shown that popular pedagogical grammars are deficient in conversational…

Presents 20 networking etiquette guidelines taken from electronic and print sources. Highlights include focusing on one subject, condensing messages, editing quotes, spelling and grammar, typography, mistakes, acronyms, humor, researching discussion groups, intellectual property and copyright, manners, ethics, and damage. (AEF)

Evidence is presented from an experimental study with 21 children ages 4 to 5 years suggesting the coincident emergence of certain Determiner Phrases (DPs) as barriers to wh-movement and as separate binding domains. It is argued that the default assumption for children's grammar may be to assume NP is the maximal projection for a structure until a…

Third graders produced narrative or descriptive passages in response to prompt words. Results supported the domain-specific view of production, in which content elaboration occurs across repeated productions when there is a connection between the earlier and the later production and that connection is based on semantic similarity. (ME)

Examines switches produced in spontaneous speech over a period of 15 months by 2 trilingual children acquiring Hebrew, Spanish, and English. The switches were analyzed both grammatically and according to specific sociolinguistic features. (seven references) (VWL)

Presenting an account of the general workings and functions of English intonation and accentuation, the discussion notes the prominent role of accent placement. An attempted overall framework for interpreting intonation and accent in English takes account of the discourse dimension to render the subject accessible to both teacher and learner.…

Research is reported that examined whether and at what level of second language (L2) proficiency the meaning of conjunctions is comprehended by the adult literate L2 learner. Results suggest that the ability to recognize logical relationships within local contexts is a necessary but not significant component of comprehension. (34 references)…

Twenty learning-disabled students (grades 5 and 6) who received procedural facilitation for narrative composition, including story grammar cue cards and a metacognitive check-off procedure, produced better quality stories than a control group of 10 students. Including verbal reminders to develop characters did not affect story quality. (Author/JDD)

Explores research relating parts of clauses to the communicative roles they play. Proposes that M. A. K. Halliday's system of analyzing sentences into one or more kinds of themes and a rheme is a useful system in conducting such research. Discusses implications of this system for understanding discourse production, structure, or reception. (RDS)